Protecting troops’ benefits in an evolving government | Defense News Weekly Full Episode 8.23.25

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If you're a member of our nation's armed forces, the Department of Defense, or if your family

is, we'd be proud to serve you too. On this episode of Defense News Weekly, we talk with the Military Officers Association

of America to hear about the topics of concern to their constituency

As a service organization dedicated to protecting and advocating for military members' earned

benefits, they represent a wide collection of service members and veterans. We talked to Moa's

president and CEO about the issues he's hearing about from his membership. Coming to you from

Washington, D.C., it's the latest in news and ysis from the Pentagon to the platoon

here on Defense News Weekly. Welcome back to Defense News Weekly. I'm Leo Shane, Capitol Hill Bureau Chief for Military Times, coming to you today from our studio in Washington, D.C

We're in a congressional break right now, which gives us a chance to step back for a moment and look at what issues are moving on Capitol Hill and what priorities remain stalled there

To help with that, we're sitting down today with retired Air Force Lieutenant General Brian Kelly

President and CEO of Military Officers Association of America, an organization that advocates for military members' earned benefits

Brian, welcome to the studio. Thanks for having me, Leo. So give me a report card on how your organization is doing this year

with its efforts to bring these military issues to light. It feels like it's been a frustrating year in a lot of ways

with some of the back and forth on the budget, with a lot of the gridlock. I know a few things have started to move, but we haven't seen any big legislative packages

So how do you feel like things are going right now? Yeah, I think first, Leo, you know, for us at the Military Officers Association of America

we're what I would say is both a military service organization and a veteran service organization

So we have our hand in both sides of the discussion, right? Sort of from the time you raise your hand until you get a VA headstone, MOA's involved in doing those things

Not unlike other times, I would say, when it's a transition year, it's always tough, right

We've seen this before, and so some of this is not new. when you have a transition year, new administration, some new priorities, things to go through

You know, we went through some, I would say, some adjustments with everybody when you had the Department of Government Efficiency

working efficiency drills and things going on. You had new budget things going on from a funding perspective

So I think there was a little bit of a slow start to everything going on. And there was a lot of concern, I think, in the community, right

What's going to happen over at the Veterans Administration? What's going to happen at DOD with all these things going on

When our position at MOA, as we looked at everything, is the most important thing is to get to our mission

As you said, our mission is preserve and protect earned benefits. And so, you know, if they're going to find efficiencies in the government, you know, who wouldn't be for that

You know, as a taxpayer, you're going to be for that. I spent 34 years in the Air Force. I saw plenty of waste when I was there

We just want to make sure that those things didn't happen on the backs of our veterans and didn't happen on the backs of our military members and families

So we watched and paid attention. And when those things are going through, you sort of see changes that happen, right

You start out with 80,000 cuts at the Veterans Administration, and then you're down to 30,000 cuts

and now you're in the 10,000 range that the secretary's talking about now. So we tried not to overreact to those things, but really pay attention to, are there any impacts to earned benefits

and how do we make sure when we talk to the folks in Congress, we're focused on those earned benefits

And what we've been able to see as we advocate for all ranks, all services that are out there

the members of Congress, when they get through the beginnings of the transition, they're still willing to talk to you

We're still willing to have those conversations, and they're focused on big things like we are. How do they maintain quality of life

How do they maintain transparency and support for their veterans? Because it's that trust factor that comes across when they're dealing with transparency and support

that really helps make sure that as you go from administration to administration and cycle to cycle, those things happen

So I wouldn't say it was impossible, but every time you go through a change in administration, not just this one

every one that you see, you always go through this sort of period of time. And now we're starting to see some opportunities and some good discussions that are going on

So what are you seeing progress on? Because I know those conversations have been going on

I know while the White House has taken a lot of the attention, you're still talking to the folks in Congress

They're still getting that message. So what what are you feeling good about right now? And what areas are you are you looking and saying, all right, we may really get to somewhere by the end of the year on it

On the veterans side of the House with the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the House Veteran Affairs Committee

They've been focused on how do they make sure people get access in their communities and expand community access

