More lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have joined MOAA and fellow stakeholders in advancing long-overdue duty status reform for the reserve component.

A bipartisan Senate bill (S. 4801) introduced June 16 would reduce the existing 30 duty statuses to just four – a move to eliminate a confusing classification process and streamline orders these servicemembers receive and the earned benefits that accompany each order. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) sponsored the legislation; the House version, sponsored by Reps. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) and Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), was introduced in January.

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“This legislation enhances and simplifies the Pentagon’s access to the reserve force, helping improve mission readiness, and amplifying force posture across the spectrum of reserve components,” said Lt. Col. Susie Dunham, USAF (Ret), MOAA’s director of Government Relations for Currently Serving Affairs, at a June 17 press conference in Washington, D.C., announcing the Senate bill.

Other supporting organizations include the National Guard Association of the United States (which hosted the press event), the Reserve Organization of America, the enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, With Honor, and the American Legion.

A Straightforward Approach

Instead of the piecemeal approach to the current duty status system – parts of which have been added and revamped over decades – the legislation would create four basic categories:

• Contingency Duty, covering active service in a military action, a natural disaster, or similar activities.
• Training and Support, covering other types of active service.
• Reserve Component Duty, covering “partial-day duty” such as flight training, administrative work, and funeral support.
• Remote Assignments, covering online learning and similar virtual duties.

The move to streamline duty statuses also directly benefits the warfighter, Dunham explained, closing gaps in delivering earned benefits, including health care, education, and housing.

“Our reserve forces are too critical to the mission to be slowed down by an outdated duty status system,” Dunham said. “MOAA stands firmly behind duty status reform … and we look forward to working with Congress and our partners to get it over the finish line.”

You can help MOAA move this legislation forward by reaching out to your lawmakers today via our Legislative Action Center.