JOINT CIRCULAR No. 179-TT/QP/NV/TC GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICIES FOR DISCHARGED MILITARY PERSONNEL PURSUANT TO DECREE No. 178-CP DATED JULY 20, 1974 OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

JOINT CIRCULAR

||| Guidelines for implementing policies for veterans according to Decision No. 178-CP dated July 20, 1974 of the Council of Ministers.

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||| On July 20, 1974, the Council of Ministers issued Decision No. 178-CP amending the policy for military personnel transferring to other sectors and retiring.

||| The Ministry of National Defense - Ministry of Interior - Ministry of Finance, after reaching consensus with the Ministry of Labor, issued this Circular to provide detailed guidelines for implementing the policy for veterans mentioned in Points 1 and 2, Section B of Decision No. 178-CP of the Council of Ministers.

||| I. SUBJECTS ELIGIBLE FOR RETIREMENT POLICIES UNDER DECISION NO. 178-CP OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

||| Military personnel belonging to the following categories, who retire to their families from July 1, 1974 onwards, are eligible for retirement benefits under Decision No. 178-CP dated July 20, 1974 of the Council of Ministers:

||| - Military personnel who have continuously served in the Army for five full years (60 months) or more, including officers at the rank of lieutenant and above, professional soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers;

||| - Military personnel who have not yet completed five full years of continuous service in the Army but are war invalids ranked from level 1 to level 8; those who suffer chronic or terminal illnesses due to combat or work in the B and C battlefields, with medical confirmation and recommendation from unit commanders at the regimental level or higher. (Those who had pre-existing conditions that were exacerbated during service are not included in this category).

||| II. CONTENTS OF SPECIFIC POLICIES

||| A. SUBSIDY REGIME

||| 1. Military personnel falling within the scope specified in Section I above, upon retirement, shall be entitled to:

||| a) One-time Subsidy: ||| Prior to retirement, retired military personnel shall receive a one-time subsidy based on their continuous period of service.

||| If they receive a salary (officers, professional soldiers), each year of service will be calculated as half (1/2) month of basic salary and other regular allowances before retirement, including seniority allowance, rank allowance for professional soldiers, responsibility allowance for professional soldiers driving small vehicles, and regional allowance and child allowance (if applicable).

||| If they receive a supply system, each year of service will be calculated as half (1/2) month of subsistence allowance before retirement. The subsistence allowance includes:

||| - Food allowance at a unified rate of 21 dong per month,

||| - Uniform allowance 6 dong per month,

||| - Miscellaneous allowance according to rank and years of service before retirement.

||| The period of service counted for the one-time subsidy mentioned above is the continuous working period of each person, starting from the date of recruitment into state agencies at the district or city level (civil, administrative, party, youth volunteers against America, save the country, concentrated, Army) until the date of retirement.

||| In cases where they previously retired or left work and then re-enlisted, or were recruited again for a period before joining the Army and now retire, the period for calculating the one-time subsidy will only be counted from the date of re-enlistment or recruitment back to the date of retirement.

||| For war invalids ranked from level 1 to level 8; for soldiers suffering chronic or terminal illnesses in the B and C battlefields, if the one-time subsidy calculated as above is less than two and a half months of salary or subsistence allowance, it will be supplemented to equal two and a half months of salary or subsistence allowance at the level of those with five full years of service in the Army.

Example 1: ||| A soldier with a basic salary of 54 dong in a region with a 10% regional allowance, having worked for 12 years in state agencies and 6 full years in the Army, will receive a one-time subsidy as follows:

||| Monthly salary and allowances are:

||| - Basic salary 54.00 dong

||| - Seniority allowance 54 dong x 6% 3.24 dong

||| - Regional allowance 54 dong x 10% 5.40 dong

||| Total 62.64 dong

||| One-time subsidy prior to retirement is:

Example 2: ||| A soldier ranked as level 2, with a subsistence allowance of 34 dong, having three years of military service, the one-time subsidy prior to retirement is:

||| With three years of military service, the one-time subsidy is less than two and a half months of subsistence allowance, so it will be supplemented to equal two and a half months of subsistence allowance: 34 dong x 2.5 = 85 dong.

||| b) Monthly Subsidy: ||| From the date of retirement, retired military personnel shall receive a monthly subsidy based on their continuous period of service in the Army, specifically as follows:

||| - If they receive a salary: ||| Each year of service in the Army entitles them to a monthly subsidy equivalent to 20% of the basic salary of one month before retirement.

||| The amount of the monthly subsidy calculated above, if less than 12 dong per month, will also be supplemented to 12 dong per month.

||| - If they receive a supply system:||| Those with five full years to ten full years of service in the Army will receive a monthly subsidy of 10 dong; those with over ten years of service in the Army will receive an additional 1 dong per month for each additional year of service.

||| The period of service in the Army of each person counted for determining the monthly subsidy is based on the military age determined before retirement as stipulated in Decree No. 334-NĐ dated November 8, 1957 and Regulation No. 247-QP dated September 30, 1965 of the Ministry of National Defense.

||| The period of entitlement to the monthly subsidy mentioned above shall not exceed half (1/2) of the period of service in the Army of each person, starting from the date of retirement.

For military personnel who were conscripted before July 20, 1954, if they have completed 20 consecutive years of service until the date of discharge, they shall be entitled to receive the aforementioned monthly allowance until death.

For war invalids ranked from level 1 to level 8, and for veterans from battlefields B and C suffering from chronic diseases, the time period for receiving the monthly allowance calculated according to the above method, if not yet equal to two and a half years (30 months), shall be entitled to receive the monthly allowance for a period of two and a half years (30 months) as those with five full years of service in the Military.

