A lot of combat-injured retireesdon't realize they have a choice to make, one that can affect their check everysingle year.
If you're a military retireewith a combat-related disability, you may qualify for two different programs:CRDP and CRSC. Most retirees with less than 20 years of service can't receiveboth in full. You generally have to pick one, and a lot of Veterans go yearswithout knowing they even had an option.
CRDP stands for ConcurrentRetirement and Disability Pay. It restores your retired pay dollar-for-dollaras your VA disability pay increases. It's taxable, and it's generally simplerto qualify for than CRSC.
CRSC stands for Combat-RelatedSpecial Compensation. It replaces retired pay lost to the VA disability offset,but only for disabilities the military determines are combat-related. It'stax-free, which can make it worth more even at a lower dollar amount than CRDP.
Here's something that surprisesa lot of people: a secondary condition, one that developed because of youroriginal combat injury, can sometimes count toward CRSC too. Not just theoriginal injury itself. If you've never had that reviewed, it's worth askingabout.
Because you generally have toelect one program over the other, and because that election affects yourmonthly income, it's worth double-checking every so often, especially if a newcondition has been added to your rating since you last chose.
CRDP and CRSC elections aregenerally handled through DFAS, not the VA directly, and most retirees canchange their election if their situation changes, such as a new combat-relatedcondition being added to their file. As a rough way to think about it: CRDPtends to make sense if you want the higher gross monthly number and don't mindit being taxed, while CRSC can come out ahead for some Veterans specificallybecause it's tax-free, even at a lower stated amount. Which one actually netsyou more depends on your tax situation and your specific disabilities, not ablanket rule.
You may have heard of the MajorRichard Star Act, legislation that would end the CRDP/CRSC offset entirely andlet combat-injured retirees with less than 20 years of service receive both infull. As of now, it has 317 cosponsors in the House and 78 in the Senate, moresupport than almost any Veteran bill in Congress right now. It's also beenblocked twice on the Senate floor and didn't make it into this year's defensebill.
It hasn't passed. We wanted tosay that plainly instead of letting a headline make it sound closer than it is.
Figuring out which of theseprograms fits a Veteran's actual situation is one of the most common questionsour team gets asked. If you're retired below 50% or navigating this offset forthe first time, our page on retiring below 50% covers more of whatthat looks like.
We're not VA accredited, and wedon't file or represent claims before the VA. What we do is walk through yoursituation with you and help you understand your options clearly. We don'tcharge anything unless your monthly compensation goes up.
Every claim is different, and wecan't promise a specific outcome. But you don't have to figure out CRDP versusCRSC on your own, or wonder whether a secondary condition changes things foryou.
👉 Talk to our team about your options