Concurent non pay

Happy Veterans Day.

As of today the toll in Iraq is 3860 dead and more than 28000 injured. The numbers in the last month have been looking better. Let's hope that trend continues.

On the Concurrent Receipt front it looks like all except those of us who were forced into retirement under chapter 61 with less than 20 years and from non-combat related causes are the only ones who have to pay for their VA care by giving up our retired pay.

Recent laws seem to provide coverage for everyone else once the President signs this year's Defense bills.

The President's Commission has completed their work and recommended that all of us be granted both our retired pay and VA compensation and the President merely said that "It's up to Congress now". Congress, however, has to find money to offset the cost of giving us our pay. They seem to have been having trouble finding the money to cover non-combat chapter 61ers.

Keep writing and emailing your Congressmen and Senators and reminding them that some of us are still paying for our VA care by giving up our Retirement checks. These correspondences do work. Everyone needs to let them know and let your family, friends, and neighbors know that they should let their legislators know that you are still being forced to give up that Retirement Check every month if you want care from the VA. Most civilians have no idea that this is still happening.

From The Military Officers Association on 12 Oct 2007

Commission Chairman to House: "Fix Concurrent Receipt" In the first of two scheduled hearings on Capitol Hill, the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission (VDBC) Chairman reported the commission's recommendations to a very receptive House Veterans' Affairs Committee this past Wednesday. LTG Terry Scott, USA (Ret.), particularly highlighted 14 "priority" recommendations, including an end to the disability offset to retired pay. Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) and Ranking Member Steve Buyer (R-IN) both praised the commissioners for their outstanding work. Committee members specifically wanted to hear ways to shrink the VA claims backlog, provide greater family caregiver assistance, and improve seamless transition between DoD and VA programs. Next week, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee will hear from the VDBC and MOAA. MOAA's Director of Government Relations, Col Steve Strobridge, USAF (Ret.), is scheduled to provide MOAA's views before the Senate panel on the recommendations from all of the various task forces and commissions appointed to review care and treatment of our wounded warriors.

and the ball bounces back

10 Aug 2007

Today i got the following update from MOAA<

Commission Breaks Deadlock Vote on Concurrent Receipt Last month, the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission deadlocked on a vote to extend concurrent receipt eligibility to members forced into medical retirement with less than 20 years of service. After considering additional information in this week's meeting, including strong arguments by commissioners MG William Matz, USA (Ret) and Butch Joeckel (USMC), the commission reversed course, voting 12 to 1 that "Congress should eliminate the ban on concurrent receipt for all retirees and disability separations. Future priority should be given to Chapter 61s [medical retirees] with less than 20 years of service and greater than 50% service-connected disability and all combat disabled Chapter 61s." MOAA couldn't agree more. This is a giant step toward resolving a major inequity in the current disability compensation structure and validates years of effort by MOAA and The Military Coalition to repeal the ban on concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability compensation.

Concurrent Pay

July 2007

More bad news for many chapter 61 Retirees.

The Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission met this week in Washington, DC to tentatively decide on two highly debated topics: survivor benefits and concurrent receipt.

The commission expressed strong support for widows and widowers by endorsing an end to deduction of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation from Survivor Benefit Plan annuities, a position MOAA has pushed for years.

Yet when the discussion turned to concurrent receipt, the commission was deadlocked over extending concurrent receipt to disabled service members that had their careers cut short before reaching 20 years of service.

The Commission also validated years of MOAA and Military Coalition efforts by recommending an end to the deduction of VA disability compensation from military retired pay, at least for members with more than 20 years of service. Specifically, the commission proposed expanding eligibility for Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) to retirees with 10- to 40-percent disability ratings and implementing full payment immediately (putting an end to the ongoing 10-year phase-in period).

But MOAA was disappointed that the Commission was deadlocked, by a 6-to-6 vote, on extending concurrent receipt rules to members forced into medical retirement before attaining 20 years of service.

