Arlington, VA, September 14, 1999
— In its just-released policy and position papers, the Air
Force Association says that a string of broken promises has
strained the relationship between military personnel and the
nation they serve.
According to AFA’s 1999-2000
Statement of Policy, the men and women of the armed forces
must believe that the system that sustains them is fair. “It
is important to them that their relationship with the nation
they serve is one of mutual respect.”
But their confidence in the
government’s commitment to provide for them has been shaken in
recent years. The Defense Department has been unable to keep
the promise of lifetime medical care, the gap in compensation
between the military and private sector has reached 13.5
percent, and the value of the retirement system has been reduced.
AFA called the anticipated
legislative actions this year to close part of the pay gap and
to partially restore the military retirement program “long
overdue and much appreciated.” But problems with medical care
continue.
In its 1999-2000 Personnel Issue
Paper, AFA said that the Defense Department’s managed care
network, Tricare, “remains deficient in meeting the needs of
many of its military beneficiaries” and that “most of the
difficulties experienced with the program are a product of the
administrative bureaucracy’s inability to deal effectively with
members and providers.” The association called for continued
improvements in the areas of portability, fee structures, timely
payments to providers, referrals, and accessibility. The paper
also addressed other areas of concern, like military family
housing, quality of life programs, and the increased pace of
operations.
The association strongly urged the
president and the Congress to address the impact on readiness
when debating the wisdom of overseas deployments. In its
Statement of Policy, AFA was critical of “constant short-notice
deployments to distant locations for operations in which the
nation’s interest may be marginal. The sacrifice that this
demands from service members and their families has seemed to
be expended almost casually.”
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Stephen P. Aubin, Director of Policy and Communications
(202) 745-2121 [Sept. 14-15]; (703) 247-5850 [after Sept. 15]
E-mail: saubin@afa.org
The Air Force Association is an independent, nonprofit,
civilian aerospace organization whose objective is to promote
greater understanding of the role aerospace power plays in
national defense. AFA is a grass-roots organization with a
membership of 150,000. The Air Force Association was incorporated
in the District of Columbia on February 4, 1946.