So we've seen things like the Veterans Caregiver Reduction and Reemployment Act, right

to make sure that caregivers who are out there are going to get the kinds of education and resources that they need to continue to go forward

We've seen Access Act, the access bill that's going through, making sure that folks get access for mental health and other specific conditions that I think a lot of us in the VSO community wanted to see, right

So these are positive things that are coming through. Other opportunities really to increase that trust and transparency

And I would sort of say, Leo, their follow-ups from, you know, the previous Congresses, right

They're making good on the promises they had from before, doing things that expand the PACT Act and make sure that we follow up on the PACT Act in those areas

Priorities for MOA, I think priorities for a lot of the veterans community that we're starting to see

On the military side of the House, big follow-up and big support from the work that was done on quality of life before from the House Armed Services Committee in last year's work, right

I think when you look at quality of life, its benefit for DOD is really, really about making sure that you get retention and you get that into readiness, right

They know I think that quality of life issues that are worked on return their benefit for the DOD in terms of the readiness they get Can you sustain people from a re perspective Can you retain those folks make sure that they focused on their work

and not focused on what's going on at home so that you get that bump in readiness? We see that, right, in what's going on in the NDAs

what's been proposed on both the House and Senate side of the National Defense Authorization Act

And so, you know, you don't get everything every year, but we do see, even though there was a lot of turmoil and a lot of things going on

we see progress being made. We're going to come back to the military quality of life stuff in a minute, but I wanted to talk about the Major Richard Starr Act, which I know is something that MOA has been working on for quite some time, has been frustratingly stalled

So talk about, give us a little summary of what that is and then talk about where things stand right now

Yeah, I think when you talk Richard Starr Act, there's two words that come to mind, cost and precedence that have been the stumbling blocks in the past

You know, I think when you look at the impetus for it, it just makes so much sense, right

You have 54,000 combat injured veterans who are out there. And if you think about all of the people who raised their hand and volunteer, for the nation, the most important people at the front of the line ought to be the folks who are injured in combat, right

The people who have gone out and put their lives on the line. And we as a nation want to make sure we take care of those folks who are in there

The stumbling block has really been around cost. And I would say even beyond cost has been around precedence

Concerns that if you do something here on Richard Starr, are you going to have other concurrent receipt items, items where you're working on a retirement and you're working on a disability

are they going to come to the forefront and cause you more bills down the line? And so I think that's been the stumbling block

What we've been able to talk about, and I think people see, is who should be at the front of the line

Who should be at the front of the line are the combat injured, right? The folks who are out there who, through no fault of their own, aren't able to make a full retirement in the military

And so their retired money that they've earned in there is their retirement money. Their disability is a result of their injuries that they received in combat

And having an offset between them is really, really unjust. And so I think there's an opportunity, again, as there's been in the last, we've tried this a few times, but as they go into conference, let's introduce something

Let's introduce an amendment through the Senate into the National Defense Authorization Act to take care of the Richard Starr Act

And I think there are a number of members who have signed up and hopefully we're getting some momentum

I know we've been pushing hard and no other VSOs and MSOs have been pushing hard, but it's time to get the Richard Starr Act across the line

I know they're going to be talking about that defense authorization bill when they get back in a couple weeks here, but we're also staring down the possibility of another partial government shutdown, more budget fights. How do you cut through that? Obviously, that's going to take precedent, but how do you make sure that these issues aren't ones that just get swept to the side while these other major budget fights are taking up all the auctions

Yeah, first, I don't think you can get through it completely, right? They're going to be definitely focused on budget and making sure that they don't have a lapse in appropriation of those things

But there's two things that we do, I think, that are pretty effective. So the first one is we're going to first, when they come back, remind them that if there's a lapse in appropriation

they have got to make sure those service members who are in uniform and their families get paid during the lapse in appropriation

And then when they do a continuing resolution, they've got to make sure they include all the right provisions to make sure they make up and get those folks paid

And that includes, for us, Leo, all uniformed services. So the Coast Guard, NOAA, and the U.S. Public Health Service, different committees

