Jonn recently wrote an article about Senator Lindsey Graham’s military service, and how the WaPo was questioning same.
Ever since, there seems to have be a bit of confusion about Senator Lindsey Graham’s military career. In particular, his service has raised a number of questions here – and has garnered a rather large amount of negative comment.
I was curious, so I decided to research the situation. Time to kick the anthill; here are the facts.
1. Wikipedia – which I’ll trust in this case to be correct – says Graham graduated from law school in 1981. He received a USAF commission in 1982. He served on active duty as a USAF JAG from 1982-1989, including 4 years in Germany. He then served in the SC ANG from 1989-1995; and in the USAFR from 1995 until his retirement from the USAFR earlier this year.
2. Graham has been a member of Congress continuously since 1995.
3. DoDD 1200.07, defines the term “key employee”. Further, para E2.1.4.1, specifies that a Member of Congress is by DoD policy designated a “key employee” of the Federal government.
4. DoDD 1200.07 also defines the members of the Standby Reserve, as follows (para E2.1.9):
The Standby Reserve consists of personnel who are maintaining their military affiliation without being in the Ready Reserve, but have been designated “key civilian employees,” or have a temporary hardship or disability. Those individuals are not required to perform training and are not part of the Ready Reserve. The Standby Reserve is a pool of trained individuals who may be mobilized as needed to fill manpower needs in specific skills. The Standby Reserve consists of the active status list and the inactive status list categories.
5. DoDI 1200.15, para 5.1.3, mandates that “key employees” who are members of the Reserve Components be transferred to the Standby Reserve. DoD 1200.07 further specifies that such individuals will be placed on the Standby Reserve – Active Status List (SR-ASL).
6. DoDD 1235.09 describes organization and management of the Standby Reserve. In particular, para 2.b. states that individuals on the SR-ASL may participate in military activities in both active duty and inactive status, but also appears to specify that any such service will be for “points only” – e.g., without pay and allowances.
7. Finally, 10 USC 12306 appears to allow individuals on the SR-ASL to request to serve temporarily on active duty in an imminent danger zone. With the approval of their Service Secretary, they may receive orders to do so.
The Standby Reserve and how it works (and what it does) is not something that’s exactly common knowledge. I’d run across it some years ago, and remembered it existed and had something to do with key personnel. But I didn’t really know much about it (or had forgotten the pertinent details) until I looked it up again in connection with this flap. If you’re curious about the Standby Reserve, this article from the US Army Human Resources Command gives a pretty good overview. I’m reasonably certain that all services handle their SR-ASL reasonably similarly, so it should be pertinent to any RC element.
. . .
So, to recap: Graham has been a member of Congress since 1995. He was an ANG officer – with 12+ years TIS, probably a Major – when he entered Congress. When he was sworn in as a Member of Congress, DoD policy allowed him to retain his commission (and transfer to the USAFR) – but required him to be placed in the Standby Reserve.
Regardless of what you think about Congress, serving as a Member of Congress is definitely a full-time job. (If you doubt that, find a copy of P. J. O’Rourke’s book Parliament of Whores and read the chapter where he describes a typical Member’s daily schedule – usually nonstop from 7:30AM or so until after 9PM most days, choreographed to the minute much like that of a GO.) We’d expect someone in a senior elected position in the Federal government devote the vast majority of their time and effort to the job he/she was elected to do, so that’s as it should be.
DoD also recognizes that being in a key Federal/state/industry position (some key positions are in industry) may preclude normal participation in Reserve duties. DoD has also decided that allowing Reservists who also serve in one of these key positions to continue their Reserve service is in DoD’s best interests. That’s almost certainly one reason that the Standby Reserve was created.
Finally, Graham’s placement in the Standby Reserve wasn’t his choice – DoD told him, “Standby Reserve, or resign your commission.” So Graham stayed in the USAFR, and played by the rules DoD dictated.
My take is that Graham seems to have done what he could to remain as active as time permitted in the Reserve Components. I’m guessing he “dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s” with respect to getting SECAF approval for all of his time spent in military training/active duty while serving in Congress. In fact, IMO he seems to have gone out of his way to do considerably more than was required for someone in his position.
For what it’s worth: if the dates listed in this article are correct (hat tip to TAH commenter AZtoVA), Graham appears to have considerably more than enough service in Afghanistan to qualify for the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and thus legitimately call himself an “Afghan veteran”. If those dates are correct for his military service time in Afghanistan, I counted over 100 days of nonconsecutive service in-country. (He’s got over 30 days service in Iraq as well, albeit nonconsecutively.) And if I’m reading the DoD regs correctly, since 1995 he did it without receiving anything but retirement points – e.g., no military pay and allowances.
I’ve never met Senator Graham. I don’t much care for some of his positions and recent actions, either. But he in my book he served honorably in the USAFR, and appears to have done far more than he was obligated (or would be expected) to do for someone in his position. The WaPO article attacking his service was IMO nothing more than a biased political hit piece.
And I’ll also say this: in my book, people who denigrated his service in comments here IMO owe Senator Graham an apology.
