NEW: Air National Guard members' pensions delayed for months due to backlog. Some retirees say they have waited months to receive the financial support and health benefits owed to them after 20 years of service. (1/6)
“We don’t want to hear excuses. People retire. You account for it. You plan for it and you make sure retirees are getting their payment on time," Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, said.
In interviews, the retired service members say they are forced to endlessly navigate automated phone systems for hours and receive generic email responses when they request specific details about the state of their pensions. Retired Brig. Gen. Jeff Cashman, who served as the director of the National Guard Manpower, Personnel and Services until 2017, told NBC News that the technology element remains a major hurdle, calling it a “handicap” and “shamefully outdated.”
The Air Reserve Personnel Center, which manages the records of Air National Guard and Reserve service members and handles retirement requests, said in a news release last week that it allocated additional manpower in February “to reduce the inventory of retirement applications for Guard and Reserve members turning 60 years of age.”
Sometimes technicians simply can’t log in, an issue that can last for days but which the center has little control over because it is a system managed by a separate entity.But she said that after a self-audit in October prompted by the delays, the personnel center has worked to streamline the process by reallocating its workflow and pursue elements of automation, which are currently in their testing phase.
Paul Blanzy is one veteran who is still waiting. He served two tours in Afghanistan before he retired from the Air National Guard in 2013 after 30 years in the military. Because of his tours overseas, he is eligible for retirement early — which should have been more than six months ago.
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