Panelists taking part in MOAA’s second Senior Enlisted Leaders Forum on the state of the total force highlighted several issues aligning with MOAA’s advocacy priorities, underscoring both their concerns for those in uniform and the shared commitment between these leaders and MOAA to see these priorities addressed.

[SENIOR ENLISTED LEADERS FORUM: Read the Recap | May Forum Recap]

Moderated by MOAA President and CEO Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, USAF (Ret), participants on the second panel included Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz; Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna; Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief, National Guard Bureau, John T. Raines III; and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Phillip Waldron.

Among the issues covered:

Military Spouse Hiring

Adding military spouses as a target group to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) has been a long-standing advocacy priority for MOAA. Their inclusion would give employers a direct financial offset for the relocation risk they price into hiring decisions.

A similar approach helped drive veteran unemployment from double digits down to 3% after WOTC added veterans in 2011.

[TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Lawmakers to Support the Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act]

Panelists acknowledged this problem directly. Bentivegna pointed to remote work as a shift in employer thinking toward military spouses.

“That individual can maybe move across the country, around the globe and still be a valued employee of that organization,” he said. “They don’t necessarily have to go to a brick and mortar.”

Kelly framed the WOTC ask in retention terms: “If you don’t retain somebody and you have to train, you have to recruit. ... It’s far more expensive than a little bit of a tax credit they’re going to give an employer for hiring a spouse.”

Ruiz made a related point about the personnel system itself, describing recent Marine Corps guidance being to build policy around the idea of the “21st Century Family,” and noting plainly that the old model of “what the American family is supposed to be like ... is not helpful anymore.”

[RELATED FROM TOTALFORCE+: ‘We Have to Take Care of the Warfighter’]

Duty Status Reform

Another MOAA advocacy priority affecting Guard and Reserve servicemembers, duty status reform, also took the forefront during the discussion.

MOAA supports legislation that would consolidate the reserve component’s roughly 30 duty statuses into four, helping close coverage gaps that occur when a change in orders resets a servicemember’s benefits.

[TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Lawmakers to Support Duty Status Reform]

Raines laid out the mechanics of the problem from the National Guard’s side.

“When they change orders, they, frankly, would go from one set of orders to another set of orders that change duty status, and that changes their benefits, and then it starts them over,” he said. “Even though it’s the same insurance, it starts them over, and then they lose that insurance for a gap time period.”

Kelly noted how long the issue has languished: “I first heard about it when I was a major, and now duty status reform is finally [moving forward].”

Shutdown Fairness

On-time appropriations (or the lack thereof) and the challenges created for servicemember pay and benefits were also a focal point during the discussion. Servicemembers keep working during a government shutdown, but not all are guaranteed to be paid on time. Reserve component members also lose retirement credit for training they aren’t allowed to perform.

Asked what the Coast Guard needs most right now, Waldron didn’t hesitate.

“What we need in the Coast Guard right now is predictability,” he said. “And I say that because I know we talked about the shutdown that plagued the entire federal government at the beginning of this fiscal year, but if we look at it in totality, Department of Homeland Security has spent over half of this fiscal year in a lapse status.

“It’s really hard to convince people to keep wanting to come to work every day when they’re not certain they’re going to get paid. It’s really hard for a service to operate when we’re not certain we’re going to have the funding. And so, more than anything else, we need that predictability of increased annual top line funding.”

Waldron’s message echoes MOAA’s reasoning for supporting the Shutdown Fairness Act, legislation that would move toward guaranteeing continued pay and benefits for all servicemembers during a funding lapse and would let drill-status reservists continue inactive duty training without losing retirement service credit.

[TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Lawmakers to Protect Servicemember Pay During a Shutdown]

Across all these issues, and much more, an undeniable pattern emerges: MOAA isn’t asking Congress to solve a problem the Pentagon has overlooked. Senior Enlisted Leaders are naming these exact issues as barriers to retention and readiness.

MOAA urges Congress to provide the authority and funding needed to protect the pay, benefits, and other critical support programs of our nation’s uniformed servicemembers and their families. Keep up with efforts on these topics and others at our advocacy news page.