Nat'l Guard's Sept. 11 service won't count toward retirement

NEW YORK - Members of the U.S. Army National Guard who were stationed around the city during the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will not get credit toward military retirement. Although Guard members were paid for their service, the time they spent digging for survivors at the World Trade Center, doing crowd control and patrolling the city is considered state active duty instead of federal, the Daily News reported in Monday editions. Protection of federal sites like the West Point military academy during that time did earn military retirement credit. "At Ground Zero, we were breathing in all that aftermath," said Francisco Sostre, 39, a sergeant with New York's 1st Batallion, 69th Infantry. "We didn't know if we were safe, if there were bombs or more airplanes coming ... it should count equally." State representatives Carolyn Maloney and Pete King introduced bills in Congress that would recognize guard service in counties that are declared national disaster areas as federal duty. "Clearly, all the National Guard who served during this unprecedented national emergency deserve equal status," Maloney said. "This is wrong. We feel terrible about this. They deserve to be treated the same." Associated Press story with information from The Daily News, www.nydailynews.com