thedrifter
02-16-05, 11:06 PM
02-15-2005
Timing Is Key for Death Gratuity
By Raymond Perry
An incident involving a military widow in Brownsville, Tex., reveals a hopefully isolated but significant issue of concern to all military families.
Elisa Perez, the widow of Army Staff Sgt. Hector Perez who was killed in action in Iraq on July 24, 2003, was told, in her own words, “to go to the back of the line” when she applied for the government’s $6,000 death gratuity (doubled to $12,000 last year). She and their three daughters were also left without a steady income and she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after her husband’s death. If accurate, this incident illustrates a serious failure of the system to take care of its own – in this case, a soldier’s grieving widow and three young children.
Perez’ plight came to light several weeks ago as Congress began considering major increases in benefits to families who lose a loved one in time of war. What happened to this soldier’s family is critical for members of Congress to keep in mind in particular as they deliberate on changing the death gratuity.
The Death Gratuity is required to be delivered, if at all possible, by the Casualty Assistance Calls Officer (CACO) making the formal notification of the death of a serviceman or woman. The fundamental purpose of this benefit is to ensure that a family that has lost its primary breadwinner is not destitute until other legal requirements are satisfied and insurance claims processed. This is important because the breadwinner’s pay and allowances stop the day of death.
In this day of centralized, nationwide computer issuing of checks to the person designated on the serviceperson’s Record of Emergency Data, there was no excuse for this check not being handed, in person, to Elisa Perez within a day or two of that notification. There is no requirement for the surviving spouse to request this check. If the words “go to the back of the line” are indeed accurate, the commanding officer responsible for handling her case failed to pay attention to his or her responsibility.
This is important for Congress to understand as it considers changing this benefit. As proposed, legislation increasing death benefits to survivors of military personnel would include:
* Extending TriCare Medical Insurance to children of deceased service members;
* Raising the maximum coverage for life insurance through the Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance program;
* The legislation would provide any child of a deceased service member health coverage through age 22 if the young person is enrolled in school or age 18 if they are not. Currently, the health coverage is provided for three years after the service member's death and then can be purchased at the “retiree’s rate”;
* Increasing the Death Gratuity, which is a one-time tax free payment to a surviving spouse of a serviceman killed in the line of duty, from $12,400 to $100,000;
* Expanding Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance by raising the maximum coverage for life insurance from $250,000 to $300,000.
The amount certainly needs to be increased since house payments, food costs and car payments can rip through even $12,000 quickly. But the most critical element of this benefit must remain its immediate delivery to the recipient.
On his death Staff Sergeant Hector Perez’ family was left without income. For any family, unless the spouse is separately employed, the only funds the family will have is savings and there is the possibility that even savings may be inaccessible if accounts were not set up right.
Processing the paperwork for insurance takes at least a month or two to verify a claim and issue the required checks. In some cases, a family can be tied up with legal issues that delay access to funds left by the deceased serviceperson (the courts can be really slow sometimes).
This particular check, more than any other, is a guarantee to our warriors that their families will be taken care of from the first day of their passing.
Thus, the commanding officer responsible for the Casualty Assistance Calls must take it as a personal responsibility to deliver this check immediately. Congress, as it considers changes to this benefit, must not lose sight of this very important purpose of the Death Gratuity. Our families must not be left without money just because of paperwork no matter how important or vital this paperwork may be.
There are other signs that the Casualty Assistance Calls program in the Brownsville area has been wanting. Sgt. Perez’ family requested that his remains be delivered for services at two separate locations. The Veterans Administration is responsible for delivering remains to a single location, normally nearest to the place of intended interment.
Reasonable costs should be borne by the government, no question, but how many services and the attendant cost of transportation of remains to each site should be funded?
The commanding officer responsible for the Casualty Assistance organization supporting Perez’ family should have spent time ensuring that they were fully informed of the federal services, benefits, and support available. Several news articles on Elisa Perez and her family suggest that the same person who told her to get in “the back of the line” was the one explaining the benefits available to her.
It is important that Congress understand the critical issues before beginning to change something as important to our families as the Death Gratuity. There are two elements critical to this part of taking care of our warrior’s families:
* Immediate delivery of the check is absolutely critical to this element of support otherwise this is just another name for an insurance policy.
* The death gratuity is designed, in part, to ensure that the family can meet living expenses for several months regardless of any time-consuming legal procedures and requirements that must be met in other venues.
It is clear that senior military leaders must review the Casualty Assistance Program in Brownsville along with a round turn on the people responsible for personal contact with aggrieved families.
Lt. Raymond Perry USN (Ret.) is a DefenseWatch Contributing Editor. He can be reached at cos1stlt@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.
