A section of the 2010 Defense Authorization Act which was signed into law on December 19th, 2009 by President Obama prohibits the military from paying retroactive stop loss payments to any retired or former members of the military who extended or re-enlisted and collected a bonus while they were on stop loss status between September 11th, 2001 through September 30th, 2008.
The $534 million retroactive stop loss payment program was set up to pay eligible members of the military $500 for every month that they were involuntarily retained on active duty beyond their contracted term of service. A similar program that targets members who have been involuntarily extended on active duty after October 1st, 2008 also pays $500 per month and is funded through fiscal 2010 under the same appropriations act that imposes new restrictions on the retroactive program. Those who were stop lossed after October 1st, 2008 should not be affected by the bill signed by the president.
Because of the new restrictions, the Army and Air Force have temporarily stopped issuing the retroactive payments until they can clarify who received retention bonuses while under a stop loss status. The Army alone estimates that 120,000 veterans may be eligible for retroactive stop loss payments that it began approving this past December.
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Considering my own experiences with the military and with pay issues, it does not lead me to be that confident that this will be resolved anytime soon. I hope that they get it all squared away, so there is some insurance that the right people get the right money. It’s, um, going to be a few minutes, though!
Jerry