Noteboom The Law Firm

Little Known Program Paying Soldiers’ Stop Loss Ending

August 4, 2010 - The Department of Defense (DoD) has been funding a program paying soldiers for every month they were stop-lossed beyond their separation date. There are only 3 months left in the year long program and almost nobody knows of its existence. The program will pay money to every soldier who was placed on stop-loss between September 2001 and September 2008. Soldiers are paid $500 for every month they were retained past their separation date.

The DoD estimates approximately 145,000 soldiers are eligible to receive the stop-loss money they are owed, yet the DoD has paid only about 30,000 claims to date. The DoD contends they are just not able to track veterans down once they leave the service to notify them of the payments. DoD opponents claim the DoD just isn't doing enough to find the veterans. According to them, modern technology should enable such searches.

Despite the DoD using multiple mediums in an attempt to locate veterans, there are just too many that are too mobile and cannot be found. The DoD's ability to locate veterans is not what may some think it is - they do not have special access to government information enabling them to track people down.

The average payment to veterans is between $3,000 - $4,000 and the processing takes between 2-4 weeks. Many veterans, however, are wholly reluctant to have anything to do with the military, and some do not want to be found, despite being offered free money. They just want to put their service behind them. For those that are still interested, however, the information is just not reaching them.