Pay problems plague Army Reserve

A significant percentage of Army Reserve soldiers experience some form of pay problems after they are called up to active duty, according to a new Government Accountability Office study.

The Army Reserve's pay system is "so error-prone, cumbersome and complex that neither [the Defense Department] nor, more importantly, Army Reserve soldiers themselves, could be reasonably assured of timely and accurate payments," the report (GAO-04-911) said.

GAO's study found that the majority of pay errors resulted in overpayments. The survey covered eight Army Reserve units and 348 soldiers. Of those, 95 percent -- 332 soldiers -- experienced some form of pay irregularity between August 2002 and January 2004.

The information was first released during a Government Reform Committee hearing in July; the more detailed report was released this week. In July, Army personnel officials told lawmakers that they had taken short-term steps to fix the problem and were in the process of building a better long-term system. The GAO report, however, depicts a pay system in which almost every reservist can expect to experience some form of difficulty.

"The pay problems we found were caused, at least in part, by design weaknesses in the extensive, complex set of processes and procedures relied on to provide active duty pays, allowances and related tax benefits," GAO auditors concluded. "We identified issues with the procedures in place for both determining eligibility and processing related transactions of active duty pay."

The House Government Reform Committee and GAO have been focused on the pay problems, and numerous hearings have been held to investigate the causes of the breakdown in Army Reserve and National Guard pay. Army officials have previously said that large-scale mobilizations for the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have strained an aging system that was designed to handle pay for regular, short-term drills.

"This payroll system was created for a different time," said Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz, director of the Army National Guard, during a January hearing of the House Government Reform Committee.

The GAO report surveyed units from North Carolina, Texas, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. In some of the units, every soldier had experienced pay problems. In the case of Maryland's 443rd Military Police Company -- the largest unit in the survey -- 119 of 121 soldiers experienced pay difficulties.

While Army officials claim to be solving the problem, GAO warned that the issue could have long-term repercussions on efforts to retain experienced personnel.

"These pay problems caused considerable frustration, adversely affected soldiers' morale, and placed an additional unnecessary burden on both the soldiers and their families," the report stated.

GAO officials recommended that the Army take a number of steps to streamline the system for reservists, including giving unit commanders or unit administrators the ability to fix pay problems. At the July hearing, several reservists complained that while they were deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq, local personnel officials were unable to fix their pay irregularities. GAO also recommended that the Pentagon provide more resources to address the management of the Army Reserve pay system.