Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 1/3/2002

Dear Sgt. Shaft,
Congress recently took action in an attempt to address the 110-year old injustice that forces disabled military retirees to forfeit a dollar of their retired pay for every dollar they receive in VA disability compensation. Their efforts to implement concurrent receipt produced a special compensation for certain retired military personnel with Purple Hearts or combat related disabilities. Despite falling far short of full concurrent receipt, which the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) has pursued for more than a decade, the action salvaged what might have been a total lack of recognition of service members, retired after 20 or more years in the uniforms of our armed forces. 

Who's to blame for the defeat of full concurrent receipt? Congress was forced to seek a reduced benefit by the Bush Administration's hard line. Officials at the White House advised Congress that they would ask the president to veto any proposed legislation that addressed concurrent receipt. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, along with Dr. David Chu and Charles Abell, both highly placed Department of Defense (DoD) personnel officials, spearheaded efforts to kill concurrent receipt. 

Chu and Abell publicly attacked military retirees seeking passage of concurrent receipt, referring to FRA's applicable Shipmates (many veterans of one, two, and three wars) as "greedy." Chu also stated publicly that full concurrent receipt was deeply flawed in that it allowed military retirees who qualify for a VA disability rating to receive "two full pensions," and justified rejecting full concurrent receipt because military retirees are already "well-compensated." 

Chu's remarks that military retirees are "well compensated" probably comes as a surprise to the nearly two-thirds of all retirees who are in the enlisted grades. In FY-01, the average retired pay for most of them was less than $1,100 per month. 

Among the questions FRA has for Dr. Chu and the Department of Defense is: Why was deception employed in the effort to persuade the American public that concurrent receipt was not on Defense's legislative plate because of its cost? Another, and more puzzling tactic, would be Chu's skirting of the concurrent receipt issue as applied to DoD's civilian employees. Both those on a federal salary and retired from federal civilian service may receive VA disability compensation without enduring the offset forced upon military retirees. It appears that Dr. Chu plays favorites in the case of the Department's current and retired civilian employees. They must not be as 'well compensated' as military retirees. 

In spite of Dr. Chu, his boss, and the bean counters in the White House, I assure you and my Shipmates that FRA will be back next year seeking full concurrent receipt for those who truly deserve to be recognized by their  government for the sacrifices they made while serving in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. 

Yours in Loyalty, Protection, and Service,
Joseph L. Barnes
National Executive Secretary

Dear Joe
Every person in the military community who feels strongly about this issue needs to contact their Representative and Senators to tell them the only acceptable outcome to this fray is FULL concurrent receipt.

In a recent statement, Rep. Bilirakis said, "For more than 17 years, I have worked to eliminate the offset that unfairly penalizes disabled military retirees. I am extremely disappointed that the conferees for the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act scaled back the original House-passed concurrent receipt provisions, which were based on my legislation and would have provided full-concurrent receipt to disabled military retirees rated 60 percent or more."

"At a time when our nation is calling upon our Armed Forces to defend democracy and freedom, I am afraid we are sending the wrong message to our military service members."

SHAFT KUDOS
On January 8, the Sarge is looking forward to joining Press Club Members, guests and the public at the 12:30 p.m. National Press Club luncheon featuring General James L. Jones, Commandant of the Marine Corps. General Jones has recently been appointed by President Bush as Commander of the U. S. European Command and by NATO as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

General Jones was commissioned a second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps the year after his graduation from Georgetown University and was ordered to Viet Nam as a platoon and Company Commander that same year. In his more than 30 year career in the Corps he has held a wide range of leadership positions, including serving as commanding officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Of Camp Lejune North Carolina. His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star medal, the Legion of Merit with four gold stars, the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V”, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

In recent years, General Jones served as the Military Assistant to Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and in 1999 he was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps. 

In recent remarks conferring an honorary doctorate on General Jones Dean Robert L. Gallucci, of Georgetowne University stated 

“When Bishop John Carroll established his Academy at Georgetown, he envisioned a place that would educate new generations of leaders for the nation. This same spirit led Edmund A. Walsh, S. J., more than a century later and in a much changed world, to build at Georgetown a School of Foreign Service that would help prepare citizen-leaders who would preserve and advance liberty in the United States and, in turn, on the world stage on which the nation was then taking its place. We celebrate a son of Georgetown and a graduate of the Walsh School of Foreign Service whose distinguished career of public service and patriotism is a contemporary embodiment of the traditions that have infused and inspired Georgetown since 1789."

(For information and reservations for the January 8 luncheon, contact Pat Nelson at 202-662-7539 or e-mail: pnelson@press.org.)

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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