Fleet Reserve Association News-Bytes - 12/09/04

[haele]

The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) is the oldest organization representing Coast Guard, Marine, and Navy personnel and their dependants. It does not cost anything to join.

I will be posting snippets concerning policies from their newsletter that might be of interest to military personnel or dependents -

To subscribe to News-Bytes, contact the FRA at www.fra.org

Dear Shipmates:

Inside this week's edition of FRA News-Bytes:

* FRA Remembers Pearl Harbor; Bestows Pinnacle Award
* Supplemental SBP Payments Terminated
* Spouses' Deadline to Apply for Benefits Approaching
* DeCA Offers "Gift of Groceries"

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Supplemental SBP Premiums Terminated

On 28 October 2004, President Bush signed the Ronald Reagan
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law for FY 2005.
Section 644 of the NDAA terminated payments for the Supplemental
Survivor Benefit Plan (SSBP), effective 1 November 2004.

SSBP participants' current level of coverage will continue, but
they will no longer be charged supplemental premiums. Basic SBP
coverage and costs remain unchanged. The funds that were being
removed from retired pay to cover supplemental costs are now
added to retired pay, effective 1 December.

(snip paragraph concerning contacts)

Additional information is available at www.dfas.mil.

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Spouses' Deadline to Apply for Benefits Approaching

The Veterans Benefits Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-183), enacted
late in 2003, allows survivors of military members who die/died
of service-connected causes to retain their DIC benefits, if they
remarry after the age of 57. Those who meet this criteria may
apply to reinstate their DIC benefits by submitting a VA form
21-686c before 15 December 2004. This form is available at
http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/21-686c.pdf.

We now return you to your regular veteran's programming

Haele