WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle Friday introduced a bill that would give the National Guard and Reserves similar benefits to active duty forces.
It would make reservists' length of deployments the same as active duty forces, that is, limited to a year. It would also require reserves get the same equipment as others in the military, including body armor, night vision goggles and rifles. Reservists have also had pay and compensation problems during their deployments, which would be addressed in the bill.
The bill would also provide reservists with permanent access to the military's health care system, even when they are civilians. It would also increase funding for reservist child care. The bill would also guarantee their right to employment when a deployment is over.
The bill would boost funding for education back to 1984 levels and would lower the age for reservists to begin collecting military retirement benefits. It would also create a new high-level Pentagon advocate for reserve forces.
"Just as Congress thanked the men who liberated Europe and Asia and preserved democracy 60 years ago with the G.I. Bill, the time has now come for Congress to repay our debt to the reservists fighting the war on terror around the world and struggling to bring peace and security to the people of Iraq," Daschle said.
Forty percent of U.S. forces in Iraq are reservists. More than 160 have been killed there.
