Applications for stop-loss pay still on hold - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Applications for stop-loss pay still on hold

The Defense Department is providing no clues about how long it will take before applications are accepted for a retroactive stop-loss allowance ordered by Congress and signed into law in June by President Barack Obama.

The payment will be $500 a month for each calendar month a person spent at least one day under stop-loss orders.

By law, the Defense Department can take up to 120 days from June 24, the date Obama signed into law the Supplemental War Appropriations Act for 2009 that included the payment. If they use all 120 days, an application process would not be announced until Oct. 22.

Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said she could not speculate on when people could start applying. “We are currently working with the services to develop plans and procedures. When those procedures are finalized, the services will release the details of their plan and its implementation to the public,” she said.

But it is still important that the estimated 185,000 people who would be eligible for the allowances do not procrastinate: The law gives them only one year from the day applications are accepted to file a claim. If they miss the one-year window, they will not be paid.

Payments will apply to anyone who was held on active duty beyond their separation or retirement date between Sept. 10, 2001 and Sept. 30, 2008. The allowance already has been paid to service members under stop-loss orders since Oct. 1, 2008, under temporary authority that will expire in September.

Although the Army, the last service using stop loss, is phasing it out, there is legislation pending in Congress that would extend the payment from Oct. 1, 2009, through June 20, 2011, which would cover the full period when the U.S. expects to have ground combat troops in Iraq.