New pay raises expected to kick in Jan. 1

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, August 26, 2001

President Bush’s targeted pay raise scheme for the military in January cleared its tallest hurdle when the House Armed Services Committee this month accepted it over a more robust alternative backed by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

Pentagon officials expect the Senate Armed Services Committee also to approve the Bush plan. It would give all officers at least a 5 percent raise in 2002 and all enlisted at least a 6 percent raise. Murtha sought a targeted raise that would have lifted basic pay for all members a minimum of 7.3 percent.

Defense officials argued that Murtha’s raise would cost an extra $650 million next year and more than $9 billion over the next decade, reducing available dollars for other budget priorities.

Here are the pay raise percentages, by rank, approved by the House committee and now expected to take effect Jan. 1:

Commissioned officers: 5 percent for all officers, except 6.5 percent for majors and lieutenant commanders and 6 percent for Army, Air Force and Marine Corps captains and Navy and Coast Guard lieutenants, including those with more than four years of prior enlisted or warrant service.

Warrant officers: 8.5 percent for W-1s, except 14 and 15 percent for a small number of W-1s who have three or fewer years in service; 8.5 percent for W-2s, except 6 percent for W-2s in their third year of service and 11 percent for W-2s with more than three but fewer than six years; 8 percent for all W-3s; 7.5 percent for W-4s and 7 percent for W-5s.

Enlisted: 6 percent for grades E-1 through E-3, except 7.3 percent for E-3s with fewer than two years in service; 6 percent for E-4s, except 12 percent for E-4s with under two years in and 6.6 percent for E-4s with more than three years in but fewer than six; 7.5 percent for E-5s, except 13 percent for E-5s with fewer than two years in; 7.5 percent for all E-6s; 8.5 percent for E-7s; 9 percent for E-8s; 9.5 percent for E-9s, except 10 percent for the top enlisted member in each of the five armed forces.

A long overdue Defense Department report to Congress on the military former spouse protection laws has cleared the White House’s Office of Management and is expected to be sent to Congress soon. The report is said to contain six major findings or recommendations for change, none of which would relax rules in a way to benefit retirees already divorced.

For example, the report recommends ending the so-called windfall benefit to ex-spouses. That is, awards of retired pay in divorce settlements would be based on a member’s rank and years in service at time of divorce, not at time of retirement. But the change should be applied "prospectively," the report says, presumably to avoid unraveling tens of thousands of divorce settlements.

The report does propose one retroactive change to benefit ex-spouses, through relaxation of the so-called 20-20-20 rule. Under current law, ex-spouses can qualify for full military medical and base shopping privileges if they were married to a member at least 20 years, the member served on at least 20 years ,and there was at least a 20-year overlap of the marriage and military career.

The report calls the rule too restrictive. However, it doesn’t go as far as some spouses had expected, that is, by embracing a reduction in the overlap requirement from 20 years down to 15. Instead, the report says a former spouse who has at least a 15-year marriage/service overlap should be able to qualify for medical and shopping privileges by having married time after the member retired count toward the 20-year overlap requirement. In other words, the marriage still would have to have lasted at least 20 years, but up to five of those years could have included time after the member’s retirement.

The recommendation will disappoint ex-spouses whose marriages ended just short of 20 years. Many had expected the Defense Department to propose a clean replacement of the 20-20-20 rule with 20-20-15.

This column will carry a more detailed discussion of these issues when the report is officially released and sent to Congress.

Military elderly eligible for the new Tricare for Life program who have access to a computer can use a new, free online service offered by the Retired Officers Association to have Tricare for Life information tailored specifically for them.

Tricare for Life, which takes effect Oct. 1, will be an attractive supplement to Medicare coverage. Whether or not they belong to the association, beneficiaries can use the Tricare for Life personal profile online to learn more about how Tricare for Life will work for them.

At the Web site www2.troa.org/TFLProfile, beneficiaries can complete a nine-item questionnaire to create a personal summary of what Tricare for Life will offer them. Users can print out the result as a handy reference. Officials say there’s no catch. Questionnaire answers will remain confidential, used only to provide information back to Tricare for Life beneficiaries.

Access to the Tricare Web site, www.tricare.osd.mil, has been blocked for a few weeks as a precaution against the "Code Red" worm that infected computer systems around the world. Defense software experts are working on the problem.

Tricare officials have sought special relief from the block because so many Tricare users have come to rely on the Web site for advice and information. Among 8.3 million beneficiaries are elderly who still have questions about the Tricare for Life program. Tricare for Life questions still can be directed to officials via a toll-free telephone number, 888 363-5433.

Comments and suggestions are welcomed. Write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111, or send e-mail to milupdate@aol.com