Across the nation, National Guard and Reserve service members answer the call to serve, stepping away from civilian life to support domestic and international missions in times of need and national emergency. In most instances they perform duties nearly indistinguishable from those of their active-duty counterparts, yet they often do so without a clear picture of the pay and benefits associated with their service. The duty status system for reservists is incredibly fractured: nearly 30 separate duty status classifications currently govern the Guard and Reserve, a result of decades of patchwork authorities pieced together since World War II. They often are ordered to shift from one duty status to another depending on several factors, including the purpose of the duty, the authority under which the duty is conducted, the type of duty, and how the duty is being funded.
The complex duty status system not only affects readiness; it has big impacts on pay, benefits, budgets, and command. Reservists, depending on their specific duty status, can receive different pay and allowances despite performing nearly identical work. Similarly, moving from one duty status to another during the same activation can interrupt the benefits that service members count on. Having so many statuses to operate under also leads to budgeting difficulties, since funds are allocated to outdated categories that don’t reflect the work a reservist may be undertaking. These factors ultimately lead to complications when commanders move to activate reservists and guardsmen, forcing them to navigate administrative minutiae when they should be responding to emergencies.
For Country Caucus members Reps. Gil Cisneros and Jack Bergman, and Sens. Jerry Moran and Jacky Rosen have introduced the Duty Status Reform Act, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6976" target="_self"><ins>H.R. 6976</ins></a> / <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4801" target="_self"><ins>S. 4801</ins></a>. The bills reform the piecemeal approaches of the past 80 years. This reform would consolidate the 30 disparate duty statuses into four easily navigable categories: 
<ul>
<li>Contingency Duty - Active service in which a member is involved in operations such as military action, responding to a national emergency or natural disaster, and post-deployment activities.</li>
<li>Training and Support - Active service which does not involve a contingency operation. This includes required training, administrative assignments, support to reserve units, and members reported missing. </li>
<li>Reserve Component Duty - Blocks of time dedicated to training and support to prepare individuals and units for future mobilization.</li>
<li>Remote Assignments - Online learning and duties assigned that are to be completed virtually. </li>
</ul>
These categories provide clarity by linking compensation to the duty category, ensuring continuity of benefits by providing consistent pay and benefits when members are activated within the same duty statuses, and allowing greater command flexibility by making it easier for commanders to call members to duty. With Honor Action has endorsed these bills.
In 2025, the RAND Corporation released a report titled “<a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA959-1.html" target="_self"><ins>Reserve Component Duty Status Reform</ins></a>” that outlined a new framework for activating and compensating reservists. Their study found that the most effective solution was four broad categories of duty statuses, as outlined above, that would enable service members to maintain the same pay and benefits as they carried out assignments in one category, even as they moved from one purpose to another. 
The FY27 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that passed out of the House Armed Services Committee included language in the accompanying report expressing concern about the complexity and administrative burden of the current duty status system. This “Directive Report Language” is in line with a major priority that With Honor Action flagged in its <a href="https://withhonor.org/news/letter-to-senate-detailing-fy27-ndaa-priorities/" target="_self"><ins>letter to Congressional Armed Services leadership</ins></a>. The report language directs the Department of Defense (DoD) to review the RAND report and to brief the House Armed Services Committee on estimated cost savings, current barriers to implementation, and how the recommended changes would ensure equitable pay and benefits. The inclusion of this report language is a positive forest step toward the Duty Status Reform Act’s eventual passage.
Duty Status Reform’s growing coalition reflects a simple truth: reform is not a partisan issue, but it is a national security one, and leading organizations are making their voices heard. Alongside With Honor Action, the Duty Status Reform Act has been endorsed by the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS), the Reserve Organization of America (ROA), the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS), and the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). With bipartisan, bicameral legislation now being considered by Congress, our Armed Forces are on the brink of enacting much-needed reforms to an antiquated and confusing system, providing our reservists and their commanders with a modern, streamlined system needed to maintain our readiness.

Tell Congress to Pass the Duty Status Reform Act (H.R. 6976 / S. 4801)

As your constituent, I am writing to urge your support for the Duty Status Reform Act (H.R. 6976 / S. 4801).

This legislation, led by Reps. Gil Cisneros (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI) in the House, and Senators Moran (R-KS) and Rosen (D-NV) in the Senate, would consolidate the 30 current duty statuses for National Guard members and Reservists into four clear categories, streamline the activation process, and link compensation directly to duty status, ensuring faster activations and consistent, uninterrupted pay and benefits for reservists.

Reserve component members are a critical part of our nation's defense, whether deployed abroad or responding to emergencies at home. The current duty status system under which our reservists are called to active duty is complicated, adds layers of unnecessary bureaucracy, and often leads to delays and disparities in pay and benefits, impacting the readiness of our reserve component.

Please support the With Honor Action-endorsed Duty Status Reform Act to ensure our Reserve Components can operate efficiently and effectively.