Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 08/06/2007

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
I am a retired disabled veteran, service-connected. I retired in 1996 and am now receiving VA benefits, which are based on total disability. Although I retired with just over 17 years of service, I believe I still should get my military retired pay along with VA compensation like other retired military personnel. I say this because, had it not been for a medical board finding of being unfit for duty, I would have completed the full 20 years of service and received both. I was forced out of the military on a permanent disability retirement (PDR). Can you help?

Thanks
Jay P.
Via the Internet

Dear Jay:
You are being paid in accordance with the provisions of current law. You and many others are in the same situation, where you would have put in 20 years except for your disability.

Congress is considering a change in the law that would make disability retirees with fewer than 20 years of service eligible to receive retired pay and VA disability benefits. Whether the provision is enacted into law won't be known until this fall. The Veterans Disability Commission is also being urged to recommend a similar provision when they report out this fall.

Shaft Notes
The Sarge highly recommends a new book, "Faces of Freedom," which tells the stories of 52 military men and women who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11. The fallen service members are from all 50 states, the District and Puerto Rico.

All proceeds from sales of "Faces of Freedom" go to Fisher House and the Wounded Warrior Project. The book is available at www.rebeccapepin.com and www.Amazon.com.

Several professional, national writers and editors from around the country contributed to "Faces of Freedom."

An "attaboy" to U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican, former chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, for his recent warning to lawmakers in the upper body of an impending crisis in veterans' medical care. He recommended a complete overhaul of the funding mechanism for veterans' health care during his testimony before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Mr. Smith — the lead witness at the hearing — began his testimony by praising veterans saying, "No one on earth has done more to protect and preserve freedom, democracy and fundamental human rights than our veterans. When the dust settles, it is the veteran and his or her family who bear the physical and emotional scars of war. For some it's the ultimate price.

"A grateful nation must at all times and in every circumstance put veterans first," Mr. Smith said.

He went on to paint a "sobering picture" of the current direction veterans' health care funding is headed, saying, "Notwithstanding a potentially huge plus-up in the [fiscal year 2008] VA medical appropriations, the funding mechanism remains broken.

"Unless we fix the funding process for VA health care, all efforts to improve its delivery will continue to be impeded, and worse: We risk new Walter Reed-like problems at VA facilities in the future," Mr. Smith told the committee.

He pointed to the proposal of a previous advisory board set up by President Bush to support his recommendation that the system must be reformed.

Mr. Smith strongly encouraged the committee to heed the advice of the President's Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation's Veterans, which recommended a "full funding" system in 2003 and established two alternatives to achieve that goal: a mandatory funding system or the establishment of an independent panel of experts charged with submitting the administration's request absent Office of Budget Management (OMB) vetting and veto.

Mr. Smith noted that "no single issue garnered more of the committee's attention than ensuring that VA received the funds it required to provide services veterans needed" during his tenure as chairman. Despite the bipartisan nature of the committee, Mr Smith said the congressional appropriations process for veterans' funding is where the process becomes flawed as it "replaces sound data with other agendas."

"The effect on the VA has been extremely harmful, leading to management and staffing problems, as well as construction-funding shortfalls that threaten VA's physical infrastructure," he said during the hearing.

"With the devastating types of injuries being suffered in the war today and the long-term care needs of so many veterans on the rise, we must ensure that the VA continues to provide world-class medicine far into the future."

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-257-5446 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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