Commissioner MG William Matz (USA-Ret) and Commissioner Butch Joeckel (USMC-Ret) voiced strong support for inclusion of chapter 61 retirees, telling other commissioners that failure to support this fix will give the impression that the commission has disregarded the cause of wounded servicemembers at Bethesda, Walter Reed, and other military hospitals who face premature medical retirement.

Both urged the commission to reconsider their inclusion. MOAA couldn't agree more.

Happy Memorial day 2004.

Yes, I have a vested interest in this.

Congress has enacted a law permitting Veterans with over 20 years of service who have been determined by the Veterans Administration to be disabled as a result of such service to draw their retirement pay as well as their VA disability pay. This is long overdue.

The problem with this is that it specifically excludes those of us who were unable to complete 20 years of service due to injury or illness incurred in service to our country.

Even if we qualify for retirement pay under a law provided by congress that grants us a reduced pension (U.S. Code Title 10, Subtitle A, PART II, Chapter 61) based upon our years of service (must have served over 8 years but less than 20).

While the government carefully tracks this pay and each year sends a report out indicating the amount of retirement pay we are entitled to after they have applied all of the Cost of Living Allowances (COLA).

Another section of the law provides a dollar for dollar offset to this retirement pay for each dollar we receive from the VA as compensation for our disabilities.

The President, Vice President, and Secretary of Defense have all repeatedly stated that they are strongly opposed to any change to the current law due to the cost of such a change while repeatedly asking for more money to bring peace to Iraq.

While the Congress has set up a 13-member Commission to review to review the current VA disability system and make recommendations to ensure adequately compensation.

This Commission has turned into a handy diversionary tool for all in government to use to deflect questions about the inequities of current law.

At the same time we are sending troops into harm’s way and spending more and more on trying to establish democracy in Iraq more and more men and women are being disabled. We are doing nothing to insure that any retirement pay they have earned will be offset by any compensation they receive from the VA. As of this writing 2840 servicemen and woman have been injured and unable to return to duty within 72 hrs of being injured. See http://icasualties.org/oif/ for the latest statistics. I have no way of knowing how many of these service-people have between 8 and 20 years of service to their country but rest assured there are many who will be chagrinned to find their retirement pay is reduced dollar for dollar by every dollar they receive from the VA.

The following is my particular case.

I went to College under the Regular NROTC program during the period 1963-67 at the height of the anti-war activism of the Vietnam War and on several occasions had to cross trough lines of protestors surrounding the NROTC building. These were my classmates and I proudly wore my uniform every Wednesday to all my classes in spite of the open taunts of classmates who were genuinely concerned about our actions in Vietnam.

After four years of study I received my degree and my commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy. I received as my compatriots at the Naval Academy. I served at the discretion of the President of the United States with no set end of service. The only difference between us was that they were credited with service for four years at the academy and we were not.

I was fortunate enough to serve more than ten years during which time I managed to progress to the rank of LCDR and to qualify to Command Destroyer class ships with the Pacific Fleet. During the evacuation of Saigon the ship I was assigned to was stationed 5-10 miles off the coast of Vietnam for more than a month. I actually viewed the night by night progress of the firefights towards Saigon. After the end of Operation Frequent Wind we were assigned to try to recover the SS Mayaquez from the Kamere-Rouge. Shortly after these operations I started to notice unusual happenings with my body, such as loss of my sense of balance, trouble controlling my right leg and so forth.

I managed to put the down as minor annoyances but before long I was unable to stand a full watch on the bridge and more and more of my duties were changed to facilitate my increasing disabilities. I was short toured and transferred to a position with the NROTC unit at VMI (Virginia Military Institute) where I could be assessed at Bethesda Naval Hospital as having Multiple Sclerosis.

Since I was retired I have tried many different things to be a productive member of the community. I was unsuccessful at all of them.

I seems that I have earned my Retirement Pay and Compensation for my disability but my retired pay has been taxed into oblivion by my Disability Compensation.

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