Edward: Welcome to the MIL News Weekly for 21-27 September 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 Legislative Standoff and The Pay Our Troops Act of 2026
The primary concern dominating the end of September 2025 was the heightened
risk of a government shutdown, with current federal funding set
to expire on September 30, marking the beginning of Fiscal Year 2026.
Congressional gridlock over appropriations intensified, leading lawmakers to
scramble to ensure basic financial continuity for uniformed personnel.
Efforts to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) to avert a
shutdown failed in the Senate.
A Republican proposal for a CR, intended to continue spending at Fiscal Year
2024 levels, lacked the requisite 60 votes, failing by a 47-45 margin.
Similarly, a Democratic proposal was rejected 44-48.
The legislative impasse stems largely from Democratic demands for an extension
of healthcare tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which
Republican opponents are resisting.
The potential standoff raised immediate fears that servicemembers would be
required to report for duty without receiving scheduled paychecks.
In response to this legislative instability, the bipartisan Pay
Our Troops Act of 2026 (H.R.
5401) was reintroduced in the House on September 16, 2025, led by Congresswoman
Jen Kiggans, a Navy veteran.
This legislation is a crucial measure designed to isolate military pay from the
political fallout of a budget failure.
The core purpose of H.R.
5401 is to provide continuing appropriations for military pay
for any period during which interim or full-year appropriations for
Fiscal Year 2026 are not in effect.
The legislation draws upon existing, unappropriated U.S.
Treasury funds to ensure continuity of pay and allowances.
The authority granted by the bill would remain in effect until
regular appropriations are enacted into law or until January 1,
2027, whichever occurs earlier.
The legislation explicitly ensures that all members of the Armed Forces,
including the Coast Guard, and reserve components performing active service,
continue to receive their required pay and benefits during the shutdown period.
This guarantee is intended to remove financial uncertainty from
military families who sacrifice daily for national defense.
An important provision within H.R.
5401 extends pay protection to a specific segment of the civilian federal workforce.
It covers civilian personnel employed by the Department of Defense and
the Department of Homeland Security (specifically the Coast Guard) who provide
direct support to military members.
This measure protects those civilian employees whose roles are
inextricably linked to military operations and readiness, though the
majority of federal employees across other agencies would still face
potential furloughs or deferred pay.
Force Structure Restructuring and Resource Redirection
The DoD announced significant restructuring efforts during the
reporting period, applying "lean six sigma to overhead reduction" and
"network-centric warfare principles to administrative domains".
These consolidations are methodologically aimed at reducing
decision nodes by 22 percent to speed up planning and execution cycles.
These changes involve the elimination of high-ranking billets and the
redirection of tens of millions of dollars toward new defense priorities.
U.S.
Cyber Command Reorganization
The U.S.
Cyber Command underwent consolidation, merging its infrastructure with
the Naval Information Warfare Command and integrating Joint
Force Headquarters-Cyber with U.S.
Cyber Service Academy oversight.
This restructuring resulted in the elimination of nine O-7 billets (Brigadier
General/Rear Admiral (lower half)).
Financially, the consolidation allowed for the redirection of funds
towards immediate defensive needs.
$16 million was directed toward defensive cyber operations toolkits.
Additionally, $21 million that had been previously allocated for
undersea cable protections was cut.
These combined savings generated an estimated $59 million to bolster
Fiscal Year 2026 readiness accounts.
U.S.
Strategic Command Adjustments
U.S.
Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) also saw force structure modifications.
The command merged logistics functions with U.S.
Transportation Command posture statements and flagged Missile Defense
Agency liaison roles for elimination.
These actions led to the reduction of two O-8 positions (Major General/Rear
Admiral) and nine senior slots overall.
The resulting savings were immediately reinvested into critical capabilities
and emerging strategic priorities.
$14 million was saved and redirected for hypersonic defense prototyping.
Furthermore, $30 million was cut from programs related to
collaborative combat aircraft swarms.
The most substantial financial outcome of the USSTRATCOM consolidation was
the generation of $180 million in projected offsets for Fiscal Year
2026 border security augmentations.
This aggressive push to eliminate senior leadership overhead and redirect
funds represents a tangible shift in the National Defense Strategy.
The reallocation of significant capitalâparticularly the $180 million
earmarked for border security and millions more for domestic defensive
cyber and hypersonic researchâunderscores a high-level prioritization of immediate
homeland defense capabilities, which has been elevated to Tier 1 status.
This action signals a strategic pivot, shifting resources and
focus away from certain traditional long-term power projection logistics
or information dominance activities and towards domestic security and
rapid technological defense systems.
Personnel Management and Force Retention
The Army continued to emphasize force retention, focusing on
maintaining operational readiness and improving lethality by retaining
personnel in critical Military Occupational Specialties (MOS).
Recent announcements included the launch of new warrant officer retention
bonuses, introduced on September 19, 2025, and continued data-driven
talent alignment initiatives aimed at enhancing operational capability.
The Armyâs retention program aims not only to sustain end strength but also to
facilitate the smooth transfer of highly skilled Soldiers leaving the Regular
Army into Reserve Component units.
