[No. 14] SUBCOMMITTEE NO. 3 CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3369, TO AMEND TITLE 10, UNITED STATES CODE, WITH RESPECT TO ACTIVE DUTY AGREEMENTS FOR RESERVE OFFICERS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE No. 3, Washington, D.C., Friday, February 20, 1959. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., the Honorable L. Mendel Rivers (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. RIVERS. I will ask the committee to come to order. [H.R. 3369, 86th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, with respect to active duty agreements for reserve officers, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 679 of title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: "8 679. Active duty agreements "(a) Before ordering a member of an armed force under his jurisdiction to active duty (other than for training) as a reserve officer with his consent for a period of three months or more, or before retaining him on active duty with his consent for such a period, the Secretary concerned shall make a standard written agreement with that member requiring him to serve for a period of active duty that the Secretary considers is necessary to meet the needs of that armed force, but not more than six years. An active duty agreement may not be made in time of war, or of national emergency declared by Congress or the President after July 1, 1953, and an active duty agreement already in effect terminates at the beginning of a war or such an emergency. "(b) Subsection (a) does not apply "(1) to an officer of the Medical Corps or Dental Corps of the Army or Navy; "(2) to an officer of the Veterinary Corps of the Army; "(3) to a medical, dental, or veterinary officer of the Air Force; "(4) to an officer who has not completed at least two years of active duty as a commissioned officer in the grade of second lieutenant or ensign, or above; "(5) to an officer who is hospitalized or under investigation, or against whom proceedings of a court-martial or board of officers are pending; "(6) to any officer authorized by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary concerned subject to such policies as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, to serve on active duty in connection with a special project or special assignment, or to serve on a board; or "(7) when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy, to any officer of the Coast Guard authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to serve on active duty in connection with a special project or special assignment, or to serve on a board. Notwithstanding clause (4), a written agreement may be made at any time with a person who agrees to serve on active duty as a reserve commissioned 34066-59-No. 14- -1 (581) officer for a period of at least one year upon completing his first two years of active commissioned service. Such an agreement becomes effective on the first day after he completes those two years of active service. "(c) Except in the case of a commissioned officer who has completed at least 13, but not more than 14, years of active commissioned service, and except as provided in subsection (d), no agreement may be made under subsection (a) for a period of active duty that is less than one year. However, no active duty agreement may be made with a commissioned officer who has completed less than 14 years of active commissioned service if that agreement would expire after the officer has completed 14 years of that service. "(d) Each reserve commissioned officer who is eligible for an active duty agreement under subsection (a), and who has completed at least 14 years of active commissioned service, shall, except in time of war or of national emergency declared by Congress or the President after July 1, 1953, be released from active duty unless he is appointed as a regular commissioned officer or is offered and accepts an active duty agreement under that subsection. If such an agreement is made with an officer who has not yet completed the minimum service required for retirement under section 3911, 6323, 6327, or 8911 of this title, or section 232 of title 14, as the case may be, the agreement shall provide that it expires on the earlier of the following dates: "(1) The date on which he completes the minimum service required for retirement under that section. "(2) The date on which he is otherwise required by law to be removed from an active status. "(e) Agreements made under this section are subject to such policies, procedures, and controls as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Defense for the armed forces under his jurisdiction or by the Secretary of the Treasury for the Coast Guard when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy. The policies, procedures, and controls prescribed by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Treasury shall be uniform so far as practicable. "(f) If an agreement made under this section terminates, under subsection (a), at the beginning of a war or national emergency, the officer concerned may be kept on active duty, without his consent, as otherwise provided by law." SEC. 2. Section 680 (b) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by renumbering clauses (4) and (5) as clauses "(5)" and "(6)", respectively, and by inserting the following new clause after clause (3): "(4) discharged from his reserve appointment because of failure to achieve the standards of performance prescribed by the Secretary concerned ;”. SEC. 3. Section 265 of the Armed Forces Reserve Act of 1952 (50 U.S.C. 1016) is amended (1) by striking out the first sentence of subsection (a) and inserting the following in place thereof: "A member of a reserve component who is released from active duty after the enactment of this amended sentence and after having completed immediately prior to such release at least five years of continuous active duty, except for breaks in service of not more than thirty