Readers of Tom Philpott’s Military Update column sound off.

Age-62 Drop In Survivor Benefits Ends April 1 

Your recent article on the military’s Survivor Benefit Plan said nothing about the reduction of the Social Security offset that occurs at age 62. How are surviving spouses affected by that?

SHIRLEY G.
Via e-mail

Beginning April 1, there will no longer be a Social Security Offset associated with SBP. For years surviving spouses saw their SBP payments fall at age 62, from 55 percent of their deceased retiree’s covered annuity down to 35 percent. Congress passed legislation in 2004 directing that the offset be phased out in four increments, starting Oct. 1, 2005, when the annuity floor at age 62 was raised to 40 percent. The final increase, raising benefits for older surviving spouses from 50 percent to 55 percent of covered retired pay, takes effect in a month.  – Tom Philpott

Widows Still At War

I want to applaud the three widows of military retirees for their lawsuit to force the Department of Defense to pay surviving spouses who remarried at 57 or older full SBP in addition on top of their VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC).

I have been filing document after document for over 10 years now, and finally have a hearing set for April before the Board of Veterans' Appeals in Washington, D.C. I could write a book about my family's battle with VA red tape. As my son wrote in a support letter to the VA, “this is a small battle compared to the war my Mother has already won.” He was referring to years of experimental chemotherapies before my husband’s death following diagnosis of Grade IV, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which the VA had certified as “service-related due to his exposure to Agent Orange.”

It has been 10 years since he died and I am still not receiving DIC spousal benefits due to the total indifference and disregard of countless VA representatives. One VA representative told me, “We have too many cases like yours.....We do not get involved.”

My mission is to “educate” members of House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees to help prevent other veterans' widows from experiencing what my family has. Losing my husband was just the beginning of our sacrifice. For many of us, the Vietnam War is not over.

E. DENISE CALDON
Macon, Ga.

Thank you for your article on the SBP-DIC ruling. My husband died in 1991 from a service-connected disease when I was 56. I was denied DIC for several years.  When I finally began receiving it, I was denied SBP.

At 67 I remarried and did not draw any money for a number of months because the Defense Department and VA could not get their records straight. Finally I began drawing DIC again and after awhile also SBP.

I accepted the SBP without question because of the promise of lawmakers in 2004 to restore SBP and the understanding I could draw it along with DIC. I was later told I had been overpaid SBP by mistake and had to return $13,000. Of course I did not have it as I had used it for living expenses. Both my second husband and I are retired.

This was the third time since my first husband died that the government said I owed them money because of their mistake. The first time was for $10,000. The second was for $13,000 when I was only drawing $1100 a month to live on. Had my house not been paid off with my husband's life insurance, I would not have been able to buy food or medications.

This final time I filed a waiver to excuse the $13,000 because it was their mistake and caused financial hardship.  The waiver request has been denied and they are withholding part of my DIC until the debt is paid.

Brave men who died in service to their country tried through SBP to see that their widows would be cared for if anything happened to them. I spent a large part of our 40-year marriage alone, raising five children, while my husband was overseas.  We endured hardships because military pay was never equal to civilian pay.

Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.) and several others have tried to get justice for military widows but so far their efforts have been shelved. Your articles will go a long way to getting attention toward this gross injustice.

PAT JOHNSON DUNN
Azle, Texas

Space-A For Gray-Area Retirees

The Department of Defense should stop discriminatory practices directed at “gray area” retirees regarding space-available military travel benefits.

Why can’t I take my family with me space available on military aircraft until I’m 60 and begin receiving my reserve retirement pay.

I will never be able to take my sons with me to enjoy this benefit because we gray-area retirees are treated like second-class citizens for non-paid military benefits.

Why did I spend 18 years in the reserves (after five years of active duty) working two jobs? It wasn’t for the pittance in retirement I will receive at age 60. We earned and deserve to have the same non-monetary benefits as active duty service members upon retirement.

Opening Space-A travel for gray-area retirees would cost taxpayers virtually nothing.

DON EHRICH
Via e-mail

VA Hospital Trips

I would like to know what is going on with the gas mileage reimbursement rate for veterans. My husband travels from Mt. Airy, N.C., to Winston Salem. He gets paid $15.55 but the VA takes $10 of that for themselves leaving him only $5.55 for his travel to and from the hospital.

Since when does the VA have the right to keep most of that money
that is there for our veterans to travel to medical appointments? I have read and heard that the gas allowance has or will be going up.

EVA MARTIN
Via e-mail

The mileage reimbursement rate for trips to VA medical facilities increased to 28.5 cents from 11 cents effective Feb. 1. But the deductible your husband experienced also has climbed, to $7.77 one way and $15.54 for a round trip. The monthly maximum on the mileage deductibles has been raised to $46.62, up from $18.

Deductibles can be waived if veterans can show they pose a financial hardship. – Tom Philpott

Letters may be edited for clarity or length.  Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com.