1.1 	A resolution
1.2 	urging payment of Federal Respite Leave Benefit for members of the 1st Brigade 
1.3 	Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard who served 
1.4 	in Iraq during the Troop Surge of 2007.
1.5 	WHEREAS, various units of the  Minnesota's National Guard have served honorably in 
1.6 	multiple worldwide peacekeeping and combat deployments before and since September 11, 
1.7 	2001; and 
1.8 	WHEREAS, the order for deployment of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry 
1.9 	Division of the Minnesota National Guard ordered the members of the Brigade into federal active 
1.10 	military service under Title 10 U.S.C. for a period of 18 months; and 
1.11 	WHEREAS, approximately 2,700 members of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry 
1.12 	Division of the Minnesota National Guard who were deployed for the Operation Iraqi Freedom 
1.13 	during 2007 had their deployment extended by the United States Department of Defense up to an 
1.14 	additional four months in response to the troop surge in Iraq by Presidential order; and 
1.15 	WHEREAS, as a result of that Presidential order, the United States Government through its 
1.16 	Department of Defense promised to pay a respite leave benefit to each of those soldiers valued at 
1.17 	approximately $200 per day; and 
1.18 	WHEREAS, for 2,513 of those 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of 
1.19 	the Minnesota National Guard soldiers, this benefit has yet to be paid by the United States 
1.20 	Government; and
1.21 	WHEREAS, the cumulative benefit owed these soldiers for this benefit is approximately 
1.22 	$10,000,000; and
2.1 	WHEREAS, the United States Congress enacted legislation on  October 28, 2009, 
2.2 	authorizing the service secretaries to implement the respite leave benefit program for those 
2.3 	deserving service members; and
2.4 	WHEREAS, the current economic and employment situation facing all veterans returning 
2.5 	to the United States is the worst recession since the Great Depression; and
2.6 	WHEREAS, in order to return all the way home, the veterans of the 1st Brigade Combat 
2.7 	Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard deserve and need the benefits 
2.8 	promised to them by the United States Government; NOW, THEREFORE,
2.9 	BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges President 
2.10 	Obama to order the Secretary of Defense and other responsible federal government officials to 
2.11 	promptly issue implementation guidance that will allow our Minnesota service members to submit 
2.12 	their claims to receive these benefits that they have been officially promised by the United States 
2.13 	Government and which they so honorably earned in combat. 
2.14 	 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is 
2.15 	directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to President Obama, Minnesota's 
2.16 	Senators and Representatives in Congress, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the 
2.17 	Joint Chiefs of Staff.