|
STATEMENT
OF NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SERVICE VETERANS
OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES UNITED
STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.R. 3423—TO AMEND TITLE 38, UNITED STATES CODE, TO ENACT INTO LAW ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN VETERANS AND THEIR DEPENDENTS FOR BURIAL IN ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY WASHINGTON, DC DECEMBER
13, 2001 MR.
CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE: Thank
you for inviting the Veterans of Foreign Wars of The United States
(VFW) to participate in this hearing on this very important and timely
bill. This proposed
legislation, H.R. 3423, would allow those reserve component
servicemembers who fall into a 'gray area', based on their age, as
well as their eligible dependents to be buried in Arlington National
Cemetery. On behalf of
the 2.7 million VFW members, including our Ladies Auxiliary, I would
like to express our strong support for this legislation.
We believe that this bill is both the proper and equitable
thing to do. The
current law is not fair to many of our retired military reservists.
To be eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, they
must be receiving retirement pay.
The majority of our military reservists retire before age 60,
but are unable to begin drawing retirement pay until age 65, thereby
excluding those who pass away before age 65 from burial at Arlington
National Cemetery The
VFW believes that H.R. 3423 is the right thing to do because all other
members of the Armed Services who retire for length of service are
presently entitled to interment in Arlington National Cemetery. These
military reserve component personnel are the only category excluded. The
VFW also believes that H.R. 3423 is equitable because some retired
reserve component members pass away before receiving any retirement
money. They should not
also be denied space in Arlington National Cemetery.
This is a burial requirement not faced by any other category of
retiree because retirement money for active service members begins on
the date they retire, regardless of age. Today,
most reasonable parties agree that reserve component members are a
large percent of our total force structure and will be an even greater
percentage in the future. Generally
speaking, reserve component personnel bring a high degree of expertise
in many technical areas required by our defense force in the 21st
century. We can expect a greater percentage of these citizen soldiers
to remain in the reserve component gaining greater proficiency over
twenty or more years of affiliation.
In light of these facts, the VFW believes that Congress should
now codify Arlington National Cemetery’s eligibility requirements
into statutory law to allow the burial of reservists who have retired
from their military component but die before they become eligible to
receive reserve military retirement money. Codifying
Arlington National Cemetery’s eligibility requirements would
alleviate many potential problems in the future.
This is our nation's most hallowed cemetery and the geographic
limitations are very obvious.
Today’s burial policy contains waiver authorities that are
not well known and are all too often misunderstood by the American
public. Back to Witness List |