European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 2, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Offered to monday july 2, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 3 by Chuck Vinch is Washington Bureau Washington a the burgeoning number of plans floating around Capitol Hill aimed at cushioning the Impact of expected involuntary military personnel cuts might make it seem As if troops who choose to leave the service get nothing. But the defense department docs have separation benefits for  Sands of service members who depart Active duty each year. A military officials readily admit that the current separation provisions Pale in comparison to the kinds of initiatives being developed for those who will be forced to leave the service Over the next few years As the Force shrinks. A but we obviously done to have the same kind of responsibility to people who choose to get out As we do to people who Are told they have to get out a one official said. Options currently offered for departing service members include life insurance. Servicemen a group life insurance which covers personnel while they re on Active duty is automatically extended for four months after discharge. Service members May then convert those policies to five year non renewable term veterans group life insurance policies for a nominal Premium fee. Education benefits. Personnel enrolled in the Montgomery i Bill get up to $300 per month for up to 36 months for tuition and other costs. Personnel eligible for the Vietnam Era i Bill who Haven to used All their benefits can convert to the Montgomery i Bill. Generally they get half their unused benefits from the old program plus the full benefits of the new program. Home Loans. Honorable discharged per Sohnel Are eligible for department of veterans affairs Home Loans which offer lower interest rates than commercial Loans. Health care. One of the most important considerations for departing service members is a Benefit they immediately lose a medical coverage. Eligibility for health care in military treatment facilities or through Cham pus ends on the discharge Date. Service members can get some care through the department of veterans affairs but family members Are ineligible. An alternative provides guaranteed coverage for personnel and their families through an agreement Between the Pentagon and the Mutual of Omaha insurance co. Pay allowances. Officers forced to resign their commissions because of reductions in Force or failure to be selected for promotion arc eligible for Severance pay which equals 10 percent of their annual Basic pay multiplied by the number of years of service up to a limit of $30,000. Service members can turn up to 60 Days of unused leave into Cash at their Basic pay record or where they entered Active duty. Service members can take a prepaid Al Owanee plus per diem for driving their own vehicle obtain a prepaid airline bus or train ticket from the government or pay up front and apply for reimbursement under either option. Household goods shipment. Discharged personnel can ship household goods up to the authorized limit for their pay Grade at government expense from their Home or a storage location to their Home of record place of entry to Active duty or any other location that Isnit farther than the distance to either will not exceed the Cost to the Home of the distance limit does no to apply to rate but there a one catch a any leave cashed in during a re enlistment at some previous Point in a career is deducted from the 60-Day maximum at separation. Service members also can opt to take terminal leave which allows them to use accrued leave again up to 60 Days to depart their unit prior to separation. Travel allowance. Another monetary Benefit is a travel allowance to get service members from their duty stations to their Homes of record or the places where they entered Active duty whichever they choose. Service members May choose to go to another location but the travel allowance out now personnel who retire with 20 or More years of service. The travel allowance and household goods provisions must be used within six months of discharge the Pentagon official said. A a a a. Unemployment compensation. Service members arc entitled to unemployment compensation although at a lower Rale than what civilians receive. Military personnel must wait four weeks before applying for up to 13 weeks of benefits compared to a maximum of 26 weeks of benefits that generally arc available immediately to civilian workers who arc Laid off. Proposed separation pay Grade 0-5 ,0-4 0-3 0-2 0-3e 0-2e&Quot 0-1e&Quot w-4 w-3 w2 w-1 e-9 e-8 e-7 e-6 e-5 e-4 e-3 5 17,620 15,368 14.540 13.001 14.540 13.001 10,471 12,292 11,185 9,929 9,229 0 0, 8,840 7,769 6,860 6,473 5,773 6 21,144 18,783 18,282 15.928 18,282 15.928 13,422 15,420 13,578 12,565 11,575 0 0 10,968 9,670 8,772 8,074 6,927 7 24,668 21,914 21.329 18.582 21.329 18.582 15.659 17,990 15,841 14.659 13,505 0 0 12,797 11,282 10,234 9,420 8,082 8 20,192 26,150 25.252 21,237 25.252 21,908 18,556 21,468 19,428 17,669 16,099 0 17,484 15,091 13,360 12,174 10,765 9,236 years 9 31,716 29,419 28.408 23,892 28.408 24,647 20,875 24,151 21,857 19,877 18,112 0 19,670 16,978 15,030 13,695 12,111 10,391 of service 10 36,306 34,916 33j271 26,546 33,271 28,814 24,034 27,961 25,700 22,925 20,941 26,060 22,478 19,469 17,316 15,822 13,457 11,545 11 39,937 38,408 30.598 29,201 36.598 31,696 26,437 30,757 28,270 25,217 23,935 28,666 24,726 21,416 19,048 17,404 14,802 12,700 12 45,090 44,254 41.900 31.856 41.900 35.899 29,847 35.899 31.856 28,516 26,166 31,977 27,687 24,088 21,851 19,682 16,148 13,854 13 49,734 47,942 45.391 34.510 45.391 38.891 32,334 38.891 34.510 30,893 28,347 34,641 29,994 26,069 23,671 21,322 17,494 15,009 14 57,154 53,988 50,088 37,165 50.828 43,032 36,404 43.828 38,339 34,418 31,681 38,153 33,138 29,378 26,289 23,381 18,840 16,16 15 61,236 57,845 53,665 39,820 54,459 46,105 39,004 48,958 41,078 36.877 33,944 40.878 35,505 31,477 28,166 25,051 20,185 17,318 16 70,209 64,408 57,243 42,474 58,090 49,179 41,604 51,846 45,124 40,717 37,561 44,600 38,874 34,525 31,018 26,721 21,531 18,472 17 74,597 68,434 60,821 45,129 61,720 52,253 44,205 55,086 47,944 43,262 39,909 47,387 41,304 36,683 32,956 28,391 22,877 19,627 18 83,514 74,462 64,398 47,784 65,351 55,326 46,805 59,888 52,345. 