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Listen to the 2023 August issue of VFW magazine here.
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From drafting the original version with partners at the Wounded Warrior Project to its ongoing advocacy in Congress, VFW remains committed to passing the Major Richard Star Act.
Since the introduction of the Star Act in 2021, VFW’s stance has not wavered. Through its National Legislative Service (NLS) on Capitol Hill, the country’s oldest veterans organization aims to restore full retirement pay for combat-injured veterans.
“The VFW has fought for years to end the unjust practice of offsetting military retirement pay for combat-disabled veterans,” VFW NLS Associate Director Nancy Springer said. “The Major Richard Star Act is about fairness. No veteran who was wounded in service should be forced to give up retirement benefits because of the injuries they sustained defending our country.”
Under current law, veterans who served fewer than 20 years as a result of their combat-related injuries are ineligible for full military retirement pay and disability benefits. These veterans have their retirement pay reduced dollar-for-dollar by their disability compensation, an offset that currently affects more than 50,000 combat-injured military retirees.
To help lawmakers, advocates and the public understand the real impacts of policies on the military community, VFW created a story bank called VFW Voices of Service – Stories in Action. These stories have been, and will continue to be, used in congressional testimony, meetings with lawmakers, reports and media outreach.
One such story is that of Army veteran Austin Chapman from Michigan, who deployed with the 449th Combat Engineer Company to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2012-13.
That year would change the course of his life.
As a medic stationed at Outpost Ouellette near Camp Leatherneck and assigned to a route clearance platoon, Chapman’s responsibilities included responding to and treating his teammates, Afghan soldiers and coalition partners.
“It also meant witnessing the realities of sustained combat,” Chapman said. “I saw loss across multiple forces and nations. Those experiences stay with you long after you return home.”
During his time in Afghanistan, Chapman’s platoon encountered about 90 IEDs, of which 36 detonated. He was involved in firefights and awarded the Combat Medical Badge for his service.
“I did not leave Helmand uninjured,” Chapman said. “I lost hearing in one ear, have nerve damage and live with PTSD. I returned with asthma that has been medically connected to burn-pit exposure. These injuries were not obvious at the moment. They became clear over time, and they are permanent.”
After he left the military with his combat-related injuries, Chapman fell in line with the process most veterans are expected to follow as they transition to civilian life. He pursued an education, built a civilian career and started a family of his own.
“I did not expect special treatment,” Chapman said. “I expected fairness.”
What Chapman did not understand until later was that because of his injuries, he would be required to give up a portion of his earned military retirement pay due to his VA disability compensation, the issue addressed by the Star Act.
“In civilian life, no pension is reduced because someone was injured on the job,” Chapman said. “Veterans are the only group asked to accept this kind of trade-off . For me, this is not an abstract policy discussion. It affects how I plan for my family’s future and how I think about long-term stability. It sends a quiet message that injuries sustained in service are treated as a financial offset rather than as a responsibility owed to the veteran.”
Army veterans William Piel of Virginia and Michael Bryant of Florida share similar concerns.
Piel, who deployed to Afghanistan with A Co., 2nd Bn., 28th Inf., 172nd Inf. Bgde., out of Graffenwoer, Germany, was blown up by an IED during his third and final tour in 2012.
“I was halfway through what was intended to be a 20-year career,” Piel said. “I have reinvented myself and become an ER nurse, but if I were able to receive the retirement I bled for, I wouldn’t have to work extra shifts and could spend that time with my family.”
Like Piel and Chapman, Bryant was medically retired after accrued combat-related injuries stemming from four tours that included deployments to Iraq in 2003 and 2007, Afghanistan in 2010, and Djibouti in 2013.
“Nothing would have made me prouder than to serve my country for 20 to 30 years, to become an old cranky sergeant major,” Bryant said. “However, that dream was taken from me when I was forced to medically retire and then forced to choose between my disability pay and my military pension. This inability to draw both my pension and my disability has caused me countless financial difficulties since I retired 12 years ago.”
This problem currently impacts more than 50,000 military retirees with combat injuries, with Bryant, Piel and Chapman being examples.
“Passing the Richard Star Act would not be charity,” Chapman said. “It would be the fulfillment of a promise. Veterans injured in service should not be forced to choose which part of their service counts – all of it counts.”
If you would like to share your story with respect to the passage of the Star Act, please scan the QR code on this page or click here. Your experiences help show how decisions made by lawmakers affect real
lives.
This article is featured in the 2026 May/June issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Ismael Rodriguez Jr., associate editor for VFW magazine.
