This long‑overdue reform replaces outdated, confusing, and inconsistent duty authorities with a clear, unified system that improves readiness, safeguards service members, and ensures benefits are aligned with the realities of modern service.

This bill matters because it:

• Consolidates dozens of outdated duty authorities into four clear, modern activation categories, making mobilization more transparent and predictable for service members and their families.
• Fixes long‑standing inequities by ensuring that Reserve and National Guard members receive equal benefits when performing equivalent missions, including healthcare, survivor benefits, and federal employment protections.
• Brings National Guard authorities into alignment with Reserve authorities, improving consistency, interoperability, and federal‑state coordination.
• Expands and protects contingency‑operation benefits, ensuring that service members called under the new authorities receive the same protections as those activated under legacy statutes.
• Enhances support for families and survivors, ensuring that duty‑related deaths in reserve status are treated equally to those on active duty.

This is one of the most significant updates to Reserve and National Guard law in decades—and it directly impacts readiness, quality of life, and fairness for service members who increasingly shoulder critical missions both at home and abroad.

Now is the time for Congress to act. Contact your elected officials today and urge them to support the Duty Status Reform Act and stand with America’s Reserve and National Guard personnel.