Posted on 05/26/2003 8:29:15 AM PDT by HatSteel
Recent events show a war can be waged and won in less time than it takes the Defense Department to reach final decisions on how to implement the new Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).
But if Defense officials are three weeks behind in finalizing rules and publishing CRSC applications, they also are adopting a more liberal interpretation of qualifying criteria than expected, sources said.
That means not 35,000 but 40,000 or more retirees could receive CRSC, with payments ranging for most of them from $104 to $2,193 a month, depending on severity of qualifying disabilities. Retiree drawing VA's special monthly compensation on top of regular disability pay could get more.
Payments will not be automatic. Retirees must apply, which explains why so many are impatient for details and application. By late May the application form, DD 2860, and other CRSC information will be available at: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/crsc/ and at base retired affairs offices.
Here is what is known so far about the program, drawn from Pentagon sources and a near-final draft of CRSC regulations obtained by www.crlegislation.com, a Web site by a group of disabled retired officers to keep visitors informed on CRSC and other "concurrent receipt" issues.
CRSC takes effect May 31. Payments for a small number of applicants still could begin as early as July. Most will start later, perhaps months later, but all payments for current retirees will be retroactive to June 1.
Active duty retirees must have served 20 years, which leaves out those who accepted early retirement. Reservists are eligible if they earned 7200 retirement points. That can't be done without a lot of active duty time. A typical reservist earns only 3000 to 4000 points before retirement.
CRSC is aimed at easing, for the most deserving retirees, the financial penalty of a ban on concurrent receipt of both retired pay and VA disability compensation. Retirees now see a drop in retired pay equal to any tax-free disability compensation received for service-connected injuries or illnesses.
CRSC will be paid to two groups of retirees. The first is Purple Heart Medal recipients whose combat wounds carry at least a 10 percent VA disability rating. Defense personnel records show at least 16,500 retirees in this category. Many more could surface in the application review process.
The second group has combat-related VA disabilities of 60 percent or higher. "Combat-related" is defined by CRSC law as resulting from one of four criteria: armed conflict, hazardous service, training for war or an instrumentality of war. Here's a snapshot of the disability criteria.
Armed conflict
Wounds or illnesses from war, military occupation, raids or other combat contingencies. It also includes disabilities from time spent as a prisoner of war.
Hazardous service
Injuries or illness from dangerous activities such as aerial flight, parachute duty, demolition duty or diving duty. Injuries while traveling to or from such duties would not qualify for CRSC.
Duty under conditions simulating war
Disabilities from war games, exercises, weapons practice, hand-to-hand combat training, obstacle courses and more. It would not include injuries from jogging, calisthenics or organized sports. Aboard ship it might include injuries sustained in heavy seas but not every injury that occurs while deployed.
Instrumentality of war
Injuries or illness from tools of war such military vehicles or equipment mishaps or exposure to gases, fumes or chemical agents. Service officials, in reviewing applications, will accept VA presumptions of service-connection between exposure to Agent Orange, used to strip jungles in Vietnam, and certain cancers and other ailments.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also will count toward qualifying a retiree for CRSC if linked to one of the four combat-related criteria. PTSD from an off base fire or auto accident, for example, would not.
The CRSC application will ask retirees to explain what combat-related disabilities they have and how they got them. They also will be asked to provide supporting documents such as combat decorations or relevant pages from medical records or service records explaining the cause of injuries.
Applications must be mailed to a service address provided where a CRSC board or review group will screen it, and approve or reject it. Reviewing personnel will have ready access to VA and military records to verify applicant information but a backlog of applications is expected.
The boards will have to sort disabilities. Some found by the VA to be service-connected will not be "combat-related" under CRSC. If some disabilities qualify and others do not, qualifying disabilities will be recombined into a CRSC rating. If that total is 60 percent or more, CRSC can start.
The formula for combining disability ratings is the same as used by VA, multiplying whatever good function remains. For example, if a condition is rated 60 percent disabling, that leaves a retiree with 40 percent good function. If a second disability is 50 percent disabling, 50 percent good function remains.
A review board will multiply good function percentages, in this case 50 percent (0.5) by 40 percent (0.4), for a good function total of 20 percent. That would justify a combined disability rating of 80 percent, which would mean an extra $1,171 a month using current VA compensation rates.
Every applicant will get a letter explaining the size of their CRSC payment or why their application was rejected. They can appeal. Appeals likely will be handled by the office of the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness but that is detail under final review.
Defense officials will treat CRSC as tax exempt until told otherwise by the IRS. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service still can't say whether CRSC pay arrive as separate checks (or direct deposits) or be lumped with regular retired pay. But the law says CRSC should not be viewed as retired pay.
Comments and suggestions are welcomed. Write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111 or send e-mail to milupdate@aol.com.
