Edward: Welcome to the MIL News Weekly for 12-18 October 2025, your essential
guide to the latest news impacting the military and veteran community.
Whether you're currently serving in uniform, a military retiree, a veteran,
or a family member, this is your source for the critical updates you need to know.
Each week, we cut through the noise to bring you the most important developments
from the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Weâll cover everything from new policies and pay raises affecting
active and reserve forces, to changes in healthcare and benefits for
retirees, and the latest on VA services and legislation for our veterans.
Let's get you informed.
Hereâs whatâs happened this past week.
Issues That Affect Active and Reserve Military Personnel
The lapse in appropriations that began on 1 October 2025 immediately necessitated
the implementation of Department of Defense (DoD) contingency plans.
For active duty personnel and reserve components serving on federal active duty,
this meant mandatory continued service under "excepted" essential duty status.
However, this designation did not ensure timely compensation.
The Immediate Financial Strain of the Shutdown
Under current law, absent a specific, separate legislative action, military
personnel are subjected to delayed payment during a funding lapse.
Service members were required to carry out all assigned duties, including those
involving non-excepted activities only where new obligations were not incurred,
knowing their paychecks would be withheld until Congress reached a budget agreement.
This failure to achieve a budget deal by the 1 October 2025 deadline
guaranteed that service members would miss at least one paycheck if funding
was not restored by the mid-month payment date of October 15, 2025.
The crisis underscored the reliance on specialized legislation
to maintain pay continuity.
For instance, Republican Representative Jen Kiggans of Virginia had introduced
the "Pay Our Troops Act of 2026" with bipartisan support earlier in the month,
but it did not pass prior to the deadline.
In the absence of federal pay certainty, military-affiliated
financial institutions stepped in.
The Navy Federal Credit Union and USAA quickly announced that they would offer
zero percent annual percentage rate loans to eligible members whose pay
was affected, continuing a pattern of support seen during previous shutdowns.
The Coast Guard Pay Exception and Policy Implications
A notable policy exception emerged regarding the United
States Coast Guard (USCG).
Unlike the four DoD branches of the Armed Forces, USCG members were successfully
insulated from the immediate pay delay.
USCG personnel were scheduled to receive their mid-month check between
October 15 and October 17, 2025.
This financial continuity was attributed by Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to a special funding arrangement
identified under the provisions of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" (H.R.
1).
This success highlights a critical disparity in the financial security
offered across uniformed services during a lapse in appropriations.
While the Coast Guard, operating under the DHS, secured a specialized
legislative carve-out to ensure uninterrupted pay for its critical
homeland security and military missions, the vast majority of active-duty
service members operating under the DoD faced immediate financial precarity.
This scenario demonstrates that, fundamentally, the government systemically
transfers the financial risk associated with funding failures onto the operational
military workforce and their families, necessitating reliance on political
maneuvering or external financial institutions for basic compensation.
This reinforces the need for permanent, universal legislative mechanisms to
guarantee pay for all uniformed personnel during any future government lapse.
Issues That Affect Retired Military Personnel
Retired military personnel and federal annuitants demonstrated
significant financial stability during the shutdown due to the funding
mechanisms governing their benefits.
Simultaneously, legislative actions were taken in Congress to defend and
reform federal retirement systems.
Financial Continuity for Annuitants
Unlike active-duty military personnel, retired military members and federal
annuitants did not experience an interruption in their monthly payments.
Military retired pay, along with annuities provided under the Federal
Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System
(CSRS), are funded through mandatory appropriations and established trust
funds, insulating them from the lapse in discretionary spending.
Similarly, individuals collecting Social Securityâincluding federal
retirees, disabled Americans, and dependentsâdid not see an
interruption in their monthly payments.
Defense and Reform of Federal Retirement Benefits
The policy environment concerning federal retirement systems during this
week was characterized by defensive success against cuts and progress
toward historical equity reform.
Averted Cuts in H.R.
1
Federal employee advocates successfully blocked significant cuts to earned
retirement benefits during the legislative development of H.R.
1, the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."
