Old Friend . . .

Made Internet contact with an old military friend today. His name is Stu McElwain. We were at England Air Force Base together - that would be back in 1964. Then later as we move en mass from England to Bien Hoa Air Base, RVN again. He, like me, was a maintenance officer. I was about year junior to him in those days.

After Viet Nam, I went to Germany and lost track of all those guys. Another fellows name was Voss - I think he got out of the Air Force. Ran across Stu's name when I went to Korea. I was a couple of years behind him. He unfortunately ran afoul of the Wing Commmander at Kunan Air Base and was moved up to Osan Air Base to finish his tour of duty. That was the kiss of death, he never got promoted after that and was later caught up in a Reduction in Force (known as a RIF). He finished his USAF career as an enlisted man but retired in his highest grade, Major. My friend Pete Hammerton ran into the same Wing Commander and his Air Force career was foreshortened too.

Stu, like me, came out of Viet Nam with some stringers - I have Diabetes Mellitus, Type II as a result of Agent Orange; he has cancer - it is in remission presently. But he is rated at 100% disabled - that helps his bottom line from the Veterans Affairs.

The ophthalmologist that looked at my eyes the other day for the VA said that there were going to be a lot of us because of Agent Orange. It is getting worse, more and more veterans showing up with effects due to Agent Orange. As it is considered a Combat Related Disability and in Stu's case, means he collects all of his disability now. Unlike me, I have to go through concurrent receipt, meaning that I had to pay a lot of my own disability; he did not have to do that.

The VA compensation was deducted from my retirement and paid to me by the VA. So in effect, that money came out of my retire check to be give back to me by the VA. The only boon was all VA monies are absolutely tax free. But starting in the Bush administration, the government started winnowing down the deduction from my retirement at 10% per year. As of this year, it is down to about $75 a month. By next year it ought to be zero and I will stop having to pay my own disability. That means Concurrent Receipt will go away for me.

But because of Concurrent Receipt I did get a pay raise when others did not. Since Concurrent Receipt is an accounting subterfuge, it is not a cost of living thing. So while the rank and file did not get a Cost of Living increase, I did get a small Concurrent Receipt increase of about a $100 per month. Such things make my bride happy.

Stu has to fight Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, he says he has a great VA doctor that keeps it in remission. I hope it stays that way.