The Bush administration is preparing a legislative proposal that would establish a separate and more generous disability package for service members who are injured in war or while training for war.

Under the plan, recommended by the Dole-Shalala commission, service members found unfit for duty as a result of combat or combat-training injuries would qualify for an immediate lifetime annuity from the Department of Defense.

Annuity amounts would be based on the formula used to calculate regular retired pay: 2.5 percent of basic pay multiplied by years in service. A wounded warrior with two years of service thus would get 5 percent of basic pay. Likewise, a service member injured in combat training who had served 10 years when found unfit would get 25 percent of basic pay.

These members also would get lifetime TRICARE, the military health and pharmacy plan. Separately, they would get their disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for any and all service-connected injuries or ailments. VA compensation likely would be raised under the plan to include a quality-of-life allowance. But the portion VA compensation now provided, and intended only to cover reduced earnings capacity, would stop at age 65 when Social Security begins.

The Bush administration has decided that these disability pay changes should apply only to members with injuries from combat or combat training. That, officials say, adheres to the theme of Dole-Shalala, also known as the President's Commission on Care of America's Returning Wounded Warriors. Because the commission's charter focused solely on the needs of combat wounded veterans, its recommendations do, too.

Under the White House plan, non-combat disabled members still would come under current service disability retirement, with percentage awards based only on conditions that make the individual unfit for service. Non-combat disabled members rated below 30 percent still would get a lump-sum severance payment instead of an annuity and would not qualify for TRICARE.

Though advocates for disabled veterans see the Dole-Shalala disability pay reforms as overwhelmingly positive for service members, which is why they want Congress to apply the changes to all members being separated as physically or mentally unfit, there are anomalies to be addressed, they said.

For example, an E-4 with four years' service and a 30 percent rated disability that leaves him unfit for duty would get service disability retirement today of $546.07 a month. Under Dole-Shalala, if VA compensation remains at current levels, with no quality-of-life allowance, the same E-4 injured in war would receive longevity retirement of $182.02 a month for his four years of service plus VA compensation of $348. The total of $530.02 a month would be $16 less than awarded to the non-combat disabled member.

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