What Didn't Make the Cut (Con't)
Guaranteed Minimum Pay Raise. Section 606 of the House version would have required a guaranteed minimum pay raise of 0.5 percent over the annual Employment Cost Index (ECI), which is the government's measure of civilian pay raise rates, between FY 2009 and FY 2012.
Privately Own Vehicle Transportation. Section 634 of the House version included a provision to ship an additional privately owned vehicle to and from overseas locations if the member has at least one dependent of driving age who will use the motor vehicle.
Benefits for Abused Dependents. In 1993 Congress passed a law which authorizes various benefits for the spouses and former spouses of retirement-eligible members who lose eligibility for retired pay as a result of misconduct involving abuse of dependents. Generally, the spouses and former spouses are provided the same rights and benefits that they would have had if there had been no abuse and the member had retired under normal circumstances.
The problem is that when a military member is sentenced to prison for abuse before becoming retirement eligible, the dependent would not receive retirement benefits, because time in confinement is not counted toward retirement eligibility. Section 641 of the House version would have required DOD to include confinement time when determining whether or not the spouse or ex-spouse should be entitled to the authorized percentage of military retirement pay.
SBP Beneficiaries. Under the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) military service members and participating retirees can, upon their death, provide an annuity to certain survivors, including spouses, former spouses, and/or dependent children. In certain cases, a member may wish to designate a dependent child as the beneficiary, however the child may be too young to be financially responsible. This is also true if the eligible dependent child is mentally incapacitated.
Section 652 of the Senate version included a provision that would have created a new category of beneficiary under SBP: "Guardian or Caretaker of Dependent Children." Under this language, a guardian or caretaker of dependents could have been designated as a beneficiary. This could be helpful in those instances where the dependent child(ren) is/are very young or mentally incapacitated.
Advanced Notice of Reserve Deployment. Section 517 of the House version would have required reserve members to receive a minimum of 30 days notice before being deployed for a contingency operation.
Cold War Victory Medal. As part of the FY 1998 Defense Authorization Act, Congress mandated that the Department of Defense create a Cold War Recognition Certificate to recognize the contributions and sacrifices of our armed forces and government civilians whose service contributed to victory in the Cold War. At the time, many members of Congress wanted DOD to create a medal, but compromised on a certificate due to funding shortfalls. Section 556 of the House version of the bill would have required DOD to design and issue a Cold War Victory Medal for anyone who served honorably for a minimum of 180 days during the Cold War period (from September 2, 1945, to December 26, 1991).
Combat Medevac Badge.Section 557 of the House version would have required the services to design, procure, and issue a combat medevac badge to members of the Army, Air Force, Navy or Marine Corps who served in combat on or after June 25, 1950, as a pilot or crew member of a helicopter medical evacuation ambulance and who meets the requirements for the award of that badge.
Combat Veterans Mentoring Program. Section 574 of the House version would have required DOD to establish a program to give veterans of the Armed Forces who have served in combat the opportunity to meet on a regular basis with, to inform, to exchange ideas with, and to mentor current members of the Armed Forces.
Unauthorized Use of Names and Images of Military Members. Section 582 of the House version would have made it a crime to knowingly use the name or image of "protected" individuals in connection with any merchandise, retail product, impersonation, solicitation, or commercial activity in a manner reasonably calculated to connect the protected individual with that individual's service in the armed forces, unless the individual gives express permission.
