New Rules for Earlier than Age 60 Retirement for RC
There is new authority for earlier retirement pay than age 60 for reservists. Big news is that service in a Warrior Transition Unit will count towards calculating reduced age of receipt of retired pay. For many, the impact will be on receipt of CRDP (as their retirement will be because of disability and therefore the main remaining issue is CRDP).
"The way it works is that Soldiers can count 90 days of their tour toward 90 days earlier retirement for each fiscal year deployed, according to Richard Gray, supervisor of Retired Pay.
That part is still in effect.
The new categories include reserve-component Soldiers who are activated to respond to national emergencies such as natural disasters like hurricanes or earthquakes. Another category is for those in warrior transition units who were hurt while mobilized for such responses, Gray...
In 2001, the year U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, 983 veterans began to draw disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for sleep apnea, a disorder linked to obesity and characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep that can cause chronic drowsiness.
Last year, 25 times that number of veterans and military retirees (24,791) were added to VA compensation rolls for service-connected sleep apnea, raising the number of vets and retirees drawing apnea payments to 114,103, double the number VA reported just three years earlier.
VA compensation for sleep apnea now exceeds $1.2 billion...
The 30-second Web video has the edgy quality of a campaign-season attack ad, including ominous music, grainy photos and a closing demand: “It’s time for new leadership.”.......
"Under pressure to reduce its immense inventory of disability claims for injured and sick veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday its plans to process 250,000 claims that are one year or older within the next six months."...
The end of the year has brought great news for Wounded Warriors and those challenging erroneous military personnel decisions. Congress has done the right thing and removed a provision of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would have severely limited the rights of military members and veterans to challenge erroneous decisions in Federal Court.
You may recall that I wrote about the offensive provision of the NDAA in my earlier article, "Congress Set to Rob Wounded Warriors." In a nutshell, the law as originally written would have forced those appealing military personnel decisions to file a claim before their branches Board for Correction of Military Records prior to suing in Federal Court. The consequences of this would have meant that the time to file an appeal would be greatly...
