Armed Forces News

An estimated 150,000 military retirees are see their pay increase effective Feb. 2. This stems from a new law allowing concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability pay for retirees with more than 20 years of service and a disability rating of 50 percent or more. The restored pay will be phased in over a 10-year period that began Jan. 1 and will be retroactive to that date. Defense Finance and Accounting Service officials have already identified eligible retirees and are making adjustments to their pay, so the retirees do not have to take any action to start their concurrent receipt. Some 2,800 who receive retired pay based on a disability percentage instead of years of service will not be paid Feb. 2, pending a DoD decision on how to apply the law in their cases. When resolved, payments will be retroactive to Jan. 1.