Military Officer - March 2009 - (Page 35) washingtonscene as not justifying the award of the Purple Heart. Over many decades, the precedent has been that the decoration is awarded for physical wounds but not psychological ones such as combat fatigue, shell-shock, and other stress disorders that have been diagnosed in many previous combat eras. Another important consideration, officials said, is that current medical capacities can’t establish the degree of PTSD as objectively and routinely as would be required for such an award. GI Bill Transferability Rules Retirement-eligibles will get a break. Some IRA Relief Coming M Law waives 2009 distribution. A s part of the economic recovery effort, Congress passed H.R. 7327 — the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 — which President George W. Bush signed into law before leaving office. This legislation provides a temporary waiver of some required distributions from IRAs and 401(k) plans. This means that people age 70½ or older won’t be forced to take a distribution from their IRAs and employer retirement plans next year if they would prefer not to. Most retirement accounts have taken a beating during the recent stock market decline, and being forced to take money out at the market bottom isn’t fair for many people who would like to wait and see if the market rebounds before having to take distributions. Unfortunately, the new law only authorizes the waiver for 2009. There’s no retroactive provision to restore distributions to retirees for 2008. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has introduced a new bill, S. 157, that would expand the temporary waiver to include both tax years 2008 and 2010. OAA has learned that some people nearing retirement from active duty service who are eligible for the new Post-9/11 GI Bill will be able to transfer their benefits to a spouse or dependent children. Congress gave DoD broad authority to set the rules for transferring the benefits as a tool to induce retention or reenlistment in the armed forces including the National Guard and Reserves. The Post9/11 GI Bill program begins Aug. 1, 2009. The transfer program will work as follows, assuming an individual has qualifying post-Sept. 11, 2001, service in the armed forces — active duty or service in the Selected Reserve. To be eligible to transfer benefits to a spouse or child, a member must have: I served at least six years in the armed forces on the date of election and agree to serve four additional years from that date; or I served at least 10 years in the armed forces on the date of election and be precluded from committing to four additional years by law or service/DoD policy. For example, servicemembers subject to high-year tenure rules and who have 10 years’ service at the time of election would be eligible. Members who currently are retirementeligible or who will become retirementeligible between Aug. 1, 2009, and Aug. 1, 2012, also can qualify. Retirement-eligible means completion of 20 years of active federal service or completion of 20 years’ reserve service. Here’s how the program will work for various cohorts of retirement-eligibles: MARCH 2009 Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) MILITARY OFFICER 35
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.