Monthly Archives: September 2010

by Gary Gresham, Former Marine

Gresham encourages other Marines to claim the retroactive pay he did. (Photo courtesy of Gary Gresham)

After serving as a tactical network specialist for six and a half years in the Marines, I left the Corps in 2003. While speaking to a friend, another prior Marine, I found out about the Stop Loss Retroactive Payments that were being given to Armed Forces personnel. He told me that Marines who were held beyond their contract from 2001-2003 could apply for the payment. He gave me the link to the Stop Loss website so I could begin the process.

Once I had the link and was confident that I met the eligibility criteria, I was ready to go ahead and submit. I knew that if my friend had told me about it, it was legitimate. I was not hesitant and I didn’t have any doubts about the integrity of the Stop Loss payment Program.

First, I attempted to submit my claim online and found that I couldn’t proceed without my case ID. I called the Marine Corps Stop Loss Program office (1-877-242-2830) to see about getting my case ID to complete the submission. Instead, Staff Sgt. Lodovico took the time to walk me through the process. The best thing for my case was to fax the form and my DD214 over to the office. I had to battle with the fax machine, but finally my forms got through.

The next day, I received a call from the Stop Loss Program office to verify a few things on my form. My role in the process was complete. The office provided me with my case ID so that I could track it online and three weeks later my claim was completed and the money was deposited into my account.

For Marines who have not yet submitted a claim, I would suggest faxing it directly to the office in order to speed up the process and avoid the confusion online. For a six month period, I received more than $2,000. Going through the process of submitting a claim was definitely well worth the effort.

Gresham works for HP Enterprise Services, as a Navy Marine Corps Intranet Lead Site Engineer.  His comments are his own, and do not represent the Marine Corps or the Department of Defense.