West Florida Electric Cooperative Association, Inc.

Few Eligible Retirees Apply for Special Pay
by Amy Simmons, Veterans Service Officer, Washington County

Officials continue to be baffled as to why more eligible retirees have not applied for Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC). CRSC, a $22 billion program endowed by Congress in 2002 for active and reserve retirees with disabilities related to combat or hazardous duties, has processed applications from only 90,000 of an estimated 600,000 eligible retirees.

Of the $1 billion in payments paid to date, about $628 million has gone to retired soldiers, according to Col. John Sackett, director of the program’s Army component at the Human Resources Command. With roughly $21 billion remaining in the program, officials urge retirees who believe they are eligible to apply.

Unlike the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payments program, an automatic entitlement from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service for any retiree with a Department of Veterans Affairs disability rating of 50 percent or higher, CRSC is an application-claim-based program. Army officials suspect that some retirees have not applied because they believe they already are receiving CRSC compensation, when in fact they are receiving Concurrent Retirement and Disability pay, which not only is taxable, but generally has smaller payments. For example, the monthly payment for a 50 percent rating under CRSC is $663 tax-free, while the taxable monthly payment for CRDP is $153.

Disabled retirees who are not certain which pay they receive should check their Defense Finance and Accounting pay stub. The law forbids retirees from receiving both CRSC and CRDP. To qualify for CRSC, claimants must:

* Be retired with at least 20 years of active or reserve service.
* Receive retired pay offset by VA payments.
* Have a disability rating of at least 10 percent. Eligibility for CRSC requires a documented “combat-related” disability, which is a term that includes:
* Disability resulting from conditions simulating war, such as a named exercise.
* An injury incurred while performing hazardous service, such as flying, diving or parachute duty.
* An injury caused by an instrument of war (combat vehicle, military weapon, etc.)
* A wound or injury caused by armed conflict (resulting in Purple Heart), and presumptive cases involving such conditions as exposure to Agent Orange or radiation. Retirees who apply for CRSC should be prepared to document their claims with evidence showing that their disability is “combat-related” under the conditions described above.7456301

For full details on CRSC, call toll-free at (866) 281-3254. Soldiers can learn more on the Army’s CRSC www.crsc.army.mil site on the Web.

Sailors can learn more on the Navy’s CRSC www.hq.navy.mil/ncpb/CRSCB/combatrelated.htm site on the Web.

SOURCE: http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1189670.php

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