USA — Officials Extend Deadline for ‘Stop Loss’ Pay

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2011 — The dead­line for eli­gi­ble ser­vice mem­bers, vet­er­ans and their ben­e­fi­cia­ries to apply for spe­cial retroac­tive pay as com­pen­sa­tion for invol­un­tary exten­sions of their mil­i­tary ser­vice con­tracts has been extend­ed to April 8, Defense Depart­ment offi­cials announced today.
The dead­line exten­sion is includ­ed in the con­tin­u­ing res­o­lu­tion Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma signed March 18 that pro­vid­ed fund­ing for gov­ern­ment oper­a­tions through April 8.

The Retroac­tive Stop Loss Spe­cial Pay was estab­lished to com­pen­sate for the hard­ships mil­i­tary mem­bers encoun­tered when their ser­vice was invol­un­tar­i­ly extend­ed under Stop Loss author­i­ty between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009. Eli­gi­ble mem­bers or their ben­e­fi­cia­ries may sub­mit a claim to their respec­tive mil­i­tary ser­vices to receive the ben­e­fit of $500 for each full or par­tial month served in a Stop Loss status. 

When the spe­cial pay pro­gram began on Oct. 21, 2009, the ser­vices esti­mat­ed 145,000 ser­vice mem­bers, vet­er­ans and ben­e­fi­cia­ries were eli­gi­ble for this ben­e­fit. Because the major­i­ty of those eli­gi­ble had sep­a­rat­ed from the mil­i­tary, the ser­vices have engaged in exten­sive and per­sis­tent out­reach efforts to reach them and remind them to apply, offi­cials said. 

Out­reach efforts — such as using direct mail, social net­works and media out­lets and engag­ing mil­i­tary and vet­er­an ser­vice orga­ni­za­tions — will con­tin­ue through April 8, offi­cials added. 

To apply for Stop Loss pay or for more infor­ma­tion, includ­ing sub­mis­sion require­ments and ser­vice-spe­cif­ic links, go to http://www.defense.gov/stoploss.

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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