Military Survivor Benefits

A good friend of mine, Deanna Salie, lost her husband in Iraq in February of 2005.

Deedy and I have known each other for about eight years now. We are just a couple who are a part of a rather tight-knit group of friends. The unique thing about our group is that we communicate primarily through email. Many of us have never met each other "in real life."

In mid-February 2005, just a couple of weeks before my husband was scheduled to return from his tour in Iraq, I got a call from one of the ladies in our little group. I wasn't home to take the call, but I had a message that Deedy's husband, SFC David Salie, had been killed by a roadside bomb in Baqubah, Iraq. I found out later that SFC Salie was a member of the unit that was replacing my husband's unit over there, allowing my husband and his soldiers to return home. When I got that phone call, it hit me hard.

I had the pleasure of finally meeting Deedy in person when I took a trip to Nashville last July. I talked about that trip briefly here and here.

I have learned about a very important issue regarding the Military's Survivor's Benefit Plan due to my friendship with Deedy. I believe that most service members and their spouses aren't aware of the issues faced by the families who lose their spouses in combat. I can honestly say that this has been the first time that I've felt compelled to write to my congressman about an issue. If you feel so compelled, I urge you to do the same. She recently wrote an article that has been published, and I'm pasting it below with her permission.

If, after you read the article below, you would like to contact your Senators and Representatives regarding the SBP/DIC offset, you can find their contact information here for the House of Representatives and here for the Senate.

When troops die serving, U.S. lets down survivors

By Deanna SalieFor the Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 04/26/07

My husband was certain that he was going to die in Iraq.

Sgt. 1st Class David J. Salie had been an American soldier for almost
17 years. He'd deployed many times, and he'd been to war before. He'd parachuted
into Panama with the 82nd Airborne Division, served in the Gulf War and gone to
Haiti with the 25th Infantry Division. But he'd never been so certain that he
was going to die that he prepared for death.

David told me that he wouldn't be coming back. I didn't believe him. I felt
that he was just under so much stress thinking of our children and me, and about
the 40 soldiers in his platoon who were his responsibility.

In the month before he left for Iraq with B Company, 2nd of the 69th
Armor, 3rd Infantry Division, David went over his will with a fine-toothed comb,
and he checked out his Survivor's Group Life Insurance, which provides
protection for military people.

David even gave away some of his personal belongings. He also checked
on the death benefits that a soldier's family receives.

My husband came home and proudly announced that if he died in Iraq, his
family would be taken care of. I tried to tell him that he shouldn't worry about
things like that. He said that every soldier going to war worries about his
family and wants to make sure that if he's killed, his family will be taken care
of just as they would be if he were still alive.

We were "all squared away," David told me.

I wish I could say that he was wrong about dying and right about the
rest of it. Instead, he was correct in his premonition about his own death, but
wrong that we were "squared away."

On the evening of Feb. 14, 2005, a little after 9 p.m., I heard a knock on
the front door of our house at Fort Benning, Ga. I got up from the couch in the
living room, where I'd been resting with a sick child, and I saw two soldiers in
dress green uniforms standing on the front porch.

As my 11-year-old daughter watched, they informed me that David had been
killed that day by a roadside bomb in Baqubah, Iraq. I can't tell you what they
said after I heard the words, ". . . regrets to inform you" because I was crying
and screaming too loudly to hear much.

The next week was filled with contacting family members, trying to hold
myself together for my three children, making funeral arrangements and dealing
with all the red tape that a military death forces upon you.

Had it not been for my Casualty Assistance Officer and the Rear Detachment
Command of my husband's brigade, I'm not sure I would have made it through those
first weeks. I was one of a lucky few who had wonderful help after my husband's
death. Many other Army wives are less fortunate.

After making it through my husband's funeral, I was greeted with mountains
of paperwork. I was escorted from office to office by my casualty officer as my
military identification card was changed and reissued; as I signed up for the
Veterans Administration's Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and the
military's Survivor's Benefit Plan.

I reviewed the paperwork after all of these appointments, and I was shocked
to discover that David had been wrong: We weren't going to be cared for as if he
were still alive.

My husband didn't know that dependents' compensation offsets the Survivor's
Benefit Plan. If he'd known that, it would have made him very angry.

DIC is a payment made to widows, their children and some parents who've
lost a husband, father or son. Widows are entitled to the benefit for the
remainder of their lives, unless they remarry. DIC comes from the Department of
Veterans Affairs. SBP pays a deceased soldier's income, and it comes from the
Department of Defense.

The offset, a dollar-for-dollar deduction, is supposedly intended to
prevent double dipping from two similar benefit plans.

But the Survivors Benefit Plan and Dependents Indemnity Compensation are
provided for different reasons, and the offset leaves many military families
with no survivors' benefits at all. Others receive only the pittance that's left
over after the offset is deducted.

One widow in West Virginia receives a service member's annuity of $4 a
month. A disabled widow in Tennessee receives no Survivors' Benefits and still
has to pay for Medicare and other medical expenses. A widow in California had to
assign her lifetime SBP benefit to her three children because they can receive
that money without the offset and she can clothe and feed them. After they're
grown, she'll receive nothing from SBP.

Surviving spouses with children have the greatest needs. Many were unable
to build careers and earn retirement credits of their own because of the
constant moves and the other demands of their spouses' military jobs. Child-care
costs are high. Their families were totally dependent on their service members'
income.

A surviving spouse who's disabled has even greater needs. A service
member's life insurance may be used up buying a home or financing college for
his or her children.

As we try to rebuild our shattered lives, the offset deals us a second
blow. Grief and loss are hard enough to handle, but now we have more important
worries, such as providing homes, food, clothing and schooling for our families.

This is not a partisan political issue. This is not a matter of whether
you're for or against the war in Iraq. This is about those who died serving our
country, standing between our enemies and us and believing that their families
would be cared for if they gave their lives.

It's a shame that that isn't true. Two bills are pending in Congress —- S
935 in the Senate, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and HR 1927 in
the House of Representatives, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) —-
that would eliminate the offset and help the families of our fallen. Please
contact your senators and representatives and urge them to vote for these bills.

Deanna Salie is the widow of Sgt. 1st Class David J. Salie, who was killed
in Iraq on Feb. 14, 2005.