Army Restores Full Benefits for Captains Being Forced Out
By DAVE PHILIPPSDEC. 18, 2014
Capt. Tawanna Jamison, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., would have received $1,200 less a month if she retired as a sergeant first class. Credit Travis Dove for The New York Times
The Army changed its drawdown policy this week, notifying captains who were being forced to retire with sergeants’ benefits that they instead would retire at their current rank.
The change could mean $1 million more in benefits over a lifetime for 120 officers, according to lawmakers who pushed for the change.
“This is an issue of fundamental fairness, and today we have taken appropriate action,” the secretary of the Army, John M. McHugh, said in a statement.
Capt. Tawanna Jamison, who rose from enlisted soldier to become an officer, was being pushed out at the rank of sergeant first class. But under the policy change, she will get about $1,200 more per month in retirement pay.
“We fought and sacrificed and did well,” said Captain Jamison, who is based at Fort Bragg, N.C. “This change restores honor and treats us right.”
Forced to retire after 20 years of Army service, Capt. Elder Saintjuste, in Hope Mills, N.C., will receive a sergeant’s pension.
Army Cuts Hit Officers Hard, Especially Ones Up From RanksNOV. 12, 2014
The Army notified 44 other officers who were being forced to leave less than two years shy of 20 years, when they would qualify for full retirement benefits, that they could keep their jobs.
The Army cut 1,188 captains and 550 majors this summer as part of a larger postwar drawdown that will shrink the force to about 450,000 — its smallest size since World War II. Many of those people had been enlisted soldiers who became officers between 2006 and 2009 when the Iraq war was raging and the Pentagon was struggling to replace junior officers who were leaving the Army.
Because these officers had not served the eight years as captains required to retire at that rank, the Army initially said it would pay them at their highest enlisted rank — a sharp cut in benefits.
In November, after the practice was reported in The New York Times, Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Johnny Isakson of Georgia sent a letter to Mr. McHugh, saying, “To demote these soldiers in retirement is an injustice that devalues their service and will materially disadvantage them and their families for the rest of their lives.”
The Army announced the policy change in a notification to Congress on Monday, and the affected captains were notified Wednesday.
“It’s great news, but all the pain, the trouble, for six months,” said Capt. Elder Saintjuste, who learned that he would get full retirement pay. “Why couldn’t they have just done the right thing in the first place?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/us/politics/army-restores-full-benefits-for-captains-being-forced-out.html?_r=1
