2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment prepping for Afghan rotation

Vilseck-based Stryker regiment tapped for Afghan rotation

DoD Announces Units For Afghanistan Rotations And Deployment

Cavalry Journal reviews “A Line Through The Desert”

2nd SCR Participates in Joint Task Force-East Training

Iraq veteran delivers inspirational speech to Dragoons

War Eagles visited by Polish CSM

RSS Spurs German Partners On

2SCR Steps up Training at Task Force-East

1/2 SCR Commemorates 65th Anniversary of Luneville Liberation

Congress extends residency benefits to spouses

WASHINGTON — Congress on Monday sent President Barack Obama a bill that allows military spouses to claim residency in the same state as their wives or husbands.Under current law, service members can choose to keep their original residency as they relocate.Spouses who lobbied for the change said having that same right would prevent hassles associated with every move, such as obtaining a new driver’s license and reregistering to vote. In some cases, it also eliminates the need for couples to file separate tax returns and lowers the income taxes that some spouses pay.Moving is a ritual repeated nearly every three years on average for military families.The House passed the legislation on a voice vote. Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, a bill sponsor who represents Fort Hood, Texas, said it would give “invaluable relief to numerous military spouses who regularly uproot their entire lives to accommodate our Armed Forces.”Carter said in a statement that he expects Obama to sign the legislation into law in the next few days.The legislation had already won approval in the Senate, where it was sponsored by Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill’s financial impact would be minimal.

More delays possible in GI Bill payments

Up to 14,000 students may not receive living stipends Nov. 1 as the Veterans Affairs Department continues to dig out of a backlog of claims for the Post-9/11 GI Bill — but there will be no more emergency payments for those who don’t get paid on time.VA officials said Tuesday they have about 14,000 enrollment certifications pending final approval for tuition, book allowance and living stipends. The certifications are the final step for an eligible veteran enrolled in school to receive benefits.“It is possible, if we have not worked their case by the end of the month, that some may not receive their housing payment on the first,” VA officials said in a statement, referring to Nov. 1.Payments not made Nov. 1 will be made to the student as soon as final approval is given so they do not have to wait until Dec. 1 to receive a living stipend, VA officials said.Emergency $3,000 payments went out to more than 50,000 students who were not paid their living stipends Oct. 1, but no more such payments are planned. “Only a one-time advance payment is available this semester,” the VA statement says.Student-veterans eligible for the living stipend who never applied for the emergency payment can still apply if they want to. Any money they receive will be deducted from future living stipends.Patrick Campbell of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said it appears VA’s worst problems in processing education benefits claims for the fall semester are over, although he remains concerned about how the $3,000 emergency payments are deducted from payments — some veterans may have received more advance money than they will receive in monthly living allowances if their campus is considered a low-cost area.Veterans groups also are watching how VA processes claims to get some idea if another round of delayed payments might come for the spring semester, Campbell said.

Lawmakers: GI Bill should cover test prep

Two Florida lawmakers propose an expansion of Post-9/11 GI Bill coverage to include reimbursement for the cost of college preparation classes.Reps. Adam Putnam, a Republican, and Ron Klein, a Democrat, are sponsors of the bill, called the Test Prep for Heroes Act.The bill would have the Post-9/11 GI Bill cover reimbursement for classes that help students get ready for college preparation tests. The new education benefit program already covers up to $2,000 for licensing and certification tests, and up to $1,200 for the cost of tutoring, but it does not cover classes and courses that help prepare for college placement tests.Putnam said the preparatory classes are important to service members. “Sometimes these tests cover subjects the service-members haven’t studied in years, which can put them at a comparative disadvantage to other applicants who may have recently graduated from high school,” he said.Costs for test preparation classes vary, but are in the range of $500 to $1,200 depending on the location, class size and test.Klein said the bill, HR 3948, is an example of a small change that could have big results.“By providing access to more tools to help our veterans prepare for entrance exams and licensing tests, we can level the playing field and ensure they do not miss a single opportunity on the road to a college education,” Klein said.The bill, with more than 20 cosponsors, was referred to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which has accumulated a pile of proposals for modifying the new GI Bill. Decisions on what changes will be made are not expected until next year, when the Veterans Affairs Department provides Congress with recommendations on what would improve claims processing.

