| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 6470 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To provide for outreach to build awareness among former members of the |
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| 6 | 6 | | Armed Forces of the process established pursuant to section 527 of |
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| 7 | 7 | | the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 for the |
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| 8 | 8 | | review of discharge characterizations, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | NOVEMBER21, 2023 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. P |
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| 12 | 12 | | OCAN(for himself and Mr. TAKANO) introduced the following bill; which |
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| 13 | 13 | | was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the |
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| 14 | 14 | | Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently deter- |
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| 15 | 15 | | mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions |
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| 16 | 16 | | as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned |
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| 17 | 17 | | A BILL |
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| 18 | 18 | | To provide for outreach to build awareness among former |
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| 19 | 19 | | members of the Armed Forces of the process established |
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| 20 | 20 | | pursuant to section 527 of the National Defense Author- |
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| 21 | 21 | | ization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 for the review of dis- |
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| 22 | 22 | | charge characterizations, and for other purposes. |
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| 23 | 23 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 24 | 24 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 26 | 26 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restore Honor to Serv-4 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ice Members Act of 2023’’. 5 |
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| 29 | 29 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •HR 6470 IH |
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| 31 | 31 | | SEC. 2. TIGER TEAM FOR OUTREACH TO FORMER MEM-1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | BERS. 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (a) E |
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| 34 | 34 | | STABLISHMENT OF TIGERTEAM.— 3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (1) I |
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| 36 | 36 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 4 |
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| 37 | 37 | | the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 5 |
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| 38 | 38 | | of Defense shall establish a team (commonly known 6 |
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| 39 | 39 | | as a ‘‘tiger team’’ and referred to in this section as 7 |
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| 40 | 40 | | the ‘‘Tiger Team’’) responsible for conducting out-8 |
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| 41 | 41 | | reach to build awareness among former members of 9 |
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| 42 | 42 | | the Armed Forces of the process established pursu-10 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ant to section 527 of the National Defense Author-11 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116– 12 |
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| 45 | 45 | | 92; 10 U.S.C. 1552 note) for the review of discharge 13 |
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| 46 | 46 | | characterizations by appropriate discharge boards. 14 |
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| 47 | 47 | | The Tiger Team shall consist of appropriate per-15 |
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| 48 | 48 | | sonnel of the Department of Defense assigned to the 16 |
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| 49 | 49 | | Tiger Team by the Secretary for purposes of this 17 |
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| 50 | 50 | | section. 18 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (2) T |
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| 52 | 52 | | IGER TEAM LEADER.—One of the individ-19 |
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| 53 | 53 | | uals assigned to the Tiger Team under paragraph 20 |
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| 54 | 54 | | (1) shall be a senior-level officer or employee of the 21 |
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| 55 | 55 | | Department who shall serve as the lead official of 22 |
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| 56 | 56 | | the Tiger Team (in this section referred to as the 23 |
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| 57 | 57 | | ‘‘Tiger Team Leader’’) and who shall be accountable 24 |
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| 58 | 58 | | for the activities of the Tiger Team under this sec-25 |
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| 59 | 59 | | tion. 26 |
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| 62 | 62 | | •HR 6470 IH |
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| 63 | 63 | | (3) REPORT ON COMPOSITION .—Not later than 1 |
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| 64 | 64 | | 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 2 |
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| 65 | 65 | | the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report set-3 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ting forth the names of the personnel of the Depart-4 |
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| 67 | 67 | | ment assigned to the Tiger Team pursuant to this 5 |
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| 68 | 68 | | subsection, including the positions to which such 6 |
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| 69 | 69 | | personnel are assigned. The report shall specify the 7 |
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| 70 | 70 | | name of the individual assigned as Tiger Team 8 |
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| 71 | 71 | | Leader. 9 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (b) D |
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| 73 | 73 | | UTIES.— 10 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (1) I |
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| 75 | 75 | | N GENERAL.—The Tiger Team shall con-11 |
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| 76 | 76 | | duct outreach to build awareness among veterans of 12 |
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| 77 | 77 | | the process established pursuant to section 527 of 13 |
