The Army Guard is the oldest component of any of the uniformed services. It traces its roots to the colonial militia and claims a “birth” of 1636. Today, the Army Guard exists in 54 locations that include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories: Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. There are Army Guard facilities in more than 2,800 communities and over 350,000 Army Guard members. During peacetime, each Army Guard unit reports to the adjutant general of its state or territory, or in the case of the District of Columbia, to the Commanding General. Each adjutant general reports to the governor of the state or territory, or in the case of the District of Columbia, to the mayor. At the state level, the governors have the ability, under the Constitution of the United States, to call up members of the Army Guard in times of domestic emergency or need. The Army Guard’s state mission is perhaps the most visible and well known. Army Guard units battle fires or help communities deal with floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, or other emergency situations. In times of civil unrest, the citizens of a state rely on the Army Guard to respond, if needed. During national emergencies, the President has the authority to activate the Army Guard, putting them in federal duty status. When ordered to federal active duty by the President in accordance with the provisions of Title 10, United States Code, the units answer to the Combatant Commander of the theatre in which they are operating and, ultimately, to the President. When called to perform duty in accordance with the provisions of Title 32, United States Code, units answer to the adjutant generals and ultimately to the governors. When Army Guard units are performing duty under Title 10 or Title 32, the federal government provides funds for reimbursement of authorized travel expenses. The Army Guard is a partner with the active Army and the Army Reserve in fulfilling the country’s military needs. The National Guard Bureau (NGB), which assists the Army Guard in the partnership, is a joint bureau of the Departments of the Army and the Air Force and is charged with overseeing the federal functions of the Army Guard and the Air National Guard (Air Guard). In this capacity, NGB helps the Army Guard and the Air Guard procure funding and administer polices. NGB also acts as a liaison between the Departments of the Army and Air Force and the states. All Army forces are integrated under DOD’s “total force” concept. DOD’s total force concept is based on the premise that it is not feasible to maintain active duty forces sufficient to meet all possible war contingencies. Consequently, DOD’s active and reserve components are to be blended into a cohesive total force to meet a given mission. DOD reported that over 186,500 Army Guard soldiers and 111,800 Army Reserve soldiers were mobilized from September 14, 2001, through September 30, 2004, for Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. As of September 30, 2004, Army Guard soldiers accounted for over 40 percent of the total reserve components mobilized in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The federal missions established in response to the September 2001 national emergency were categorized into three operations: Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Noble Eagle, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In general, missions to fight terrorism and direct combat outside the United States were categorized under Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, while missions to provide domestic defense were categorized as Operation Noble Eagle. For example, Army Guard soldiers participated in antiterrorist and direct combat activities in Afghanistan and Iraq under Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, respectively. Additionally, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Army Guard soldiers provided enhanced security in other countries. U.S. homeland security missions, such as guarding the Pentagon, airports, nuclear power plants, domestic water supplies, bridges, tunnels, and other military assets, were conducted under Operation Noble Eagle. Army Guard soldiers called to active service are entitled to be reimbursed for authorized travel expenses incurred. DOD provides a soldier traveling on official business with transportation, lodging, and food, or reimburses the soldier for reasonable and necessary authorized expenses if the soldier purchases them. In October 2001, the Army issued personnel policy guidance (PPG) for Operation Noble Eagle. In September 2002, consolidated PPG was issued covering both Operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. This guidance, which is revised on an ongoing basis, ultimately was expanded to include Operation Iraqi Freedom and now applies generally to all active service personnel who are mobilized and/or deployed in support of contingency operations. The PPG guidance covers topics ranging from general mobilization guidance to specific travel entitlements. The two primary sources of guidance used by both Army Guard soldiers and travel computation office personnel for information on travel entitlements were the Army’s PPG and DOD’s Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR). The term per diem allowance refers to a daily payment instead of reimbursement for actual expenses for (1) lodging, (2) meals, and (3) related incidental expenses. There are many factors that go into the per diem authorization and calculation, including the availability of government quarters and meal facilities. Generally, soldiers mobilized for Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom must use government meal facilities to the maximum extent practicable when they are sent to government installations with dining facilities. Because they incur no actual expenses while living in government housing and eating in government facilities, they are not authorized the meal and lodging components of the per diem allowance. However, they are entitled to receive the incidental component of per diem. The daily government incidental expense allowance for fiscal year 2004 was $3.00 within the continental United States (CONUS) and $3.50 outside the continental United States (OCONUS). When the installation commander determines that government lodging and/or mess facilities are not available, the PPG directs that Army Guard soldiers be provided with SNAs to authorize the lodging and/or meal components of per diem in addition to the incidental expense component of per diem. DOD regulations further provide that when government lodging and mess facilities are generally available, but an authorizing official determines that soldiers must occasionally miss meals due to mission requirements, proportional per diem is authorized. Table 1 shows the various components of CONUS and OCONUS per diem and the fiscal year 2004 range of dollar amounts an Army Guard soldier may be entitled to receive under the PPG and the JFTR. Additionally, the PPG provides that regardless of whether an Army Guard soldier is authorized the meal component of per diem, basic allowance for subsistence (BAS) will not be reduced. BAS is included in the Army Guard soldier’s compensation and is not a travel entitlement. More specifically, BAS is a continuation of the military tradition of providing room and board (or rations) as part of a service member’s pay. The monthly BAS rate is based on the price of food and is readjusted yearly based upon the increase of the price of food as measured by the Department of Agriculture’s food cost index. As of January 2004, BAS ranged from $175.23 a month for officers to $262.50 a month for enlisted service members. The current DOD travel reimbursement process for Army Guard soldiers operates at travel computation offices around the country, including DFAS CTO, the travel computation office at DFAS Indianapolis, 54 United States Property and Fiscal Offices (USPFO) servicing each of the Army Guard locations, and several other DFAS sites. Travel voucher processing consumes the resources of hundreds of personnel, reviewing thousands of pieces of paper every day. As illustrated in figure 1, the travel and reimbursement process consists of three phases: (1) authorizations and travel; (2) travel voucher preparation, submission, review, and transmission; and (3) computation office review, reimbursement computation, and payment. In the first phase of the travel and reimbursement process, various travel orders and other authorizations are produced and are provided to and/or acquired by soldiers, and soldiers incur travel expenses. Following the President’s mobilization order, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, (1) determines specific unit personnel requirements and (2) issues a unit mobilization order to various affected units and organizations within the Army. USPFO officials use the Automated Fund Control Order System (AFCOS) to produce individual mobilization orders for soldiers. Individual mobilization orders usually contain general travel information, such as authorized methods of transportation; directions regarding the use of government food and lodging facilities; and authorizations for the soldier to travel from the unit’s home station, a permanent duty station, to an active Army installation (the mobilization station) for further processing and training. After completion of mission-related training at the mobilization station, the unit is certified for deployment, and soldiers are assigned duty stations. Army commands use word processing applications to produce temporary change of station (TCS) orders to give soldiers authorization to travel from their mobilization stations to long-term temporary assignments at other locations. During the deployment period, the Army may also issue TDY orders and other authorization statements, such as SNAs. The Army issues a TDY order to authorize a soldier’s travel from one location to another location for generally less than 45 days. The Army issues SNAs to soldiers when government lodging and/or meals are not available to the soldier. Following the completion of a tour, the Army issues each federal active duty soldier a Release from Active Duty (REFRAD) order from the transition processing system and a Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD Form 214).