Army to set timeline for Guard 'respite leave' pay

By James Q. Lynch 

The Gazette

After nearly three years, Iowa National Guard soldiers are a step closer to receiving benefits they earned while serving an extended mission in Iraq.

First District Rep. Bruce Braley Tuesday announced the Iowa Guard members should have a timeline by Friday detailing a plan of action to release long-overdue “Respite Leave” benefits to members.

“The Army's plan of action is a long-awaited step forward,” the Waterloo Democrat said. “Thousands of troops who bravely served our country deserve the compensation they earned, and I'll continue working on this issue until every affected soldier has a check in their hands.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, who also has been working on getting the benefit for the Guard soldiers, welcomed the Army “finally moving forward on long overdue compensation” for one of the longest serving units in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He too promised to “keep the heat on the Defense Department to make sure they continue to make this a priority.”

Still, Guard members may have to wait awhile longer for their checks, according to Brigadier General Tim Orr of the Iowa National Guard, “but the most important takeaway is that after three years we've been able to finally get the soldiers and their families what they deserve, what they've earned.”

Under Braley's fix, hundreds of Iowa National Guard members will be provided benefits they were promised under the Department of Defense's Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence (PDMRA) program, commonly known as “Respite Leave.” 

Most of the Iowans owed respite leave belong to the 1-133rd Infantry. It was deployed for 22 months, including approximately 16 month in Iraq ending in July 2007. It includes units in Waterloo, Dubuque, Oelwein, Iowa Falls and Charles City. Many of them have been deployed again.

All members of the Iowa congressional delegation recently signed a letter calling on the Department of Defense to make good on its commitment of up to $200 per day to soldiers who served beyond their scheduled deployments. Because of weather in the Capitol, the letter was not delivered, but news coverage of the congressional effort may have helped get action, a spokeswoman for Braley said.

Orr, who delivered his annual Condition of the Guard speech at the Capitol in Des Moines Tuesday, called it a “black eye” for the Army to have made a commitment and not made good on it.

“Our soldiers took the commitment in good faith that when we ask them to do something they are going to get something in return,” Orr said. “It's important for us to see this movement, the soldiers earned it, they deserve it, those that put in the number of days to qualify, so like any good soldier they should get what they deserve.”

Due to a delay between the announcement of the PDMRA program by the Department of Defense and the implementation of the program by the individual services, more than 22,000 National Guard members, including almost 800 members of the Iowa National Guard, have not received proper Respite Leave compensation.  They are eligible for up to $200 per day in retroactive benefits.

The “respite leave” benefit was designed to provide service members – regular Army as well as Guard and Reserve – who were deployed beyond established rotation cycles additional time to reintegrate into civilian life, as well as to help with retention of service members who had experienced long tours.