Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 1.djvu/319

 PUBLIC LAW 104-106—FEB. 10, 1996 110 STAT. 295 limitation applied under that section for fiscal year 1996 shall be 2 percent (instead of 1 percent). (c) REPORT. — Not later than September 1, 1996, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report providing the assessment of the Secretary on the practice, known as "frocking", of authorizing an officer who has been selected for promotion to the next higher grade to wear the insignia for that next higher grade. The report shall include the Secretary's assessment of the appropriate number, if any, of colonels and Navy captains to be eligible under section 777(d)(1) of title 10, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), to wear the insignia for the grade of brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half). SEC. 504. AUTHORITY TO EXTEND TRANSITION PERIOD FOR OFFI- CERS SELECTED FOR EARLY RETIREMENT. (a) SELECTIVE RETIREMENT OF WARRANT OFFICERS.—Section 581 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: "(e) The Secretary concerned may defer for not more than 90 days the retirement of an officer otherwise approved for early retirement under this section in order to prevent a personal hardship to the officer or for other humanitarian reasons. Any such deferral shall be made on a case-by-case basis considering the circumstances of the case of the particular officer concerned. The authority of the Secretary to grant such a deferral may not be delegated.". (b) SELECTIVE EARLY RETIREMENT OF ACTIVE-DUTY OFFICERS.— Section 638(b) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: "(3) The Secretary concerned may defer for not more than 90 days the retirement of an officer otherwise approved for early retirement under this section or section 638a of this title in order to prevent a personal hardship to the officer or for other humanitarian reasons. Any such deferral shall be made on a case-by- case basis considering the circumstances of the case of the particular officer concerned. The authority of the Secretary to grant such a deferral may not be delegated.". SEC. 505. ARMY OFFICER MANNING LEVELS. (a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Chapter 331 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the table of sections the following new section: "§3201. Officers on active duty: minimum strength based on requirements "(a) The Secretary of the Army shall ensure that (beginning with fiscal year 1999) the strength at the end of each fiscal year of officers on active duty is sufficient to enable the Army to meet at least that percentage of the programmed manpower structure for officers for the active component of the Army that is provided for in the most recent Defense Planning Guidance issued by the Secretary of Defense. "(b) The number of officers on active duty shall be counted for purposes of this section in the same manner as applies under section 115(a)(1) of this title. "(c) In this section: "(1) The term 'programmed manpower structure' means the aggregation of billets describing the full manpower require-

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