days, as either a commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted person, is entitled to a lump-sum readjustment payment computed on the basis of one-half of one month's basic pay in the grade in which he is serving at the time of release from active duty for each year of active service ending at the close of the eighteenth year and, unless he is discharged from his reserve appointment or enlistment because of failure to achieve the standards of performance prescribed by the Secretary concerned, an additional one and one-half month's basic pay in that grade for each year of active service in excess of 10 years ending at the close of the eighteenth year. However, the total rate is increased "(1) for an officer who is serving under, or has at any time completed a period of service under, an active duty agreement under section 679 of title 10, United States Code, to two months' basic pay for each year of active commissioned service that he served after June 30, 1959, under each such agreement, except that service under the agreement from which he is released at his own request may not be counted under this subsection; "(2) for an officer who is not serving under, or has at one time completed a period of service under, but who is eligible for, such an active duty agreement, to two months' basic pay for each year of active commissioned service that he served after the first two years of such service and after June 30, 1959, while he was so eligible; and "(3) for an officer discharged from his reserve appointment because of failure to achieve the standards of performance prescribed by the Secretary concerned, to two months' basic pay for each year of active commissioned service after the first two years of such service and after June 30, 1959, under any such agreement that is completed before that discharge, and one month's basic pay for each such year under the agreement under which he is serving at the time of his discharge; except that an officer covered by this sentence may not be paid a total of more than two years' basic pay in the grade in which he is serving at the time of release and for an officer covered by clause (3) the first two years of his active commissioned service may not be credited in computing his readjustment payment." (2) by amending subsection (b) (1) to read as follows: "(1) A person who is released from active duty at his own request, other than an officer who has at any time completed an agreement under section 679 of title 10, United States Code."; (3) by amending the second sentence of subsection (b) (5) to read as follows: "However, such a person is entitled "(A) to receive readjustment pay under this section even though he is also entitled to be paid under section 680 of title 10, United States Code; and "(B) with respect to severance pay to which he is entitled under any provision of law other than section 680 of that title, to elect either to receive that severance pay or to receive readjustment pay under this section, but not both."; (4) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows: "(c) Under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary concerned or the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, as the case may be, there shall be deduced "(1) from the monthly retired pay of an officer who has received readjustment payments under the second sentence of subsection (a) and who qualifies for retired pay under any provision of title 10, United States Code; or "(2) from the monthly compensation of an officer who has received readjustment payments under the second sentence of subsection (a) and who qualifies for compensation under any law administered by the Veterans' Administration for a disability incurred during a period for which he has received that readjustment payment; an amount sufficient to recover, during the life expectancy of the officer, that part of the readjustment payment based on service performed after June 30, 1959. However, the deduction may not be more, in any one month, than 25 per centum of the officer's monthly compensation. There shall be deducted from any severance pay to which an officer who has received readjustment payments under the second sentence of subsection (a) is entitled under section 1212, 3303 (d) (3), 3786 (b), 6382(c), 6383 (f), 6384(b), 8303(d)(3), or 8786(b) of title 10, United States Code, an amount equal to that received as readjustment payments. However, in place of the deduction described above, a reserve officer who has received readjustment payments under the second sentence of subsection (a) may elect to have deducted, from the years of service with which he would otherwise be credited in determining his eligibility for retired pay and in computing the amount of his retired pay, all periods for which he received readjustment payments under that sentence."; and (5) by repealing subsections (e) and (h). SEC. 4. Except with the consent of that member and the Secretary concerned, section 679 of title 10, United States Code, as amended by this Act, does not apply to any member who, on the effective date of this Act, has not served the full term of his agreement, entered into before that date, to serve a specified minimum period of active duty. However, upon completing that period of active duty, he is thereafter subject to that section, as amended by this Act. SEC. 5. During the one-year period following the date of enactment of this Act, the actions otherwise required by section 679 (a) (first sentence) and (c) of title 10, United States Code, are permissive and not mandatory. Mr. RIVERS. For all intents and purposes, this is a Department bill, but we take a little credit for ourselves, because last year we had a little trouble getting some kind of affirmative expression from the Defense Department, so we took the bull by the horns-bull and all, an tried to do something about it. And about the 21st of July we passed a bill embracing the feelings of the