Veterans hopeful the Major Richard Star Act gets through Congress

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — The Major Richard Star Act is a piece of legislation that could change the lives of thousands of veterans across the country.

Currently, when vets retire, only those with 20 years of service and a disability rating of at least 50 percent can collect both retirement and disability pay. 

Rep. Gus Bilirakis said this needs to change.

“These are veterans in this particular case, Chapter 61 veterans who were injured in action,” he said. “They should be entitled to their full VA disability as well as their pension.”

A Chapter 61 retiree is anyone who was medically retired from military service with a 30% or greater rated disability, according to United States Army Human Resources Command.

Bill Puopolo lives in New Port Richey and served in both the Army and the National Guard. 

He dealt with multiple injuries over 22 years of service from both training and active duty. 

Those injuries caught up with him, and he left the military in 2018.

However, when he tried to collect his retirement and disability pay, he discovered he couldn’t get both.

“Unfortunately, I found out that because I didn’t reach that 20 full years of service — some of my service was in the inactive reserve — and I was going to school,” he said. “I wasn’t actively drilling. I only ended up with 18 years, so I found out I wasn’t allowed to get both benefits. Nobody told me.” 

Bilirakis said there are nearly 300 co-sponsors in the House and 75 in the Senate. 

With the support clear, Puopolo wants to see the legislation come to a vote. 

“Hopefully, this gets rectified because I feel it’s going to be a tremendous lifeline to our medically retired soldiers,” Puopolo said.  

Bilirakis believes that if the bill can get to the House floor, the legislation will pass.