military officers, they immediately sat me down and told me that i would get death gratuity to pay for all the immediate expenses of my husband s funeral. this money was used for to pay my mortgage. to pay my car payment. to put food on the table. and also my family flew in the next day from ohio. that money came to cover that as well as the month and a half that it took to bury my husband and the several dignified transfers that followed. i know that that s an important part of the process of recovering from the death of a spouse. my guess is that s money you wish you never had to receive because it represented the death of your husband and a change of your life that meant things would never be the same. it was very horrifying to get. it made me sick to my stomach. it took me a very long time to accept that money. but it was something that was essential for me to give my husband the very best i could give him. he gave his life for me. and it was the biggest honor and responsibil
immediately sat me down and told me that i would get death gratuity to pay for the immediate expenses of my husband s funeral. this money was used for pay my mortgage, to pay my car payment, put food on the table and also my family flew in the next day from ohio and that money came to cover that as well as the month and a half that it took to bury my husband and the several dignified transfers that followed. i know that s an important part of the process of recovering from the death of a spouse. but my guess is that s money you wish you never had to receive because it represented the death of your husband and a change of your life that meant things would never be the same. it was very horrifying to get. it made me sick to my stomach. it took me a very long time to accept that money. but it was something essential to give my husband the very best i could give him. he gave his life for me and it was the biggest honor and
this is absolutely embarrassing. it s shameful that our military men and women are being used as political pawns for gains because the obama administration knows that the american people care about our service men and women and they think it will put political pressure to hurry up and end this shutdown on obama s terms to end this as quickly as possible, but it s really dirty politics and it s absolutely shameful that our military men and women are at the middle of this. put up some information information on the screen. these are some of the other things that have been denied during the military shutdown. the death gratuity. the burial expenses. travel for funeral services. dignified travel at dover air force base. when we see the flag draped could have fins come coffins fr. in addition to this, we re seeing training being affected
families? what is the discussion being had at military bases and around the military tables. it s a violation of trust. we re asking the service men and women to leave their families, go into harm s way and fight in a war without the reassurance that if anything should happen to them on the battlefield, that their families might not be taken care of with the death gratuity benefits just as we ve seen over the since the shutdown has happened. and that s not what we want soldiers focusing on in combat. it causes an extreme amount of stress. it s distracting and can ultimately risk people s lives. this should never be something that military people have to consider on the way out the door into combat. the greatest super power in the world. yesterday i had a pakistani cab driver say to me, is your government embarrassed about this? what sort of a message does this send to the world? should we be embarrassed?
out over the last several days, how do you think this is affecting the psyche of our troops? particularly, since we are still at war? it s not even a question of what i think about it. it s what i know about it. the feedback i m getting from those still in or affiliated with the military is that they are disgusted, they are mortified. you have to reach for words. it s not just that they are furious about the suspension of the death gratuity. i hate that phrase death gratuity,. it sounds like we are tipping the family. death benefit. but they were livid of chuck hagel suddenly finding time to go to dover air force base to greet returning bodies. the troops and those around them felt it was a shameless publicity stunt. what it did, uma, it made the welcoming ceremony for the coffins about hagel, not about our k.i.a., killed killed in acn soldiers and marines. you know, the pentagon, their