AOH Veterans Report (March 2023)

National:

• Passed along White House Office of Public Engagement Announcement on White House Budget Briefing Veterans and Military Families, 7 March 2023

State: Virginia State Military Retirement Subtraction

The seventeenth enactment clause of the 2022 Appropriation Act (House Bill 30, Special Session I, Chapter 2) allows an individual income tax subtraction for certain military benefits received by an individual age 55 or older.

The maximum amount of the subtraction is $10,000 in Taxable Year 2022; $20,000 in Taxable Year 2023; $30,000 for Taxable Year 2024; and $40,000 for Taxable Year 2025 and after. For purposes of being eligible for this subtraction, “military benefits” are defined as:

– Military retirement income received for service in the Armed Forces of the United States,

– Qualified military benefits received pursuant to a section of the Internal Revenue Code regarding certain military benefits,

– Benefits paid to the surviving spouse of a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States under the Survivor Benefit Plan program established by the U.S. Department of Defense, and

– Military benefits paid to the surviving spouse of a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States.

This subtraction is not allowed if a credit, exemption, subtraction, or deduction is claimed for the same income pursuant to any other provision of Virginia or federal law.

History and Patriotism-Irish in the Military

St Patrick’s Day this week. History of the Irish Brigade.

• The Irish Brigade was an infantry brigade, consisting predominantly of Irish Americans, who served in the Union Army in the American Civil War. The designation of the first regiment in the brigade, the 69th New York Infantry, or the “Fighting 69th”, continued in later wars. The Irish Brigade was known in part for its famous war cry, the “Faugh a Ballaugh”, which is an anglicization of the Irish phrase, fág an bealach, meaning “clear the way” and used in various Irish-majority military units founded due to the Irish diaspora. According to Fox’s Regimental Losses, of all Union army brigades, only the 1st Vermont Brigade and Iron Brigade suffered more combat dead than the Irish Brigade during America’s Civil War.
• Five regiments
  • 63rd New York Infantry
  • 69th New York Infantry
  • 88th New York Infantry
  • 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (formally)
  • 28th Massachusetts Infantry regiment
  • 116th Pennsylvania Infantry
• Motto in Gaelic, Riamh nár dhruid ó spairn lann but in English “Who never retreated from the clash of spears”
• March: GarryOwen
• Over 20 campaign credits, including First Bull Run (First Manassas), where the regiment served under the command of Colonel William T. Sherman, and was one of the few Union regiments to retain cohesion after the defeat, despite the wounding and capture of Col. Corcoran by Confederate forces. The 69th served as the Army of the Potomac’s rear guard during the disorganized retreat to the defenses of Washington. The most costly battle was at Battle of Fredericksburg.