Concurrent receipt compromise unfair.

* The U.S. Army retired me out as permanently unfit for duty because of wounds received in combat in Vietnam. At that time, I had over 16 years active service and over 18 years for pay purposes. I was serving on my last and retirement hitch. Now they tell me my 100% disability, two Purple Hearts, and over 16 years active service do not qualify me for Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC), because I did not complete 20 years of service. How many other 100% disabled Purple Heart recipient combat-wounded veterans have been cheated out of CRSC because they were forced to retire a few years short of 20-year retirement? Robert J. Hines, Tucson, Arizona 

* It appears our president assembled a committee to decide on concurrent receipt of pay. It is my feeling that this committee was very self-serving and only looking to ensure once it adjourned all members of that committee would be included. They had no thought of their fellow disabled veterans in mind when they come up with this policy, which includes the rule requiring a Purple Heart and another requiring 20 years of active service. For a disabled veteran that went in when he was 17, has two honorable discharges, then was retired after 11 years with 89% to 92% disability, it's hard to believe it doesn't count for something. By the rules set forth by this committee, my service does not count because I don't have a Purple Heart and I did not serve in combat. Instead, I served my country honorably for 11 years. It's easy to see this committee was only caring for the rights of a few and not the rights of all disabled veterans. This was a committee only concerned with serving the members that served on it! J. D. Long, Milton, Florida