Hypothetically, what should an ARNG Soldier do if they haven't been paid in a year (the unit is aware and "addressing it" with the State HQ)?

I'd be kicking down the door at the finance office.

Step One: Not wait a full year.

Don't trust the unit to fix it; clearly this aint happening. Good luck.

There are several factors that need to be considered:

1. has the Soldier actually drilled or trained in the past year to the point pay is warranted (I am assuming so from the post) 2. how long has the unit known and 3. what have they done about it so far or whats the timeframe for resolution. If the answer is the Soldier has drilled or trained in the past year, informed the chain about training (meaning there was orders and actual drill dates scheduled or SUTAs) and the unit has not paid him in the last month or two, then the unit is wrong already. It is even worse if they are giving him or her the run around about "addressing it"

Regardless of rank, the Soldier should let the chain know he is filing an IG complaint and move forward with it to let IG figure this out. I caution however, that Soldier better have proof of all this (dates trained, emails confirming, LES etc) Hopefully he has a good Commander and 1SG or even first line leader that would advise them of this. Do not let them take the "addressing it" answer, have them ask specifics on what will be needed to get paid in the next few weeks or when should he be expecting to get paid. If no specifics then IG it, do the organization a favor on highlighting this leadership failure.