Free Republic

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas - "Our task is to help eligible retirees qualify for tax-free CRSC compensation in addition to their retired pay and VA disability compensation." Ms. Kathy Garfield shared those words following the Combat Related Special Compensation team's attendance at the Defense Department's World War II 60th anniversary commemoration ceremony in San Antonio on April 3. Ms. Garfield, CRSC processing chief at the Air Force Personnel Center here, and five co-workers were out spreading the word about the CRSC program. CRSC allows some disabled military retirees, who served at least 20 years, are receiving military retired pay,...

Recent events show a war can be waged and won in less time than it takes the Defense Department to reach final decisions on how to implement the new Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC). But if Defense officials are three weeks behind in finalizing rules and publishing CRSC applications, they also are adopting a more liberal interpretation of qualifying criteria than expected, sources said. That means not 35,000 but 40,000 or more retirees could receive CRSC, with payments ranging for most of them from $104 to $2,193 a month, depending on severity of qualifying disabilities. Retiree drawing VA's special monthly...