MILITARY UPDATE
Some tips for retirees disabled in combat
Military Update focuses on issues affecting pay, benefits and lifestyle of active and retired servicepeople. Its author, Tom Philpott, is a Virginia-based syndicated columnist and freelance writer. He has covered military issues for almost 25 years, including six years as editor of Navy Times. For 17 years he worked as a writer and senior editor for Army Times Publishing Co. Philpott, 50, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1973 and served as an information officer from 1974-77.
By Tom Philpott
If you're among tens of thousands of military retirees who applied or intend to apply for the new Combat-Related Special Compensation, here's some advice.
The first CRSC applications were filed in early June. About 1,000 were reviewed and 100 approved in time for payments to have begun July 1.
Waits of two to three months will be commonplace. But when CRSC payments do begin for retirees, they will be retroactive to June 1.
CRSC, as authorized by Congress, alleviated or eliminated a reduction in retirement pay that occurs when a select group of disabled military retirees begin receiving VA disability compensation. CRSC-qualified retirees are those who were awarded Purple Hearts for their disabilities or those who have had serious injuries or illnesses from combat, combat training or "instrumentalities of war" like Agent Orange.
An estimated 710,000 military retirees receive some VA compensation for service-connected disabilities. Only 35,000 to 40,000 are expected to be found eligible for CRSC, said Tom Tower, a Defense Department pay expert.
Monthly CRSC will range from $104 to $2,193, matching the offset in retirement pay caused by their VA compensation.
New applicants can ensure faster processing in three ways, Tower said.
• VASRD codes.
The third page of the application form asks retirees to itemize disabilities by using diagnosis codes known as VA Schedule of Rating Disabilities or VASRD. The CRSC boards need the four-digit codes to verify that a disability is combat-related.
Many applications filed so far lack these codes, often because the VA didn't provide them to retirees. VA officials have now notified the department's regional offices to produce a list of diagnosis codes for each retiree and each VA disability.
• Original rating documents.
Another problem with many applications is that retirees provided copies of most recent disability rating decisions — perhaps an increase in rating from 40 to 60 percent — but did not provide the original rating decision. Only the original explains the basis for the disability so it is important, according to Tower.
For example, Tower said, the VA presumes that veterans suffering posttraumatic stress disorder have a service-connected illness. The CRSC board must look behind that presumption to see if the stress is combat-related. Was the stress caused by an accident during weapons training or a house fire? If the latter were the case, the applicant probably would not qualify for CRSC.
• "Kitchen sink" mindset.
Too many applicants are sending along copies of their entire medical histories and VA disability files rather than select pages that describe combat-related injuries and how they occurred.
"Don't send us everything," Tower said. "What we need to know is whether you were in a job or assignment that seems to correlate to the exposure, and then we need to know you got that disability there and how it happened.'"
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