Ellie
Timing Is Key for Death Gratuity
By Raymond Perry
An incident involving a military widow in Brownsville, Tex., reveals a hopefully isolated but significant issue of concern to all military families.
Elisa Perez, the widow of Army Staff Sgt. Hector Perez who was killed in action in Iraq on July 24, 2003, was told, in her own words, “to go to the back of the line” when she applied for the government’s $6,000 death gratuity (doubled to $12,000 last year). She and their three daughters were also left without a steady income and she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after her husband’s death. If accurate, this incident illustrates a serious failure of the system to take care of its own – in this case, a soldier’s grieving widow and three young children.
Perez’ plight came to light several weeks ago as Congress began considering major increases in benefits to families who lose a loved one in time of war. What happened to this soldier’s family is critical for members of Congress to keep in mind in particular as they deliberate on changing the death gratuity.
The Death Gratuity is required to be delivered, if at all possible, by the Casualty Assistance Calls Officer (CACO) making the formal notification of the death of a serviceman or woman. The fundamental purpose of this benefit is to ensure that a family that has lost its primary breadwinner is not destitute until other legal requirements are satisfied and insurance claims processed. This is important because the breadwinner’s pay and allowances stop the day of death.
In this day of centralized, nationwide computer issuing of checks to the person designated on the serviceperson’s Record of Emergency Data, there was no excuse for this check not being handed, in person, to Elisa Perez within a day or two of that notification. There is no requirement for the surviving spouse to request this check. If the words “go to the back of the line” are indeed accurate, the commanding officer responsible for handling her case failed to pay attention to his or her responsibility.
This is important for Congress to understand as it considers changing this benefit. As proposed, legislation increasing death benefits to survivors of military personnel would include:
* Extending TriCare Medical Insurance to children of deceased service members;
* Raising the maximum coverage for life insurance through the Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance program;
* The legislation would provide any child of a deceased service member health coverage through age 22 if the young person is enrolled in school or age 18 if they are not. Currently, the health coverage is provided for three years after the service member's death and then can be purchased at the “retiree’s rate”;
* Increasing the Death Gratuity, which is a one-time tax free payment to a surviving spouse of a serviceman killed in the line of duty, from $12,400 to $100,000;
* Expanding Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance by raising the maximum coverage for life insurance from $250,000 to $300,000.
The amount certainly needs to be increased since house payments, food costs and car payments can rip through even $12,000 quickly. But the most critical element of this benefit must remain its immediate delivery to the recipient.
On his death Staff Sergeant Hector Perez’ family was left without income. For any family, unless the spouse is separately employed, the only funds the family will have is savings and there is the possibility that even savings may be inaccessible if accounts were not set up right.
Processing the paperwork for insurance takes at least a month or two to verify a claim and issue the required checks. In some cases, a family can be tied up with legal issues that delay access to funds left by the deceased serviceperson (the courts can be really slow sometimes).
This particular check, more than any other, is a guarantee to our warriors that their families will be taken care of from the first day of their passing.
Thus, the commanding officer responsible for the Casualty Assistance Calls must take it as a personal responsibility to deliver this check immediately. Congress, as it considers changes to this benefit, must not lose sight of this very important purpose of the Death Gratuity. Our families must not be left without money just because of paperwork no matter how important or vital this paperwork may be.
There are other signs that the Casualty Assistance Calls program in the Brownsville area has been wanting. Sgt. Perez’ family requested that his remains be delivered for services at two separate locations. The Veterans Administration is responsible for delivering remains to a single location, normally nearest to the place of intended interment.
Reasonable costs should be borne by the government, no question, but how many services and the attendant cost of transportation of remains to each site should be funded?
The commanding officer responsible for the Casualty Assistance organization supporting Perez’ family should have spent time ensuring that they were fully informed of the federal services, benefits, and support available. Several news articles on Elisa Perez and her family suggest that the same person who told her to get in “the back of the line” was the one explaining the benefits available to her.
It is important that Congress understand the critical issues before beginning to change something as important to our families as the Death Gratuity. There are two elements critical to this part of taking care of our warrior’s families:
* Immediate delivery of the check is absolutely critical to this element of support otherwise this is just another name for an insurance policy.
* The death gratuity is designed, in part, to ensure that the family can meet living expenses for several months regardless of any time-consuming legal procedures and requirements that must be met in other venues.
It is clear that senior military leaders must review the Casualty Assistance Program in Brownsville along with a round turn on the people responsible for personal contact with aggrieved families.
Lt. Raymond Perry USN (Ret.) is a DefenseWatch Contributing Editor. He can be reached at cos1stlt@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.
Ellie