Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 08/19/2002

Dear Sgt. Shaft,
I wanted to keep you posted on our Pentagon Program, which has recently been completed. We delivered $1.4 million in bonds to General Jim Jones, Commandant of the Marine Corps. These bonds were for the future education of children whose parent perished at the Pentagon on September 11th. These brave Americans were members of the Department of the Navy, Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or a passenger onboard the ill-fated American Airlines flight #77.

Each of the 141 children touched by this horrible tragedy received a $10,000 Maturity Value U.S. Treasury Bond. The funding for these bonds was a separate project for our Foundation because this situation was outside of the realm of what we usually do, but we saw a need and being members of the Marine Corps Family, we charged forward to do the right thing!

Again, I wish to thank you and all the members of the Blinded American Veterans Foundation for your outstanding $2,000 donation. I also want to thank you, personally, for the stock donation.

The response of the American people who read your article or listened to Rush Limbaugh has been overwhelming. So many sent along notes with their checks, showing their trust in our Foundation to do the right thing for these families.

I hope all is well with you and I wish you continued success.

Semper Fidelis,
Pete Hass
President, Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation

Dear Pete,
I urge everyone to donate to your fine organization.

Founded in January 1995, by former Marines and law enforcement personnel. The MC-LEF believes that our nation's most precious resource is its youth and encourages their spiritual, moral, intellectual and physical development through education. Since its founding MC-LEF has distributed $3 million to children of Marines or Federal law enforcement personnel who were killed on duty or died in extraordinary circumstances. In 1999, 139 such children were awarded scholarship bonds or medical assistance from MC-LEF. 

The Foundation does not have a paid staff. 100% of the funds, donations from members, individuals and corporations, go toward educational scholarships and special medical equipment that a child's family would not otherwise be able to afford. MC-LEF Fundraising events include Scholarship Galas and Scholarship Golf Tournaments. 

Donations may be made payable to MC - LEF and sent care of: 

The Office of the Commandant, Headquarters
U.S. Marine Corps
2 Navy Annex
Washington, D. C. 20380.

SHAFT KUDOS
A pat on the back to Congressman Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) and the other 210 fellow House Representatives who recently wrote the following missive to President Bush:

We are writing to express our support for the elimination of the current offset between military retired pay and VA disability compensation, commonly known as concurrent receipt. 

Under present law, service-disabled military retirees must surrender a portion of their retired pay if they want to receive the disability compensation to which they are entitled. Congress enacted this unjust law in 1891, and it affects approximately 550,000 disabled military retirees. Military retirees are the only federal employees affected by the offset. For 17 years, legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives to correct this long-standing inequity. The Retired Pay Restoration Act has received strong bipartisan support in Congress with more than 400 cosponsors in the House and 82 cosponsors in the Senate. 

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives approved the Fiscal Year 2003 budget resolution, which includes funding for a partial repeal of the dollar-for-dollar offset of military retired pay and VA disability compensation. On May 9, 2002, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 4546, the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act, which follows the FY 2003 budget resolution and includes a provision to authorize military retirees who are 60 percent or greater disabled to receive their full retired pay and VA disability compensation benefit by Fiscal Year 2007. 

Recently, the Senate approved its defense authorization measure, which completely eliminates the current offset between military retired pay and VA disability compensation. We understand that some of your senior advisors have stated that they would recommend you veto the defense authorization measure if a concurrent receipt provision is included in the final bill. We urge you to carefully consider this action. 

For too long, America’s disabled military retirees have been unjustly penalized by the current offset, and they are demanding action now. With such strong bipartisan support in both bodies of Congress, these deserving men and women will not understand or accept a presidential veto of the concurrent receipt provisions approved by Congress. Numerous veterans service organizations have already issued strong statements condemning the veto threat.

Moreover, at a time when our Nation is calling upon our Armed Forces to defend democracy and freedom, we must be careful not to send the wrong signal to our military service members. For those of them who have selected to make their career in the U.S. military, they face an additional unknown risk in our fight against terrorism. If they are injured, they will be forced to forego their earned retired pay in order to receive their VA disability compensation. In effect, they will be paying for their own disability benefits from their retirement checks.

We must send a signal to these brave men and women that our Government takes care of those who make sacrifices for our Nation. We have a unique opportunity this year to redress the unfair practice of requiring disabled military retirees to fund their own disability compensation. It is time for us to show our appreciation to the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our great Nation. We urge you to support the inclusion of a concurrent receipt provision in the final defense authorization act.

We stand ready to work with you on this important matter. 

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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