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WASHINGTON (Feb. 6, 2024) — The voice of more than 45,000 current and former National Guard officers has appealed to Congress to investigate why Pentagon implementation plans for Guard and Reserve special- and incentive-pay parity are 16 months overdue.
Retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, in Feb. 5 letters asked the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees and the two chambers’ Appropriations defense subcommittees to use their “oversight authority to investigate the Department’s delay on S&I payments to the Guard and Reserve.”
McGinn's letter to the HASC and SASC is available here. His letter to the defense subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations committees is here.
The U.S. military provides S&I payments to compensate personnel for special skills or service in unusual conditions.
But Guardsmen and Reservists not on active duty have historically received only a fraction of the special and incentive pay that active-duty troops receive, despite having to maintain the same proficiency level.
That was supposed to change with the passage of the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which gave the Defense Department until Sept. 30, 2022, to provide implementation plans.
Six months after the deadline, the Pentagon reported to Congress that DoD would “need to update numerous policies, secure additional funding from Congress, or reallocate resources from within the Department’s existing budget” to implement S&I pay parity.
“While it may require additional effort,” the NGAUS president wrote, “the law still must be carried out.”
Jump Pay is one of many examples of the disparity. Active-duty and reserve-component paratroopers are required to perform three jumps a month, but Guardsmen and Reservists receive only $12 a month, compared to active-duty members getting $150.
Aviators and flight crews are other examples. They generally receive 1/30th of the S&I pay as their active-component counterparts.
NGAUS believes special- and incentive-pay parity is a recruiting and retention issue as well as a matter of fairness.
“We cannot afford to lose any of our skilled professionals just because the Department of Defense is slow rolling the will of Congress,” McGinn wrote.
“[I] request that you urge [DoD] leadership to implement S&I pay parity and provide these servicemembers what they are due,” he said.
Reporters, Editors & Producers: Retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn is available for interviews or to appear as a subject matter expert on issues related to the National Guard. Contact John Goheen at 202-408-5882 to schedule an interview or appearance.
NGAUS: The association was created in 1878 to provide united Guard representation in Washington. In their first productive meeting after Reconstruction, militia officers from the North and South formed the association with the goal of obtaining better equipment and training by petitioning Congress for more resources. Today, 146 years later with more than 45,000 members nationwide, NGAUS has the same mission.