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| 78 | 78 | | the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 14 |
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| 79 | 79 | | Year 2020 for the review of discharge characteriza-15 |
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| 80 | 80 | | tions by appropriate discharge boards. 16 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (2) C |
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| 82 | 82 | | OLLABORATION.—In conducting activities 17 |
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| 83 | 83 | | under this subsection, the Tiger Team Leader shall 18 |
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| 84 | 84 | | identify appropriate external stakeholders with 19 |
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| 85 | 85 | | whom the Tiger Team shall work to carry out such 20 |
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| 86 | 86 | | activities. Such stakeholders shall include the fol-21 |
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| 87 | 87 | | lowing: 22 |
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| 88 | 88 | | (A) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 23 |
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| 89 | 89 | | (B) The Archivist of the United States. 24 |
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| 93 | 93 | | (C) Representatives of veterans service or-1 |
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| 94 | 94 | | ganizations. 2 |
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| 95 | 95 | | (D) Such other stakeholders as the Tiger 3 |
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| 96 | 96 | | Team Leader considers appropriate. 4 |
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| 97 | 97 | | (3) I |
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| 98 | 98 | | NITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 210 days 5 |
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| 99 | 99 | | after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-6 |
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| 100 | 100 | | retary of Defense shall submit to Congress the fol-7 |
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| 101 | 101 | | lowing: 8 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (A) A plan setting forth the following: 9 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (i) A description of the manner in 10 |
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| 104 | 104 | | which the Secretary, working through the 11 |
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| 105 | 105 | | Tiger Team and in collaboration with ex-12 |
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| 106 | 106 | | ternal stakeholders described in paragraph 13 |
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| 107 | 107 | | (2), shall identify individuals who meet the 14 |
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| 108 | 108 | | criteria in section 527(b) of the National 15 |
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| 109 | 109 | | Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 16 |
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| 110 | 110 | | 2020 for review of discharge characteriza-17 |
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| 111 | 111 | | tion. 18 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (ii) A description of the manner in 19 |
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| 113 | 113 | | which the Secretary, working through the 20 |
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| 114 | 114 | | Tiger Team and in collaboration with the 21 |
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| 115 | 115 | | external stakeholders, shall improve out-22 |
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| 116 | 116 | | reach to individuals who meet the criteria 23 |
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| 117 | 117 | | in section 527(b) of the National Defense 24 |
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| 118 | 118 | | Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 for 25 |
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| 120 | 120 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 121 | 121 | | •HR 6470 IH |
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| 122 | 122 | | review of discharge characterization, in-1 |
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| 123 | 123 | | cluding through— 2 |
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| 124 | 124 | | (I) obtaining contact information 3 |
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| 125 | 125 | | on such individuals; and 4 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (II) contacting such individuals 5 |
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| 127 | 127 | | on the process established pursuant to 6 |
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| 128 | 128 | | section 527 of the National Defense 7 |
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| 129 | 129 | | Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 8 |
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| 130 | 130 | | 2020 for the review of discharge char-9 |
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| 131 | 131 | | acterizations. 10 |
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| 132 | 132 | | (B) A description of the manner in which 11 |
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| 133 | 133 | | the work described in clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-12 |
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| 134 | 134 | | paragraph (A) will be carried out, including an 13 |
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| 135 | 135 | | allocation of the work among the Tiger Team 14 |
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| 136 | 136 | | and the external stakeholders. 15 |
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| 137 | 137 | | (C) A schedule for the implementation, 16 |
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| 138 | 138 | | carrying out, and completion of the plan re-17 |
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| 139 | 139 | | quired under subparagraph (A). 18 |
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| 140 | 140 | | (D) A description of the additional fund-19 |
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| 141 | 141 | | ing, personnel, or other resources of the De-20 |
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| 142 | 142 | | partment required to carry out the plan re-21 |
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| 143 | 143 | | quired under subparagraph (A), including any 22 |
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| 144 | 144 | | modification of applicable statutory or adminis-23 |
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| 145 | 145 | | trative authorities. 24 |
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| 146 | 146 | | (4) I |
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| 147 | 147 | | MPLEMENTATION OF PLAN .— 25 |
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| 151 | 151 | | (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall im-1 |
