He got $30K to leave the military when it needed to downsize. Now the government wants that money back.
Vernon Reffitt got $30,000 to leave the Army in 1992. It was a one-time special separation benefit offered to service members when the U.S. had to reduce its active-duty force. More than 30 years later, the federal government wants that money back.
Vernon Reffitt got $30,000 to leave the Army in 1992. It was a one-time, lump-sum special separation benefit offered to service members when the U.S. had to reduce its active-duty force.
Now, more than 30 years later, the federal government wants that money back.
In May, the Department of Veterans Affairs began withholding the monthly disability compensation payments that Reffitt had been receiving for three decades until he repays the $30,000. It would take the 62-year-old nearly 15 years to do so.
"That’s wrong," said Reffitt, who lives in Twin City, Georgia. "You can’t just up and take it back."
Vernon Reffitt was deployed to Panama and Honduras and did two tours in Germany during his service as a military policeman from 1979 to 1992.Courtesy Vernon ReffittThousands have found themselves in Reffitt’s position due to a little-known law that prohibits veterans from receiving both disability and special separation pay. Under the law, the VA has to recoup special separation benefits from veterans before those eligible can begin receiving disability payments.
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