Major Richard Star Act

Service members who are medically retired for combat-related injuries face an unfair penalty: their military retirement pay is reduced dollar-for-dollar by the Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation they receive.

Military retirement pay and VA disability compensation serve different purposes:

• Military retirement pay rewards honorable service.
• VA disability compensation helps cover the long-term effects of service-related injuries.

This reduction, often called the “wounded veteran tax,” unfairly penalizes combat-injured veterans who have already sacrificed for our country.

The impact is significant. Department of Defense data shows that 68% of young Americans cite concerns about injury as a reason not to serve. Fixing this policy restores fairness for veterans and sends a clear message to future Service members and their families: those injured in service will be treated justly.

A Name that Reflects the Sacrifice

Army Major Richard Star was a post-9/11 combat engineer who developed cancer linked to toxic exposure while deployed to the Middle East. His diagnosis forced him to retire early, before reaching 20 years of service, resulting in the very offset this bill seeks to end. Major Star passed away nearly a year after the legislation bearing his name was first introduced in February 2020. His story reflects exactly why this change is needed and who it’s designed to protect.

How does this impact a wounded warrior?

Take, for example, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, age 27, married, with two young children, who joined the army just out of high school. His unit was deployed from Texas.  During combat operations in Iraq, he was in a convoy that was hit by an explosive device, and he was severely injured, causing him to lose both his legs from the knee down, and he suffered from severe PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). At the time of his injury, he had nine total years of service.

This Staff Sargent intended to serve our country for as long as he was able, with his sights on becoming a Command Sargent Major and retiring with 30 years in service. However, his wounds now prevented him from achieving his goal.

At the time of his medical retirement, his monthly salary was $4,100, and his housing allowance was $2,100, for a total of $6,200.

The Department of Defense medically retires him at the maximum allowable by law, at 70%. Now his retirement is $2,870 per month, and he does not get a housing allowance.

Upon retirement, he is now under the responsibility of the Veterans Administration (VA) for his health care, and his family is given Tricare for medical care, so yes, this is good. Then the VA rates him at 100% disabled, determining that due to the loss of his legs and his level of PTSD, he would not be able to be productively employed, so he receives $4,198 based on his being married and having two children.  If he were to receive both his DOD retirement and his VA medical disability ($2,870 + $4,198), he would now have $7,068 a month, or $84,816 a year, to support his family. 

Here is the problem

DOD takes back, dollar-for-dollar, what he receives from the VA from his DOD retirement, and since his DOD retirement is less than his VA disability pay, based on 11 years of service to our country, he now receives only the VA for $4,198 per month, or $50,376. The poverty rate in the United States is $35,000, is this the way we should treat our citizens who signed up to serve our country?

The Major Richard Star Act allows for this soldier to be fairly compensated for his service to our country.  The cost of this Act, covering 54,000 wounded service members, is approximately $13 billion over 10 years, or $1.3 billion a year.  A reminder that our current military engagement is costing close to $1 billion a day!

As of today, a discharge petition has been introduced and will be sent to House members next week.  Currently, the Act has 320 House Co-Sponsors (73%) and 79 Co-Sponsors in the Senate, making it absolutely bipartisan.

Please, for our combat-wounded citizens, send a note to our elected officials asking them to move this act to a vote.

Thank you,

Jim Hay
Colonel (ret)
United States Army