Who Was Maj. Richard Star?

Richard Star joined the Army in 1988 and served as a combat engineer. His first deployment was Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Later, he deployed to Afghanistan, where his unit built roads and cleared improvised explosive devices, and to Iraq, where he conducted route clearance, clearing roads so other soldiers could travel them.

On his last deployment, he began having trouble breathing. In 2018, back home, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, linked to burn pit exposure on his deployments.

The dark silhouette of a service member stands in front of smoke and flames rising from a burn pit at night. — A burn pit at Camp Fallujah, Iraq, 2007. Maj. Star’s lung cancer was linked to burn pit exposure on his deployments. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Samuel Corum

The cancer ended his career short of 20 years. He was medically retired, and because of the offset, he could not receive both his full retired pay and his VA compensation.

He spent his final months advocating for disabled and medically retired veterans, including on Capitol Hill, for the bill that now bears his name. He died on February 13, 2021, with his wife, Tonya, and his therapy dog, Otis, beside him.

A line of armored route-clearance vehicles kicks up dust as it climbs a winding mountain road. — A route-clearance patrol climbs a mountain road near Forward Operating Base Tillman, Paktika province, Afghanistan, 2012. Clearing roads of buried bombs was the work of Maj. Star’s engineer units. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kimberly Trumbull

Tonya kept fighting after he was gone. She died in August 2024, before the bill passed. In an interview with Wounded Warrior Project, she said passage would help veterans “provide for their families.” She also said: “This would be their win.”