DALLAS — Shawn Morgan is one of an estimated 53,000 veterans in the U.S. waiting to find out if their time in the service, and the injuries that ended their service, will bring them full compensation from the government they served.
"I was medically retired out of the reserves due to injuries both mental and physical that I sustained from my three combat deployments," Morgan said in a Zoom interview from his home in Haslet in Tarrant County.
"It was a sniper-initiated ambush," he said of the first incident in Iraq in 2007. "That round went through my right shoulder and out the back."
He would serve a total of 12 years before he was medically retired. And, by current rules, receives disability pay from the Veterans Administration and retirement pay from the Department of the Army. But because he did not serve a full 20 years, his retirement pay is offset: he receives only a percentage of what a 20-year vet would receive.
"I was upset," Morgan said of learning about the offset in pay. "Due to a combat injury that I sustained, my military career was cut short. And I don't think it's fair and equitable to the many like me, we don't get to receive that pay."
The difference for him is approximately $1,500 a month, about $150,000 over the last eight years.
"We come back home thinking that we're going to have full benefits and then we get told but hey this, when it comes to money, you can't get this because of this law that's been in place."
Congress first addressed the issue of "concurrent receipts" in 2004, allowing what some chose to refer to as "double-dipping" for 20-year veterans to receive both disability and retirement pay.
"That was their way of acknowledging that yes, this is an injustice," said Jeremy Villanueva with the Wounded Warrior Project.
"The term double-dipping is used by folks who really don't understand the nuances of what each of these payments are for," said Villanueva. "It is their way of saying that you've given this many years of your life and service to your country and here is the payment for that."
The effort did not however account for veterans whose service ended short of that 20-year mark because of the injuries that ended their military careers.
"But here it is now, 20 years later, and we're still trying to get this little chunk for 53,000 veterans," he said of veterans like Shawn Morgan.
The effort to change those rules is the Major Richard Star Act. Lingering in Congress for several years now, it would let combat-wounded vets receive both disability and retirement pay without offsets. Star was a victim of burn pits in Iraq who died of lung cancer in 2021, never qualifying for full retirement benefits.
As the law stands now, military retirees must have at least 20 years of service in addition to a disability rating of at least 50% to collect both benefits. All other military retirees are required to offset or forfeit a portion of these benefits. The Wounded Warrior Project says the Major Richard Star Act has the bipartisan support of at least 73 Senators and 327 House members.
"Teddy Roosevelt said it best when he said any man who is good enough to shed his blood for this country is good enough for a square deal when he gets home," Villanueva said. "And that's all we're asking for. The time is now. It is long since overdue to at least give it to those who have spent the last 20 years at war and have lost life, limb and their health because of it."
The Major Richard Start Act is a legislative priority for the Wounded Warrior Project, stating on its website: "It is time to fully honor veterans who were medically retired as a result of injuries incurred in combat or combat-related training. Regardless of time in service, these veterans have earned all their benefits through their extraordinary sacrifice in defending our nation."