Friday, May 9, 2003
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Friday, May 9, 2003 |
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Miller: Proposed GAO study of naval aviation should help keep Reserve fighter squadron at NAS Atlanta Miller also pushes bill to boost benefits for Guard, Reserve
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) earlier this week praised the Senate Armed Services Committee for directing the Government Accounting Office to study the Navy's plan to decommission Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Aviation squadrons, including the Reserve squadron at Naval Air Station Atlanta. Miller said he is confident the study, which the committee included today in its Defense Department budget authorization, will help make the case that the squadron at NAS Atlanta should not be decommissioned. The committee also is urging the Navy to postpone its plans to decommission any squadron until after the study is completed. "I am very glad the Senate Armed Services Committee has ordered this GAO study because I think it will show that our NAS Atlanta squadron is an integral and critical element of our nation's total military force," Miller said. "I also hope that the Navy will not decommission any squadron until this study is done." The President's fiscal year 2004 budget request provides no funding for the F/A-18 Reserve fighter squadron at NAS Atlanta. Last month, Miller, along with the entire Georgia delegation, sent a letter to acting Secretary of the Navy, Hansford T. Johnson, asking him to reconsider decommissioning the NAS Atlanta squadron. Miller noted that the F/A-18 HORNET squadron based at NAS Atlanta provides both Fleet Contributory Support and Crisis Response training. It is one of three Carrier Wing Reserve 20 units in the country, all of which have full schedules of operation activities. The Georgia squadron has been deployed several times this year and it is highly unusual for a squadron from such an active Air Wing to be decommissioned. "It is inconceivable that at a time when Reserve units have served so ably in Iraq that the Navy should chose to cut funding for one of its best," said Miller. On another military issue, Miller today co-sponsored a bill to boost the healthcare, pay and retirement benefits of National Guard and Reserve troops. Miller is co-chairman of the Senate Reserve Caucus. Among other things, the "National Guard and Reserves Act for the 21st Century" would give tax breaks to Guard/Reserve employers to make up the difference in civilian pay and reserve pay while troops are on active duty, and let Guard/Reserve troops enroll fulltime in TRICARE, the same health insurance offered to active-duty troops.
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