Topics Include the Following (with links)
- USERRA - Your reemployment rights, health insurance rights, lease protections etc.
- SCRA - Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
- Savings Deposit Program - Earn 10% on your money while serving in a combat zone
USERRA - The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
Link: Department of Labor: USERRA
USERRA is a wonderful thing. The basic concept is simple. If you have a job and you leave that job to pursue service in the military, you may have reemployment rights. Here are some highlights.
- You get 5 years from the date you leave your job to get claim your reemployment rights.
- If you are covered by your employer's health insurance plan, you retain health insurance rights (immediately after leaving under cobra until military TRICARE kicks in, up to a limited number of months) and if you should leave the military within that 5 year period, your previous employer must provide you with the same health benefits. See the DOL link for more details.
- You only need to give your employer "verbal" notice of your intentions to serve in the military. But, your reemployment rights are only protected when you can provide your employer with a copy of your DD214 showing your dates of Active Duty service.
SCRA - Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (previously SSCRA)
Link: Justice Department PDF Document & About SCRA & Details on SCRA
SCRA updated in 2003 by the Bush Administration may be one of the greatest things since sliced bread. Of course, that depends on whether or not every party involved abides by the law. Here are some highlights.
- Interest rate protections apply to debts incurred PRIOR to the servicemember going onto Active Duty. Currently this interest rate protection is limited to 6%. If your mortgage, car loan, or credit cards incurred prior to AD service are higher than 6%, make sure to call your lender. Restrictions to apply.
- Restrictions: typically the act of you serving on Active Duty must be detrimental to your income. For example, you earn less and therefore need a rate reduction. Lenders can argue you earn more and deny the rate reduction. Check with legal if you think you qualify.
- SCRA also adds protections for foreclosures. Basically, lenders have a difficult time foreclosing on deployed servicemembers. If you were foreclosed on during a deployment definitely review these protections.
- Other provisions allow protections for tenants (breaking leases and eviction protection), life insurance policies and more.
Savings Deposit Program
Link: Savings Deposit Program
This program is pretty sweet. I highly recommend anyone in uniform to take full advantage of this while they are on a deployment. Earning 10% on your money "GUARANTEED" is unheard of, so please take advantage of this.
Ten Percent Adds Up!
The table shows the impressive gains from even short-term deposits to an account earning 10 percent, compared to placing it in a regular savings account or doing nothing.
| Deposit Amt. | Int. Rate | Term | Earned Interest | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | 10% | 10 months | $857.91 | $10,857.91 |
| $10,000 | 4% | 10 months | $337.24 | $10,337.24 |
| $10,000 | 0% | 10 months | $0.00 | $10,000 |
Other Links
- BECOMING AN OFFICER: Navy - Army - Air Force - Marine Corps - Coast Guard
- Silver Dollars for Commissioning
- USAA Career Starter Loan
- GI Bill
- DOD Veteran Internships
- Military Home Affordability Program
- Military Spouse Employment Partnership
- Military Pay Calculator
- Military Installation Guides 2.0
- Military Advantage Blog
- U.S. Public Health Service Corps
Cartwright: Budget cuts will mean huge changes
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 14, 2011 12:51:08 EDT
The Pentagon is considering massive changes to the force — including a draft — amid fears that new and far deeper budget cuts are looming just over the horizon, a top military official said Thursday.Posted : Thursday Jul 14, 2011 12:51:08 EDT
Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, offered a timeline for how deep cuts will affect the force during the next decade, including big reductions in operational budgets, slashing the size of the active-duty force and even scaling back entitlements such as retirement and health care.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Cartwright said the Defense Department’s internal planners are bracing for budget cuts far deeper than those announced by President Obama in April. Obama proposed carving $400 billion from the defense budget plan over the next 12 years, a cut of about 7 percent.
“The reality is, what you are most worried about a deeper cut? Is there another $400 billion behind the first $400 billion?” Cartwright said. “Now you start to look at things like, ‘Do I want to hollow out the force? Do I want to start to reduce the force size?’ ”
Cartwright divided the next decade into three segments and outlined the changes troops should expect as the budget cuts take effect, starting with a big drop in funding for things like training, flying hours and steaming days.
“The first three years, pretty much the levers that you have are readiness, operating costs, things like that … you’ll have to scale them back in the first three years. You can touch things like pay a little bit, but not a lot,” he said. “The second three years tend to be on the structure side of the house. So that is forces, changing the number of forces that you have or the character of the forces.
“People generally will look at it and go, ‘That means taking people out of the services.’ Not necessarily. You may just shift the balance of the services from active to Guard or reserve or to — the dirty word — a draft,” he said. “Those are all different characters and they have different costs that you can manage, based on time when you bring those forces into activity. We are looking at all of that full range. We’ll have to look at everything.”
Some research suggests that the Pentagon could save money by shifting more troops into the reserve and activating those troops more often.
Cartwright said the biggest changes will come at the end of the decade, if and when Congress makes major changes to laws governing base closures and big-ticket benefits like military health care and retirement.
“Out beyond six years, you are generally dealing with infrastructure and entitlements, those types of things because it take that long, one to get the laws to accept the fact you are going to shut a place down, or you are going to have to change entitlements,” Cartwright said.
“We’re trying to understand that if there is another $400 billion … what kinds of things [we] will want to do and what is the character of the force we want to have when were done.”
Source: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/07/military-cartwright-budget-cuts-mean-huge-changes-071411w/