Contractor to help VA with GI Bill claims

The Veterans Affairs Department is ready to admit it cannot process GI Bill benefits claims without help, announcing Wednesday that it is seeking an outside contractor to do some preliminary data collection and enrollment certification.VA’s undersecretary for benefits, Patrick Dunne, said in a statement that a contractor “will assist VA in delivering education benefits to our veterans as quickly as possible.”The formal solicitation for temporary contract support was issued Oct. 21 but not announced until Oct. 28.A VA statement said the contractor will be involved in “claims-processing tasks,” but that VA personnel will make final claims decisions and generate payments.Key tasks to be handled by contractors include validating student enrollment and providing recommendations on whether to pay, the statement said.“All work will be reviewed and authorized by VA personnel,” the statement said. “VA will provide training on security and claims processing procedures. The contract personnel will assist in handling the least complex cases, which allows for rapid implementation of this initiative.”The move to seek outside help comes after a rocky start for the Post-9/11 GI Bill program, which launched Aug. 1 after a year of preparation — during which lawmakers kept asking VA officials if they had enough people to handle claims, and VA officials assuring lawmakers that they did. But VA’s goal of processing claims in 20 to 24 days proved too optimistic, and it ended up taking an average 35 days, according to VA testimony to Congress.The delays led to an unprecedented decision to provide emergency GI Bill payments to student-veterans who did not receive Oct. 1 living stipends.VA officials said Tuesday about 14,000 student veterans may not receive Nov. 1 living stipends because their GI Bill claims are not completed, but no additional emergency payments will be made. Instead, VA officials said students would receive payments, retroactive to the start of their enrollment, as soon as their claims are completed.

Report: Cut retirement to pay for weapons

A new report from an independent think tank suggests that drastic cuts are needed in personnel benefits in order to pay for weapons modernization.Some recommendations from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments might be welcomed by service members and their families, such as a proposal to cut the cost of permanent change-of-station moves by extending tour lengths by 50 percent.But other recommendations strike at the heart of the military pay and benefits system. The report by Todd Harrison says the promise of retired pay after 20 years is an example of the generous benefits that led to financial problems in the auto industry, requiring a government bailout.“Few employers today offer pensions and health care benefits for retirees, must less a package that becomes effective after only 20 years of service,” Harrison wrote. “Even GM’s much-derided labor contracts did not provide benefits this rich.”Harrison said big reductions in benefits, such as requiring more service to earn retired pay and charging more for health benefits, are “politically difficult” but that modest changes, if begun soon, could help control costs.Modest steps could include cutting Army and Marine Corps personnel levels as operations in Iraq and Afghanistan subside to reduce overhead costs as quickly as possible, the report said.The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments is a Washington-based independent, nonpartisan think tank focusing on national security issues.“If the overall defense budget remains relatively flat over the coming years, continued increases in personnel-related costs will crowd out funding for acquisitions,” Harrison wrote. “Rather than accept this as inevitable, DoD should begin taking steps to rein in personnel costs.”The report, called “Avoiding a DoD Bailout,” focuses on the financial choices facing the Pentagon if budgets remain relatively flat in the coming years. The fear that personnel-related costs could leave no money for weapons research and purchases is an issue already under study by the Defense Department.Harrison said personnel cuts are not enough to take care of all of the budget pressures; the Defense Department also needs to be careful with weapons spending.“The Pentagon must also rethink the types of weapons it is buying and how it buys them,” the report said.

House panel OKs parents burial bill

A retroactive change in veterans burial rights that allows the biological or adoptive parents of some deceased service members to be buried in national veterans cemeteries was approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee.The bill, HR 761, is being called the Corey Shea Act, named for a 21-year-old Army specialist killed in Iraq last fall whose mother, Denise Anderson, wants to be buried beside him when she dies.The bill, approved by voice vote by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s disability assistance and memorial affairs panel, says the biological or adoptive parents of a service member who dies on active duty in hostile action or in a training-related accident may be buried in the same plot if the service member has no dependents and if space is available. This is a change from the bill’s original wording, which also would have included stepparents and foster parents.Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., the subcommittee chairman, said most plots in national veterans cemeteries have room for three caskets, one atop another, as long as the first casket is buried deep enough so others can be placed on top as other family members die. As a result, a key factor in whether a parent could be buried with a son or daughter is if the service members’ casket is placed so there is room for other family members.The Veterans Affairs Department had raised concerns over limits on who could be considered a parent and families taking up more than one plot at a cemetery. Hall said VA supports the amended bill.As introduced earlier this year, HR 761 would not have applied to Anderson because it was restricted to deaths of service members after it becomes law. Hall said that at the urging of the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the bill has been made retroactive to service deaths since Oct. 7, 2001, so that Anderson would be covered.The full House Veterans’ Committee is expected to take up the bill next week.

