CHAPTER 61 DISABILITY PAY

Edward G. Galian, Department Adjutant

The FY 2001 Defense Authorization Act revised the provisions for special compensation for severely disabled military retirees to include those retired under Chapter 61 (military disability) effective 1 October 2001. With this change a retiree must have served at least 20 years on active duty or accumulated the equivalent 7,200 Reserve retirement points and been awarded a 70-percent or higher military disability retirement from their parent service or the VA within four years of retiring. Eligible veterans whose VA or service-connected disability rating is 100% (or rated unemployable) will receive $300 per month; ratings of 90% will receive $200 per month; and ratings of 70% or 80% will receive $100 monthly.

A recent DoD legal ruling mandates that those medically retired must ALSO have the VA disability rating. Some Chapter 61 retirees never applied to the VA, or did not accept VA disability compensation because they saw no advantage in it (much of their military retired pay was already exempt from taxation). These retirees will be delayed in receiving the new $100-$300 monthly special compensation until they apply for and receive VA compensation. At present the average time to process a VA disability claim is about 9 months. However, once the VA payments are authorized, military finance officials will make retroactive "special compensation" payments for qualifying retirees back to the effective date of the VA disability award or Oct. 1, 2001, whichever is later. Unless VA makes the rating retroactive or congress corrects the problem there will be a loss to the veteran. [Source: TROA Leg Up 7 DEC 01]

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Filing a DD-214 with your local government is an option available to veterans. One advantage to filing a DD-214 form with your local countycourthouse is that you can easily obtain copies if you ever lose your original. The disadvantage is that the form, with your Social Security number on it, becomes public record. Unfortunately, identity thieves are aware of this and could take advantage of it. To file or not file a DD-214 with your local county courthouse should be a very deliberate decision. Ask yourself if it would be better for you to obtain extra certified copies of your DD-214 from the National Personnel Records Center and store them in a safe area. Once a document becomes part of a public record, most local and state laws forbid its removal. [Source: FRA News-Bytes 6 DEC 01]

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