Supporting the Legacy Guardian Recognition Act
September 11, 2024
On behalf of the Air & Space Force Association’s (“AFA”) over 120,000 Members, the AFA strongly supports Sec.522 of the House version of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (“FY’25 NDAA”) and respectfully requests its incorporation into the final version of the FY’25 NDAA.
This Section, which is nearly identical to H.R.5071 – the Legacy Guardian Recognition Act, will provide the Secretary of the Air Force (“SECAF”) with the authority to designate certain separated members of the Air Force as honorary separated members of the Space Force. As the defense authorization committees well know, the Space Force was created in 2019. However, for decades the Air Force was primarily responsible for the Space Force mission. That means countless servicemembers who had served their country in the support of space missions are not formally considered members of the Space Force. To remedy this, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) authored H.R.5071, which provides the SECAF the authority to “prescribe regulations that authorize an eligible individual to be designated as an honorary separated member of the Space Force” and “referred to as a ‘Legacy Guardian.”
Rep. Bacon’s legislation is a common-sense solution to an emerging issue. It resolves a matter which many servicemembers, past and present, have raised. Accordingly, AFA respectfully requests its inclusion in the final version of the FY’25 NDAA.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
