Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 04/01/2002

As I watch the Congress work successfully to find funding for the "Concurrent Receipts” or “Restoration of Retired Military Pay” legislation, I have difficulty understanding why eligible military widows have been excluded from the equal benefit of this new law. Rep. Michael Bilirakis, FL (H.R. 303) and Sen. Harry Reid, NV (S. 170) sponsored successful legislation that restores the military retired pay earned by “service connected” disabled military retirees. Previously, retired pay was unjustly forfeited in order to receive disability compensation from the Veterans Administration. Why were similarly affected widows forgotten? 

Senator Bill Nelson, FL (S. 1506) and Rep. Henry Brown, SC (H.R. 3183) came to the aid of widows of deceased “service connected” military retirees and introduced bills that will correct this injustice by eliminating the dollar for dollar offset of widow’s Survival Benefit Payments (SBP) with Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). In my mind, the argument to restore the Survivor Benefit Payment to retired “service connected” widows is more compelling because the retired member voluntarily chose to purchase SBP for the surviving spouse. The retired military member’s contribution is 74% of the SBP premium -- leaving the Department of Defense’s contribution at 26%. The retiree’s SBP premium cost coupled with the SBP income taxes generated back to the Federal Treasury effectively results in a very minimal to low cost legislative initiative. 

I am a “forgotten” dually eligible SBP/DIC widow. I am at a loss to understand why the senators and representatives who have cosponsored the “Retired Pay Restoration bills” have failed to offer this same strong support for the Widow’s Equity Bills by cosponsoring S. 1506 and H.R. 3183 -- same moral principles at very little cost to DOD!! 

To my knowledge, no other military legislation has progressed through the Congress either omitting or intentionally excluding a category of beneficiaries that would be eligible for any benefit of provisions in new legislation. Military widows who are equally eligible for TRICARE were not excluded from the expanded Tricare benefit as a “cost saving” measure … or omitted because the situation of widows was viewed as a complication of someone’s legislative agenda. Federal civilian widows are not penalized with a DIC offset to their survivor annuity. 

I am writing to you with the hope that my letter will be published and thus read by Senate and House staff who will want to help change this unfortunate situation by cosponsoring S. 1506 and H.R. 3183. I hope Members of Congress will also work to include these widows in the final funded legislation expected this year.  

I hope The Congress will act to rescue these military widows whose husbands chose career military service, retired and chose to purchase a Survivor Benefit, and sadly suffered the misfortune of disability and early death! Are military widows not deserving of a survivor benefit equal to the survivor benefit provided to Federal Civilian widows? 

Edith G. Smith
Widow of disabled retired Marine and member, Gold Star Wives
Arlington, VA

Dear Edith:

Thank you for so eloquently stating the concern shared by you and other Gold Star wives. The issue is simply one of fairness. I urge the Congress to amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the offset from the survivors annuities under the military Survivor Benefit Plan for amounts paid by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as dependency and indemnity compensation -- .the same unfair offset that Congress is now correcting for our disabled military retirees.

Shaft Kudos
Hats off to VA Secretary Anthony Principi for renewing the charter of a special 14-member panel that advises him on issues affecting women veterans. "VA is being called upon to provide more services for women veterans," Principi said. "We must make a special effort to ensure we're meeting their needs for health care, rehabilitation, outreach and other VA programs." The Advisory Committee on Women Veterans was established in 1984 to assess the needs of women veterans, review the adequacy of VA programs to meet the needs of women veterans, and make recommendations for administrative and legislative changes. VA's Center for Women Veterans, created in 1994, ensures that women veterans receive benefits and services on a par with male veterans and that they encounter no discrimination in their attempts to access these services. Dr. Irene Trowell-Harris, director of the Center for Women Veterans, also serves as executive director of the advisory committee. The 14-member committee is among 21 special VA advisory panels.

Congratulations to Christopher Goodrich of Arlington, VA, who recently was presented The Celia P. Dollarhide Scholarship sponsored by the National Association of State Approving Agencies (NASAA). In attendance were Congressmen Chris Smith (chair, House Veterans Affairs Committee) and Lane Evans (Ranking Minority Member)and retired Congressman G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery, former chair of the Committee and for whom the Montgomery G I Bill is named.

The award, named after the former Director, Education Service, Department of Veterans Affairs following her retirement last year, was established by NASAA to award a deserving veteran student who exhibited academic excellence, dedication, and motivation. NASAA is composed of the state agencies responsible for assuring that educational institutions meet federal and state criteria for the enrollment of veterans under the G I Bill. 

Mr. Goodrich served in the U. S. Army from 1995 to 1999 as a mechanized infantryman with the 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Hood and 1st Armored Division in Germany. His awards include the Expert Infantryman Badge, Army Parachutist Badge, Army Commendation Medal, and Army Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters. Upon discharge, he enrolled in the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and has earned dean’s list honors every semester of attendance. The Cadet Commander of the Army ROTC Battalion at the university, Goodrich will graduate in May and reenter the Army, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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