Army retired pin packets have been mailed to retired soldiers receiving or eligible to receive retired pay who retired up to Jan. 2007. They also have been mailed to "gray area" reserve retired soldiers not yet age 60 and not yet eligible to receive retired pay as of Jan. 2007. Soldiers retired after Jan. 2007 should have received their pins from their retirement services officer. Addresses for the mailing came from the DFAS Retired Pay Center in Cleveland and Human Resources Command -- St. Louis. Army retirees who did not receive a packet can write to Army Retirement Services, Attn: DAPE-HRP-RSO (Retired Pins), 200 Stovall St., Alexandria, VA 22332-0470.

VA Retro Pay Nears Home Stretch

Almost 75,000 military retirees who were underpaid either Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) or Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) have received "retro pay" totaling nearly $150 million. This leaves some 33,000 files of the initial group remaining for review with a targeted completion date of November. Then the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) will turn to a group of 12,000 to 16,000 retirees who fell into the queue between the time the retro-pay program began last summer and April 2007, when DFAS launched computer programs to handle the pays automatically. Only military retirees who were underpaid are receiving notifications. About one in three pay records reviewed showed no underpayment, and those retirees will not be notified. Retirees with questions can call the DFAS Retro Award hotline toll free at 1-877-327-4457. Retirees can get updates on retro pay from the DFAS web site at http://www.dfas.mil.