In September 2023, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. (ret.) Jackie Frederick raised concerns about disabled veterans missing compensation from their first month following discharge. The Gateway Pundit spoke to the former Air Battle Manager, who said that, two and a half years later, the issue remains unaddressed.
Frederick has made multiple attempts to contact her congressmen’s office and has also participated in several interviews and podcasts on the issue.
Despite completing all her medical care and medical evaluations on time prior to being retired, Frederick said the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would not determine her disability rating until after she submitted her DD-214. Interestingly, she noted, the certificate of release of discharge (DD-214) is not available until the day after a service member leaves the military.
Retiring November 30, 2022, she said, the VA determined her disability effective date as December 1, 2022. She was also given a payment effective date of January 1, 2023. While her VA disability paperwork confirmed these dates, she was clearly not compensated for her first month of disability in December 2022.
Frederick attempted to explain. “Because the DD-214 is not available until the first day after retirement or separation, there’s an issue with a disabled veteran’s first month of disability not being a full month.” She added that “the VA, in accordance with 38 USC 5111, will not start payment benefits for at least 30 days or until there is a full calendar month of disability.”
Even with retiring on November 30, 2022, and completing the VA’s Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) process, she still did not receive her disability rating until the middle of January 2023, almost eight months after her initial disability submission. As a result, her first disability check did not come until the first of February, 2023.
“An entire month of pay was missing. I was not compensated for my first month of disability, so am I disabled or not?” Frederick questioned.
“It just doesn’t make sense to call a veteran disabled, assign a disability rating, but then say you aren’t disabled until a month after you leave the service.”
After speaking with the VA, she was told, “This is how it has always been.”
To her knowledge, “Most veterans don’t even recognize this month of lost pay due to the thrash of retirement or separation.”
“And if they do, they ask the VA only to find out their pay is considered correct and ultimately give up trying to fight the VA,” Frederick added, arguing that “while the VA is not legally wrong, they are morally wrong by not addressing the need to change 38 USC 5111.”
“One single disability paycheck could help so many disabled veterans and their families, especially those who are homeless.” And for Frederick, “the answer is simple: change the verbiage of 38 USC 5111 to allow for a prorated month of disability now.”
