A Montana military retiree is disappointed he never received his retirement benefits during the government shutdown.
Billings veteran Daniel Struckman said he got a notification via email at the end of October that he wouldn't be receiving any money. He served during the Vietnam War, and retired as a commissioned officer after 17 years as a medical clinic pharmacist for the U.S. Public Health Service.
He said this hasn't happened before.
"It really surprised me," said Struckman. "It's just, unprecedented. I thought I was immune from such things."
Struckman and about 7,500 other Public Health Service veterans found themselves in the same situation.
The lapse also affected about 500 military retirees from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It's largely due to the length of the shutdown and a funding oversight.
These two groups get their pensions from appropriated funds each year, rather than from the military retirement fund, which pays for all other branches of the military. Congress allocates money for that fund in advance, so most retired veterans got their benefits during the shutdown.
Jennifer Goodale, a veteran and the retired affairs director for the Military Officers Association of America, said this problem used to affect the Coast Guard, but legislation added that branch to the military retirement fund in 2021.
She said she believes it's a problem Congress needs to solve for other uniformed services.
"They're the ones that have flown into hurricanes, and fought for us during the pandemic, and gone wherever the government told them to, and they served their 20 years and earned their pension," said Goodale. "And it just hasn't gotten fixed because it's such a small population."
Struckman said while his payments have resumed since the government reopened, he had to dip into his savings to pay the bills. He said he feels for others who may not have had backup funds available.
Goodale said her organization is working with affected organizations, congressional committees, and appropriators to make sure this doesn't happen again.
"Even if it affected two people, we would continue to make sure it was fixed," said Goodale. "Because our whole mission is to protect service-earned benefits, and that applies to anyone that wore the cloth of our nation, and that's all uniformed service members."
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