News confirmed that numerous provisions aimed at reducing retirement and
health benefitsâincluding the potential elimination of the FERS annuity
supplement, which provides an additional annuity amount to retirees before they
reach Social Security eligibility ageâwere removed from the final version of H.R.
1 passed by the Senate in July 2025.
This defensive victory preserved the current structure of FERS and CSRS
benefits, maintaining the security of the retirement system for both
current and future annuitants.
The Federal Retirement Fairness Act (H.R.
1522)
Legislation was actively moving through the House to address a long-standing
fairness issue within the FERS structure.
Bill: H.R.
1522 â Federal Retirement Fairness Act
Status: Introduced in House (February 24, 2025).
Effects on Current and Retired Federal Employees (FERS): H.R.
1522 proposes to amend Title 5 of the U.S.
Code to allow civilian service performed in a temporary position after
31 December 1988, to be considered creditable service under FERS.
The aim is to reinstate a mechanism that existed prior to 1989,
allowing affected employees to make "catch-up" retirement contributions
to retroactively purchase credit for time spent in non-career positions.
This measure is supported by various labor organizations and would benefit
many retirees by increasing their total creditable service years and
consequently, their retirement annuities.
The stability of retiree payments, combined with active
legislative progress on H.R.
1522 and the successful defense against proposed cuts in H.R.
1, demonstrates that while short-term appropriations failures create operational
chaos, the long-term, structural security of federal retirement benefits remains
a core focus of legislative effort.
The administrative wall separating the retirement trust funds from
annual discretionary spending ensures immediate financial stability,
which then allows policy efforts to concentrate on fundamental equity
reforms like those found in the Federal Retirement Fairness Act.
Cost of Living Adjustment Update
While retireesâ 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 2.5
percent had already been implemented, affecting payments beginning in
January 2025 , the procedural impacts of the shutdown delayed
the determination of the 2026 COLA.
This annual adjustment, determined by the change in the Consumer
Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), is
typically informed by the release of the September data in mid-October.
Due to the appropriations lapse, the release of the September 2025 CPI-W
figure was officially rescheduled from 15 October 2025 to Friday,
24 October 2025, at 8:30 a.m.
(ET).
Issues That Affect Veterans Affairs
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) maintained nearly full functionality
during the government shutdown, ensuring the continuity of essential services
for veterans, particularly those receiving disability compensation.
The focus of the week was on the expansive implementation of the
Sergeant First Class (SFC) Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to
Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.
VA Operational Status During the Shutdown
The VA estimated that approximately 97 percent of its employees continued
working during the appropriations lapse.
This high rate allowed critical services to remain operational: Health
Services: VA Medical Centers, outpatient clinics, and Vet Centers remained
open and continued providing care.
Benefit Payments: The processing and delivery of VA financial benefits,
including compensation, pension, education, and housing benefits,
continued uninterrupted, as these are considered essential expenditures.
Support Services: The Veterans Crisis Line (Dial 988, Press 1) remained
operational 24/7, and burials continued at VA national cemeteries.
The primary impact on veterans' services was felt administratively, as VA
benefits regional offices were closed.
This closure limited in-person consultations and localized
claims assistance, but did not affect the mailing or electronic
processing of existing benefits.
Expansive PACT Act Implementation
The year 2025 marked a period of accelerated implementation for the PACT
Act, significantly expanding benefits for disabled veterans exposed to burn pits,
Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.
Expansion of Presumptive Conditions and Eligibility
The updates introduced substantial changes that directly affect
eligibility for disability compensation:
New Presumptive Conditions: The list of presumptive conditions was dramatically
expanded, with the VA adding 23 new conditions that automatically qualify
for benefits without requiring the veteran to prove service connection.
These conditions include several respiratory illnesses, such as chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) related to particulate matter exposure;
various cancers previously difficult to link to service; neurological conditions;
and certain autoimmune disorders.
Reduced Burden of Proof: Eligibility requirements were significantly broadened.
Veterans who served in specific, previously unrecognized locations
(including additional bases in Thailand and Guam) are now presumed to have
been exposed to toxic substances.
