Stop-Loss Veterans: Apply for Back Pay!

Okay, the deal is that former and current service members can get back pay, if you were involuntarily extended on active duty because of surprise stop-loss clauses from Sept. 11, 2001, through Sept. 30, 2008.

(The Obama administration made this happen; the prior administration didn't want to pay the troops.)

You need to apply by October first of this year. Apply here.

There's more from the Military Times: 13 percent of eligible vets seek stop-loss pay

The program pays eligible applicants $500 for every month they were involuntarily retained beyond their contracted terms of service.

So far, payments have averaged $4,500 per approved application.

Personnel officials believe as many as 120,000 Army veterans are eligible, a figure that represents most of the 170,000 members of all services that Pentagon officials estimate may qualify.

The application window for the program opened Oct. 21, but as of early February only 16,000 former soldiers had applied, according to Maj. Ray Whitley, project manager for the Army's retroactive stop-loss pay task force.

Credit: Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America