The Marine Corps released updated guidance concerning the Fiscal Year
2025 Active Reserve (AR) Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) meritorious promotions.
Promotions to Corporal and Sergeant took effect earlier in
the month, on September 2, 2025.
Eligibility for these meritorious promotions is non-waiverable and
requires Marines to be complete with their Professional Military Education
(PME) and to submit a nomination package that includes a detailed
Commandant of the Marine Corps Reading List Book Report, emphasizing the
high standards of intellectual and professional development required.
Legislatively, an amendment to title 37, United States Code, Section
910(g), was confirmed, extending the expiration date for the Reserve Income
Replacement Program from December 31, 2024, to December 31, 2025.
This critical DoD-administered program provides income stability for reserve
component members who face financial strain due to frequent and extended
mobilization for active duty service, ensuring that reserve families have
continued financial protection.
Congressional Commemoration
In an effort to honor the sacrifices of military families, the House
of Representatives introduced H.
Res.
744.
This resolution specifically supports the designation of the week of
September 21 through September 27, 2025, which corresponds exactly
with the reporting period, as "Gold Star Families Remembrance Week".
The resolution recognizes and supports the families of fallen servicemembers.
Issues That Affect Retired Military Personnel
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) provided confirmation
regarding routine compensation matters for military retirees.
The 2025 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was confirmed at 2.5
percent for most military retired pay and Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities.
This adjustment was effective starting December 1, 2024, and
factored into 2025 payments.
DFAS also reminded retirees eligible for both Concurrent Retirement and Disability
Payments (CRDP) and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) about
the annual CRDP/CRSC Open Season.
During this period, DFAS issues letters containing instructions on how retirees
may change their election preferences between the two payment types.
Legislative and Administrative Challenges Facing Retired Federal Employees
For retired federal employees, the looming threat of a government
shutdown carried certain guarantees concerning their benefits.
Annuity payments from both the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the
Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) are categorized as mandatory spending.
Consequently, regularly scheduled annuity payments will continue
without interruption, even during a lapse in appropriations.
Furthermore, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers
the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), remains funded through employee contributions,
not congressional appropriations.
As a result, the TSP will continue to function unimpaired, although
employee contributions will halt until agencies officially reopen.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) clarified eligibility for
the deferred resignation program.
Federal employees whose retirement dates fall between October 1, 2025,
and December 31, 2025, remain eligible for this program, unless their specific
position is exempted by their agency.
OPM Retirement Processing Crisis: A Legislative Aftershock
The federal retirement system continues to face severe administrative strain, leading
to delays and confusion for personnel transitioning to annuitant status.
The Office of Personnel Management has confirmed a
significant processing backlog.
As of August 2025, OPM had received 88,062 claims but successfully processed only
77,580, leaving just over 10,000 claims pending in the transition pipeline.
This administrative crisis is the result of compounding factors
related to legislative uncertainty and system modernization:
Surge in Retirement Claims
Earlier proposals in the year had sought significant cuts to federal retirement
benefits, including measures such as the elimination of the FERS supplement for
most federal employees retiring early.
This legislative risk prompted a defensive reaction among the federal workforce,
leading to a massive, preemptive surge in retirement applications
throughout the summer months of 2025.
OPM experienced claim volumes far exceeding typical rates, receiving
15,048 claims in May and 13,430 claims in June, compared to fewer than
7,000 in those months during 2024.
This extraordinary volume strained agency retirement specialists, who
often process around 10 applications a month during normal periods.
The unprecedented load contributed significantly to the current backlog and
the resulting delays faced by retirees waiting for their full annuities.
New System Implementation and Workflow Complexity
The claim surge coincided with the launch of OPM's new Online
Retirement Application (ORA) system.
While ORA is designed to increase efficiency and accuracy by requiring
"healthy submissions"âcomplete applications with all necessary
documentationâits introduction during a period of peak claim
volume has added complexity.
Retirees who had previously submitted applications using the legacy Government
Retirement and Benefits (GRB) software were required to resubmit their paperwork
through ORA if they planned to retire in September 2025, causing additional
confusion and slowing the preparation process for HR and payroll offices.
The standard transition process involves inherent delays, as the HR
office and payroll provider cannot finalize the necessary service and
salary records for OPM until after the employeeâs separation date.
Consequently, federal employees retiring in September 2025 or later are
advised to submit their applications several months in advance, confirm the
accuracy of their service records, and consult their human resources office
for guidance, as the full transition from the final employee paycheck to
the receipt of the initial full annuity can take between three and five months.
The current OPM crisis demonstrates how legislative instability generates
widespread administrative chaos.
The mere threat of future benefit cuts, even if the legislation
is not enacted, spurred tens of thousands of early retirements.
This action, driven by employees seeking to secure existing benefits,
overwhelmed OPM's capacity, directly resulting in extensive processing delays.
This illustrates a severe disruption where attempted political cost-saving measures
immediately generated massive operational strain and financial uncertainty for the
very retirees they intended to govern.
Issues That Affect Veterans Affairs
The Veterans Affairs Life Insurance (VALife) program, designed to provide
coverage for service-connected disabled veterans, reached a significant
milestone in September 2025.
