WASHINGTON — New legislation that would improve the education benefit under the GI Bill for those in the National Guard and Reserve could one day benefit soldiers such as Master Sgt. Anthony Ramirez, a member of the Hawai'i Air National Guard.

"... I've been deployed just as much as my active-duty counterparts," said Ramirez, 27, who has done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I would appreciate some additional money for education."

House and Senate lawmakers on Thursday said that the large role National Guard and Reserve troops are playing in Iraq and Afghanistan should entitle them to an education benefit more in line with what active-duty troops receive.

"The Guard and Reserve are no longer just a strategic reserve to be called up in case of a global war," said U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., chairman of the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee. "They have become an operational force on whom we rely constantly."

U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., who said that despite the increased reliance on the National Guard and Reserves for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, "their benefits have not increased proportionally with their sacrifice."

Ramirez said he didn't think it was fair to have so much disparity between what Guardsmen and Reservists receive and the benefits enjoyed by the active-duty force.

Ramirez, a Guardsman since high school, said he has been using his GI Bill payment — which works out to $309 a month — to attend the University of Hawai'i part-time and is within one semester of completing a bachelor's in occupational management.

The Defense Department declined to comment on the proposed legislation but has opposed the idea in the past, helping to stall similar legislation.

The Defense Department views the National Guard and Reserve education benefit as a recruitment and retention tool and believes it is working fine as it is — because the services are meeting their goals.

Anything beyond that would take away money from other military programs.

Plus, the Pentagon says requiring Guardsmen and Reservists to use their benefits while they're in the service helps keep them from leaving.

Veterans' advocates believe they stand a better chance with the legislation this session than before with Democrats now in control of both the House and the Senate.

Robert R. Ryan, president of the Military Officers Association of America, said the Pentagon is being shortsighted by refusing to examine the benefit structure for the National Guard and Reserves with the heavy deployments taking place and the impact that is having on families and employers.

"At some point, the Defense Department is going to have ... to step up to the plate and work with Congress to improve some of the benefits packages for the National Guard and Reserves," said Ryan, a retired vice admiral.

The GI Bill has a top benefit of $1,075 a month for a veteran of active-duty service. Vets have up to 10 years to use the benefit after they leave the service.

But the benefit for Guardsmen and Reservists ranges from $309 to $860 a month, and the service members must remain in the service to use it.

Under the new legislation, for every month Guardsmen and Reservists serve on active duty, they would be entitled to a month of educational benefits at the active duty rate and would have up to 10 years after they leave the service to use them.

"Today's National Guard and Reserve members are so busy training and deploying that they have little time to actually use their (GI Bill) benefits," said Paul A. Morin, the national commander for the American Legion. "Their ability to use the benefits is ... denied entirely once they finish their service."

The legislation would transfer the National Guard and Reserve GI Bill program to Veterans Affairs from the Defense Department, which now sets the policy for it.

Any future increases in the benefit amount also would apply to both programs equally.

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.