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| 152 | 152 | | plement and carry out the plan submitted under 2 |
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| 153 | 153 | | subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) in accord-3 |
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| 154 | 154 | | ance with the schedule submitted under sub-4 |
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| 155 | 155 | | paragraph (C) of that paragraph. 5 |
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| 156 | 156 | | (B) U |
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| 157 | 157 | | PDATES.—Not less frequently than 6 |
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| 158 | 158 | | once every 90 days after the submittal of the 7 |
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| 159 | 159 | | report under paragraph (3), the Tiger Team 8 |
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| 160 | 160 | | shall submit to Congress an update on the car-9 |
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| 161 | 161 | | rying out of the plan submitted under subpara-10 |
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| 162 | 162 | | graph (A) of that paragraph. 11 |
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| 163 | 163 | | (5) F |
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| 164 | 164 | | INAL REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 12 |
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| 165 | 165 | | after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 13 |
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| 166 | 166 | | Tiger Team shall submit to the Committees on 14 |
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| 167 | 167 | | Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Rep-15 |
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| 168 | 168 | | resentatives a final report on the activities of the 16 |
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| 169 | 169 | | Tiger Team under this subsection. The report shall 17 |
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| 170 | 170 | | set forth the following: 18 |
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| 171 | 171 | | (A) The number of individuals discharged 19 |
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| 172 | 172 | | under former section 654 or a similar policy 20 |
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| 173 | 173 | | prior to the enactment of former section 654. 21 |
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| 174 | 174 | | (B) The number of individuals described in 22 |
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| 175 | 175 | | subparagraph (A) who availed themselves of a 23 |
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| 176 | 176 | | review of discharge characterization (whether 24 |
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| 177 | 177 | | through discharge review or correction of mili-25 |
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| 180 | 180 | | •HR 6470 IH |
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| 181 | 181 | | tary records) through a process established 1 |
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| 182 | 182 | | prior to the enactment of this Act. 2 |
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| 183 | 183 | | (C) The number of individuals contacted 3 |
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| 184 | 184 | | through outreach conducted pursuant to this 4 |
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| 185 | 185 | | section. 5 |
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| 186 | 186 | | (D) The number of individuals described in 6 |
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| 187 | 187 | | subparagraph (A) who availed themselves of a 7 |
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| 188 | 188 | | review of discharge characterization through the 8 |
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| 189 | 189 | | process established pursuant to section 527 of 9 |
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| 190 | 190 | | the National Defense Authorization Act for Fis-10 |
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| 191 | 191 | | cal Year 2020. 11 |
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| 192 | 192 | | (E) The number of individuals described in 12 |
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| 193 | 193 | | subparagraph (D) whose review of discharge 13 |
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| 194 | 194 | | characterization resulted in a change of charac-14 |
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| 195 | 195 | | terization to honorable discharge. 15 |
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| 196 | 196 | | (F) The total number of individuals de-16 |
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| 197 | 197 | | scribed in subparagraph (A), including individ-17 |
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| 198 | 198 | | uals also covered by subparagraph (E), whose 18 |
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| 199 | 199 | | review of discharge characterization since Sep-19 |
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| 200 | 200 | | tember 20, 2011, resulted in a change of char-20 |
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| 201 | 201 | | acterization to honorable discharge. 21 |
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| 202 | 202 | | (6) T |
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| 203 | 203 | | ERMINATION.—On the date that is 60 22 |
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| 204 | 204 | | days after the date on which the final report re-23 |
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| 205 | 205 | | quired by paragraph (5) is submitted, the Secretary 24 |
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| 206 | 206 | | shall terminate the Tiger Team. 25 |
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| 209 | 209 | | •HR 6470 IH |
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| 210 | 210 | | (c) ADDITIONALREPORTS.— 1 |
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| 211 | 211 | | (1) R |
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| 212 | 212 | | EVIEW.—The Secretary of Defense shall 2 |
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| 213 | 213 | | conduct a review of the consistency and uniformity 3 |
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| 214 | 214 | | of the reviews conducted pursuant to section 527 of 4 |
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| 215 | 215 | | the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 5 |
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| 216 | 216 | | Year 2020. 6 |
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| 217 | 217 | | (2) R |
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| 218 | 218 | | EPORTS.—Not later than 270 days after 7 |
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| 219 | 219 | | the date of the enactment of this Act, and each year 8 |
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| 220 | 220 | | thereafter for a four-year period, the Secretary of 9 |
