Lawmakers and military officials in Washington said Tuesday that President Bush's proposal to boost government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones was a good start but too narrow.
Republicans suggested that those who die while training for combat missions also should be eligible for the increased death benefits. Democrats argued that the benefits should extend to all military personnel who die while on active duty.
War widow Jennifer McCollum, whose parents -- Bill and Jenny Harkey -- live in Cape Girardeau, plans to tell a congressional committee Thursday that the federal government does a poor job of assisting spouses of those who died in military service.
Officers assigned to assist war widows often are too busy with their regular military duties to help out, McCollum of Jacksonville, Fla., will say in prepared remarks obtained by the Southeast Missourian.
She said her "casualty assistance calls officer" was a Marine Corps pilot who was deployed shortly after being assigned to handle her case. She said her situation was not unique, citing the instance of a widow whose casualty officer provided assistance only after-hours and of another whose casualty officer retired and wasn't replaced.
"And yet more widows have shared that their casualty officers drop from the radar screen just after the funeral. This is certainly not the military taking care of its own," she wrote.
"This is a prime example of families falling through the cracks in a system that is not working," wrote McCollum. Her husband, Marine Corps. Capt. Dan McCollum, died in a plane crash in Pakistan three years ago in the opening days of Operation Enduring Freedom. The deaths of McCollum and six other Marines in the plane crash was a national tragedy because the war had just begun.
Bill Harkey said his daughter moved from San Diego, Calif., to Jacksonville so she and her son could receive medical care at a nearby military facility. But Harkey said they no longer qualify for such care.
"She has been swept underneath the carpet," said Harkey, adding that his daughter was in Washington on Tuesday to hear the testimony of military officials.
Uniformed officers with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force told the Senate Armed Forces Committee during a hearing on the Bush proposal that the Defense Department should not give an extra $250,000 in benefits to surviving spouses and children based simply on the geography of where a death occurs.
Under the Pentagon proposal, a tax-free "death gratuity," now $12,420, would grow to $100,000 only in cases where the service member died in a war zone as designated by the secretary of defense.
The Pentagon also would substantially increase life insurance benefits. The $250,000 coverage offered to all service members at a subsidized rate under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance program would be raised to $400,000, and for troops in a combat zone the government would pay the premiums on the extra $150,000 coverage.
The increases would be retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001, the date the United States launched its invasion of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The families of the more than 1,500 troops who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since then would be eligible.
Southeast Missourian staff writer Mark Bliss contributed to this story.
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