RESERVE AND GUARD RETIRED SPACE A PRIVILEGES – NOT WHAT IT IS!

by Shailes McWan, MSGT, USAFR, Retired

Many Reserve and Guard retiree’s are under the “assumption”, that they have the same privileges to fly Space A on DoD aircraft as the Active Duty retiree’s.

Which is far from the truth? 

As a Retired Reservist, I was under the same “assumption” that I had the same privileges as the AD Retiree as far as Space A travel.  So, recently, I tried to fly Space A with my spouse to Europe to visit my parents in England.

When I went to the Space A counter and requested that I be put on the Space A list for anywhere in Europe, they gave me a form to fill out with my military status.

I completed the form confident that with in a few days I would be on my way to Europe for $26!  But to my surprise I was told that I was not eligible to fly overseas.  The only places I can fly is CONUS to CONUS including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa.

And top that all off, my spouse can’t fly with me either!

Furious I left the terminal and headed home, with the mission of changing the Reserve Retired Space A status.

I researched the regulation which covers Space A travel.  The regulation has not be updated since 1998!  The DoD regulation which covers space A travel is 4515.13-R, Chapter 6 and Table 6.T1 item 32 for AD Retired and item 35 for Reserve and Guard Retired.

I believe this regulation is out of date and needs to be changed to put the Reserve and Guard Retiree’s Space A privileges to be the same as the AD Retiree’s.

If we are in the same Military with the change in the Reserve and Guard component taking on more and more Active Duty roles then why are we restricted on our privileges?

We already have restrictions on not being eligible for retire pay and medical benefits until 60 years even though we have been in combat and were fortunate enough not to be wounded in combat like other Reserve and Guard personnel who receive a “Disability Retirement”. 

After Desert Storm and the Reduction in Force and 9/11 the mission of the Reserve and Guard changed to an active duty mission.  Instead of complementing the Active Duty, we were required to serve side by side with the Active Duty.  Yet we don’t have the same benefits and privileges.  Why is that? 

Is it because the AD sees the Reserve and Guard components of the military, as “inferior” or not trained like our AD counter parts.  If that is so then why task the Reserve and Guard components units with real world wide active duty missions.

If you are a reserve or guard retiree and agree that we should have the same Space A privileges as our AD retired counter parts then contact the Secretary of Defense, your house and senate representatives so we can get the outdated DoD regulation changed to where we have the same Space A privileges as our AD Retired counter parts.

Together we can make a difference.