Ushering in a new legislative session, American Legion
commander Thomas L. Bock declared that “a veteran is a
veteran,” and that no veteran can accept budget-driven
politics that aims to divide veterans. He stressed that
disabled military retirees, unless their service fits a
particular type of combat duty, are denied full retirement
pay (concurrent receipt) if they are also compensated for
service-connected disabilities. He also charged that “the
federal government divides veterans into eight priority
groups for health care,” but the VA cut off the eighth
group. He asked if Priority group 7 veterans are next in
line to have VA health care denied. And he objected to the
DoD plan to impose draconian enrollment fees and double
co-payments for Tricare-eligible retirees.
