Special Compensation For Combat Veterans Chapter 61

[bootlace15]

As usual some of us get the shaft again..Some Veterans with wounds related over 50% with under 20 years of service have been left out in the cold again.How long must we wait for what is owed to us.

To qualify for this pay you had to have served over 20 yrs of service and have a rating of 50% or more for your wounds. Some of us served a year in Government and had to be retired from the Military because of combat wounds. We were rated at 50% or more and had to waive the VA pay to get a more feesable pension so that we could survive. Some could work in the private sector for a while until the wounds became worse and had to take SSI or early retirement. The government took care of the Federal workers and allowed them to collect the money they waived from the VA,but the rest of us are left in the cold and have to settle for our Military pension without the money we had to waive from the VA. I believe it was called double dipping. Now I believe its called cow chipping. Whats fair for one is fair for all. It seems the wording in the budget was wrong and had to be corrected under Chapter 61. One sentence screwed us all,but no one seems to want to correct it.

This bill has been in committes for years and put on a back burner to cook and cook. It seems like all those who run for office will tell us they will help the disabled. Checkout how much the VA is under payed,check out how many VA hospitals are closing ,check out the brain related injury funds that are being under funded,check :evilgrin:out the cost of living we were promised and never got,check out the computers that are misplaced or unguarded.

If you think we have been treated fairly check out the 8 in Pendelton. We serve because we love a good battle and love our country and Corp. Just give us what is due to us. Vote the bums out in 07 and 08.

[booksbenji]

Sometimes their things hidden within article that we can unravel like a ball of yarn :bunny:

[bootlace15]

I see that,I guess I need to keep reading and not jump so fast.

Semper Fi

[booksbenji]

The part U R P/O bout:



VA figures to pay 80% of money owed. Some retirees will receive two checks, one from the VA and another from DFAS. Before payments are deposited, affected retirees will get letters explaining reasons for the back pay and how the amounts were calculated. Most of the shortfalls resulted from VA withholding too much disability compensation after CRSC and CRDP began. Traditional VA and DFAS rules on withholding failed to take account of changes to concurrent receipt law. This resulted in a situation where people's entitlement to disability pay had a [start] date prior to the date we actually started paying it. The pay shortfalls can be blamed in part on the considerable complexity of CRDP and CRSC. Congress designed the programs to alleviate, but only for certain career retirees, a century-old ban on concurrent receipt of both military retirement and VA disability compensation. Until CRSC began on 1 JUN 03 and CRDP began on 1 JAN 04 all military retirees with service-related disabilities had to accept a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxable retired pay in order to receive tax-free VA compensation for their service-related injury or illness. CRSC allows retirees with at least 20 years of service to receive tax-free pay to replace any offset in taxable retired pay required on receipt of VA disability compensation. For CRSC, retirees must have combat-related injuries or ailments and apply to their service to establish eligibility. CRDP, on the other hand, is paid automatically if the retiree served 20 years and has service-related disabilities rated 50 percent or higher by VA. The full CRDP is being phased in for most of its 170,000 recipients, adding another layer of complexity to the back payment effort. Retirees can be eligible for both CRSC and CRDP but can receive only one.

Before these programs took effect, Shine said, VA and DFAS didn't need to worry about tracking retroactivity of payments. When a retiree's VA rating was approved or raised, VA knew to withhold the additional compensation from the retiree until it got word from DFAS that military retirement had been reduced. This avoided government overpayments. Retirees impacted by such withholding simply notified the IRS, on their next tax return, to treat any portion of their retired pay received after their VA benefits kicked in as non-taxable compensation. This arrangement between VA and DFAS no longer worked after CRSC and CRDP took effect and indeed it created compensation shortfalls. Of 220,000 retirees now drawing one of these payments, 60% are owed back pay, and most can of that be traced to over withholding by VA. Retirees who received retroactive pay in SEP represent the sampling of files that DFAS and VA used test their revised pay software and data exchange processes. Back payments owed to the remaining 133,000 retirees have been separated by levels of difficulty. The easiest to calculate, using only computers, are 40,000 files prepared for OCT 06 delivery to VA. VA back payments will be made near the end of the month. DFAS can make batches of back payments weekly, starting in October. "Our target is to get the majority of the [back pay] population done within six months," said Shine. "But we also recognize that, because some of these cases are just a lot more difficult and involved, it could take as much as 12 months to get all payments completely satisfied. To be eligible, you must:
- Be a military retiree (Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps); and
- Meet all the requirements for either CRSC or CRDP eligibility; and
- Have received payment(s) of either CRSC on or after 1 JUN 03 for CRSC and/or CRDP on or after 1 JAN 05; and
- Have been awarded one or more increase(s) in your percentage of disability by the VA on or after 1 JUN 03.
[Source: Tom Philpott article 15 Sep 06 ++]

[jfeeneynj]

Am I understanding this? I was "Medically Retired" for wounds received in combat (75%); yet I only served 13 months; I choose th VA Disabilty Payment over the USMC Retirement Benefit - due to the difference in compensation.
Now at 62 I was placed at 100% Disability; took Early SSI Retirement;
Can I apply for this new benefit?