I may have mentioned this earlier…but here it goes again. When you medically retire out of the army, you get army medical retirement pay depending on your disability percentage. In my case I received a percentage of 40% from the army and 50% from the VA. You cannot receive both army retirement and VA compensation, so you have to choose one or the other. Army retirement pay is taxed, but VA pay is not taxed. This was an easy choice for me because I don’t want to pay taxes and the VA pay is more. I was told the VA pay can take up to 90 days (or more) in order to get processed and to get the monthly paychecks deposited. The nice thing is that the army retirement pay will start paying you each month after your retirement kicks in and will continue until the VA pay starts. In my situation I started receiving my VA pay today, which is the first month either would have kicked in. My last official day in the army was May 28th, this put me in as a retiree on June 1st…so the first paycheck is the following month.
SPC Mac asked me which pay I received. His last day was early May, but this still put him in as a retiree in June the same as me. He received his army retirement check, which is smaller and is taxed. When he inquired about it, they said he should receive his VA pay on the first of next month. It’s strange how even though he was out before me, I still beat him in the VA system. He has since moved back to Germany where his wife and son stayed and got a civilian job at one of the military bases, which will give him and his family logistical support. (this allows them to stay in Germany as long as he has the job including use of his own car). I’d love to go visit him as a civilian, it would be a heck of a lot more fun as a civilian vs a soldier. His life has improved a 100 fold…so much less stress. He’s loving it!
Showing posts with label Retire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Retire. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Update: End of Terminal Leave (MedBoard: Joint Base Lewis-McChord)
Wrote the following message on Facebook today:
“Today I am officially out of the army...my last day of terminal leave was yesterday. While I could mention hundreds (OK...maybe thousands) of negatives about my army experience...instead I’ll focus on the positives:
• Made it through basic training at twice the age of most of the young bucks
• Graduated at the top of my AIT class
• Stationed in the middle of Seoul, Korea and was able to take in quite a bit during this experience
• Ate all kinds of interesting food
• Experienced Korean culture and took advantage of every opportunity available to see the country and historical sites
• Visited the DMZ and even stood a few feet on the North Korean side of the border
• Saw a communist
• Stationed in Germany...right in the middle of Europe
• Met a lot of great people & was able to visit all 3 of my former exchange students
• Visited a number of historical and just plain cool sites in Germany
• Visited England, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, The Netherlands & Greece.
• Drank a lot of good beer
• All my first line supervisors were great supervisors…and just good people
• And finally…I was able to complete a long time goal of mine…I finished my bachelor’s degree using tuition assistance from the army
I Made a lot of memories and friends that will last a lifetime.”
After the little bit of reflecting on Facebook, I took a break from work and headed to the naval sub base outside of Silverdale. Once there I went to the DEERS & ID office. I brought my paperwork (DD214 & orders) and had them input me correctly into their system as retired. Once that was done they had to issue me a new retired ID card. Seemed a little strange because I already had a retired ID card that I was issued at Ft. Lewis, but because of all the mess-ups this was the only way to do it. I have a big ass beard at the moment, so my photo looks a bit funny…but I don’t give a damn. I’m just happy to finally get in the system correctly. I am officially retired now!
I then drove back to work and called Tri-Care to get myself and my family enrolled into Tri-Care for retirement. My first attempt ended up getting half way through, then all of a sudden a dial tone. I was a little pissed off, but took a breath and started the process all over. Dial the number, listen to the recording, speak to a computer, state social security number, name and birth date. Once a real person gets on the line I then have to give all that same information again (social security number, name, & birth date). I then explain to the person that I’m trying to enroll myself and my family into Tri-Care for retirement. The person transfers me to the agent that will help me…I then have to once again give my social security number, name, & birth date. I was a little irritated, but a sweet girl on the other end was really helpful and got me all setup and enrolled finally. The lady was very patient and helpful, I couldn’t have asked for a better person on the other end…especially after getting a little pissed off earlier. I had to make the first 3 month’s payments while on the phone, which was fine. At $45 a month, 3 months payment is still cheaper than what I would have to pay on the civilian side.
I’m now completely set…I don’t have to stress out about getting all of this done now. My next step will be getting my actual army retirement check. If all goes as planned, this should happen on the 1st of July. I will hit the retirement system on the 1st of June and then the first check comes on the 1st of the next month.
“Today I am officially out of the army...my last day of terminal leave was yesterday. While I could mention hundreds (OK...maybe thousands) of negatives about my army experience...instead I’ll focus on the positives:
• Made it through basic training at twice the age of most of the young bucks
• Graduated at the top of my AIT class
• Stationed in the middle of Seoul, Korea and was able to take in quite a bit during this experience
• Ate all kinds of interesting food
• Experienced Korean culture and took advantage of every opportunity available to see the country and historical sites
• Visited the DMZ and even stood a few feet on the North Korean side of the border
• Saw a communist
• Stationed in Germany...right in the middle of Europe
• Met a lot of great people & was able to visit all 3 of my former exchange students
• Visited a number of historical and just plain cool sites in Germany
• Visited England, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, The Netherlands & Greece.
• Drank a lot of good beer
• All my first line supervisors were great supervisors…and just good people
• And finally…I was able to complete a long time goal of mine…I finished my bachelor’s degree using tuition assistance from the army
I Made a lot of memories and friends that will last a lifetime.”
After the little bit of reflecting on Facebook, I took a break from work and headed to the naval sub base outside of Silverdale. Once there I went to the DEERS & ID office. I brought my paperwork (DD214 & orders) and had them input me correctly into their system as retired. Once that was done they had to issue me a new retired ID card. Seemed a little strange because I already had a retired ID card that I was issued at Ft. Lewis, but because of all the mess-ups this was the only way to do it. I have a big ass beard at the moment, so my photo looks a bit funny…but I don’t give a damn. I’m just happy to finally get in the system correctly. I am officially retired now!
I then drove back to work and called Tri-Care to get myself and my family enrolled into Tri-Care for retirement. My first attempt ended up getting half way through, then all of a sudden a dial tone. I was a little pissed off, but took a breath and started the process all over. Dial the number, listen to the recording, speak to a computer, state social security number, name and birth date. Once a real person gets on the line I then have to give all that same information again (social security number, name, & birth date). I then explain to the person that I’m trying to enroll myself and my family into Tri-Care for retirement. The person transfers me to the agent that will help me…I then have to once again give my social security number, name, & birth date. I was a little irritated, but a sweet girl on the other end was really helpful and got me all setup and enrolled finally. The lady was very patient and helpful, I couldn’t have asked for a better person on the other end…especially after getting a little pissed off earlier. I had to make the first 3 month’s payments while on the phone, which was fine. At $45 a month, 3 months payment is still cheaper than what I would have to pay on the civilian side.
I’m now completely set…I don’t have to stress out about getting all of this done now. My next step will be getting my actual army retirement check. If all goes as planned, this should happen on the 1st of July. I will hit the retirement system on the 1st of June and then the first check comes on the 1st of the next month.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)