Issues and Campaigns

Have you been stop-lossed?

Last summer, Congress passed legislation to compensate servicemembers who were stop-lossed after September 11, 2001. IAVA had been fighting for this provision for over a year, and now those payments have finally become available.

• Watch a quick video update from IAVA's Legislative Associate Tom Tarantino on how to apply for stop-loss back pay.
• Apply for retroactive stop-loss payments.
  
• Learn about IAVA's efforts to secure stop-loss back pay in the 2009 war supplemental.

Apply for Retroactive Stop-loss Benefits

The window to apply for payment ends on October 21st, 2010. Survivors of servicemembers killed in combat or who died after their service will be allowed to make claims.

• Army: https://www.stoplosspay.army.mil or email RetroStopLossPay [at] conus.army.mil
• Marine Corps: https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/stoploss
• Navy: e-mail NXAG_N132C [at] navy.mil
• Air Force: http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/stoploss/

UPDATE 2-23-10: 15,600 Applied For Backpay

IAVA just received an email from the Army’s Retroactive Stop Loss Team over at the Pentagon with an update of the number of payments that have gone out.  So far 15,600 of the 120,000 eligible for the Retroactive Stop Loss pay have applied for the benefit.  This is only about 13% of those who are eligible.  Of those 15,600 that have applied 7,500 have been sent to DFAS for payment with the last 1000 submitted last week.

If your number is 7,500 or below you should have either received your payment, or will with in the next 20 days according to DFAS and the Stop Loss team. 

DFAS has said that they are taking 20 business days to process the payments.  Prior to January, DFAS categorized the payments in the same way that they categorized regular pay.  This means that they were not able to check on the status.  Last month, they changed the code they used to process the payments, so now you can call DFAS and check on where your payments are in the cue.  If you want to check on the status of your payment at DFAS call 1-888-DFAS411.

Remember, if you reenlisted while stop lossed and received a bonus, you are no longer eligible for the payments.  This change halted everything for a few weeks and put everyone behind.  It looks like the team is back on track for now. 

We only have until October 21, 2010 to apply for this benefit.  Please keep pushing this out to every military and veterans communications outlet you know about by posting on Facebook, Twitter or sending an email using our tool below.  Let's get the other 87% of soldiers out there in the system.

UPDATE 12-24-09: The Grinch that Stole Christmas

Congress has stolen money from thousands of service members and veterans to pay for their pet projects. Last summer Congress authorized $500 per month overtime payments for every servicemember who was held past their contract under stop loss orders since 9/11. But some servicemembers, counting on their well-earned overtime payments to pay for holiday presents or to cover bills, will not be getting their checks because of a last minute provision in the Defense Appropriations bill passed last week. According to the provision, authorized by Rep. John Murtha and Sen. Daniel Inouye, any servicemember who reenlisted after being held under stop loss and received a reenlistment bonus is now not eligible to receive retroactive stop loss payments. IAVA fought hard to get all stop-lossed servicemembers their back pay and will keep fighting to make sure that those in Congress, who are willing to take money from veterans to pay for their pet projects, are held accountable.

UPDATE 11-23-09: IAVA has been getting reports that many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have filed for their stop-loss payments have received the following email:

The email wasn’t very clear so IAVA spoke with the DoD to clarifiy what this means. Bottom line: despite the confusing wording, this is a good thing.

Since stop-loss was not a matter of compensation until 2008, the Army didn’t keep very good records about who was serving under stop-loss and for how long. The Army estimates that several thousand records are incorrect. They are trying to correct the Army’s records with what veterans are sending them.

For each record the Army has received that does not match their internal numbers, they are assigning a case manager to correct the record. This means it might take a bit longer than the planned 90 days for you to receive your check, but they are working to ensure that you get what you earned. The DoD was clear that it is their mission is to get soldiers paid.

IAVA will maintain contact with the DoD to ensure that the process is progressing and that they keep their promises and complete their mission. Until then, please keep checking www.iava.org for the latest updates.

UPDATE 11-12-09: The DOD is now accepting applications for stop-loss backpay and some of our members have been asking when can they expect to see their payment. The Army recently announced that based on the influx on applications they are receiving, they are expecting to get payments out to soldiers 90 days after they have filed all of the necessary paperwork. This means that the earliest you could receive your back pay (assuming you filed on the first day) will be on January 21, 2010.

It is not clear how long the other services will take to process their stop-loss payments. IAVA will continue to monitor this situation and bring you information as it develops. 

For the latest on Retroactive Stop-loss Payments follow us on Twitter @iava or sign up to receive email updates.