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Guard and Reserve 2009: Activation and deployment

Because of the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, reservists, including Individual Ready Reserve members, can continue to expect possible activation.

Reservists may volunteer to serve or may be involuntarily recalled for national emergencies. Before activation, reservists need to think about a variety of personal issues.

The following is a checklist of things that should be squared away before you are activated.

To have access to military benefits, all family members must be enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System. Reservists should ensure this information is up-to-date well before activation.

DEERS data can be checked and updated at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/ appj/address/indexAction.do.

Single parents and dual-military couples with dependents have unique circumstances. But that alone will not prevent single or dual activation.

These members must complete a Dependent Care Certification form to certify they have arranged for child care in the event of mobilization. These forms are specific to each service.

An alternate family member or friend must be designated as a legal guardian. Once mobilized, service members are eligible for on-base child care if they live near a facility.

Direct deposit of military pay is mandatory. Be sure your pay goes to a banking institution and account that authorized family members can access. Make sure SF Form 1199A, the Direct Deposit Sign Up Form, is on file with your reserve pay office.

Troops can access and update their pay information online at http://www .dfas.mil.

Many reserve legal units can help write wills and/or powers of attorney. Check with your reserve center for details. Also, ask your commander or unit administrator for a DD Form 1543 — Annual Legal Checkup. If legal unit support is not available, it is recommended that you contact an attorney.

The following documents, or certified true copies, must be easily accessible:

å Marriage license.

å Birth certificates for you and authorized family members.

å Court orders or decrees pertaining to your authorized family members. This includes divorce decrees and adoption papers.

å Detailed plans for dependent care, including a special power of attorney for emergency medical care for minors.

å A general or special power of attorney to ensure the person you appoint can take care of your financial, legal and medical matters in your absence.

å A legal will, including a plan for distribution of your personal effects in the event of your death. This service is provided free to all service members.

å Copies of civilian medical histories for you and all family members.

å An up-to-date passport.

å Copies of your Servicemember’s Group Life Insurance form and any other insurance policies.

Troops deploying for extended active duty or an exercise of more than 31 days may enroll in the Thrift Savings Plan or change deduction options.

Most activations for war or other emergencies are inherently involuntary. Only the president or Congress can order reservists to active duty for an extended period.

The secretary of defense or any service secretary can call up reservists for no more than 15 days, with the exception of the Coast Guard Reserve. Coast Guard Ready Reservists can be involuntarily activated to support domestic emergencies and may be required to serve up to 30 days in any four-month period or up to 60 days in any two-year period.

If a war or national emergency is declared by Congress, all reserve component units are eligible for involuntarily call-up. They can be kept on active duty for the duration of a declared war or emergency, plus six months.

If the president declares a national emergency, this type of authority allows a partial mobilization of up to 1 million Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve troops. Under this authority, reservists can be kept on active duty no more than 24 consecutive months.

Under this type of authority, the president can activate up to 200,000 members of the Selected Reserve and up to 30,000 members of the Individual Ready Reserve, who can be kept on active duty for up to 270 days for any mission deemed necessary.

Reservists can volunteer for activation. Volunteers often are needed for positions in active-duty and reserve units that are deploying.

With the approval of their commanding officer, qualified reservists can apply for vacant slots. Sometimes those in non-deploying units with needed skills will be contacted through their chain of command and offered a call-up position.

A unit usually is put on alert before it is activated. Once on alert, activation can come within hours or days, but units often are alerted months before activation or deployment.

All National Guard and Reserve units have an alert notification system. Reservists normally are alerted by their chain of command via a phone call, followed by an Automatic Digital Network message or certified letter. Your unit should have your current home and work addresses and phone numbers.

You are required to notify your employer, school and/or landlord after your orders are in hand. Tell them what you can, including deployment dates. Employers with questions can contact your commanding officer.

A provision of the 2008 Defense Authorization Act requires a minimum of 30 days’ advance notice, with a goal of 90 days’ advance notice, to a reserve component member called or ordered to active duty for more than 30 days in support of a contingency operation.

But the practical effect of this change is murky because the provision also states this requirement can be waived by the secretary of defense “during war or a national emergency declared by the president or Congress, or to meet mission requirements.”

Like the activation process, it’s a good idea to make sure your paperwork is in order when you redeploy or return from active duty.

Every reservist leaving active duty in support of contingency operations will get a new DD Form 214, a discharge. Review it to make sure awards or decorations for which you are eligible are listed, as well as your correct service dates.

Because this document is critical for awards, time in service, retirement and possible medical benefits, the DD 214 is a service member’s most valuable military document.

A reservist on active duty for any period will get one or more evaluations or fitness reports and may be eligible for awards. However, many awards are not processed or approved until after deactivation. Documenting where you served on your DD 214 and retaining copies of all orders will serve as good backups.

Most members complete active duty with accrued leave. You can take that leave or be paid for it.

The maximum amount of leave that service members may sell back during a career is 60 days, unless a waiver is granted for contingency operations.

The 60-day limit currently is waived because of the pace of wartime operations.

Everyone receives a health assessment upon mobilization and again before leaving active duty. This may be a simple screening or a full examination.

If your Annual Reserve Component Periodic Health Assessment is older than six months, you must get a physical examination before demobilization.

Report any problem, sickness or injury that occurred during your activation and make sure it is noted in yo ur medical records.

Under current procedures, you will remain in the reserve pay system up to partial mobilization. If you are not on direct deposit or Sure Pay, you will be signed up during in-processing.

Personnel mobilized or on extended tours of more than 30 days can choose to be paid monthly or bimonthly. Final pay is deposited in a member’s account at the end of the tour.

Whether you volunteer for or are ordered to active duty, you are protected from losing your civilian employment. Depending on the type and length of your deployment, you have different amounts of time before you must report back to your civilian job.

Generally, this is within 31 days of your release from active duty for a presidential call-up. In some cases, that period is extended to 90 days.

Service members on active duty, and members of the Ready Reserve or National Guard in any pay status, may contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan or change deduction options.

You should carefully consider this option if you are deploying to a hazardous-duty pay area, as significant tax and savings factors can accrue. For more information, visit http://www.tsp .gov/uniserv/features/chapter02.html.

Congress has directed the Defense Department to set up programs to help National Guard and Reserve members and their families before, during and after mobililzation, to include helping them reintegrate into their families and communities when they come off active duty. This effort is the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program.

In a precedent-setting move, defense officials have defined family members and families in this case to include spouses, children, parents, grandparents, siblings, and/or significant others. These family members are eligible for payment of some expenses related to attending support programs, depending on how the reserve components implement them. Covered expenses may include mileage, lodging and/or meals, child care, or some combination of these.

Restrictions may apply to the number of family members funded per service member and the types of support provided.

The programs must be inclusive to allow any member from any service component and his family to participate in any scheduled deployment and reintegration program, even if it’s run by another branch of service.

Guard and reserve components will have the flexibility to tailor their own programs, but defense officials have issued some basic requirements.

Starting Oct. 1, the services must implement full deployment support programs for all Guard and reserve members and their families facing a mobilization or deployment for 90 days or longer. Support must be provided in all phases of deployment and may include family counseling and legal readiness in predeployment; training such as combat and operational stress prevention and control for families during deployments; marriage workshops; and information on veterans’ benefits and resources.

Reintegration programs must be held approximately 30, 60 and 90 days after return from deployments. Units will have contact numbers for service members and families. h