committee. But for the record I am going to read a prepared statement. I have gotten Mr. Slatinshek to prepare a statement setting out just exactly what this bill does. But I might say I am glad to see that the Defense Department is now giving us their cooperation on this, and particularly glad that Mr. Jackson has arrived here, and if he feels like me this morning, kind of frozen up. When I got here this morning it was 6:30 and both me and my car were frozen up, but we got here after a fashion. This bill which has been submitted by the Department of Defense and approved by the Bureau of the Budget is designed to improve the status of Reserve officers on active duty by providing increased financial security to those Reserve officers who elect to remain on extended active duty with the Armed Forces. I shan't attempt to summarize the major provisions of the bill, but suffice it to say that it offers a plan which remains effective throughout the career of a Reserve officer on active duty until his 14th year of active duty, at which time the armed service concerned would be required to resolve the individual officer's status by augmenting him into the Regular service or providing him with a contract which will enable him to complete the additional service necessary to permit him to retire voluntarily with 20 years of service, or to release him to inactive duty with appropriate readjustment pay. As a matter of fact, for the information of the new members of the subcommittee this general problem has been given exhaustive study by this subcommittee during the last session, as I said before. At the conclusion of this study, the subcommittee last year voted to amend the existing provisions of law regarding readjustment pay for Reserve officers by amending the formula to provide 2 months' basic pay in lieu of the one-half month's basic pay for each year of extended duty as the law then required. A bill on this subject, H.R. 13373, last year was reported out by the Armed Services Committee and passed the House, as I said before, on the 21st of July 1958. However, no further action was taken in the other body. But as I say, I am glad that we now have the complete cooperation of the Defense Department. We shan't talk about what happened in the past. We look to the future. And I am particularly happy that Mr. Stephen S. Jackson is our first witness. Mr. Jackson, we would be very glad to have you come and testify any way you want. (Committee counsel called forward Mr. Stephen S. Jackson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Personnel and Reserves, and Comdr. Syerl C. Grant, Military Personnel Policy Division, Manpower, Personnel and Reserves.) Secretary JACKSON. Thank you, sir. I plan, if it meets the pleasure of the committee, to give a prepared statement, followed by a viewgraph presentation giving some of the details of the problem in the bill. Mr. RIVERS. All right, sir. Won't you have a seat? Secretary JACKSON. Thank you, sir. Mr. RIVERS. You have Mr. Jackson's title, haven't you? We realize we can't possibly finish this bill with 1 day's hearing. We plan to go into it fully and give everyone an opportunity to help us, regardless of which side he may be on, and with the view of writing the best possible piece of legislation. Because as you understand, Mr. Jackson, this is a very, very important piece of proposed legislation. With that in mind we will let you go right ahead with your presentation. Secretary JACKSON. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the Defense Department is very happy to have the opportunity of presenting to this committee H.R. 3369, a bill on Reserve officers active duty agreements, and readjustment payments for enlisted reservists who are not permitted to reenlist. This proposal is the result of many drafts and more than 18 months' study. I might interject here that this represents the 18th draft that the Department of Defense has developed in attempting to arrive at this final bill, and even this morning my few minutes delay was occasioned by some consideration of some of the features of this bill, which even now may need further clarification. I now resume my formal speech, which was written, of course, long before the chairman made his observations. We are very happy to acknowledge, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, and are grateful for the assistance of this committee in the development of this bill which was introduced as H.R. 13472 on July 21, 1958. Hearings were not held, of course, due to the lateness in the 85th session of Congress. Mr. BRAY. Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt here? Pardon me for interrupting at this time. But I believe there were hearings held on the same subject matter Secretary JACKSON. Yes, sir. Mr. BRAY (continuing). Last year. The committee was very insistent in getting a bill. We did act on a bill along this same line-not this particular bill, because we never had the opportunity due to lateness of the year. Correct me if I am wrong, this committee did act on this subject and did pass a bill which was then passed out of the full committee and then was passed by the House. Then I believe you did go to the Senate and further action on this subject was blocked. But I believe hearings, and at least a study was made by this committee. Isn't that correct? Mr. RIVERS. I referred to that bill, 13373. But your proposal never had a formal hearing before the committee on the bill you referred to. Mr. BRAY. But a hearing was held on the subject matter Mr. RIVERS. The subject matter, yes, sir. Mr. BRAY (Continuing). Involved in this bill, and not only this subcommittee but the full committee and the House did pass legislation on this subject. Mr. RIVERS. That was on the formula. Mr. BRAY. That is right. Secretary JACKSON. You are quite right, this committee did discuss the subject. This committee was most insistent in their efforts to get the Defense Department bill here. |