Veterans Benefits

There are many benefits offered by the VA that, unfortunately, many veterans are not aware of. These benefits are well earned and veterans should know about them. For instance, did you know that the VA offers burial and memorial benefits to qualifying veterans and, in some instances, spouses of veterans? Here, we discuss what exactly may be available to you in the way of burial and memorial benefits offered by the VA.

What Burial and Memorial Benefits are Offered by the VA?

The type of burial and memorial benefits offered by the VA will largely depend on a few factors, including when the veteran passed away, how the veteran passed away, and where the veteran wants to be laid to arrest. For service-related deaths, the VA pays up to $2,000 to cover burial costs if the veteran died on or after September 11, 2001.
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The United States is proud of our veterans and that which they sacrifice so that our freedom remains secure. That is why there are many veteran benefit programs offered by the federal government and administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The government also recognizes that the parents of veterans have given much to this country and have made sacrifices of their own.
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Veterans often wait for months to find out the status of their veteran’s benefits claim. After the wait for information related to critical benefits, it can be extremely upsetting to find out your claim has been denied. After finding out about your denial, you have the option to appeal.

Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide the U.S. military sprayed on jungle terrain and crop lands occupied by our enemies, and on our military bases beginning in the 1950s. Today its use is banned as we now know exposure to it causes many health issues. Some veterans who were exposed to it are eligible for compensation and others may soon be.

 Honor Our Veterans This Holiday Season

“A person dies twice: once when they take their final breath, and later, the last time their name is spoken.” That is the driving sentiment behind the national “Wreaths Across America” movement. Each December, volunteers place wreaths on individual veterans’ graves at over 1,200 locations throughout the U.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs operates several programs that provide financial, medical, and other forms of assistance to veterans. At the federal level, there are four major benefit programs:

• Disability compensation

• Free or low-cost medical care

• Education programs

Pension programsMany other types of veterans’ benefits are available as well, including special benefits regarding home financing, job training, PTSD support, small business loans, counseling, life insurance, and burial and memorial services. Benefits for survivors are also often available.
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It’s been said that the Vietnam War is the reason that Americans started losing faith in government, and it’s not hard to see why. The public was lied to repeatedly, and thousands of lives were lost as a result. Not surprisingly, the impacts of this controversial and costly war are still being felt. A recent story by the investigative news organization ProPublica shed light on an important, yet often overlooked impact of the war, the rise and struggle of the modern-day Vietnam widow.

The article tells the stories of women who have been widowed recently, but who argue the Vietnam War was the cause.

Working with veterans and their families to help them get all the benefits they are eligible for teaches you a lot about the challenges our brave men and women in uniform face here on the home front. Unless you are a veteran, or the family member of a veteran, or have really gotten to know a few veterans, the struggle is difficult to grasp. A new documentary about a veteran living in North Carolina is helping to shed some light on the subject and bring awareness to it.

From the way people reacted in response to the news that veterans in California were being asked to repay benefits that they had received in error, you might get the impression that our military is a highly efficient bureaucracy that rarely makes mistakes. Unfortunately, those of us that have experience navigating the military benefits system know that is far from true. Our military is excellent at many things, but accurate bookkeeping is not one of its strengths.

Why is everyone talking about military bonuses out in California?

It seems that there were a couple of things that went wrong out in California. First, veterans were given reenlistment bonuses that they were not actually eligible for.

Can a veteran qualify for a service dog?

In a world where veterans are often waiting for…or fighting for… various government- sponsored benefits, a “feel good” story about vets helping other vets takes the bite out of the daily depressing headlines.

The North Carolina-based organization, Canines for Service, provides service dogs to veterans who are disabled as a result of their military service. The dogs have all been rescued from shelters and, after being trained for 9-12 months to become service dogs, are placed free of charge with disabled vets from all over the country. Some of the veterans’ qualifying disabilities include mobility issues, documented post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injuries. It’s common for the service dogs to assist their new owners for 8-10 years before retiring and being replaced.

In a dramatic and inexcusable case of administrative oversight, the Veterans Administration (VA) has allegedly suspended benefits for over 4,200 recipients in the past four years – all which were “presumed dead,” despite being very  much alive and well.

Late last year, a Florida lawmaker made an inquiry into the VA’s records, specifically seeking information on the number of terminations premised on “presumed demise.” The inquiry came after several of his constituents in the Tampa area complained about losing their benefits – and having to navigate a bureaucratic labyrinth to reinstate their rightful entitlements.

As a result of the inquiry, the VA revealed that over 1,000 terminations were occurring per year, all of which were erroneous. The highest number of errors occurred in 2015, 1,025 American veterans losing their monthly benefits after being wrongfully presumed dead.