Since its inception in 2023, the program has provided over $2 billion in total
coverage to more than 60,000 Veterans.
VALife offers guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance coverage of up to $40,000.
Veterans age 80 or younger with a service-connected disability
rating between 0 and 100 percent receive guaranteed acceptance
without medical underwriting.
Premiums are competitive with the private sector, are not based on medical
conditions, and will not increase over the life of the policy, depending only
on the Veteran's age upon enrollment.
Critical Deadline for S-DVI Holders
A crucial deadline exists for Veterans currently holding policies under the
legacy Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance (S-DVI) program, which stopped accepting
new applications on December 31, 2022.
Veterans must apply for VALife by December 31, 2025, to avoid
a potential coverage gap.
Applying by this date allows the Veteran to retain their S-DVI coverage during
the two-year waiting period required for the full VALife coverage to take effect.
If a Veteran applies for VALife on or after January 1, 2026, their
S-DVI policy will be immediately terminated upon VALife approval.
Although they would only have to pay VALife premiums during the subsequent
two-year waiting period, they would lack full coverage during that time.
While the $2 billion coverage milestone underscores the successful
expansion of access to life insurance for service-disabled Veterans, the
$40,000 maximum benefit is often noted as a point of advocacy by VSOs.
Many funerals and final expenses alone can consume $10,000 to $15,000, meaning
the VALife coverage, while guaranteed, often functions as a basic final
expense policy rather than a source of comprehensive financial security
for surviving family members in 2025.
Digital Access Requirement
To ensure continuous access to VA health and benefits services, all Veterans
utilizing digital tools were reminded that they must transition from the
legacy DS Logon system to a Login.gov
or ID.me
account by September 30, 2025.
This shift supports modernized security and authentication
standards for online VA services.
Additionally, the VA highlighted the ease of submitting mileage-only travel
reimbursement claims using the VA Health and Benefits mobile application.
Expanding Health Care Access for Rural and Remote Veterans
The VA formally spotlighted the expansion of its rural and remote
infusion program on September 27, 2025.
This initiative addresses significant historical challenges faced by Veterans
living in remote areas, including lengthy travel times, extended wait times,
and financial burdens associated with accessing specialized medical treatments.
The remote infusion care delivery model brings complex cancer care, including
chemotherapy treatments and survivorship support, closer to the Veteranâs home.
By leveraging and optimizing VAâs existing infrastructure, the program is
a strategic mechanism to ensure timely access to high-quality care, reinforcing
the access standards originally established by the MISSION Act of 2018.
This expansion has been critically important, having experienced
significant growth since January 2025.
To further ensure accessibility, VA outreach events continued across
the nation during this period, including resource fairs designed
to inform Veterans about their eligibility for PACT Act benefits
and available health care options.
An example of this concerted effort was the Blue Gap/Tachee Veterans
Services Event, held in Blue Gap, Arizona, on September 25, 2025.
PACT Act Administration and Policy Transparency
The Honoring Our PACT Act continues to be the central pillar of toxic
exposure policy, expanding and extending eligibility for VA health care and
benefits for Veterans across the Vietnam, Gulf War, and post-September 11 eras.
The law added over 20 presumptive conditions for various exposures,
including new cancers like male breast, urethral, and genitourinary
cancers, as well as hypertension and MGUS for Agent Orange exposure, with
five new Agent Orange presumptive exposure locations officially
recognized as of January 8, 2025.
Mandatory requirements, such as providing a toxic exposure screening to every
Veteran enrolled in VA health care, remain crucial elements of the law.
Shift to Quarterly Performance Reporting
In a significant administrative change, the VA announced a
modification to its transparency metrics for PACT Act implementation.
Effective with the start of Fiscal Year 2026 (October 2025), the VA
PACT Act Performance Dashboard will transition from a monthly publication
schedule to a quarterly one.
The last monthly report (Issue 53) was published on September 19, 2025.
Under the new schedule, reports will be released the month following the
completion of the full quarter (e.g.,
the report covering October through December will be published in January).
While this change may reduce the immense administrative burden
associated with aggregating and vetting complex claims data on a monthly
basis, it inherently decreases the frequency of external accountability.
Stakeholders, including veteran advocacy groups and legislative
oversight committees, will now have a longer, three-month lag time in
identifying and responding to potential processing bottlenecks, changes in
denial rates, or resource shortfalls in the execution of PACT Act benefits.
This administrative adjustment balances the demand for internal
efficiency against the external expectation of continuous, transparent
monitoring of claims processing.
Congressional Recognition for Suicide Awareness
The House of Representatives introduced H.
Res.
737 on September 18, 2025, which addresses the urgent issue of veteran
mental health and suicide prevention.
The resolution supports the designation of September 22 as "National Veterans
Suicide Awareness and Remembrance Day".
Furthermore, H.
Res.
737 recognizes the Suicide Awareness and Remembrance (SAR) Flag and commits
to raising awareness of veteran and military suicide via the flag.
The resolution specifically supports the permanent posting of the SAR Flag
above all Federal buildings wherever the American Flag and POW/MIA Flag are flown.
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.