Monday, October 14, 2013

No Benefits for Veterans

It has been two weeks since the government shutdown and now veterans are being affected as well. The Secretary of Veteran Affairs Eric Shinseki warned that financing veterans would be more difficult as the shutdown continues. Apparently 5.1 million veterans will not receive their compensation checks at November 1st, 433,000 fully disabled vets might not receive payments and 360,000 surviving wives and children of wartime veterans may stop receiving VA money as well.

Not only has this caused veterans to not be able to pay their most basic bills, it could be "life or death" as quoted by Ryan Lamke, an Iraq War veteran diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. He also stated that there has been high suicide rates for veterans and the extra stress could cause people to do the unthinkable.

As a result, The Military Coalition, a group of 33 veterans and military organizations are planning to protest by rallying at the National World War II Memorial Tuesday morning. The organizations want to emphasize the impact that the government shutdown has on veterans and their families.

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