Pay and Benefits

The association president told lawmakers last week about the inequities National Guard Soldiers and Airmen too often face due to an obsolete duty-status system.

Two members of the House Armed Services Committee last week introduced legislation aimed at reducing the complex, confusing and unequal system of more than 30 National Guard and Reserve duty statuses to four broad categories.

Air National Guardsmen would have a permanent federal tuition assistance program under a bipartisan bill introduced last week in the House.

Open enrollment season for TRICARE medical coverage and other federal employment benefits began Nov. 10 and runs through early December. This is the time of year when those eligible can enroll, disenroll or amend their benefits. Any changes take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

NGAUS has been busy since the federal government shutdown began Oct. 1 informing Congress and the press on the harm the lapse in appropriations is doing to National Guard readiness and Guard Soldiers and Airmen and their families.

NGAUS continues to lead the charge of National Guard and Reserve associations urging Congress to help pay service members during the government shutdown, which is now in its fourth week.

Military retirees and veterans on disability will receive the same 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment in 2026 that federal officials announced Friday for Social Security recipients.

The continuing government shutdown is uniquely hard on the Soldiers and Airmen of the National Guard. We have thousands of full-time Guardsmen nationwide who wear their uniform and rank every workday but, unlike their active-duty brothers and sisters, they have yet to be paid in October.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that active-duty service members would get paid today, despite the government shutdown that is now in its third week.

The children of active-duty and retired service members could remain with their parents’ TRICARE medical coverage until age 26 with no added premium under a bill introduced in the House and Senate.