A veteran in Kansas can leave military service with a combat injury, a VA disability rating, and a Department of Defense retirement benefit, then discover that federal rules keep the full combination out of reach. The injury is real. So is the offset. Sen. Roger Marshall is taking that injustice straight to the Senate.
On March 20, 2025, Marshall joined colleagues in reintroducing the Major Richard Star Act. The measure would allow eligible combat-injured military retirees to receive DoD retirement pay and VA disability compensation concurrently. Marshall’s office said more than 50,000 combat-injured military retirees cannot receive the full amount of both under present rules if they do not have disability ratings above 50% and more than 20 years of service.
Marshall put the moral case in one sentence: some wounded or disabled veterans have been prevented from receiving “the full benefits they earned”. The current system makes families navigate offsets and exceptions after the service member has already paid for the benefit with a career cut short.
The VA’s explanation of Combat-Related Special Compensation shows why the issue gets buried in paperwork. CRSC can provide tax-free payments to retired veterans with combat-related disabilities, but eligibility depends on retirement status, a VA rating of at least 10%, a reduction in DoD retired pay, and additional service and evidence requirements. A maze of eligibility rules is not a promise honored.
The Star Act goes after a different gap by changing concurrent-receipt rules for eligible medical retirees. Marshall is asking Congress to stop making one earned benefit cancel out another when the injury came from combat. That is a fairness question, not a favor.
The bill is bipartisan. Marshall introduced it with Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal and 41 Senate cosponsors. The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Military Officers Association of America, Wounded Warrior Project, and other veteran organizations support it.
The legislation bears the name of Major Richard A. Star, a decorated war veteran medically retired because of combat-related injuries who later died of cancer. The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee later described an effort to move the bill as an amendment to the annual defense authorization. Washington has had plenty of time to honor the principle; veterans have had to wait for the process.
The measure is reintroduced legislation awaiting congressional action. Its eligibility rules and fiscal details still matter, but they do not erase the central wrong. The VA’s Kansas veteran population summary shows why this is a hometown issue in a state with Fort Riley, National Guard units, military families, and veterans across its communities.
Marshall is forcing the Senate to choose between fine print and fairness. A combat injury should not begin a second battle over whether a veteran gets to keep what service earned. The Kansas senator is fighting until “full benefits” means full benefits.