FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 06, 2008
Contact: Katie Laning (202)224-4843


Washington – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has been honored for her “exceptional dedication and efforts to improve the status, welfare, and professionalism” of enlisted members of the National Guard.  Lincoln was awarded the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS) G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Eagle Award during a ceremony at the National Guard Memorial Building in Washington Wednesday night.  The award is given to one U.S. Senator and Representative each year.   

“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, and equally as proud to receive an award named for a dear friend, Sonny Montgomery,” Lincoln said.  “Those truly deserving of recognition, however, are the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve who currently serve or have served our nation, both at home and overseas.  We owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to these citizen soldiers who have sacrificed much on our behalf.”

Lincoln was acknowledged by EANGUS principally for her work to extend access to education benefits for National Guard and Reserve members who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the ten years following their military service.  Lincoln’s provision became law earlier this year as part of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.  Prior to Lincoln’s provision becoming law, members of the National Guard and Reserve forfeited all of the education benefits they had earned from combat duty once they left the military.  As a comparison, active-duty service members—whom our citizen soldiers are fighting alongside overseas—have up to ten years to utilize their education benefits.  Lincoln credited Representative Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) who led the fight for portability of these benefits in the House of Representatives.

In addition, Lincoln helped lead efforts to add provisions to the Defense Authorization Act that would increase benefits, improve health care quality and accessibility, and provide valuable support services for America’s service members and veterans. 

Lincoln continues to fight for the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve.  She has been a leading advocate for modernizing the GI Bill, specifically to ensure benefits better reflect the members’ increased service to our country.  Lincoln has worked with Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.), a former Marine and Vietnam veteran, on issues critical to our citizen soldiers.  Webb’s “21st Century GI Bill,” which was introduced in the Senate last week and cosponsored by Lincoln, includes Lincoln’s proposal to make education benefits for National Guard and Reserve members cumulative. 

“Currently, the Department of Defense awards benefits based on the longest deployment, not the total number of months from all tours of duty,” Lincoln explained.  “That means that members of the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team deploying to Iraq this month for a second tour will not earn any education benefits for the next 10 months they will serve in Iraq because they already earned education benefits from their first 17-month deployment.  I strongly believe that these citizen soldiers should receive education benefits for every month they serve.”

Also on hand at Wednesday’s award ceremony in Washington was Brigadier General Riley P. Porter, assistant adjutant general and commander of the Arkansas Air National Guard.