Screwed - AMAZING JUST AMAZING

[razored]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/02/family-bronze-star-recipient-appealing-for-death-benefits-after-pentagon/

Just saw this article today on Foxnews.

This really really gets me to the core.
It makes me want to get my fours back.

The military wants good people to join and fight and they do this to a Bronze Star recipient.
Pitiful just plain pitiful.

[82abn Ard]

This is SAD that a soldier was treated like this!!!

[razored]

Not so much the soldier but the loving family that he left behind.
The US Government probably lost that entire family's support.

[Old Tusk]

Standard line of duty ruling. Happens all the time.

[SteveInArk]

Standard line of duty ruling. Happens all the time.

And this situation highlights that the rules need to be changed/refined ....

[Old Tusk]

you were under these rules. Do you think the military should be responsible for injuries or deaths which are not in the line of duty. If he had stopped at a bar and was killed in a wreck on the way home, should he receive benifits? I had a troop who fell off the roof of his house and was paralized, was he entitled to benifits? How would you change the rules?

[SteveInArk]

you were under these rules. Do you think the military should be responsible for injuries or deaths which are not in the line of duty. If he had stopped at a bar and was killed in a wreck on the way home, should he receive benifits? I had a troop who fell off the roof of his house and was paralized, was he entitled to benifits? How would you change the rules?

He was in the middle of weekend drill days and given an exception to stay at home that night.  Also, it appears that his travels too/from the drill were covered.

I would guess that he and his family did not know that staying home between weekend drill days would not be covered as line of duty, even though staying at the post would have been "active duty"...  maybe I'm wrong, don't know.  Not much difference than heading for the local government contract hotel for the night.  Don't see any negligence there.

Not sure what an example of stopping for a beer and having a wreck had to do with this situation.  Unless sleeping at home near the base, with supervisor approval is negligent enough to drive a line of duty investigation.

But whatever.  He was in the middle of a period of active duty.  Where he slept for the night doesn't seem like a place to draw a line in the sand for death benefits.  The reg's were written as such, but that doesn't make them logical, just enforceable.

[Old Tusk]

Line of duty is simple. It is from reporting to duty to being released from duty plus travel to and from billeting. Whether he stayed in a motel, government billeting, or at home is irrelevant. This is true for reservist and active duty. tragedies like this is one of the reasons we have SGLI. This article obviously misrepresents why he was not given death benefits.

[ARtillahog]

The way the "drill" works is that you are on orders from 00:00(start) - 23:59(end), doesn't matter where you are.  Also includes suicides, accidents involving alcohol and other random related deaths.

[Old Tusk]

The way the "drill" works is that you are on orders from 00:00(start) - 23:59(end), doesn't matter where you are.  Also includes suicides, accidents involving alcohol and other random related deaths.

This is simply incorrect.

[Sueie]

The way the "drill" works is that you are on orders from 00:00(start) - 23:59(end), doesn't matter where you are.  Also includes suicides, accidents involving alcohol and other random related deaths.

I do not think this is correct.  If he was at "drill" he was not on ACTIVE DUTY orders. 
I had a soldier in Texas who was a reservist and when he was doing an ADSW tour on ACTIVE DUTY orders.  He committed suicide.  His family got the benefits because it happened on ACTIVE DUTY orders.  Drill time is not on ACTIVE DUTY that is why to give someone an article 15 punishment he has to be put on ACTIVE DUTY orders. 

[cw2]

The way the "drill" works is that you are on orders from 00:00(start) - 23:59(end), doesn't matter where you are.  Also includes suicides, accidents involving alcohol and other random related deaths.

This is 100% correct.  I've personally worked three of these for guardsmen.  One was "reporting for duty", one was "returning from duty", and the third commited suicide.  Every one of them were M-day status.  ALL of their families got paid.

[Sueie]

The National Guard has some "strange ways" of doing things.  How would the family get paid if they were not on "Active Duty" orders?  Therefore they did not die on ACTIVE DUTY. They might have got paid for the SGLI portion of insurance but that would probably be all.

[Old Tusk]

I think we have not defined which benefits we are talking about. there are benefits which you are entitled because you are a member of the military or a veteran.

[Old Tusk]

This is 100% correct.  I've personally worked three of these for guardsmen.  One was "reporting for duty", one was "returning from duty", and the third commited suicide.  Every one of them were M-day status.  ALL of their families got paid.

Your first two examples are clearly line of duty. What benefits did the troop that committed suicide receive?