Readers of Tom Philpott’s Military Update column sound off.

Cases Vary Among 100,000 Retirees Due Back Pay

I read with interest the article about disabled military retirees being due back pay. But one of the larger inequities, which affected me, was ignored.

I am a 20-year retiree with Vietnam service involving exposure to Agent Orange service. I applied for a disability determination on April 16, 2004. Three physicians had diagnosed my illness. The VA, however, took until July 18, 2005, to approve the disability award. It was effective back to the date of application, April 16, 2004.

I was led to expect retroactive payment based on that date. Later, however, the VA said that, even though the effective date of disability was 16 April 2004, I would be paid from Aug. 1, 2005.

The CRSC amount in question is $8694. I was entitled to it but, due primarily to foot dragging by the VA, it has been denied.

I recommend in the future when the VA takes years to make a simple decision, service members should not be the ones penalized.

DONALD L SCHWANKE   
Chief Warrant Third, Ret-USA
Via e-mail

Your situation wasn’t ignored. It’s just a slight variation on so many other cases in which the government underpaid about half of all retirees eligible for Combat-Related Special Compensation or Concurrent Receipt and Disability Program. We await details from the VA and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service on how the repayment program will be implemented. – Tom Philpott

In your recent article on back pay for some recipients of Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, does that affect retirees receiving Individual Unemployable (IU) compensation?

LEE TEMPELTON
Chief Master Sergeant, USAF-Ret.
Via e-mail

Yes. It affects about half of all retirees eligible to receive both VA compensation and military retirement concurrently. That group includes IU people. – T. P.

PRESUMPTIVE DISEASES

After my World War II service I was eligible for VA compensation. But as the years passed and my health improved, that changed. I now have a 0% disability. Nonetheless, I was interested in your column addressing changes concerning military retirement and combat-related compensation.

I was puzzled to read that the article centered on a veteran whose service-related disability is prostate cancer. Is it possible the government has now deemed this or other types of cancers to be service-related?

So many of we veterans have aged and developed a wide variety of ills and ailments. How is the determination made and which of these can be considered service-related?

FREDERICK HEIMRICK
Fayetteville, N. C.

Any veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam between Jan. 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, is presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides used in that war. Consequently, if these veterans contract one or more of 11 different diseases, the conditions are presumed to have been caused by wartime herbicide exposure. Prostate cancer is one of those diseases.

The others are: chloracne or other acne-form disease similar to chloracne; porphyria cutanea tarda; soft-tissue sarcoma, (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma or mesothelioma); Hodgkin's disease; multiple myeloma; respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, larynx, trachea); non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy; diabetes mellitus (Type 2) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Other groups of presumptive diseases or conditions are tied to experiences of prisoners of war, to veterans exposed to radiation and to Persian Gulf War veterans. Here’s a link for more details:  http://www1.va.gov/opa/IS1/2.asp – T.P.

SEPARATION PAY OFFSET

Retirees now receiving Combat-Related Special Compensation or Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay were able to complete enough service time to retire and receive a steady income. I and many other veterans could not.

I was involuntarily separated, and honorably discharged, after 12.5 years of service with a 60-percent disability rating. I received separation pay. Then I was made to wait until that separation pay was, in effect, completely offset by withheld VA compensation before I could begin receiving monthly VA disability outright.

It feels as though I forfeited my separation pay yet I deserved it as much as anybody else who was involuntarily separated.

This offset requirement of separation pay, I feel, had more impact on me and other veterans than the ban on concurrent receipt had 20-year retirees.

DEAN SILVER
Via e-mail

MORE SHORTAGES AHEAD

You did a good job with the column about a looming military doctor shortage. The same, sadly, is true for Army psychologists and social workers. One wonders about the long term impact.

EMILE K. WIJNANS, PhD
Captain, Medical Services, UUS

Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah, Iraq

Letters may be edited for clarity or length. Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com