The Pentagon’s double-barreled preview of spending plans unveiled Monday asks Congress for an additional $15 billion in fiscal 2011 — an increase of 2.2 percent — over last year’s total for baseline spending and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.As the White House announced last week, the Pentagon is proposing a 1.4 percent pay raise, a percentage equal to the most recent increase in the Employment Cost Index. The raise, if approved, would be the lowest in the history of the all-volunteer military.All told, the Pentagon is asking for $708.3 billion, $159.3 billion of which would go to fund operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to budget documents released Monday.The overall budget, the Pentagon said, “continues progress toward a better balance” in the U.S. defense posture — an effort, begun last year, to boost spending on capabilities needed for the current wars and contingencies.That translates to more spending on helicopters — $9.6 billion — as well as increases for special operations, electronic warfare capabilities, and the procurement and deployment of more unmanned aerial vehicles — all points of emphasis in the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review, which was also released Monday along with the proposed 2011 budget.The budget also calls for $25.1 billion for ship procurement, and $15.1 billion for fixed-wing aircraft — three-quarters of which would buy 42 F-35 tactical aircraft.Funding for resources devoted to service member and family support programs would increase 41 percent over the current fiscal year, the Pentagon said. The 2011 budget also will mark the start of a five-year plan to replace and recapitalize more than half of the 194 Department of Defense Dependent Schools.The budget also includes increased spending for the care of service members wounded in combat, a $100 million boost to $2.2 billion; for “enhanced care and support” of the wounded, ill and injured; and for research and development into traumatic brain injury and psychological injuries, as well as treatment. The increase will provide more than 1,000 additional personnel for Wounded Warrior Support, the Pentagon says.That’s just a fraction of the $50.7 billion the Pentagon wants to fund the Military Health System, which currently services 9.5 million eligible beneficiaries — active-duty service members and their families, military retirees and their families, dependent survivors and certain eligible members of the reserve components.The Pentagon repeatedly has expressed concerns about the rising cost of health care, which Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis says is growing at a pace “significantly above the rate of inflation.”The QDR, billed as a “comprehensive examination” of all aspects of defense strategy, force structure and budget plans, contains few concrete proposals in the personnel area. In addition to stressing wounded warrior care, family care and dwell time issues, it calls for allowing the services “to pursue innovative ways to retain quality personnel,” citing the Marine Corps’ Selective Re-enlistment Bonus program.The Pentagon also calls for a new emphasis on stability operations, counterinsurgency and building partner capacity skill sets in its leadership training programs.The Pentagon also seeks relief for reservists pushed by the 9/11 attacks into serving as an operation reserve, versus the strategic role they long served.“Our nation must have a force generation model that provides sufficient strategic depth,” the QDR states. “As the operational environment allows, the department will seek ways to rebalance its reliance on the reserve component to ensure the long-term viability of a force that has both strategic and operational capabilities.”
Read this article: DoD sets priorities with 2011 budget, QDR
Concurrent Receipt
I have been a Chapter 61 retiree for over 22 years. I have a high and permanent disability rating.
I haven’t worked a day since my disability ( except physical therapy ), not by choice.
I earned my military time and the idea that the VA Disability Compensation is equal to my loss is BS. I am not asking for what it is worth to me but I do want what I earned
SUPPORT HR 333 – the Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act
2/3 of Disabled Veterans Remain Excluded From Concurrent Receipt
Please send the following editable message to your Representative –
As you are aware, while included in the President’s Budget for 2010, the full restoration of concurrent receipt was deleted from the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), recently signed into law.
Again, I strongly urge you to cosponsor HR 333, the Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act, and strive to have this legislation included in the 2011 NDAA or other appropriate legislation.
HR 333 would correct several wrongs enacted with the original concurrent receipt legislation in 2004.
First, HR 333 would enable those 450,000 retired members of the Armed Forces with disability ratings less than 50% to draw both their VA disability and their military retirement pay under CRDP (Concurrent Retirement Disability Pay, 10 US Code Section 1414). If the disability was combat-related, these retirees were enfranchised for CRSC (Combat Related Special Compensation, 10 USC Section 1413a) with the 2008 NDAA.
Second, HR 333 would enable those 200,000 members of the Armed Forces retired for medical disability with less than 20 years service under 10 US Code, Chapter 61, to draw both their VA disability and their military retirement pay under CRDP. If the disability were combat-related, these retirees were enfranchised for CRSC with the 2008 NDAA.
Third, HR 333 would eliminate the 10-year phase-in of CRDP which is currently in the 6th year and is 88% restored. In 2010, restoration will be 95% complete. Distributing the remaining 5% over the next 4 years is not cost effective, because the cost of processing the payments exceeds the cost of the CRDP payments. In the last year of the phase-in, the average increment will be less than $1 per month.
Fourth, HR 333 would cause the Department of Defense (DoD) to compute CRSC pay for Chapter 61 retirees as originally intended Congress. Basically, HR 333 would eliminate the “donut hole” into which some combat related retirees fall which awards them ZERO compensation.
Please actively support HR 333 and urge your colleagues to do the same.