APO, FPO mail to end for some retirees

The flow of mail — including prescription drugs sent through the Tricare Mail-Order Pharmacy program — is about to slam to a halt for about 4,800 military retirees and their survivors living overseas who use APO and FPO addresses at U.S. embassies and consulates.Neither State Department nor Defense Department officials would confirm a date when mail will stop, but other sources said the effective date at the moment is Dec. 31.The change will not affect others with APO or FPO mail privileges on overseas military installations, including about 20,000 military retirees who have such addresses because of some other connection to the military community — having a Defense Department civilian job, or being married to an active-duty member assigned overseas, for example. Nor will it affect Defense Department personnel, both military and civilian officially assigned to embassies and consulates.The change will limit affected retirees to using foreign mail systems that in some parts of the world can be slow, unreliable or expensive.“Eliminating embassy mail privileges for American military retirees overseas was a poor decision on a number of levels,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars. “Not only will the U.S. government have to pay higher postage rates, they will no longer be able to guarantee delivery once it enters a foreign postal system. “Some retirees who have received APO/FPO mail through embassies and consulates are particularly concerned about the effect on Tricare Mail-Order Pharmacy prescriptions.“Congress needs to get involved immediately,” Davis said.Tricare will continue to process prescriptions through Dec. 1 to allow time for delivery before the mail service ends, said spokeswoman Bonnie Powell.Tricare will begin sending out letters to affected retirees in the next few weeks to let them know of the change and their prescription options, she said.The core issue is a change in mail delivery responsibility for embassies and consulates, said a government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.For about two years, officials from the State Department and Pentagon have been working to shift mail delivery to State Department facilities overseas from the traditional APO/FPO addresses to a new designation to be known as DPO, for Diplomatic Post Offices.Under the current system, the Defense Department covers the cost of getting APO/FPO mail from the U.S. port of embarkation to overseas locations, which is the most expensive part of the process. The State Department covers similar costs for diplomatic mail.The sender — whether Tricare, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Veterans Affairs Department, or a relative or friend of a retiree — pays only regular domestic rates to get the mail to the postal facility at the U.S. port of embarkation where APO/FPO mail is processed for overseas delivery.As part of the initiative to separate State Department and military mail, State has said it cannot be responsible for the costs of mail going to military retirees at embassies and consulates. Although no firm cost estimates available, sources said the cost is considerable.State Department retirees living in overseas areas have never been authorized to receive APO/FPO mail, nor will they be authorized to receive DPO mail, the source said.Complicating the issue further, the Defense Department, by law, cannot pay the State Department for delivery of military retiree mail, the source said. Defense and service officials reportedly are considering whether to pursue legislation that would allow the Defense Department to pay for military retiree mail to embassies and consulates, but cost is part of that decision.The source said there has been “significant emotional discussion” about the fact that if retirees and their survivors are not notified in time to make alternate plans for getting their medications through Tricare, their health and even lives could be in jeopardy.The source said this only applies to post offices that will be converted to DPOs, and they will not be converted before this issue has been resolved.The largest number of affected retirees are in Panama.Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Jose Claudio, commander of the Latin America/Carribean chapter of the VFW, said about 900 military retirees are registered with the U.S. Consulate in Panama for mail purposes.“It’s a mess for a lot of people living in Panama, especially the widows,” Claudio said.“This will have a big impact on the veterans, widows and children,” said retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Floyd Skoubo, who handles Tricare issues for the VFW in Panama.Many retirees also get Social Security, military retirement and disability benefit checks through embassy and consulate post offices, Skoubo said.Using local foreign mail, those checks would become lucrative targets for theft, he said.In addition, he said, veterans living abroad must also file U.S. tax returns, and mail in their payments for taxes. “These could also be lost in local postal offices and mail forwarders,” he said.DISCUSS: This story

VA makes calls to check up on GI Bill users

If you are a student-veteran using the Post-9/11 GI Bill and someone calls to ask if you have questions about your education benefits, it’s not a hoax — that really is the Veterans Affairs Department on the phone, and it really is trying to help.VA representatives will be phoning randomly selected veterans to see if they are getting all the benefits they deserve and if they have any questions about the program, which launched Aug. 1.VA officials said calls will be made to the address a veteran used when applying for benefits, and that family members will be asked for contact information if a veteran is away at school. Other than that contact information, VA representatives will not ask for any personal information. That includes not asking a veteran’s Social Security number, birth date or any information about the bank account where GI Bill benefits are being deposited.The Post-9/11 GI Bill has suffered a number of glitches in its young history, from problems calculating payments because some states took a long time to set tuition rates for public colleges and universities, to delays in paying tuition, fees, living stipends and book allowances as claims processors wrestled with a flood of applications and a new set of rules.Payment delays led to an unprecedented decision to provide emergency payments of $3,000 to student-veterans who had not received living stipends as if Oct. 2.Calling veterans who are receiving benefits is another unprecedented move. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a statement that VA is trying to head off more problems.“Instead of making people wait to hear from us, we’re reaching out to veterans, so they can get the money they need to stay in school,” Shinseki said.