Example 1: A military personnel with a basic salary of 54 dong and having served five years in state agencies and enterprises and fifteen years in the Military shall receive the monthly allowance as follows:

Receiving 16,20 dong per month for seven and a half years, starting from the date of discharge (excluding the five years of service in state agencies and enterprises).

Example 2: A military personnel receiving supply benefits with fifteen years of service in the Military shall receive a monthly allowance of 15 dong.

Receiving 15 dong per month for seven and a half years, starting from the date of discharge.

Example 3: A military personnel receiving supply benefits, ranked as a second-class war invalid, with three years of service in the Military, upon discharge shall receive the following allowances:

With three years of service in the Military, the time period for receiving the monthly allowance has not reached two and a half years (30 months), thus shall be entitled to receive the monthly allowance for a period of two and a half years (30 months) at a rate of 10 dong per month.

2. Military personnel who are war invalids, ranked as such, when discharged to return home or transferred to a state rehabilitation center, in addition to the disability allowance as stipulated in Article 9 of the Provisional Regulation on Benefits for Military Personnel ..., shall also be entitled to the discharge allowance as prescribed in Point 1 and 2, Subsection B of Decision No. 178-CP dated July 20, 1974 of the Council of Ministers.

Specifically, for military personnel receiving a salary who are war invalids, when discharged to return home or transferred to a state rehabilitation center, the monthly allowance shall include both the disability allowance and the discharge allowance, but shall not exceed their basic salary prior to discharge.

Example 1:A military personnel receiving supply benefits with one or two years of service in the Military, ranked as a third-class permanent war invalid, upon discharge to return home shall receive the following monthly allowances:

- Monthly disability allowance when returning home: 14 dong,

- Monthly discharge allowance when returning home: 12 dong/month (for six years from the date of discharge)

Totaling 26 dong per month.

After the six-year period for receiving the discharge allowance, only the monthly disability allowance of 14 dong will continue to be received.

Example 2: A military personnel receiving a salary with a basic salary of 54 dong, having eighteen years of service in the Military, ranked as a seventh-class war invalid upon discharge to return home shall receive the following monthly allowances:

- Monthly disability allowance (seventh class equals 70% of salary):

- Monthly discharge allowance: (to be received for nine years)

Totaling: 57,24 dong

However, since the allowance of 57,24 dong exceeds the basic salary prior to discharge (54 dong), the monthly allowance shall be limited to the basic salary prior to discharge, which is 54 dong:

- Monthly disability allowance: 37,80 dong

- Monthly discharge allowance

54 – 37,80 dong = 16,20 dong

(for nine years)

Total: 54 dong

After the nine-year period for receiving the discharge allowance, only the monthly disability allowance of 37,80 dong will continue to be received.

3. Military personnel who were injured or fell ill due to military units transferring them to stations or schools under the Ministry of Social Affairs and War Invalids previously as stipulated in Circular No. 51-TTg/NC dated May 17, 1965 of the Council of Ministers, now if they are transferred back to their families, shall also be implemented according to the discharge policy as supplemented in Points 1 and 2 above:

- The initial calculation period for allowances includes the time served in state agencies and enterprises (if any), the time served in the Military, and the time spent studying, working, and producing labor at stations and schools under the Ministry of Social Affairs and War Invalids.

- The calculation period for receiving the monthly discharge allowance is based solely on the confirmed military age before being transferred to stations and schools under the Ministry of Social Affairs and War Invalids.

4. Military personnel discharged to localities due to violations of the law and sentenced to imprisonment shall not continue to receive the monthly discharge allowance during the imprisonment period. After completing the imprisonment term, the Provincial or City Administrative Committee shall review and decide, depending on the severity of the crime, whether to continue or cease the allowance, as stipulated in Article 4 of the Provisional Regulation on Benefits for Ill, Injured, and Disabled Military Personnel ...

B. TEMPORARY EXEMPTION FROM CIVILIAN SERVICE AND VOLUNTARY LABOR

1. Military personnel returning to localities shall be temporarily exempted from civilian service and voluntary labor for the first year, starting from the date of return to the locality.

2. Military personnel who participated in combat and support services in various battlefields and suffer from chronic diseases, after the first year of temporary exemption from civilian service, if the old disease recurs and health continues to deteriorate, upon recommendation by local medical staff, may be granted additional exemption until recovery.

3. Military personnel ranked as war invalids (from level 1 to level 8) shall be exempted from voluntary civilian service according to the established policy.

III. ORGANIZATION AND ASSIGNMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION

Based on Resolution No. 178-CP dated July 20, 1974 of the Council of Ministers, to ensure thorough implementation of the policy, the Joint Ministries have clarified the following points:

1. The organization and issuance of one-time allowances and the discharge allowance booklets for discharged military personnel before transfer shall be handled by the Ministry of Defense.

The discharge allowance booklet (according to the unified model attached) shall be signed and stamped by the head of the unit managing the military personnel before discharge, at the division level and higher.

From the date of discharge, discharged service members shall claim their discharge allowance once every quarter at their place of residence or domicile using the discharge allowance book.

2. The distribution of the monthly allowance to discharged service members starting from the date of discharge shall be handled by a responsible state agency.

Pending the assignment of responsibility by the Government, from now until the end of 1975, the Military temporarily organizes the distribution of the monthly allowance for discharged service members according to the provisions stated in Point 2, Section B of Decision No. 178-CP of the Council of Ministers. Starting January 1, 1976, the distribution of this allowance will be handled by a responsible agency outside the Military.

The annual allowance for discharged service members shall be covered by the state budget, planned and settled by the Ministry of National Defense with the Ministry of Finance.

The guidance contents in Sections I and II above shall be uniformly implemented from July 1, 1974, and applied to all People's Armed Police officers and soldiers who are being discharged to return home.