Wasted trip all the way to Little Rock today for them to sign one piece of paper for Survivor Benefit Plan.

Pretty sure they are making things hard for Michael again because this blog has made them mad. Well guess what?

Retirement Service Officer?

Seriously, I should not be surprised. I have tried to email the address given for Michael's Retirement Service Officer so that we can get his retirement pay started. The first email I sent did not receive a response, so I just tried to email again and got a mailer daemon message saying that it could not be delivered. This is an email address posted on the Army G1 website for Army Retirement! Michael will be calling the office soon, that is if the phone number is still valid...

A year's worth of paychecks: an overview

I realize that I have complained diligently in the course of writing this blog, but I wanted to put it into perspective for everyone. Most people receive a monthly or bi-monthly paycheck. For the most part, these checks arrive on a regular basis so that people can pay their bills, buy groceries and just live day-to-day. The following is a run-down of Michael's payment history from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Please understand that DFAS only writes the checks, and that in order for them to do so, paperwork from Michael's unit and his caseworkers at the state level must be filled out correctly and turned in on time.

• August 2008 - 3 months payment (for April, May & June INCAP)
• September 2008 - 1 month payment (for July INCAP)
• October 2008 - 1 month payment (for August INCAP)
• November 2008 - no payment
• December 2008 - 1 month payment (for September INCAP)
• January 2009 - no payment
• February 2009 - 4 months payment (for October, November, December & January INCAP)
• March 2009 - 1 month payment (for February INCAP bringing it current)
• April 2009 - 1 month payment (for March INCAP keeping it current)
• May 2009 - no payment
• June 2009 - 2 months payment (for April, May INCAP bringing it current)
• July 2009 - no payment
• August 2009 - 1 month payment August 5 (for June INCAP)

So if you look at this list you can see that over the course of a year, there was one month that Michael received his paycheck on time - in April 2009. I am not complaining about anything in this post, I am only stating the facts so that they may be seen by anyone who wants to read them.

More good news

We got Michael's VA Rating Decision in the mail on Saturday! They have awarded him a 70% rating. I started filling out the paperwork for Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) tonight. You can read about CRSC here, if you like.

Also, I slept in this morning so that is why I am still awake at this hour! I think I will try to sleep now to get back on schedule for the week.

A few good things

Since Michael is being put on TDRL, he is being discharged from the Guard. This is a bittersweet occasion for him. He loves being a soldier, he loves his guys, he has missed going to drill weekends, he was upset when they deployed and he could not be with them; but on the other hand, this whole process has been a nightmare, so he is glad that it looks like we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
He will get to see all his guys next weekend when he goes during their drill weekend to turn in all his equipment. Now, he doesn't get excited about much of anything anymore, but this he is looking forward to. I am glad that he chose to go during a drill so that he can see everyone together. Again though-the bittersweet part-he has been in the National Guard for 22 years, this is probably going to be a little harder to let go of than he realizes. But we will make it through and I will support him just as he has always supported me.

Update Number 2: 1:38pm

Okay, so the case worker at Camp Robinson called Michael this morning and told him that he has to get a signature from his former employer (the people who fired him after he was put on INCAP for the second time). That's not a problem, he will get that done this week. He told Michael that INCAP packet for June was good, but that he has to have the signature from Magnolia Healthcare for his July packet, otherwise he won't receive his full active duty pay, just what he would have received for drill weekend. Fine.

Here comes the problem: Around the time that the people at Michael's unit in Warren asked him to get me to take this blog down, they also told him that the INCAP packets had to have original signatures on the paperwork. This meant that Michael had to drive to Warren (182 miles, round trip from our home, with no compensation for mileage) in order to fill out and sign his packets so that they could be mailed to Little Rock. The person that told him this said that he was told by the case worker in Little Rock that the paperwork must have original signatures and could no longer be emailed, signed, scanned and emailed or faxed back. However, today on the phone, the caseworker told Michael that he never said that and that it would be fine for Michael to print out what he needed and get the people and Magnolia Healthcare to sign it and scan and email or fax it back to him.

Don't worry, I'll be adding these people's names and ranks as soon as all of Michael's paperwork is processed and he is put on TDRL.

Again, I know I should not be surprised at all about this, but I just don't understand why we have to do all the footwork. Shouldn't they be taking care of all this? Shouldn't the different offices communicate better between themselves? I swear to God Michael gave a piece of paperwork to someone at Little Rock to copy and she is two cubicles away from this other person who also needed the papers and we had to get the copy to the other person. *pulls her hair out*

-Brie'Anne