No COLA in 2010, officials confirm

Federal retirees will see no cost-of-living adjustment in their pensions next year, the government said today.Prices for consumer goods — the benchmark used to determine the annual COLA — failed to increase this year, meaning there will be no increases in checks for retirees in either the Federal Employees Retirement System or the Civil Service Retirement System.Retirement checks this year increased 5.8 percent for CSRS retirees and 4.8 percent for FERS retirees, the largest increase since 1982. The increase was due largely to higher gas prices, which have since fallen due to the weak economy.Social Security benefits, which are provided to FERS retirees, also will remain stagnant next year. It will be the first year without an automatic cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security checks since COLAs were established in 1975, the Social Security Administration said.President Barack Obama on Wednesday called on Congress to provide a one-time payment of $250 to all 57 million Americans who receive Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits. This would be in addition to the $250 payment Social Security recipients received earlier this year through the Recovery Act. The additional payment would amount to a 2 percent increase in benefits for the average Social Security beneficiary, the White House said.FERS retirees, who receive Social Security as part of their federal benefits package, would be eligible for the $250 payments. CSRS retirees, unless they have Social Security earnings outside their federal employment, would not be eligible.COLAs are based on the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. The index fell 2.1 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

New legal, financial protections stall out

Improvements in legal and financial protections for troops and their families were removed from the final version of the 2010 defense authorization bill because of questions about which congressional committee is responsible for changes to the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act.The decision by congressional negotiators leaves in limbo the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act that the Senate had added to the annual defense policy bill and an expansion of the types of contracts that can be canceled or suspended without penalty for service members who are deployed or transferred to a new duty station. That provision, involving cellular phone service, Internet and cable services, and utilities, was part of the House-passed defense bill.Jurisdiction over the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act rests with the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committees, which objected to having the provision included in HR 2647, the defense authorization act for fiscal 2010. Removal of the provision was one of the many compromises made by congressional negotiators as they prepared a final defense bill, which the House passed Oct. 8. The Senate is expected to vote on the final defense bill this week.What happens with the military spouse and contract cancellation legislation depends on the veterans’ committees, which are slow to pass compromise legislation.The Senate passed the military spouse residency bill as separate legislation Aug. 4, and it is now pending in the House.However, the record of the House and Senate getting identical veterans bills passed and signed into law is slight.1 veterans bill passedNineteen veterans-related bills have passed the House of Representatives this year, but only one has also passed the Senate and been signed into law. That measure provided the same cost-of-living adjustment to veterans and their survivors as is received Dec. 1 by Social Security recipients, which this year is likely be no increase. A second veterans’ bill, providing advance funding for Veterans Affairs Department medical programs beginning in 2011, passed the House last week and is expected to pass the Senate this week.The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s economic opportunity panel has taken the first step in resurrecting the spouse residency and contract cancellation proposals. The subcommittee met last week to approve HR 1182, its version of the military spouse residency provisions involving homeownership, voting rights, taxation and other residency issues, and HR 2874, which would expand protections from contract termination fees.Passage of the two bills by the full House Veterans’ Affairs Committee could happen as early as Oct. 28, aides said.House and Senate aides said they believe the two veterans’ affairs committees will reach a compromise on an omnibus bill that could include the provision stripped from the defense bill, but they were not willing to predict when that might happen.Spouse residencyThe residency bill for spouses includes a provision that would allow spouses accompanying service members on official reassignments to keep their voter registration in a state where they no longer live and let them vote by absentee ballot in federal, state and local elections. Another provision would allow spouses to maintain residency in another state for tax purposes as a result of an official move by a service member.The contract cancellation bill pending in the House would make changes in termination provisions all ready in law.Current law allows service members to cut a cell phone contract without having to pay a termination fee if they deploy or make a permanent change-of-station move. The bill would extend this penalty-free cancellation right to family cell phone plans.Also, HR 2874 would protect service members from having to pay an early termination fee for canceling a residential lease. Such cancellation is allowed under current law, but service members may have to pay termination fees.Current law allows service members who are deploying or moving to a new assignment to cancel motor vehicle leases with no termination penalties.

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