Thread: Families of fallen US soldiers receive bodies, no benefits

Bob, I don't know if Yanks have a War Widows Pension. USA is not big on welfare payments and if there is an equivalent it would be paltry. In Australia a War Widows Pension is a life long gravy train. Generous pension, non-taxable, income and assets not assessed, repartner and still get a "Widows" pension, Vets Affairs medical care, stick your hand out for generous top-ups from Legacy. 70 y.o TPI's (don't start me on that bag of worms) marry 25 y.o Asians brides who receive a WWP on the TPI's death for the next 50 years.

I can't see why a War Widow should receive a special pension when their needs are no different to those of a civilian widow who get a single parent payment if there are dependant children.

I fail to see how $ 840 per fortnight [ $ 21,840] per year can be considered a gravy train. Also if you are on a War Widow pension you are not eligible for any other form of social security. I don't want to turn this into the never ending Public Service/ Veteran cat fight. I wanted to point out the bloody minded politics being carried out in the US at the moment, & the consequences for the ordinary American. And, if this can't be sorted by the 17th October, the rest of the World. If I was an American citizen right now, I would not be impressed. Bob

I cannot see why people complain about welfare payments in general
The money will stay in the domestic economy keeping business going and also avoiding having massive social problems like the ones in countries without or very low welfare payments.
The last thing that we need in Oz are shanty towns and people collecting rubbish to scarp food.
It happens in countries more rich than Oz so it can happen here
I would have issues with the payments if the money were send or taken out of the country.

Originally Posted by bob10

I fail to see how $ 840 per fortnight [ $ 21,840] per year can be considered a gravy train. Also if you are on a War Widow pension you are not eligible for any other form of social security. I don't want to turn this into the never ending Public Service/ Veteran cat fight. I wanted to point out the bloody minded politics being carried out in the US at the moment, & the consequences for the ordinary American. And, if this can't be sorted by the 17th October, the rest of the World. If I was an American citizen right now, I would not be impressed. Bob

The WWP is bloody generous compared to an age pension or the remaining Widow A & B pensions which are less, taxable, income and assets assessable, don't receive whoop-te-do medical care and so on, don't receive generous gifts from Legacy and other veteran oriented organisations. It is about a discriminatory welfare system that doesn't treat people equally who have similar needs.

Up until the late 1980's War Widows could receive two pensions. One from Vet Affairs and one from DSS as the WWP was non-taxable and non-assessable and was disregarded when calculating DSS entitlements. This was cut out but those already on the double gravy train were allowed to stay. One of our field officer jobs was to visit and update the income and assets of these to re-assess their DSS entitlement in line with increasing savings as most of them didn't/couldn't spend two pensions.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Bob, I don't know if Yanks have a War Widows Pension. USA is not big on welfare payments and if there is an equivalent it would be paltry. In Australia a War Widows Pension is a life long gravy train. Generous pension, non-taxable, income and assets not assessed, repartner and still get a "Widows" pension, Vets Affairs medical care, stick your hand out for generous top-ups from Legacy. 70 y.o TPI's (don't start me on that bag of worms) marry 25 y.o Asians brides who receive a WWP on the TPI's death for the next 50 years.

I can't see why a War Widow should receive a special pension when their needs are no different to those of a civilian widow who get a single parent payment if there are dependant children.

Agree, I know of a female who married a fellow who served in WW11 (not O/seas), many many years after WW11, in the seventies, and the man died shortly afterwards, but she continued to "bleed" the system, & Legacy, big time.....never wanted to pay for anything....and rarely ever did.
Always complained she couldn't afford this, couldn't afford that, the pension was not enough, yet she was always travelling, both here & O/S?....and had a nice home....with everything in it?
Cheers, Pickles.

Originally Posted by Pickles2

Agree, I know of a female who married a fellow who served in WW11 (not O/seas), many many years after WW11, in the seventies, and the man died shortly afterwards, but she continued to "bleed" the system, & Legacy, big time.....never wanted to pay for anything....and rarely ever did.
Always complained she couldn't afford this, couldn't afford that, the pension was not enough, yet she was always travelling, both here & O/S?....and had a nice home....with everything in it?
Cheers, Pickles.

Can't let this go by, without pointing out to get a War Widow pension, the husband must be deemed to have War Service. Very rare to be granted a war Service pension if you didn't leave Australia. The Torres strait islands may be an exception. Legacy do not give out charity, & can't be "bled". You have given a random unsubstantiated example of one woman, which may or may not be true, & held it up as a example of why the " system is not fair" forgetting about the hundreds of thousands of women who struggled for years with husbands badly effected by War. As far as I am concerned, those women deserve every penny, fair dinkum, there are some bitter, sad old men in this country, Bob
LEGACY
Protecting ageing and vulnerable widows Protecting ageing and vulnerable widows - Legacy Through our programs in support of the ageing, Legacy aims to provide comfort and security to those who find themselves alone and vulnerable. At Legacy, we are committed to helping older widows live full and happy lives despite their loss. Legacy currently provides care and support to over 100,000 widows. These are mainly the ageing and infirm widows of Australia's Second World War, Korea, and Vietnam veterans. Each year approximately 5,000 bereaved widows come under Legacy’s care, and most of these are aged 85 years or older. Care is provided on the basis of need. While some widows require little more than advice, others require more extensive assistance e.g. pension’s advocacy, providing safety and security, relieving financial hardship, combating social isolation and providing medical care. Regardless of the level of care required, Legacy is committed to ensuring no widow of a deceased veteran will ever face life’s challenges alone. Trusted advice Combating social isolation Living at home with dignity Health and security Financial hardship relief - See more at: Protecting ageing and vulnerable widows - Legacy

Speaking as someone who doesn't moderate this area, I can see this thread becoming a soapbox and disappearing. The original topic of the thread on deceased US soldiers is important and sad but very close to breaching the rules on politics, the debate on pensions is political so lets keep on the topic and let the debate on War Widows Pensions lapse.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

The WWP is bloody generous compared to an age pension or the remaining Widow A & B pensions which are less, taxable, income and assets assessable, don't receive whoop-te-do medical care and so on, don't receive generous gifts from Legacy and other veteran oriented organisations. It is about a discriminatory welfare system that doesn't treat people equally who have similar needs.

Up until the late 1980's War Widows could receive two pensions. One from Vet Affairs and one from DSS as the WWP was non-taxable and non-assessable and was disregarded when calculating DSS entitlements. This was cut out but those already on the double gravy train were allowed to stay. One of our field officer jobs was to visit and update the income and assets of these to re-assess their DSS entitlement in line with increasing savings as most of them didn't/couldn't spend two pensions.

Well then, you should spend your time advocating for the aged pensioners, instead of white anting War Widows, the great majority of whom deserve every cent they get. You could have volunteered for Vietnam, and qualified for the entitlements you vilify, Bob