Ask your MIDN about COMRATS.

[JohnMcLane]

My kid's bestie is a USNA midshipman plebe and crashed at our house this Thanksgiving Eve. I took him and my kids to the DFAC the next morning for the traditional DFAC Thanksgiving dinner. They charged me full price for him. Technically shouldn't he have been free? Asking for a friend not because I'm super cheap.

 

[Kierkegaard]

When I was at the Academy probably at least half of the people I knew had issues with not being paid COMRATS. Like thousands of dollars per mid over their time at the academy. Brigade staff organized an effort to collect everyone’s data and coordinated with personnel but to my knowledge it was not resolved. I missed out on about $2k total and many of my companymates were in similar situations. We went through all our LESs and tried to address it multiple times to no avail. Not sure what the issue was but it never sat right with me.

 

[justdoit19]

When I was at the Academy probably at least half of the people I knew had issues with not being paid COMRATS. Like thousands of dollars per mid over their time at the academy. Brigade staff organized an effort to collect everyone’s data and coordinated with personnel but to my knowledge it was not resolved. I missed out on about $2k total and many of my companymates were in similar situations. We went through all our LESs and tried to address it multiple times to no avail. Not sure what the issue was but it never sat right with me.

Yep this is the one my Mid was involved with!! He figured it out, brought it forward, and it blossomed from there.

Very unfortunate. It was never a case that they didn’t know they were getting shorted. It was a case that they weren’t getting resolution. In fact, my Mids friend actually got reprimanded for sending a very polite and professional email to the disbursing office, trying to follow up on their own.

Is it illegal?

@Kierkegaard did you understand it to be that once you leave USNA, it’s forfeited?

 

[A1Janitor]

I bet a notice of claim would help get the money.

And blacklist your career.

 

[Kierkegaard]

Yep this is the one my Mid was involved with!! He figured it out, brought it forward, and it blossomed from there.

Very unfortunate. It was never a case that they didn’t know they were getting shorted. It was a case that they weren’t getting resolution. In fact, my Mids friend actually got reprimanded for sending a very polite and professional email to the disbursing office, trying to follow up on their own.

Is it illegal?

@Kierkegaard did you understand it to be that once you leave USNA, it’s forfeited?

Yep, gone forever. Is it illegal? Well, Congress says that mids and cadets shall be paid comrats when on leave from the academy. But I have no idea what the recourse would be. People used to joke about calling the inspector general about it but honestly maybe that would have been the right thing to do.

 

[justdoit19]

Yep, gone forever. Is it illegal? Well, Congress says that mids and cadets shall be paid comrats when on leave from the academy. But I have no idea what the recourse would be. People used to joke about calling the inspector general about it but honestly maybe that would have been the right thing to do.

Yep. Exactly. And its why it is the way it is. And my point is that it happens every year….as evidenced by my two ‘20 friends. Who also went about getting them the right way. And were never successful.

 

[Heatherg21]

It's quite shameful. I have a good friend who has a son who has been shorted a considerable chunk of money each month for the last 6 months. They've gone through all of the steps to correct it and still they wait. No active duty member should experience that- not for that period of time.

 

[Trest33]

Need to add to this to the acronym list for us non-military. If $13.55 is a daily ration for servicemen, my son would break the budget every meal.

comrats = "Commuted Rations"
I wasn't expecting to find the federal laws relating to "rations," but here they are:

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title10/subtitleC/part2/chapter827&edition=prelim

 

[Navy2025&27]

My plebe thinks they generally never even see it, and that it just gets absorbed into other expenses.

But he's only been there a few months!

It takes time to process. Nothing was paid out during my son's plebe year, his plebe year comrats (and 3C summer leave) only paid out in Nov. If he applied for travel reimbursement for I-day that will take time too.

 

[LST271]

Wow. Fantastic thread. This is one of the many things that I didn't know about.

 

[IronmanDaremo]

Luckily, we're local (within Town liberty radius), so we don't have to worry about the travel stuff.

 

[THParent]

Looking back to the unpleasantness of 2020-2021, I was really glad to have my son here at home all of that time.

 

[UHBlackhawk]

Well, when they are home I’m freed from the need to sniff milk before I pour it.

 

[Trest33]

My plebe thinks they generally never even see it, and that it just gets absorbed into other expenses.

But he's only been there a few months!

When COMRATS have been paid, your plebe's Leave and Earning Statement (LES) -- in the Remarks section-- will show COMRAT payment line items for each period when it's been earned.

 

[Trest33]

DS has met with his chain of command. DS has a well-documented IG complaint prepared and was ready to hand deliver it last week. Given the recent partial payment, I've counseled him to "standby" and to think about whether he wishes to play a bigger role WRT other mids still owed COMRAT payments. It's his call.