Time is running out for current and former Airmen previously affected by stop loss to apply for retroactive special pay as the Oct. 21 deadline approaches.
Air Force officials used stop loss for Operation Enduring Freedom from Oct. 2, 2001, through Jan. 31, 2003, and Operation Iraqi Freedom from May 2 through Dec. 31, 2003. Individuals who were deployed during either operation may be eligible beyond the inclusive dates depending on their Air Force specialty and deployment return date.
Airmen eligible include active, retired and former members as well as Reserve and Guard component members who served on active duty while their enlistments or periods of obligated service were involuntarily extended, or whose eligibility for separation or retirement was suspended as a result of stop loss. Legally designated beneficiaries for affected Airmen also may apply.
Former cadets in St. Thomas' Air Force ROTC Detachment 410 may be eligible for the retroactive pay, according to Capt. Heidi Priestley, the detachment's commandant of cadets.
"If their Air Force enlistments were involuntarily extended as a result of stop loss during Operation Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom, they may be entitled to receive $500 for each month of their extensions," Priestley said.
More than 3,500 claims by Airmen have been approved for retroactive stop loss special pay since officials began accepting claims in September 2009.
Contact Priestley, (651) 962-6330, for more information.