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At 9:30 a.m. on March 3, 30 minutes before VFW Commander-in-Chief Carol Whitmore was set to give her testimony to members of Congress, office staffers began to dig through nearby storage rooms for additional chairs. The G50 room of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., was filled with members of VFW, ready to amplify Whitmore’s message: “Honor the Contract. Pass the Major Richard Star Act now.”
The Major Richard Star Act, designed to ensure all veterans who sustained injuries from combat receive full, earned benefits from the Departments of Defense (DoD) and VA, would be blocked later that day by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), after the bill was brought to the Senate floor. His reasoning: “We simply cannot afford it.”
It is this outcome that drives VFW to continue its decades-long legacy of advocating for veterans on Capitol Hill at the VFW Washington Conference.
VFW members around the country come together to share their personal stories with lawmakers about bureaucratic roadblocks they have encountered as veterans, in hopes that a solution can be found so that others will not have to encounter them.
This year, VFW consolidated its message to lawmakers into the following talking points:
‘I CAME HOME WITH INJURIES YOU CAN’T SEE’
In 2003, VFW National Legislative Committee member and past VFW Department of Louisiana Commander Matt West was involved in an ammunition dump explosion that resulted in traumatic brain injury. In 2005, while serving in Iraq, West’s vehicle was hit with an IED that resulted in further brain injury.
“Like a lot of veterans from those wars, I came home with injuries you can’t see,” West said during the general session, before VFW members began their visits to Capitol Hill.
West, along with other VFW Department of Louisiana officers, met with Louisiana legislative assistants and policy staff in a joint meeting inside the U.S. Capitol. There, they shared stories relating to each of VFW’s talking points and to communicate their frustration with the Major Richard Star Act being blocked.
“We need the Major Richard Star Act passed,” West said. “What happened today is an injustice for all veterans. We are not going to stop this fight.”
West also shared his story of sustaining brain trauma from his experiences while serving, calling on a need for coordinated brain health care and continued investment into brain trauma research.
“Modernizing VA brain health care is not about bypassing modern scientific standards,” West said. “It is about ensuring the VA has the research infrastructure and clinical capacity to successfully evaluate veterans.”
‘WE’RE ALL OVERMEDICATED’
VFW National Legislative Committee member Staci Boyer of Illinois has long been an advocate for women who served. Boyer, along with VFW Department of Illinois Commander Eugene Blackwell and VFW National Council of Administration member Matt Clausen, visited the offices of Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) Boyer, Blackwell and Clausen were all greeted by Ramirez in her office, where they had a chance to share their stories and VFW’s objectives one on one.
The group also met one of Underwood’s staffers, Danielle Floyd.
Boyer praised Underwood’s dedication to veterans by being a co-sponsor of the Major Richard Star Act, as well as being very familiar with one of VFW’s objectives: written informed consent.
“We’re all overmedicated,” Clausen expressed to Floyd. “Before you know it, you’re taking 20 pills a day that are all interacting with each other. We’re asking that veterans are notified, by written consent, to know what the benefits and risks of the drugs are.”
Air Force veteran and VFW National Legislative Committee member Eric Dudash of Alabama represents one case of a veteran who could have benefited greatly from written informed consent.
“For 30 years on active duty, I lived by a simple principle: trust the experts,” Dudash said during a group meeting. “I trusted the men and women beside me to do their jobs, just as they trusted me to do mine. So when I began seeking medical care, I carried that same mindset with me.”
Dudash was continually prescribed medication from doctors, evolving from 10 pills a day into 20 pills and, eventually, into 32 different medications.
“One night, and I hadn’t even realized it, I was so sedated my wife had to wipe drool off my face,” Dudash explained to Alabama legislative aide Stone Griffin. “Written informed consent will make it clear how each pill might affect you, and how each pill might affect each other.”
COVERAGE FOR ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS
In her meetings with Illinois legislative staff, Boyer stressed the importance of alternative treatments for veterans being covered by the VA.
“We need the VA to cover the benefits of having alternative treatments, not just pills,” she said.
VFW Department of Alabama Senior Vice Commander Colt Drouillard explained how he benefited greatly from Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) shots, which are minimally-invasive treatments that help reduce the “fight-or-flight” response, one alternative treatment to PTSD.
“It was a game-changer for me,” Drouillard explained to Grif f in. “I wouldn’t be here talking to you today if I hadn’t taken that shot. It’s FDA approved, very simple to have done and should be covered under VA.”
The VFW Washington Conference gives veterans the platform to have their voices heard. Each day during the conference, VFW legislative members from each of the 50 states met with their respective House and Senate members, sharing stories similar to that of West, Dudash and Drouillard. According to VFW Auxiliary member and Gold Star wife Gabriella Kubinyi, it is the stories that have the power to move lawmakers the most.
This article is featured in the 2026 May/June issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Danny Cook, senior writer for VFW magazine.