NewsBytes September 11, 2026

In this issue:
Order Speeds Records Transfer
Bill Targets 9/11 Gap
TRICARE Expands Virtual Care
Suicide Programs Earn Honors
Star Act Faces Deadline

Order Speeds Records Transfer
President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order on September 8 titled "Accelerating Access to Veterans' Benefits and Employment Opportunities," directing the Department of War (DOW) and the Department of Veterans Affairs to share military records continuously rather than transferring them after separation. Under the order, Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) and Service Treatment Records (STR) are to be shared with the VA from the moment a service member enters the military and throughout that member's career, eliminating the post-separation handoff that has long delayed healthcare enrollment and disability claims development.

The order sets firm deadlines. Within 30 days, the departments must ensure that records for currently serving members transfer immediately upon discharge. Within 120 days, existing information technology contracts must be reviewed and modified to require interoperability. Within 180 days, both departments must stand up permanent record-sharing systems, deploy artificial intelligence and digital tools that consolidate benefits, education, and job placement into a single-source application experience, and overhaul the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) so that departing members are connected to specific open jobs matching their skills, or to registered apprenticeships and career and technical education, before they leave active duty. The order also directs coordination with the Department of Labor. The VA estimates that continuous records access could cut an additional 20 to 30 days from claims processing for recently separated members; the department currently averages 76.1 days to complete a disability claim, down from 141.5 days.

The FRA strongly supports permanent records integration between the DOW and the VA. Sea service personnel separating from Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard commands should never fall into a healthcare gap or absorb financial strain because a paper file has not caught up with them. The Association will monitor the 30-, 120-, and 180-day milestones closely and will press both departments to ensure that Reserve and Guard members moving repeatedly between active duty and veteran status are fully captured in the new architecture, and that AI-assisted claims tools accelerate decisions without becoming a mechanism for reducing earned compensation.

Bill Targets 9/11 Gap
Twenty-five years after the attack on the Pentagon, military personnel who reported for duty in the damaged building remain outside the presumptive toxic exposure coverage established by the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. H.R. 5339, the "Susan E. Lukas 9/11 Servicemember Fairness Act," introduced by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) with bipartisan cosponsors including Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), would establish a presumption of service connection for service members who served at the Pentagon between September 11 and November 19, 2001.

Personnel who worked the Pentagon site in that window were exposed to pulverized concrete and glass, asbestos, jet fuel residue, and combustion byproducts, but were excluded from the PACT Act's geographic presumptive zones. Without a presumption, affected veterans must independently prove a medical nexus between current illness and 2001 duty, an evidentiary burden that grows heavier as records age and treating physicians retire. The bill is named for retired Air Force Lt. Col. Susan E. Lukas, who returned to duty at the damaged Pentagon on September 12, 2001. The measure received a legislative hearing before the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs on February 3, 2026, and was taken up in subcommittee markup on March 26, 2026, but has not yet advanced to the House floor.

The FRA supports H.R. 5339 and urges the House Veterans' Affairs Committee to move it before the 119th Congress adjourns. Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen assigned to the Pentagon and to joint commands stood the same watch, breathed the same air, and deserve the same presumptive protections extended to other toxic-exposed veterans. Twenty-five years is long enough to litigate whether these warfighters were exposed. The Association will engage House and Senate committee staff to press for committee reporting and a companion Senate measure. 

Shipmates can act now: visit the FRA Action Center to send a message urging your Representative to move H.R. 5339 in the House and your Senators to introduce and pass a Senate companion before adjournment.

TRICARE Expands Virtual Care
TRICARE Prime beneficiaries now have access to a 24/7 pathway into virtual urgent care through the Military Health System (MHS) Nurse Advice Line, an option the Defense Health Agency (DHA) stood up this year and continues to expand. Beneficiaries ages 12 and older who are enrolled to a primary care manager at a military hospital or clinic can call 1-800-TRICARE (874-2273) or use mhsnurseadviceline.com at any hour. A registered nurse assesses symptoms and, when appropriate, books a same-day or next-day virtual appointment. Care is delivered through the Virtually Integrated Patient Readiness and Remote Care clinic, with appointments available from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Eastern.