Furthermore, the VA now accepts a broader range of documentation,
such as buddy statements and unit records, when official military
records are incomplete, streamlining the evidence requirements for claims.
Retroactive Payments: The 2025 updates confirmed that veterans are now eligible
for retroactive payments for certain conditions, potentially resulting in
substantial lump sum compensation dating back to the onset of the illness, which
may precede the initial claim filing date.
Family and Caregiver Support
The PACT Act expansion also provided critical relief for families and
caregivers of disabled veterans:
Extended Caregiver Support: Paid respite care for family caregivers
was doubled from 30 to 60 days annually, and the program expanded
eligibility to include caregivers of veterans with severe mental health
conditions related to toxic exposure.
Educational Benefits: New educational opportunities were introduced, including
the expansion of the Fry Scholarship to include grandchildren of veterans who died
from toxic exposure-related conditions.
Additionally, specialized mental health services and early
intervention screening programs were established for spouses and children.
Capacity Building: To handle the immense workload generated by these expansions,
the VA is committed to substantial staffing increases, planning to hire
over 2,000 new healthcare providers specifically for PACT Act cases.
Administrative Reporting Shift
Beginning in October 2025, which marks the start of Fiscal Year 2026, the VA
adjusted its external reporting schedule.
The public PACT Act dashboard, which tracks benefit enrollment and claim
processing metrics, transitioned from a monthly publication
schedule to a quarterly schedule.
This shift in reporting cadence indicates a strategic change toward
focusing on broader, longer-term outcomes of the PACT Act implementation
rather than short-term, month-to-month claims processing performance.
This administrative decision, however, places a greater onus on veteran
advocacy groups to monitor operational efficiency, particularly concerning
potential backlogs, during this period of dramatic benefit scaling.
Legislative Protection for Disabled Veterans: The PLUS Act (H.R.
1656)
Addressing the increasing commercialization of claims
assistanceâparticularly the risk of "claim shark" exploitation targeting veterans
newly eligible for substantial retroactive PACT Act paymentsâCongress advanced
legislation to regulate the industry.
Bill: H.R.
1656 â PLUS for Veterans Act of 2025 (Preserving Lawful Utilization of
Services for Veterans Act of 2025)
Status: Introduced in House (February 27, 2025).
Effects on Disabled Veterans: The PLUS Act fundamentally reforms VA claims
representation by permitting veterans to enter into fee agreements with agents or
attorneys for help with initial claims for benefits, a service historically
restricted to the appeals stage.
This legalization of compensated initial claims is paired with
robust protective measures:
Fee Caps and Contingency: The bill establishes federal standards, including
a maximum fee limit of $12,500 or five times the monthly increase in
benefits awarded, whichever is less.
Crucially, fees must be contingent upon a favorable outcome for the veteran.
Anti-Fraud Enforcement: To deter unscrupulous actors, H.R.
1656 reinstates and strengthens penalties for charging unauthorized fees, including
the potential for fines and imprisonment.
Furthermore, the VA must ensure veterans are informed, via a standard
form, that free claims assistance remains available from recognized
Veterans Service Organizations.
This legislative action formally acknowledges the complexity of
modern VA claims, particularly under the PACT Act, which necessitates
professional representation.
By simultaneously legalizing compensated initial claims and imposing strict
fee caps and criminal penalties, Congress is implementing a necessary
regulatory defense to protect disabled veterans from predatory
commercial practices while ensuring they can access expert assistance.
2025 VA Disability Compensation Rates
Disabled veteransâ financial benefits already reflect the Cost
of Living Adjustment implemented for the 2025 fiscal year.
Based on inflation data, the VA disability compensation and Dependency and Indemnity
Compensation (DIC) received a 2.5
percent COLA increase, which was reflected in payments effective January 2025.
This adjustment meant, for example, that a veteran with a 100 percent disability
rating and no dependents received a monthly increase of approximately $93.45.
And that's your Weekly Briefing.
Staying on top of these changes is key to navigating your career,
your retirement, and your benefits.
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Weâll be back next week with another roundup of the news that matters most
to the military and veteran community.