Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 04/21/2003

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
One of the most memorable images of Operation Iraqi Freedom was the daring rescue of prisoner of war Jessica Lynch. This 19 year old PFC was held by a ruthless enemy and incurred many injuries. She is now at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for extended care, and certainly deserves all the benefits a grateful Nation can bestow.

However, I have heard disturbing rumors that she will not qualify for POW benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Would appreciate any information you can provide, either through the VA, or your friends at the American Ex-Prisoners of War organization.

Patriotically yours,
L.S., Springfield, VA

Dear LS
As current law stands, young Jessica and others of the military held in captivity for less than 30 days are not eligible for the special VA benefits accorded prisoners of war. Congressman Mike Bilkarikis has introduced H.R. 348, which addresses many of these issues, and I urge other members of Congress and President Bush to support this critical legislation.

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
I would like to bring to your attention a situation that can and has occurred concerning survivor benefits for widows, and possibly widowers, at least in the case of my mother in law. I am enclosing some background information for your review.

Fortunately, when I received my retirement statement this year, I also received her statement as she now resides with us due to her financial and medical situations. It was then I realized she had an offset for DIC. As shown in the background material, the Veterans Administration (VA) ceased her DIC payments as a result of her failing to respond to a request. I am assuming since the VA has still yet to respond, concerning her marital status. While discontinuing her DIC, the VA also failed to advise the Air Force as to their actions that should have resulted in restoration of Air Force survivor benefits. The action of the VA resulted in a reduction of $1,115.00 in income. Due to her dementia, she had no idea what occurred.

My issue is what safeguards are there to prevent or even know if this has occurred with other survivors? As a federal benefits officer I often address problems such as this in a very direct and timely manner. So far, despite intervention of my congressman, no response has been forthcoming from the VA. Further, in transferring the case from Florida to the Baltimore office, the VA managed to lose some of the paperwork, which I had to retransmit.

I ask only that with your interaction that this problem be addressed to the highest level of the Veterans Administration for the benefit of other survivors.

Sincerely,
Thomas K

Dear Tom,
As per your request, I shared your concerns with the powers that be at the Department of Veterans Affairs. I was recently informed that your mother in laws’ benefits have been fully restored.

Dear Sgt. Shaft,
 Just as many before me, I did my duty to my country. I served proudly and honorably. It was a pleasure to defend my country and my fellow countrymen and women. Now some of those for whom I served are attempting to take one of the benefits of being a veteran away from me.

The company I work for has told me that I cannot use their educational benefits because I am a veteran and I am eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill. My company is neither a federal nor state governmental agency, it is a corporation; a medical device company who sells huge quantities of medical supplies and instruments to the military and the VA. Is this illegal or just immoral?

Thank you,
Chris H
Via internet

Dear Chris,
Unfortunately, as of now this is just immoral. In a recent letter to another veteran also concerned about this issue, Chris Smith, Chairman of the House veterans Affairs Committee wrote, 

“As I understand it, employers who fund an educational assistance program for their employees often reduce the amount of employer assistance to student-veterans by the amount of assistance the veteran receives from VA.

Ideally, it would be desirable that employers not use VA educational benefits as a financial offset, but current law does not prohibit employers from doing so. I am asking the Benefits Subcommittee to examine this issue and report back to me.

Shaft Kudos
The Sarge joins House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher Smith in praising the authors of the recent House budget conference report.

The conference report set a funding level for veterans programs for fiscal year 2004 of $63.8 billion, $6.2 billion higher than the 2003 level. This amount is $1.8 billion higher than the level proposed by the President earlier this year. The higher amount eliminates any need for changes or cuts to veterans disability and education programs. For veteran’s health care and similar "discretionary" accounts, the budget provides a 12.9 percent increase ($3.4 billion) over the 2003 level. VA officials testified earlier this year that an increase of this amount was needed to maintain access for the nearly 5 million veterans expected to use VA services in 2004.

This budget will allow the VA to continue to provide services to veterans who are currently enrolled for care. It also means that VA will not have to close down a single nursing home bed at a time when the number of veterans in need of these beds is soaring".

Smith also singled out House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA). "Chairman Nussle made a commitment to me and other veterans advocates before we voted on the House version of the budget that he would accept substantially higher levels of funding in conference. This commitment was fully honored."

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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