Dva Decline Pension, Did Not Fight In War For 1 Day

[emelita1952]

I just got decline on a widow pension because my husband did not fight even for one day in the Vietnam WAR. He only serve in the Army for 2 years and 5 months and have a dishonorable discharge as his mother is sick and nobody will take care of her so he leave the army.

A Vietnam officer at the department of Veterans Affairs told me that he is entitled for a pension when I am asking for help. So what I did is I apply but was denied because of this:

You served at least 90 days of active military service 1 day of which was during a war time period.

and the wartime period were:

Vietnam era. The period beginning on February 28, 1961, and ending on May 7, 1975, inclusive, in the case of a veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam during that period. The period beginning on August 5, 1964, and ending on May 7, 1975, inclusive, in all other cases. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101(29))

My husband serve in the army between January 22 1962 up to May 5,1964. Then he left the army because of his sick mother.

I wrote a letter to the Department of Veterans and asked this question.

If other soldiers who serve in the army did not have a chance to be in the WAR : Means: They are not Veterans and they are not entitled for any benefits because they did not go to WAR..

My husband did not go to WAR as he is the one sending all the ammunition to Vietnam and it is a bad timing that when he get out of the army to take care of his sick mother they proclaimed the Vietnam WAR between August 1964 to 1975. So too bad my husband missed the date and he get out of the army 3 months early.

It is Ok to decline me but how about if he is still alive and he cannot get this pension because he did not serve one day in a war time period. I wonder what will he feel.

Good he is dead and he cannot feel the feeling that I am feeling for him, feeling sorry for wasting his time serving his country. He wasted more than two years of his life at the age of 17 18 and 19 serving his beloved country. Helping all his other army soldiers at the WAR by sending all the ammo and guns.

I wonder if there are some veteran wife like me.

[Berta]

I feel your frustration but the regulations provide pension -as in the regulation you quoted-regarding "Wartime service,"in addition to:

limited income,

permanent and total disability or death,

that disability not being the result of willful misconduct, and

Discharge from service that is Honorable.

[john999]

The war widow's pension is so limited that if you get any SSA benefits you probably get too much to get the widow's pension. It is for indigent widows of war vets, and I do mean indigent. If you have any income at all you probably get too much for war widow's pension anyway.

[carlie]

I just got decline on a widow pension because my husband did not fight even for one day in the Vietnam WAR. He only serve in the Army for 2 years and 5 months and have a dishonorable discharge as his mother is sick and nobody will take care of her so he leave the army.

A Vietnam officer at the department of Veterans Affairs told me that he is entitled for a pension when I am asking for help. So what I did is I apply but was denied because of this:

You served at least 90 days of active military service 1 day of which was during a war time period.

and the wartime period were:

Vietnam era. The period beginning on February 28, 1961, and ending on May 7, 1975, inclusive, in the case of a veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam during that period. The period beginning on August 5, 1964, and ending on May 7, 1975, inclusive, in all other cases. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101(29))

My husband serve in the army between January 22 1962 up to May 5,1964. Then he left the army because of his sick mother.

I wrote a letter to the Department of Veterans and asked this question.

If other soldiers who serve in the army did not have a chance to be in the WAR : Means: They are not Veterans and they are not entitled for any benefits because they did not go to WAR..

My husband did not go to WAR as he is the one sending all the ammunition to Vietnam and it is a bad timing that when he get out of the army to take care of his sick mother they proclaimed the Vietnam WAR between August 1964 to 1975. So too bad my husband missed the date and he get out of the army 3 months early.

It is Ok to decline me but how about if he is still alive and he cannot get this pension because he did not serve one day in a war time period. I wonder what will he feel.

Good he is dead and he cannot feel the feeling that I am feeling for him, feeling sorry for wasting his time serving his country. He wasted more than two years of his life at the age of 17 18 and 19 serving his beloved country. Helping all his other army soldiers at the WAR by sending all the ammo and guns.

I wonder if there are some veteran wife like me.

emelita,

If a dishonorable discharge was never corrected or upgraded

I see no way to be eligible for any VA benefits.

I wonder why he didn't request a Hardship Discharge which

would have been under Honorable conditions.

The Red Cross was usually involved to assist in this process.

.

jmho,

carlie

[Berta]

Carlie-you are right-

and it is disheartening to me that the veteran himself did not attempt to correct this discharge-it sounds like it was possibly a Court Martial resulting in DD due to AWOL.

If there is any possibility at all of DIC here ,instead of pension,the widow will have to try to get that discharge upgraded.

His lack of wartime service for the pension is only one reason the pension was denied.

[Pete53]

You would think that the VSO would have at least know that she was not eligible.