Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 10/01/2007

Dear Sgt Shaft,

I need your wisdom, I have 21 years active duty service and I’m being medically retired for a combat related back injury. I was told that if my VA rating which will be 80% is more than my retired pay I would not receive concurrent receipt; I would just receive VA compensation. I don’t believe that’s correct can you assist me. Also should I take the medical retirement? I go to the formal board on the 18th of September and I’m fighting for more than 10% for my back and the fact that it’s combat related. I have extensive medical records including an MRI. Can you please advise?

Thank you for your time.
Don

Dear Don
Disability compensation from the VA is not taxable. If the VA rates you higher than 50% you will also receive Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) from your branch of service. That will phase in your retired pay over the next seven years until it is paid in full in 2014. If you apply to your branch of service Combat Related Special Compensation Board (CRSC) and your application is approved, you will receive your VA compensation, tax-exempt in an amount equal to the amount of your VA compensation. If there is any remaining retired pay above your CRSC that part of your military retirement will be subject to income tax.

You should probably take the medical retirement if you think it’s fair. If his Physical Evaluation Board believes his disability is combat related, you may be awarded full or partially tax-free retired pay.

As I mentioned in my email to you, hopefully you were able to obtain a representative to appear with you before the Board.

Dear Sgt Shaft
My name is Judy McCloskey and I am the Founder of CatholicMil.org, Petitioner for the Cause of Vietnam Medal of Honor recipient Chaplain Vincent Robert Capodanno. Admittedly, I am only now becoming aware of the good work being accomplished through your foundation. Given your Sgt Shaft article as well as your membership in the National Press Club, I am hoping you would be interested in learning more about the cause of Capodanno whose life was steadfastly dedicated to serving his Marines and making it known to your readership. Right now, we are working to generate a groundswell of interest within various military and veterans organizations to do, if you will pardon the pun, some grunt work. In addition to always being on the look out for more testimonies from those who served with LT Capodanno, we are looking for a few people to simply help get the word out on a local level around the country and around the world. If you are interested, I would invite you to read my most recent presentation: http://www.catholicmil.org/html/article.php?id=641 and even an excerpt from the book “the Grunt Padre” by Daniel Mode available online.

Semper Fi,
Judy McCloskey
CatholicMil.Org
P.O. Box 1757
Front Royal, VA 22630
www.catholicmil.org
www.vincentcapodanno.org

Dear Judy
I am looking forward to reading this book about a wonderful American hero. I hope my readers do the same. Also of similar interest is the following item I received about another military chaplain:

By filling his VA chapel on weekends, this VA chaplain also fills a spiritual niche in the community. Father Ken Kleiber, a Catholic chaplain at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz., often preaches to a full house. While meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of Catholic and non-Catholic hospitalized veterans, he has found his role also provides an opportunity for many in the surrounding community to attend weekly Mass. The small chapel at the medical center only holds about 100 worshippers and on Saturdays, many attendees are local area residents. Father Kleiber believes their presence benefits the patients of the medical center. “On Saturdays, when the patients come down for the Mass, they are really surprised to see a full house. Many of the patients are just starting to get their lives in order, so when they see the full house, they are no longer isolated from the community. I think it makes them feel good to be part of the group again.”

Shaft Notes

The AMERICAN FILM FOUNDATION
SANDERS & MOCK PRODUCTIONS
and
FRIENDS of Uniform Service University (USU)
are sponsoring a Special Advance Preview Screening of

FIGHTING FOR LIFE

A New Motion Picture by
Two-Time Academy Award Winner
TERRY SANDERS
This Powerful Story of American Military Doctors, Nurses and the Wounded
in a Time of War will be shown to invited guests

Friday, October 5, 2007
7:30 pm
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY

“Fighting for Life” is a powerful and emotional feature documentary film, a real-life “MASH” for our times, the story of doctors and nurses fighting on the frontlines in the battle for life, interweaving three stories:

Military doctors, nurses, working with compassion, skills, and dedication in the vortex of the Iraqi War.

Wounded soldiers and marines, reacting with courage, dignity, and determination to survive and to heal.

Students at “USU,” the West Point of military medicine, on their journey to becoming career military physicians.

The film also follows 21-year-old Army Specialist Crystal Davis, from Iraq to Germany, and to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC, as she fights to recover and “bounce back” from the loss of a leg from an IED blast. The song “No Surrender” – Bruce Springsteen’s haunting elegy of compassion and determination – plays over Crystal in the poignant last scene of the film. For additional information Email: am.film@verizon.net or www.fightingforlifethemovie.com.

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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