But those folks who are doing great things on behalf of the nation, they won't get paid either, right

They need to make sure that they take care of those folks and those folks get paid. So that's the first thing we do

The second thing we do is during the break, knowing this is going to happen when they come back, we engage our local members

We engage our grassroots folks and say, Congress might be on a break, but they're home in your districts

It's not time for everybody to be on a break. Go see your members of Congress

Go talk to them so that issues that we're concerned about are on the front of their minds when they return back to D.C

And we asked our members to go out and talk about three issues. The first one was Richard Starr Act

And so we sent our grassroots folks out to all the districts and had them talk about Richard Starr

We asked them to talk about access to health care, making sure that our military families get access in certain situations that are not always available to them

And the last one we talked to them about was spouse employment. The work opportunity tax credit

There's an opportunity when we deal with the tax codes to make sure that we can add this work opportunity tax credit so that an employer who's out there can get a benefit, can get a tax break, if you will, when they employ a military spouse

As we know, as those folks move from location to location, very difficult for them from time to time

And that work opportunity tax credit would make a difference. So we did that before they came back

And now as they come back, we're hoping those are on the front of their mind and we can reengage again. Okay. Well, listen, let's take a quick break here. When we come back, we'll talk more about

MOA's Total Force Plus initiative and more priorities for the military community. Stay tuned

Welcome back to Defense News Weekly, where we're talking with Military Officers Association of

America President Brian Kelly. Brian, talk to me about the Total Force initiative that you've got

coming up this fall. What is that and what's it all about? Yeah, Leo, you know, when we look at

what we do as an organization at MOA from our advocacy work and our philanthropy, we looked

around and said, hey, we want to do more. And the idea here is we wanted to do more by creating a

conference opportunity for collaboration. How do we bring the government, DOD and VA

how do we bring experts from industry? How do we bring experts from academia

other organizations together to talk about those issues that are relevant to people and their

families, right? Not a conversation about all the equipment, really important, tanks, planes

guns, bullets, all those things, but let's talk about the thing that really powers the fence

Let's talk about people making sure that DOD and VA can do their jobs well so that somebody's

experience from the time they serve in DOD transition until the time they're in Veterans

Administration all the way through a headstone is something that they will tell the next person

when somebody asks them, hey, should I serve? They say yes, right? That's our goal is to make sure

that that experience is positive enough to do that, and this Total Force Plus conference is

going to give us an opportunity to have that collaboration, have those conversations. Have you seen any other places where these groups are coming together It feels like an unusual not unusual but a very logical way to bring these folks together But I don know that it really been done We really haven seen it We seen pockets of it in places

You know, there are different places that talk about transition and there's places that talk about, you know

maybe, you know, when I was serving in the Air Force, I would go to a conference and the people topic would be at the end of the discussion, maybe one or two

Right. They have it totally focused on people for two days. Right. 28 and 29 October over at the National Convention Center

It's going to be, I think, a first-of-its-kind kind of thing, and we're excited for it. Not a lot of time left for you to be planning it here either

Got a lot of work to do. No, we're getting close. We've got about 69 days out, and we've got to go

So talk to me about how the military is doing right now

with some of those quality-of-life issues. I know last year we had the big House Armed Services Committee

that really looked into daycare, looked into pay, looked into housing issues and everything

There were adjustments. there have been things, but, you know, as an advocate, take a step back

How is the military doing? Have they been able to sustain that? I know they've funded the pay raises

but are we thinking about it in the right way, or is that going to be part of the conversation of

hey, it's not just piecemeal implementing things, but actually getting everyone, you know

with the right momentum headed in the right direction? Yeah, I think last year we made a lot of headway, but as you said, it's not the end

and you're sort of not in a full strategy. How do you get the conversation, and I think Total Force Plus will provide that for them

How do you get a full conversation on all those things, how those things fit together? One of the things that we hear about a lot now from our families is just the financial burdens

particularly around permanent change of station and child care, child care being a big one

You know, I think the DOD recognizes, we all recognize there's a national shortage

