WTBSpouse

Hi I am a Warrior Transition Battalion Spouse of an OH Soldier. About the bonus I spoke to the reporter who wrote the article, William Hershey. He called me after I e-mailed him about our situation & our interest in this bonus. He gave me a number to call about the bonus for questions & how you can help get a fire lit under those who are dragging their feet. The number for OH Soldiers to call is 614-644-7718. As for the distrabution of money it is as follows $1000 for those who served in Iraq & Afghanastan, $500 for those serving OIF & OEF in other areas. Families of those killed in action is $5000. One of the hold ups is Gov Strickland so you should write & call his office as I am doing. Remind him he has voiced about helping military families so he needs to get off his laurels & get this done. After all we military families don't live in mansions like he does or have big banks accounts like him. Which is paid for with our tax dollars! So lets get this done for the kids of these Vets before Christmas is here & all the stores & grocries are closed. I also wanted to say yes I do believe our Govt should do more for all Vets. I also know the unequal treatment of Soldiers of OIF & OEF according to where you were based in relation to Kuwait & Iraq. I am talking about the difference of benefits based on your location. My husband was in Kuwait but he also went into Iraq & a few of those times he was in Baghdad. However that doesn't seem to matter to the powers that be. He was injured & worked hard in support of the same war as those based inside Iraq. We get the shaft on a lot of stuff. Since his return in May to the States we have had expenses out of our own pockets at least $4300. This was so we could go be with him for surgery & help with follow up care for 2 weeks. It also includes his flight home for Convalescent leave & several other things the Army won't cover. It all stems from your base location for the war. My hubby is OHARNG but in a WTB in GA for wounded soldiers for now. His civilian employer closed down so if they get him well enough he doesn't have a job to come back to. So all this money we are spending we could be saving to live off of until that would all get worked out. I know your thinking geeze this is about the Christmas Bonus for OH Vets. I just wanted to point out all Vets are not treated equal even those that are OIF & OEF in comparison to each other. There is far too much unfair treatment of the soldiers,sailors,& airmen who have served their country without question or without thought to their own safety in all wars. This also includes that it naturally spills over to their families who sacrifice lots also. I know in our case this money is needed desperatly since I can't work for medical reasons & I don't recieve any money from any agency. We are down about $1200 per month in Army pay since May. We have also late last year been victims of identity theft. So our finances are way out of control because of being unable to recover most of our losses. Plus all we have been out due to my husbands injuries. Now with Christmas upon us & our sons birthday tomorrow. We have 2 cars 1 of which I have left parked since hubby is in GA & I can only drive 1 car at a time, because I can't afford the repairs it needs. The one that does run I found out 2 days ago needs $1300 in repairs that has to be done or the kids & I will have no transportation. I know many of you are in need also. We all need to work together to push this issue & get this money out in time for the Holidays. We also need to work to get this changed for all Vets to get a bonus next Christmas! I wish it could happen for everyone this year but govt is too slow but lets push to get this changed.