Policy Shift Cut Disability Retirements

Week of April 23, 2007

Injured war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are becoming more aware of the critical 30-percent threshold. Some credit for that goes to retired Army Lt. Gen. James Terry Scott, chairman of the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission. Scott spotlighted the value of 30 percent ratings, and ruffled feathers of DoD officials, before a Senate hearing last week when he said the higher cost of disability retirement, versus severance pay, gives DoD "a strong incentive" to award 20 percent or less. No service does it more often than the Army, according to fresh service data released by Scott. From 2000 through 2006, the Army gave ratings of 30 percent or higher to only 13 percent of soldiers deemed disabled. By comparison, the Navy awarded disability retirement to 36 percent of its disabled members. The Air Force number was 27 and the Marines Corps 18 percent. More troubling, Scott suggested, was data showing Army awarded a 0 percent rating to 13,646 soldiers that it found unfit for duty. The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force had assigned 0 ratings only to 400 apiece. To learn more, read the article at Military.com.

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