Military Officer - July 2007 - (Page 36)

washingtonscene their “successful return to productive military service or civilian society and to recommend needed improvements.” Former Sen. Bob Dole, who was severely wounded during World War II, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala are the panel’s cochairs. Shalala said the commission will seek ways to “simplify, simplify, simplify” policies and procedures for wounded warriors and recommend ﬁxes for the gaps in the continuity of their care. Dole emphasized that the commission isn’t trying to “nail anyone” but to come up with practical solutions to improve care and support for wounded warriors. Testifying at the public hearing April 24, MOAA Deputy Director Col. Bob Norton, USA-Ret., emphasized three points: ■ The DoD and VA disability ratings systems should be simpliﬁed. The services should be responsible only for determining whether a servicemember is ﬁt or unﬁt for retention in the armed forces. Then, the VA should determine the level of the disability. Two other panels reviewing the Walter Reed issues have recommended a similiar approach. ■ A new, separate Joint Transition Ofﬁce (JTO) should be established to implement earlier recommendations made by the President’s Task Force on DoD-VA Health Care Collaboration (2003) for making the transition from active duty to veteran status as seamless as possible. The JTO would have full-time DoD, VA, and/or uniformed people assigned to it to oversee development of a single separation physical; a single electronic medical record; and streamlined, joint disability assessment procedures. ■ Returning National Guard and Reserve warriors need transition assistance program (TAP) services tailored to the hometown environment. These troops should be in active duty status for TAP brieﬁngs and outreach services for themselves and their families. 36 MILITARY OFFICER J U LY 2 0 0 7 Big Things In Small Packages Tiny steps show major attitude changes. C onsider these provisions of the House-passed FY 2008 Defense Authorization Act: ■ an extra $40 for widows whose sponsors die of service-caused conditions; ■ an extra one-half percent pay raise for the troops; and ■ concurrent receipt for servicemembers prematurely forced out of service for combat-related wounds, but only if they have more than 15 years of service and at least a 60 percent combat-caused disability. Many might say, “Is that all? That’s not much improvement.” But it’s never that simple. The fact is that many of MOAA’s top goals carry relatively high price tags. Retirement and SBP ﬁxes entail so-called “entitlement spending” that invokes harsh congressional budget rules requiring offsetting entitlement spending cuts or revenue (tax) increases to pay for them. For the Armed Services committees, ﬁxing retired pay or SBP inequities is a tall order. Retired pay can’t be cut to pay for SBP ﬁxes or vice versa, and those are about the only entitlement programs they control. Meanwhile, they also have to ﬁnd billions of dollars to ﬁx TRICARE shortfalls, fund tens of thousands more troops, and replenish weapons for wartime needs. That’s why, in past years, the House Armed Services Committee hasn’t been able to make any progress for disabled retirees with less than 20 years of service or for SBP widows penalized by the VA offset. This year, they vowed to demonstrate their concern and make at least some progress on these issues — even at the risk of taking heat for doing so little.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - July 2007

Military Officer - July 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: In Focus After the Kim Dynasty Animal House Paying Tribute MOAA Member Services Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Scholarship Donors MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - July 2007

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