Men and Women in the United States Armed Forces who have been injured in combat while serving and who are found unfit for duty due to their injuries are placed on a permeant disability list and subsequently retired from the military. This is called Chapter 61 Disability Retirement. When this happens the service member is usually under 20 years of service or the mandated time in service that a service member must complete to earn retirement pay.

Then there is the VA, a separate payment for service members who have service-connected disabilities. 

To collect both your earned retirement pay and your earned VA service-connected disability award. You must have completed 20 years of service. This is called concurrent receipt. But and this what it all boils down to, if you haven't completed 20 years of service and about 42,000 combat injured servicemembers have not. Then you have your retirement pay offset and aren't allowed to keep your earned pay while the VA award is earned. So, a service member with 19 years 3 months and 12 days who is retired under chapter 61 can't collect both like those that have 20 years. This doesn't include those that had no choice. Wheelchair bound patriots who can't collect their whole pension because of this unfair law that discriminates between somebody who gets all the way to 20 years and somebody who was unlucky and fall short because of arbitrary law.

This is a grave injustice. These 42,000 service members didn't ask to be injured in combat serving their country and all said it isn't fair that they be punished for being injured overseas in combat. There is a true Patriot named Major Richard Star who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Developed lung cancer from all the terrible things service members are exposed to while on duty and subsequently succumb to the cancer from this exposure. Now Major Star who until is dying breath fought to end the injustice of offset retirement pay for combat injured service members. Praise him and praise the men and women who have fought and been injured in the line of duty while serving our great country. Sign this petition to show the US Senate that they should pass Major Richard Star Act (S. 344) in the Senate or pass the House version HR1282. Sign the petition and show that America cares about those injured in combat get what they deserve. 

Major Star sadly lost his battle with cancer on February 13, 2021. The Major Richard Star Act received strong backing from leading Veterans Service Organizations including the Military Coalition, Military Officer Association of America (MOAA), Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), and Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and Veterans of Foreign War (VFW).