Veterans' View
Public servant bids farewell
by Dan Woods, Holmes County Veterans Service Officer
Attention, all veterans and families. I will be leaving my position as Holmes County Veterans Service Officer, effective March 31. Mr. Joseph Marsh will be assuming my position. To say farewell and to provide Joey the proper welcome, a "hail and farewell" party will be held at the Holmes County Cahmber of Commerce building in Bonifay Thurs., March 31. from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Refreshments will be served. You are invited.
To all the veterans and their families whom I have had the pleasure to meet and serve over the last 12 years, I am truly grateful to you for what you have done for your country. I hope, in some way, I conveyed that to you. I ask you to read the following because it’s truly the way I feel:
The Definition of a Veteran
A veteran is NOT an outsider to my business. They are the reason for my existence.
A veteran is NOT an interruption in my work. They are the purpose for it. I do not do them a favor; they do me a favor by letting me serve them.
A veteran is NOT a cold statistic. They are flesh and blood human beings with feelings and emotions like my own.
A veteran is NOT someone with whom to argue or match wits. They deserve courteous, attentive and sympathetic treatment.
A veteran is NOT dependent on me; I am dependent on them.
A veteran is here to be served, not just tolerated. It is my job to handle them properly for both their sake and my own.
A veteran makes it possible for my salary to get paid, whether I am a clerk, financial aid officer, certifying official or county veterans service officer. I am a PUBLIC SERVANT. It is the veteran who fought for the freedoms we enjoy every day and take for granted.
As I bid farewell to all of you, I will simply put it as Mr. Bob Hope did for years – "Thanks for the memories." Thank you, veterans!
Increased death benefit considered
Pentagon leaders and Capitol Hill legislators want to increase the current available combined government death benefit for families of fallen servicemembers by about $250,000. If enacted, the proposed change essentially would double the $262,000 now available to families of servicemembers killed in wartime operations, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S. C. Chu told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Senior defense leaders believe the sum should be nearer $500,000, with increases in the maximum coverage offered by the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance program and the separate death gratuity payment, Chu added. The current survivors’ death gratuity payment, which is tax-free, is about $12,420. Survivors of servicemembers killed in war operations also can now receive $250,000 in maximum SGLI coverage, if they’d elected to do so.
Dept. of Defense and Senate proposals would increase the death gratuity payment to $100,000 and boost maximum SGLI coverage to $400,000. The Pentagon would pay the premiums for the extra $150,000 in SGLI coverage when participating servicemembers are deployed in a combat zone. A plan under discussion, if approved by Congress and the President, would be retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001, the day Operation Enduring Freedom began in Afghanistan.
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