47,310 43,714 51,296 44,738 39,923 35,426 30,061 24,222 20,781 based on january 1990 pay scale Quot comma toned off car who served Al least Lour Yawara on Active duty As to plated personnel or warrant of heart. Source Pentagon s4s Susan Harris separation benefits Bills reviewed continued from Page 1 sensation Wasny to designed for people who leave their jobs voluntarily a said a Pentagon official. A but if we re now going to Tell our people they have to get out that a a different  medical care. Byron said at a hearing june 26 that extending some form of free medical care to service members is a something we have to address Quot but concerns about the financially strapped health care system have prevented officials from drawing a Clear picture of How this provision will work in practice. The Pentagon is leaning toward allowing separated service members to use the civilian health and medical program of the uniformed services or champs for an unspecified time after separation. Mccain and Slattery suggest coverage for up to three months after separation. Byron on the other hand wants to offer care both in military facilities and under champs with former service members and family members receiving the same priority As Active Luty family members for the purposes of Access and Cost sharing. Byron would offer 60 Days of coverage to service members with less than six years of service and 120 Days of car to those with More than six years. Commissary and Exchange privileges. The Pentagon wants to allow service members to use these facilities for 90 Days after separation while byrons plan would extend the privilege for a year. Mccain and Slattery do not address the Issue. Disagreement on this Point flared at a june 26 hearing when rep. Marvin Leath a Texas the lawmaker with direct oversight of military morale welfare and recreation programs argued that the Lime limit should be two years. Education benefits. Inc Pentagon is considering expanding the Montgomery i Bill program to All involuntarily separated personnel even those who did spa. Not sign up for it while in uniform. The Slattery and Mccain Bills would add the requirement that anyone who joins the program Ftp separation would ave to match ,20un�?~buy-in�?� fee that recruits a during Thein first year of service to receive the benefits Kajter. Permissive leave. The Pentagon plan and Mccain in would allow service members to take an unspecified amount of permissive leave a 10 Days has been mentioned most often recently a up to six months prior to separation to visit areas where they might want to  to offer Job help to gis abroad presents a Puzzle by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington a the Pentagon and Congress Are crafting extensive Job placement services for those military personnel involuntarily separated in the next few years. But officials Are wrestling with the problem of How to get that help to service members stationed in foreign countries who obviously Are thousands of Miles from stateside employment offices. To that end the department of labor transition assistance program now a Pilot project at 22 military bases in 10 states almost certainly will be expanded Well before its test period is to end in october 1991. The program is designed to offer assistance to service members up to six months before they separate. It includes three Day workshops that cover such topics As career decision making logic a realistic evaluation of employability current labor Market information lips on How to Hunt for a Job and various training programs. The program also will offer information on current veterans benefits and help with Job placement. Pentagon manpower chief Christopher Jehn said last week that everyone with a hand in developing a separation benefits package recognizes the need to expand the transition program and incorporate overseas personnel a a that a the Challenge facing us to set something up for overseas people that will provide them the same kind of assistance a Jehn said <1. Thomas Collins assistant Secretary of labor for veterans employment recently went to Europe with an inter Agency group to explore the Issue. A the problem is that we can to exactly put in a Carbon copy of the stateside program at overseas bases because it relies a lot on the services and resources of stale employment offices which done to exist overseas a Jehn said. A a we la be talking All summer Jong about How to do this Quot. Next to enlisted Severance pay assistance in finding jobs for service members who Are forced out As Well As their spouses Are the most prominent features of the four separation benefits packages under consideration in Congress. Besides the transition program a centralized compute data base is being developed for Job referrals for involuntarily separated military and civilian personnel to private sector companies. A separation benefits Bill introduced by rep. Jim Slattery d-kan., would mandate Job search and referral services for service members and spouses and also would Call on the president to set up a commission to seek private sector cooperation in finding jobs for veterans. Similar legislation by sen. John Stuart Mccain r-ariz., would give anyone with seven years of service priority status for other Federal jobs