WASHINGTON — Over one-third of the 2.12 million members of the U.S. armed forces are members of the reserves and National Guard.
But even though they get deployed to the same global hot spots, do the same work, and face the same dangers, a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that they aren't getting their fair share.
The GAO found that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) approved 11% to 20% fewer initial disability compensation claims for reservists and National Guard than for active troops.
The report says that from 2012 through 2021, the VA approved 66% of claims from reserve component members, compared to 82% of claims from active-duty personnel.
That's a difference of 16 percentage points.
"I think there should be some concern in an attempt to understand why these differences exist and what the agencies are doing about it. We asked the VA and they were not aware of the difference," said Elizabeth Curda, a Director for the GAO's Education, Workforce, and Income Security team, in an interview Tuesday with 13 News Now.
Curda continued: "The bottom line is that the National Guard and members of the reserves are being deployed increasingly the same as the active-duty members of the military and have equal chance of sustaining injury or illness in the line of duty. And the difference in the approval rates for claims suggest that these groups aren't being treated equally."
The GAO makes 14 recommendations for improvement, including that DOD and VA develop guidance for reserve component members on documenting health conditions.