CRDP and CRSC: getting your retired pay back
If you retired from the military and also receive VA compensation, one of these two programs probably applies to you. They are not the same, you cannot be paid both at once, and only one of them requires you to apply.
This guide is only relevant if you receive military retired pay. If you separated without retiring, none of it applies.
The offset, and why it exists
For most of the last century the law prohibited receiving military retired pay and VA disability compensation in full for the same period. Retired pay was reduced dollar for dollar by the VA compensation received. Because the VA payment is tax free and retired pay is not, most retirees came out slightly ahead by waiving retired pay, but the total was still roughly one payment rather than two.
Congress created two programs to restore the offset. They work differently, they have different eligibility, and one of them you have to ask for.
CRDP: Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay
CRDP restores the retired pay that would otherwise be offset. It is not a new benefit or a bonus; it is your own retired pay, no longer reduced.
Eligibility generally requires both of the following:
- You are a longevity retiree, meaning retired with 20 or more years of service, including Reserve and National Guard retirees at age 60, and those retired under the Temporary Early Retirement Authority.
- Your VA combined disability rating is 50% or higher.
Two things follow from that 50% threshold. First, it is a cliff rather than a slope: at 40% CRDP pays nothing, and at 50% the offset is restored. Second, veterans receiving TDIU are generally treated as meeting it, since TDIU is paid at the 100% rate.
You do not apply for CRDP. If you qualify, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service should start it automatically once the VA notifies them of your rating. If your rating crossed 50% and your retired pay did not change, that is worth a call to DFAS.
For a retiree sitting at 40%, the value of reaching 50% is not just the difference in the VA payment. It is that difference plus restoration of the entire offset. That can make one more successfully claimed secondary condition worth several times what the rating table alone suggests. Run the numbers in the combined rating calculator before deciding a claim is not worth filing.
CRSC: Combat-Related Special Compensation
CRSC is a separate, tax-free payment for disabilities that are combat related. It replaces offset retired pay, but only to the extent your disabilities meet that definition.
Eligibility generally requires:
- Entitlement to military retired pay. This includes medical retirees under Chapter 61, who do not need 20 years of service.
- A VA rating of 10% or more for the combat-related conditions.
- The disability must be combat related, and you must apply and prove it.
"Combat related" is broader than being shot at. It generally covers disabilities resulting from armed conflict, hazardous service such as flight or diving duty, service simulating war including training exercises, and injuries caused by an instrumentality of war such as a vehicle, a weapon, or exposure to a war-related substance. A knee destroyed on an airborne training jump is combat related; the same knee injured playing unit sports usually is not.
You must apply for CRSC, and you apply to your branch of service, not to the VA and not to DFAS. Each branch runs its own CRSC board. Use DD Form 2860 and include the VA rating decisions plus the service records that establish how each condition was incurred. Documentation matters here more than almost anywhere else, because the board is deciding a factual question about causation that the VA never addressed.
You cannot be paid both
Being eligible for both is common; being paid both for the same period is not permitted. DFAS compares the two and pays whichever is more favourable, and there is an annual open season during which you can switch.
| CRDP | CRSC | |
|---|---|---|
| Requires 20 years | Generally yes | No, Chapter 61 medical retirees qualify |
| Rating threshold | 50% combined | 10% for combat-related conditions |
| Application needed | No, automatic | Yes, to your service branch |
| Taxable | Yes, it is retired pay | No |
| Covers | All service-connected conditions | Only combat-related ones |
As a rough rule: if most of your rating is combat related, CRSC is often better because it is tax free. If your rating comes mainly from conditions that are service connected but not combat related, CRDP usually pays more because it covers everything. A medical retiree with under 20 years frequently has no CRDP option at all, making CRSC the only route.
The arithmetic depends on your retired pay computation, your years of service, your disability percentage, and your tax position, and no general guide can do it for your case. DFAS holds the actual figures and will explain which election pays you more. Nothing here is financial advice. The rules summarised above come from 10 U.S.C. 1414 (CRDP) and 10 U.S.C. 1413a (CRSC).
Two things retirees get wrong
Filing a VA claim does not cost you your retired pay. The offset is restored by CRDP at 50% and above, and below that the VA payment is tax free where retired pay is not. Retirees sometimes avoid claiming out of a belief that it is pointless. It is not.
A CRSC denial is not final in the ordinary sense. The service boards will reconsider with better evidence, and a denial often reflects a thin application rather than a settled answer on whether the injury was combat related. Line of duty determinations, deployment orders, and incident reports are what move these.
The checklist
- Confirm whether you are a longevity retiree, a Reserve retiree, or a Chapter 61 medical retiree.
- If your combined rating is 50% or more and you have 20 years, check that DFAS has started CRDP.
- List which conditions are plausibly combat related, with the records showing how each was incurred.
- If any are, apply for CRSC on DD Form 2860 through your branch.
- Ask DFAS which election pays more, and revisit at open season if your rating changes.
- If you are at 40%, look hard at whether a further claim gets you to 50%.