OPINION — “For the first time in decades, this year’s [fiscal 2025] defense [authorization] bill carries a different name. It is the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We did that to underscore the tremendous gains this bill makes toward improving the quality of life of our service members and their families…We are making these historic improvements in the quality of life of our service members because, now more than ever, we need to recruit and retain the best and the brightest. That is because the threats our nation faces, especially those from China, are more complex now than they have been in over 40 years.”
That was Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, speaking on the House floor December 11, introducing debate on the fiscal 2025 NDAA which passed later that day by a 280-to-140 vote. The Senate may vote on the legislation as early as today.
The measure contains an extraordinary number of personnel provisions, added by both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, and I discuss a few below that caught my eye. Ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said many of those provisions were the result of the House panel’s quality of military life task force led by Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.).
Houlahan, speaking on the House floor, said, “I am very pleased that the fiscal year [2025] NDAA includes a 14.5 percent pay raise for most junior enlisted and a 4.5 percent pay raise for all service members. This increase is critical for us to retain our all-volunteer enlisted forces and maximize the investments we have made in them.”
She also mentioned key healthcare provisions, including no-cost contraception, increased investment in Defense Department (DoD) maternal health, funds for overdue housing maintenance, fee assistance for childcare, and spouse support to ensure pathways to employment and transfer licenses for careers when military couples move.
Houlahan called it “the most consequential and important piece of legislation of the entire 118th Congress.”
To aid recruiting, the bill contains a provision that will require any secondary school that receives federal funds to give access to military recruiters “for the purpose of recruiting students who are at least 17 years of age that is provided to any prospective employer, institution of higher education, or other recruiter.’’ The measure also says the Secretary of Defense shall report annually to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees “each local educational agency that the Secretary determines to be in violation” of the provision.
Barriers to recruitment
A 2024 study by the Rand Corporation found that “recruiters identified 5.3 percent of high schools as failing to provide what they considered to be adequate access. The most common problems were schools…by failing to provide contact information for students, not allowing recruiters access, or both. Fewer schools limited recruiter access than failed to provide student contact information.” While access to schools varied, the Rand researchers found “up to 14 percent of schools in some states failing to…provide adequate access.”
The House-passed NDAA calls for the establishment of a military recruitment program at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum that are part of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. The legislation calls for the Defense Secretary to “seek to enter with the entity that operates” the Memorial to create a program that provides informational materials to promote enlistment and re-enlistment in the Armed Forces, as well as an enhanced understanding of the military response to the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Also in the bill were a number of provisions to advance Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs which by law are to “instill in students in United States secondary educational institutions the values of citizenship, service to the United States, and personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment,” but without requiring any future military service.
One provision would increase the minimum and maximum number of required JROTC units to 3,500 and 4,100, from the current no fewer than 3,400 and not more than 4,000 units. In 2020, the congressionally mandated National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service recommended expanding the number of JROTC units to 6,000 by 2031. Another provision sets the minimum number of students required to establish a JROTC unit to 50 students, from the earlier required 100 students.
Studying the Constitution
Congress also added a provision that would authorize establishment of JROTC programs at existing Job Corps training facilities in order to introduce a structured curriculum focused on leadership development, citizenship education, and military-style discipline.
Reflecting former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley’s remark, “We take an oath to the Constitution, not an individual,” the bill includes language that says, “the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that all newly commissioned officers of the Armed Forces receive training on the Constitution of the United States prior to reporting to their first operational assignment. That training is to include “education on the centrality of the Constitution to the commitment officers make to serve in the Armed Forces.”
Another provision deals with Service Academy graduates who are athletes and offered professional sports opportunities. Currently they can turn pro after serving two years active duty and then be transferred to the Reserves for up to four years.
Under the new provisions in the bill, each service secretary can choose up to three cadets who graduate and are offered contracts to become professional athletes. They can be commissioned officers in their respective Reserves and serve for up to 10 years, and “while so serving, participate in efforts to recruit and retain members of the Armed Forces,’’ under the House-passed bill.
The legislation expands to Army and Navy enlisted personnel an existing Marine Corps pilot program through which selected enlisted members may enroll in a master’s degree program at the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, Calif., taking courses relevant to the needs of their respective military services. Prospective students must agree to serve afterwards “for a period of not less than two years in a duty assignment that is relevant to the degree obtained by the member.”
This pilot program, which is to last six years, is aimed at having a positive effect on the participants with respect to their “career trajectory, including potential pay increases; retention; job performance; and merit-based promotions.”
A benefit for spouses
The bill also authorizes creation by law of paid fellowships with employers in various industries for military spouses called the Military Spouse Career Accelerator Program (MSCAP). Under this provision, the Defense Secretary is to “seek to enter into an agreement with an entity to conduct such program…based on the availability of appropriations for such purpose.” The program is to begin on January 1, 2026, and run for five years after which there is to be an evaluation of its “effectiveness…in supporting the employment of such spouses.”
A pilot MSCAP program began in January 2023, and by February 2024, some 250 companies had signed up to provide employment opportunities and more than 490 spouses had been placed into fellowships. In the program’s first year, a substantial number of those spouses were ultimately offered permanent employment.
One of the goals for this year has been to expand employment with the federal government, which has been the employer of choice for many military spouses, according to a member of the DoD’s Military Community and Family Policy office.
One issue with the House-Senate bill, which was negotiated between the two Armed Services Chairmen over months, was a last-minute provision forced into the bill by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), restricting gender-affirming care for transgender children of service personnel.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), the liberal chairman of the House Equality Caucus, said during debate, “There are plenty of reasons to support pay increases for military personnel, but oppose the bloated $895 billion defense budget.” But Pocan added, “Today, I speak out to oppose the NDAA due to the GOP leadership’s insistence on inserting right-wing extremist dogma over national defense. Taking away healthcare for trans kids and not expanding access to fertility treatments like IVF for wanting families are two examples. Big Brother/Big Government attacks like those just don’t belong in this bill.”
One hopes Speaker Johnson’s last-minute action is not a sign of things to come.
Editor’s note: This piece has been corrected to remove an inaccurate reference to Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA).
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