The article below is from the Stars and Stripes. It is the military’s newspaper. This article explains some good news for retirees on this Memorial Day. Please pass this to all active duty retirees and troops that you know. In the past, military retirees were not given payments for the WAR-RELATED disabilities they received while in service. They will now begin getting payments. This is fair. If you get injured while serving, the government should pay the soldiers disability payments. (Can you believe they DO pay disability payments to politicians and to their retired civilian employees….but NOT the retired military!!!)
Some will say: "I always got my disability checks." If you did, then you are not a retiree. For some reason, military retirees were not given payments to cover their disabilities. They were told to just to pretend it was "already there" in their retirement pay. Yet at the same time, the government didn't do that to government retirees. They received both their retirement and their disability compensation. For retired troops who have extra expenses because of being crippled or ill DUE TO CONFLICT ON BEHALF OF THE COUNTRY, everyone can see the extra burden this places on a retiree. They have to fund for themselves the care they get for wounds received while fighting for the nation. But politicans get theirs covered without deducting from their retirement pay. Even civilians get coverage without deductions from their retirement pay.
This is the first US Administration in history to AGREE to making disability payments to military retirees. Other presidents from both parties have said they would, but they ended up never following through. It has been a long time coming, but apparently PRESIDENT BUSH AND A REPUBLICAN Congress ARE willing to put money behind its support of retired soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen. Despite your politics, that is probably why active duty and reserve troops support them the way they do.
The initial program is explained above.
Again, remember our fallen heroes this Memorial Day.
This is very good news! God Bless George W! A good Memorial Day just got better!
He simply gets better and better. Common sense, a moral code and honesty has until recently but absent form the Oval Office. No longer.
This small step to give CONCURRENT RECEIPT makes all other Retired Disabled Vets feel like 3rd class citizens.
1. Retired Civil Service get Retirement and Disability Compensation
2. Disabled Retired Combat Vets get Retirement and Disability Compensation.
3. Retired Disabled Vets (non combat related) get Retirement or Disability not both.
I admire President Bush for his leadership, but in this one area he's dropped the ball.
FYI, the 15 Billion going to Africa for AIDS would fund CONCURRENT RECEIPT for every Retired Disabled Veteran (Combat or Noncombat) for years to come. Yet according to Administration Sources we haven't the money to fund Concurrent Receipt.
This is an enormous hurdle that's been crossed.
And IF someone has to be FIRST to be treated right, then it's proper that COMBAT DISABILITIES be the first to have that happen.
I'm a DAV member, but not combat, and I'm willing to wait AND be glad that a President and Congress has FINALLY pushed this through to actual funding.
But I will continue to work for future improvement.
Yes, we've won a battle but the war is still raging.
Many in the Administration, Congress and DoD fought this small step tooth and nail.
It will be interesting to see who will continue to support the remainder of the Retired Disabled Veterans this year.
I think there's extreme caution now about the deficit and budget.
If we get it, it will only be after the next election, and only if the Repubs win. The DEMs will take FLORIDA 2000 out on the military and veterans the next time they come to power.
The problem, as I see it, is this. The service agencies have an old group of vets in leadership positions. These grew up during the democrat years of FDR and Truman and Kennedy. They are democrats. They're spinning this to their lower levels with an anti-republican emphasis.
If the vets just think for even one minute, they'll realize that the first funding will have come under Bush. But they need to be informed.
Common sense, a moral code and honesty, qualities I admire in a person. Nice to have a President that I can respect. Proud of President Bush.
The Services certainly have more than their share of slimey politicians. But the problem is more basic than that. The Services are scared spitless that they will lose billions in operating funds if concurrent receipt is approved.
You see, the so-called military retirement is actually a retainer pay. The "retiree" is part of his service until he dies. He is merely shifted from the "active lists" to the "retired lists"and retained in service. The "retiree" is subject to immediate activation for the rest of his life.
Now, because the "retiree" is still part of his service, his pay is coming from his service's annual budget. There is no separate pot of money for "retired" pay.
But there is a separate pot of money for "disability" compensation. It's located in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Because a service "retiree" must fund his own "disibility" compensation by giving up a dollar of "retired" (service) pay for each dollar he receives in "disability" (VA) compensation, the services have more billions of dollars to operate with.
It is these billions of dollars the services are afraid to lose. They suspect that were concurrent receipt of "retired" (service) pay and "disability" (VA) compensation implemented, the services would not receive any increase in funding from Congress to support them paying the full "retired" pay and operating at the levels they're accustomed to.
That the services, Congress, and the President continue to steal money from our country's disabled service "retirees" is appalling. That they do so while wasting away billions in unconstitutional activities (such as the African AIDS program) is disgusting.
However, I REPEAT. This is the first President that pushed ANY concurrent receipt and FUNDED it.
It is a great first step.
GWBush has my full support.
You're right. And I'm glad the most needy of the retirees receive the first attention.
GW has done more than anyone else. Here's hoping he continues!
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