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| 221 | 221 | | Defense shall submit to Congress a report on the re-10 |
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| 222 | 222 | | views under paragraph (1). Such reports shall in-11 |
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| 223 | 223 | | clude any comments or recommendations for contin-12 |
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| 224 | 224 | | ued actions. 13 |
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| 225 | 225 | | (d) F |
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| 226 | 226 | | ORMERSECTION654 DEFINED.—In this sec-14 |
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| 227 | 227 | | tion, the term ‘‘former section 654’’ means section 654 15 |
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| 228 | 228 | | of title 10, United States Code, as in effect before such 16 |
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| 229 | 229 | | section was repealed pursuant to Public Law 111–321 (10 17 |
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| 230 | 230 | | U.S.C. 654 note). 18 |
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| 231 | 231 | | SEC. 3. RELIEF FOR IMPACTED FORMER MEMBERS. 19 |
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| 232 | 232 | | (a) R |
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| 233 | 233 | | EVIEW OFDISCHARGE.— 20 |
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| 234 | 234 | | (1) I |
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| 235 | 235 | | N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 21 |
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| 236 | 236 | | shall review and update existing guidance to ensure 22 |
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| 237 | 237 | | that the appropriate discharge board for the military 23 |
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| 238 | 238 | | departments concerned shall review a discharge 24 |
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| 239 | 239 | | characterization of the covered member as required 25 |
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| 241 | 241 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 |
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| 242 | 242 | | •HR 6470 IH |
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| 243 | 243 | | under section 527 of the National Defense Author-1 |
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| 244 | 244 | | ization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 at the request of 2 |
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| 245 | 245 | | a covered member, or their representative, notwith-3 |
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| 246 | 246 | | standing any requirements to provide documentation 4 |
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| 247 | 247 | | necessary to initiate a review of a discharge charac-5 |
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| 248 | 248 | | terization. 6 |
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| 249 | 249 | | (2) E |
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| 250 | 250 | | XCEPTION.—The appropriate discharge 7 |
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| 251 | 251 | | board for the military departments concerned shall 8 |
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| 252 | 252 | | not be required to initiate a request for a review of 9 |
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| 253 | 253 | | a discharge as described in paragraph (1) if there is 10 |
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| 254 | 254 | | evidence available to the discharge board that is un-11 |
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| 255 | 255 | | related to the material request of the covered mem-12 |
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| 256 | 256 | | ber or the representative of the covered member but 13 |
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| 257 | 257 | | that would have reasonably substantiated the dis-14 |
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| 258 | 258 | | charge decision of the military department. 15 |
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| 259 | 259 | | (b) V |
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| 260 | 260 | | ETERANSBENEFITS.— 16 |
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| 261 | 261 | | (1) E |
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| 262 | 262 | | FFECTIVE DATE OF CHANGE OF CHARAC -17 |
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| 263 | 263 | | TERIZATION FOR VETERANS BENEFITS .—For pur-18 |
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| 264 | 264 | | poses of the provision of benefits to which veterans 19 |
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| 265 | 265 | | are entitled under the laws administered by the Sec-20 |
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| 266 | 266 | | retary of Veterans Affairs to a covered member 21 |
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| 267 | 267 | | whose discharge characterization is changed pursu-22 |
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| 268 | 268 | | ant to section 527 of the National Defense Author-23 |
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| 269 | 269 | | ization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116– 24 |
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| 270 | 270 | | 92; 10 U.S.C. 1552 note), the date of discharge of 25 |
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| 273 | 273 | | •HR 6470 IH |
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| 274 | 274 | | the member from the Armed Forces shall be deemed 1 |
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| 275 | 275 | | to be the effective date of the change of discharge 2 |
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| 276 | 276 | | characterization under that section. 3 |
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| 277 | 277 | | (2) R |
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| 278 | 278 | | ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in this 4 |
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| 279 | 279 | | subsection shall be construed to authorize any ben-5 |
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| 280 | 280 | | efit to a covered member in connection with the 6 |
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| 281 | 281 | | change of discharge characterization of the member 7 |
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| 282 | 282 | | under section 527 of the National Defense Author-8 |
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| 283 | 283 | | ization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116– 9 |
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| 284 | 284 | | 92; 10 U.S.C. 1552 note) for any period before the 10 |
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| 285 | 285 | | effective date of the change of discharge character-11 |
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| 286 | 286 | | ization. 12 |
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| 287 | 287 | | Æ |
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