But because it is such an important force multiplier and important readiness thing for DOD

you know, the conversations are going to be around, like, how do you put new test cases in place

And there's some test cases in the NDA this year. there's probably some funding conversations, right

Can you afford to pay child care workers less than you pay somebody at a McDonald's working at a McDonald's

The answer is probably no, right? If you want to have good child care, you probably have to start paying for the service

and recognizing what the importance of child care workers are to delivering that capability

Do you feel like, I mean, these are not new conversations, especially for Moa

You guys have been advocating for these kind of issues for years. Do you feel like there's been a change in just how it's being approached, though

Because there has been a lot of rhetoric in recent years about the importance of the soldier, importance of the family, importance of the service member

But when we get into those budget conversations on Capitol Hill, it does get into the, hey, personnel costs are eating into modernization

Personnel costs are eating into, you know, procurement things. So is there a real change

Is it just lip service or are they really thinking about, no, we've got to invest in the family

I think they're thinking about it from a budget and resource perspective

but I also think they're thinking about it from an alternate approach perspective

like how can we do things? And one of the things I like about Total Force Plus and what we're going to do at Total Force Plus

is we don't want to have the echo chamber complaint conversations, right? We all know there's child care shortage

We don't need somebody to get up and say we're short child care or we don't have enough funds to take care of whatever it is on the people side

We want to talk solutions. So the motto for the conference is advancing solutions for the military and veteran community

And we think we're bringing people together that are going to talk new solutions, are going to talk collaboration in that way

The budget's not unlimited, Leo, right? Everybody has to get it out of there. But we have to make sure at the end of the day that you can't take the shortage

You can't take the cheap way on the people side of the business. If you have an all-volunteer force and you're trying to sustain that, I think everybody realizes that you have to make sure it's resourced properly

You guys are in the unique position, you mentioned this earlier, of not just advocating for veterans, not just advocating for the military community, but doing both

That's been one of the struggles over the years is unifying those two departments. They are two giant departments that have separate budgets, that have separate things

If you can bring them together in this way, do you feel like you can help break down some of those that siloing, some of that separate thinking in that

That's the hope, and that's part of the strategy, right, is we'd love to see greater cooperation

And we were really, I think, happy to see the cooperation in the memo signed out by Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Collins about cooperation this year

I think Mo has asked both of them, hey, this is fantastic. How do you institutionalize it so it lasts past Hegseth and Collins, right

It has to be something that DOD and VA constantly work at from administration to administration

because that handoff and that cooperation is where a lot of really good things could happen

Okay, listen, time for one more break. When we come back, our financial expert returns with some tips on buying versus leasing a car

when you need a new vehicle. And later, we'll wrap up our conversation with Brian Kelly

from the Military Officers Association of America. Welcome back. On this edition of Money Minute, Jeanette Mack from Navy Federal Credit Union offers some tips on financing options when you need a new car

If you're in the market for a car, you might be faced with a choice to lease or to buy

They both have their pros and cons, but ultimately it comes down to your budget, your driving habits, and how long you plan on keeping the car

Leasing usually means lower monthly payments with the added perk of driving a newer car with the latest features

It can be a good fit if you don't drive long distances and can keep your mileage in between $10,000 to $12,000 a year

The drawback is you don't own the vehicle, and you could be faced with paying fees for exceeding mileage, extra wear and tear, or ending the lease early

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When we come back, the conclusion of our conversation with MOA President and CEO Brian Kelly

Don't go away. Welcome back to Defense News Weekly, where we're talking with Brian Kelly from MOA, Military Officer Association of America

I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the NDAA. This is the major defense policy bill that comes out every year, always something that you guys are tracking and something that's got a lot of major priorities

What are you looking at this year as points that you're advocating for and things that you think will get in there

Yeah, I think to follow a little bit on our conversation about transition, Leo, there's some good provisions there that help not only while currently serving but also help the transition and veteran piece

One of those is the potential inclusion of veteran service organizations, VSOs in the transition process, right

Having them go in and help military members with transition. I think the entire community has been pushing for more access for a while

