Military Personel Can Now Drop Cell Plans without Penalty

Military Times has reported that with the passing of the new veteran's bill on Thursday, service personnel can cancel or suspend their cell phone contracts without penalty.

Prior to this ruling, service men and women had to keep paying their bill or pay high cancellation fees for cell phones. The phones either could not be activated outside the U.S. or didn't have service. Moves in the United States do not count. This measure affects military troops deployed for 90 days or longer, according to the Military Times.

Military Times quoted Eric Hilleman from the VFW as he spoke at a hearing in May. "Many of our service members are deployed to areas where cell phones are of no use and cannot be activated. Most service providers will not suspend a contract while soldiers are deployed. Our soldiers should not have to pay a provider for termination or monthly fees on a contract for a service they cannot use." The hearing was in regards to the veteran's benefits bill.

Another bit of information affects the troops leave time. The Pentagon announced a new policy on April 18th that allowed extra administrative leave for deployed troops. Those in the reserves would get a free day for each month or partial month over 12 months in a 72 month period. Two free days would be awarded for each month after an 18 month period and 4 days per month after 24 months served. There is one slight problem.

Personnel centers have not been told how to apply this leave. Because of federal law regulations, there may be no backdating, either. This according to William H McMichael, a staff writer for Military Times.

Right now, accumulated leave could also be sold back to the military when a soldier ends his enlistment. This can be a nice bonus for a veteran starting civilian life.

When the policy was announced by memo in April, by David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, service branches were to present implementation instructions for the program. These instructions were to be submitted no later than April 30th.

Pentagon Spokesman, Marine Maj. Stewart Upton was asked if the service plans had been received. He was quoted as saying, "Not at this time. However, we are aware that the services are continuing to work on them."

Bottom line is policy is not yet in effect, according to the Military Times.

Military Times said that speaking to an anonymous defense official revealed that "unforeseen legal issues are involved that could affect the Pentagon's ability to retroactively award the leave". The report went on to say that press time came before further details could be gathered.

Past history shows that new entitlements could only be made retroactive by a legislative act of Congress, according to Military Times.

Source: Military Times, William H, McMichael; Troops Could Lose Leave Due to Administrative Snag: Rick Maze; Bill-No Cell Payments for Deployed Troops