Virtual urgent care covers common complaints including sore throat, cough, sinus infection, allergies, rashes, muscle and joint pain, and headaches. Beyond urgent care, TRICARE's broader virtual health framework covers primary care visits, selected specialty care such as speech therapy, diabetes support, and lactation support, and behavioral health counseling, with available providers varying by region between Humana Military in the East and TriWest Healthcare Alliance in the West. TRICARE For Life beneficiaries retain Medicare telehealth coverage for covered services through December 31, 2027, with TRICARE paying as secondary. One significant limitation remains: the virtual urgent care option is available only within the United States and is not offered overseas or in U.S. territories.

The FRA encourages Shipmates and their families to use these virtual health options and to know the number before they need it. Appointment availability at busy shore installations and within regional civilian networks remains a persistent problem for military households, and a 24/7 nurse line that can convert a call into a same-day appointment is a practical answer to it. The Association will continue to press DHA to extend virtual urgent care to overseas commands and U.S. territories, where sea service families are frequently furthest from a military treatment facility, and reiterates its standing opposition to any TRICARE fee increase. Full details are available at tricare.mil/GettingCare/VirtualHealth.

Suicide Programs Earn Honors
The Department of War recognized 13 military suicide prevention programs, 11 from the DOW services and two from the U.S. Coast Guard, during a September 2 ceremony in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes. Assistant Secretary of War for Health Affairs Keith Bass presented the awards alongside Defense Suicide Prevention Office Acting Director Alicia Matteson, Defense Health Agency Chief Mental Health Officer Tim Hoyt, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shane Steiner. Programs were evaluated on peer connection, leadership engagement, lethal means safety, and measurable reduction of stigma around seeking care.

Sea service honorees included:

Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Camp Pendleton, CA): Hosted more than 30 interactive events normalizing mental health support and provided secure firearm storage training to incoming Marines.

Force Headquarters Group, Marine Forces Reserve (New Orleans, LA): Established rank-inclusive peer forums called "Vibes are Off," which increased self-reporting and produced 15 new peer prevention trainers.

Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (Portsmouth, VA): Launched a mobile mental healthcare application and wellness fairs, partnering with Operation Homefront to reach more than 6,000 military children.

Navy Reserve Center Minneapolis: Trained 400 reservists across 17 units to identify mental health crises, working with command fitness leaders and chaplains.

Coast Guard Base Boston and the Leadership Development Center (New London, CT): Completed more than 260 outreach initiatives supporting 4,000 personnel.

Coast Guard Station Golden Gate (CA): Secured bridge barriers, updated emergency response protocols, and hosted awareness events for 400 first responders.

The FRA commends these commands for building peer-led programs that make asking for help routine rather than career-threatening. Recognition of this kind matters most when it is matched by command practice, and the Association restates the position it took last week regarding the Sailor charged after an overboard incident aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72): a warfighter in crisis must be met with clinical care, not a charge sheet. FRA urges Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard leadership to scale these award-winning models fleet-wide and to ensure that no Sailor, Marine, or Coast Guardsman learns from a shipmate's punishment that the safest course is silence.

Star Act Faces Deadline
The Major Richard Star Act, FRA's number one legislative priority, remains stalled despite carrying veto-proof cosponsorship in both chambers. H.R. 2102 has drawn 334 House cosponsors and S. 1032 has drawn 79 Senate cosponsors, yet the measure has never received a recorded floor vote. Senate attempts to pass the bill by unanimous consent were blocked by objection on October 8, 2025, and again on March 3, June 9, and June 17, 2026. The measure was filed as an amendment to the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act but was not included in the final bill, and a House discharge petition filed May 21, 2026, has not reached the 218 signatures required to force floor consideration.

The calendar is now the central risk. The FY 2027 NDAA is the last must-pass defense vehicle of this Congress and is scheduled for floor action this fall. The current continuing resolution funds the government through December 11, 2026. The 119th Congress adjourns January 3, 2027, and every pending bill dies with it, meaning the Star Act would have to be reintroduced in the 120th Congress and rebuild more than 400 cosponsors from zero. Each attempt to advance the bill has foundered not on opposition to the policy but on disputes over the offset used to pay for it.

The FRA supports immediate enactment of the Major Richard Star Act and opposes any delay, phase-in, income threshold, disability-rating condition, or partial repeal offered as a substitute. Combat-wounded retirees are the only category of federal retiree required to forfeit retired pay dollar for dollar against compensation for injuries sustained in combat. Ending that offset is a matter of arithmetic and honor, not of budget scoring. The Association is coordinating with MOAA, VFW, DAV, and coalition partners to secure inclusion in the FY 2027 NDAA and will continue to press for a standalone floor vote if the amendment path fails.