Little known rules punishes wounded veterans by using retirement pay for disabilities | Opinion
U.S. Army Reserve Major Richard Star, a combat engineer who led route clearance and road construction missions during deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, learned in 2018 that he had contracted lung cancer from exposure to burn pits and other toxic substances in the war zones. He was medically retired due to his illness.
Because of a quirk in U.S. law dating back to the 19th century, Major Star found he would not be entitled to what’s known as “concurrent receipt” – in other words, he would lose a dollar of Defense Department retirement pay for every dollar of disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs. It’s an unjust financial offset faced by more than 52,000 combat-injured veterans – including more than 1,000 Kentuckians – forced to retire before 20 years of service.
One of those Kentuckians who do not receive their full, earned retirement pay is retired Chief Warrant Officer-2 Phillip Scheil, who lives in Frankfort. He served in Vietnam as one of the famed “Dustoff” medivac helicopter pilots, who transported more than 900,000 casualties during the war under withering enemy fire over treacherous terrain, saving many lives.
During one of his missions, Scheil was struck by gunfire. His injuries ended his military career short of 20 years, leading to a medical retirement. Aside from a fraction of his pension received via a special compensation program, he receives none of his retirement pay, which is completely offset by VA disability compensation.
Fighting for change
Until his death in 2021, Major Star sought legislation to remedy this little-known provision. The work of Star and fellow advocates led to bills in both the House and Senate – The Major Richard Star Act – addressing this injustice.
The act has overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, with 73 Senate and 326 House co-sponsors. These include U.S. Reps. Andy Barr, Thomas Massie, and Morgan McGarvey. Kentucky’s other three representatives and two senators have yet to co-sponsor the bill.
The Major Richard Star Act would allow combat-injured veterans to receive earned retirement pay and their disability compensation without offset. These are two different payments for two different purposes – Congress acknowledged with a partial fix as part of its 2004 defense authorization bill, but the legislation did not cover combat-injured veterans who did not reach 20 years of service.
The Cost of War
Lawmakers who raise budgetary objections to the bill fail to consider the extraordinary sacrifice of our combat-injured veterans. Reducing retired pay due to a combat injury breaks faith with those who serve and will serve in the future. Compensation for these injured veterans is not the place to achieve savings.
The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), along with 35 military and veterans service organizations who advocate on Capitol Hill for servicemembers, veterans and their families, have made the inclusion of the Major Richard Star Act in this year’s defense authorization bill a top legislative priority.
As MOAA members, we strongly encourage you to contact the legislators who are not co-sponsors of this bill and encourage them to support H.R. 1282 or S. 344.
Brig. Gen. Leslie E. Beavers, U.S. Army (Ret.) is President of the Kentucky Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) and was the first Commissioner of the Kentucky Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Col. John M. Shotwell, USMC (Ret.) is Secretary of the MOAA Bluegrass Chapter.
