If you don’t know, some exciting things have been happening at the national level. SGM Frank Yokum (Retired) has been lobbying capitol hill for Guardsman nationwide concerning what many believe an injustice. Since somewhere around 2008, some Guardsman around the nation have been deployed under 12304(b) orders. Guardsman, deployed under those orders, were not allowed the same GI bill benefits or Tricare benefits as their active duty counterparts they served with or Guardsman deployed under other orders. Missouri does not seem to have been affected by this.
Mr. Yokum and EANGUS, working with other organization, have corrected that. Now, thanks to his efforts, no Missouri First Sergeant, Command Sergeants Major, Command Chief Master Sergeant, Soldier or Airman will have to deal with this issue. Efforts to correct this is worked into the 2018 NDAA and is likely to pass. Not only did he work to correct this for future efforts, this bill is retroactive back to 2008. This will help Guardsman across the nation.
Next, a few months back, a First Sergeant ask me for an update on Tri-Care benefits. I contacted Mr. Yokum and ask him if he could make some video to help explain. I thought enlisted members might watch a quick video instead of reading a page. He made a quick video to help explain. Now, on the enlistedcorner website, it seems to be a thing. If you get the time scroll through the pages and check it out. They are short video clips that have good information that should be passed to the Enlisted force.
Again, if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Brian Kirkpatrick