And I think that's really going to benefit the service member as they transition and move from DOD to VA

I'm pushing for a while. I mean, transition issues have been a point of frustration for a long time

And, you know, a lot of folks, when they're getting out, just want to get out, want to move on

But then later on, they don't have that connection or that knowledge base. So that really has been a point of friction for a while

Yeah, I think, you know, Secretary Collins, when we got to talk to him, I know he said a few times, his best feeder is if DOD does a good job in transition

And DOD says their best feeder for recruitment is if VA does a good job taking care of when they get there, right

So this opportunity to improve that transition, I think, is really important. Another one in there is this idea that the longitudinal exposure record

this is the record that says when you've been exposed to toxins and those kind of things, is strengthened

There's a provision in the NDA that would strengthen that and require DOD to make sure that while currently serving

they are documenting all those exposures. That will really help another veteran, right

As that veteran transitions and goes over, all the great work was already done on the PACT Act is benefited by having a good transition record and an understanding of when people were exposed and where they were exposed

So it doesn't take as long to get them help once they become part of the Veterans Administration. It's been interesting because the PACT Act was such a major bill, such a transformational thing

But a lot of the focus has been on looking backwards, right? Making sure the right folks are getting benefits, trying to figure out and everything

Not so much on the looking forward aspects of it. But, you know, now we're starting to see some of that

OK, now that we have the infrastructure there, now that we know how we're going to take care of folks, let's do a better job of watching where the toxic exposures are

Let's do a better job of trying to figure out what comes next. Yeah. You know, and Moa and DAV did some work that we call the weight ending the weight report, which is really about looking forward

It's about how do we make sure that as we document things going forward that somebody doesn't have to wait 34 or 35 years

As you go backwards and fix somebody from Agent Orange or you go back to an exposure that happened in Desert Storm, that they're not waiting 34 years

They should be waiting months during their transition before they could help. And so this idea to look forward and ending the wait, I think, is a powerful thing

And to see some of that in the NDAA this year, I think, is a real boost for us

You mentioned earlier when I brought up the possibility of a potential government shutdown, the importance of making sure that there's pay protections, not just for the four services in the Pentagon, but for the Coast Guard and for the other services and everything there

We always cover this extensively. We're always looking ahead because this is part of the politics of it and everything

When does it become a, not a panic point, but a concern point for your members and for the families

I mean, I don't want to always be sounding the alarm early, but, you know, a month out, hey, we might be having some pay problems is a serious thing

So how do you balance the letting folks know that this is on the horizon with also the reality of this is politics

It goes back and forth and there are contingencies in there usually to protect the military

Yeah, I think the challenge is you can't wait. Right. Like so you can become numb to it. Right. This happens every year

And you say, OK, well, I'm not going to be prepared this year. I'm not going to get ready. Well, the truth of the matter is it takes DOD and others several weeks to get ready to make that transition and go into a lapse in appropriation, make sure the files are right

And for a family, right, you can't decide on Friday that you're going to not be paid on Monday, right

You have to start planning ahead. And so we will sound the alarm when they come back

You know, as soon as they get back in session, we'll all be talking to them about

let's make sure there's not a lapse in appropriation. If you're going to, let's make sure you're taking care of these families and these service members

because they just don't have the time to wait until the end. They have to be prepared ahead of time and they have to be thinking about it

Even though, you know, they're probably callous to it and here we go again kind of attitude

you can't turn your head away. Well, and that is the concern, as this is how government's been funded. There is that jaded nature of, oh, they always do this, they always wait until the last minute, but then this could be the time that the daycare starts shutting down or the MWR starts shutting down or the paychecks stop

And I know there's all those other complicated issues, so you don't want to sound the alarm too early, but you've got to make sure they're aware of it

You're better safe than sorry on that one. Okay. A lot of stuff coming up, and I'll be bothering you more as that NDA starts to get through here

So thank you so much for sitting down with us today. That's all the time we've got for today

I want to thank you again for the conversation. And I know we're going to be covering all of these things as we go along

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