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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Berta,

I don't think at this point there would be a way of the
widow getting the discharge upgraded.

I personally do not see any way for this widow to recieve ANY VA benefits at all.

I'll send a shout out to someone that may know more about this.

jmho,
carlie

emelita1951, the current base rate VA widow's pension pays $661 a month. If you receive more than $661, a month, in social security, you wouldn't have gotten any pension, away. I don't see any other way you can receive anything from the VA. Sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pr

Wartime service means that the veterans served during a wartime era not that he served in war. This provision can not be waived.

This is Emelita1952,
Sorry if I made a mistake about the dishonorable, it is an HONORABLE discharge. Just look a the dd214 of my husband. I am getting SSi, no income and have disability.

Thank you all.

Hi Carlie,
It is honorable discharge, just look at his DD214 and it says PETS Hardship.

Do not know how to read all of this as this is the only paper i have and it is so old and hard to read.

Emelita1952


============================================

Hello,
Have not read all my e-mail for a while so I did not see the answers to my veterans question.

There is a mistake on my Topic and what I have said.

My late husband has an honorable discharge and has a medal too as what I have read on his DD214.

It is also said on that DD about this PETS Hardship and I do not knwo what is that.

I am getting $674 on my SSI so if I will pursue this I will lost my SSI maybe it is better to stay with my SSi benefits if I will only get $661 a month on a vet pension.

Thank you for all your support.

Emelita

Your social security is not necessarily a bar to the pension--the VA looks at your income after allowable recurring non-reimbursable medical expenses are deducted, to include your Medicare part B contribution, any Medicare Part D, any supplemenetal medical insurance, and any other non-reimbursed med expenses (such as caregivers, asssited living etc.). VA calls this IVAP (income for VA purposes). So. look at what your expense posture is like before you think you won't qualify.

You are better off on SSI since you can get food stamps, housing, medicade and other benefits. It is better to be really poor on SSI than to be just poor on SSD and miserable war pension. The war widow's pension is a joke.

Thanks very clear post