I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5354 
To enhance the benefits and protections for members of the reserve compo-
nents of the Armed Forces who are called or ordered to extended active 
duty, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 9, 2004 
Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon (for herself, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. 
SANDLIN, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. PAYNE, 
Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. HOLT, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 
STARK, Mr. STUPAK, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. BISHOP of Geor-
gia, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. BERRY, Mr. BELL, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Ms. 
KILPATRICK, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. ROSS, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. 
LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. 
MCNULTY, Mr. WU, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. HONDA, Mr. LARSEN 
of Washington, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. PASTOR, 
Mr. KIND, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, 
Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. 
SERRANO, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the 
Committees on Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce, 
Ways and Means, and Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To enhance the benefits and protections for members of 
the reserve components of the Armed Forces who are 
called or ordered to extended active duty, and for other 
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Guard and 
Reserve Bill of Rights Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. PERIODS OF DEPLOYMENTS OF RESERVES OVER-
SEAS. 
(a) UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND DEPLOY-
MENTS.— 
(1) LIMITATION.—During a period when there 
is in effect a policy of assigning units or members 
of one or more of the active components of the 
Armed Forces to duty in the area of responsibility 
of the United States Central Command for a speci-
fied period of time of not less than one year, the 
Secretary of Defense shall provide that the length of 
such an assignment in the case of members of the 
reserve components of the Armed Forces may not 
exceed the length of such period for the cor-
responding active component reduced by the period 
of time between the date of entry of the reserve com-
ponent members onto active duty and the date of the 
deployment of such members for such assignment. 
(2) TRANSITION.—Paragraph (1) applies to 
members of reserve components assigned to duty in
the area of responsibility of the United States Cen-
tral Command on or after the date of the enactment 
of this Act and to such members assigned to such 
duty before such date who as of the date of the en-
actment of this Act have more than 90 days remain-
ing in such assignment. 
(b) COMMUNICATION OF LENGTHS OF DEPLOYMENT 
PERIODS
TO RESERVES
IN OPERATION IRAQI FREE-
DOM.— 
(1) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following 
findings: 
(A) Members of all components of the 
Armed Forces, active and reserve, exhibit a re-
markable commitment and willingness to serve 
their country in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 
other United States military efforts around the 
world and, in doing so, frequently face grave 
risks and difficulties. 
(B) While the members of the Armed 
Forces have clearly and consistently dem-
onstrated their dedication to duty, much uncer-
tainty has arisen among them about the lengths 
of their deployments and when they will be re-
turned to their loved ones. This confusion im-
pairs our troops’ morale and places undue
strain on their families and their civilian em-
ployers. 
(C) Fairness to the men and women of the 
Armed Forces deployed overseas requires that 
the Department of Defense— 
(i) 
have 
clear 
policies 
regarding 
lengths of deployment periods; and 
(ii) communicate these policies and 
other deployment-related information to 
them and their families. 
(D) While many military units were de-
ployed months before Operation Iraqi Freedom 
was launched on March 19, 2003, the Depart-
ment of Defense did not announce a policy 
about the length of deployments until August 
2003. 
(E) Even after the Department of Defense 
issued its so-called ‘‘one year boots-on-the- 
ground’’ policy regarding lengths of deployment 
periods, many of the members of units deployed 
overseas in Operation Iraqi Freedom learned 
shortly before their scheduled return dates that 
their deployments would be extended for 
months beyond the one-year period provided 
under that policy.
(2) REPORT.— 
(A) REQUIREMENT
FOR
REPORT.—Not 
later than March 1, 2005, the Secretary of De-
fense shall submit to the Committees on Armed 
Services of the Senate and the House of Rep-
resentatives a report on Department of Defense 
policies governing the length of deployment pe-
riods applicable to members of reserve compo-
nents of the Armed Forces in connection with 
Operation Iraqi Freedom, and on the commu-
nication between the Department of Defense 
and reserve component personnel and their 
families regarding the length of the deployment 
periods. 
(B) CONSULTATION
REQUIREMENT.—In 
preparing the report under this section the Sec-
retary shall consult with the Chairman and 
other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 
with such other officials as the Secretary con-
siders appropriate. 
(C) CONTENT.—The report under this 
paragraph shall contain a discussion of the 
matters described in subparagraph (A), includ-
ing the following matters:
(i) The process by which the Depart-
ment of Defense determined its policy re-
garding the length of deployment periods. 
(ii) The reason that no such policy 
was in place before Operation Iraqi Free-
dom began. 
(iii) A comparison of the policy during 
Operation Iraqi Freedom with Department 
of Defense deployment policies that applied 
to previous contingency operations. 
(iv) The timeliness of the process for 
notifying reserve component units for acti-
vation. 
(v) The process for communicating 
with activated reserve component members 
and their families about demobilization 
schedules. 
(vi) The family support programs pro-
vided by the National Guard and other re-
serve components for families of activated 
Reserves. 
(vii) An assessment of lessons learned 
about how the increased operations tempo 
of the National Guard and other reserve 
components can be expected to affect read-