BILL NUMBER:S3577

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the retirement and social security law,
in relation to providing credit to members of public retirement systems
of the state for military service rendered during the cold war

PURPOSE:  To make eligible retirement benefits for United States mili-
tary personnel that served between September 2, 1945 to December 26,
1991; also known as the "Cold War".

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:  The addition of subdivision 2-a to section 1000
of the retirement and social security law ("military service credit"
portion).

EXISTING LAW:  Military members upon application to New York State's
public retirement system can obtain service credit of up to three years
for three years of military duty if such military members were found to
have participated in hostilities defined in subdivision 2, section 1000,
of the retirement and social security law.

JUSTIFICATION:  The Cold War was a decades-long struggle for global
supremacy involving the United States and the Soviet Union. Certain
factors made the Cold War a militarized struggle: Communism takeover in
China, threats of Soviet nuclear weapons, tensions within Germany, the
Truman Doctrine of 1947, the Warsaw Pact of 1955, the formation of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization and commencement of the Korean War.
              

The U.S. and Soviet Union's power resonated around the globe, for there
threat of a third world war was imminent with possessions of nuclear
weapons. Military Personnel stationed about were nervous and filled with
anxiety on what may unfold, and what may encompass their services.

As such, many causalities occurred despite the exclusion of a third
world war. Three-hundred and twenty-five Cold War Americans would perish
as a result of hostile action, including two hundred plus airmen from
Communist air defenses. Forty American intelligence aircrafts would be
destroyed, and sixty-four cryptologists and forty crew members would
lose their lives. American lifestyles were disrupted for adherence to
military service support for scenarios warranted by the Cold War(l).

For our brave soldiers tireless efforts to protect and serve American
freedoms, it is only fitting that these Cold War veterans are financial-
ly recognized for their service to our country.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  2012: S. 3952 - Referred to Civil Service &
Pensions.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.

FOOTNOTES:

(1) John Pike, Military: Cold War,
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/coldwar.htm (July 2010).