This is a nice end. [sarcasm]
You go to war, die for the country you love so much, and then after you die, the government does just a little over nothing to help your wife and kids survive.
Ain't life grand?
The Department of Veterans Affairs offers the family of a fallen servicemember additional financial aid if they have dependent children left behind, through the Dependent Indemnity Compensation (DIC). Until 2005, that compensation was roughly $250 per month.
In 2001, a report by the VA, commissioned by Congress, recommended that DIC payments made for those with dependant children be raised by $250 per month for the first five years after a servicemember's death. Unfortunately, it took four years for Congress to act on that recommendation. Additionally, by the time Congress got around to instituting the increase, it did not take into account any cost of living adjustment, and only instituted a higher payment for dependents for the first two years after death, not five.
This means that any children of the roughly 2300 of troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2005, received no increase in their DIC prior to January, 2005. Rachelle Arroyave, a mother of three children in California, lost her husband Jimmy, a Marine Staff Sergeant in Iraq in April, 2004. Jimmy had been in the Marines for ten years before his death. Because the increase in the DIC was not made retroactive, Mrs. Arroyave never received more than $2200 that should have been paid to her. Mrs. Arroyave, who was a stay-at-home mom, now will be taking a job and has enrolled in school so she can better provide for her and Jimmy's children in the future. But, right now, every dime helps.
Tags: [Iraq Veteran Jon Soltz: The US Govt. Is Not Providing For The Children Of Fallen Troops...], [Department of Veterans Affairs offers the family of a fallen servicemember additional financial aid if they have dependent children left behind], [compensation was roughly $250 per month]
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