Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: New vets must be alert

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 4:42 a.m.

AMERICANS FROM ALL walks of life are cheering for the accomplishments of our military people deposing Saddam Hussein. The battle for Iraq hasn't been of the same intensity or length of a World War II, Korean War or Vietnam War but our troops performed at the highest level of military tradition. We have every reason to be proud of their skill, tenacity and heroism under fire. There never has been an easy war for the troops facing or hunting an armed enemy.

The veterans of Gulf War II had better hope that their nation's enthusiasm doesn't fade as fast as it did following past wars. Don't worry about your friends and families forgetting what you did. When you later need help for problems resulting from military service the memories of White House executives, administration appointees and members of Congress won't be as good. Many of them will spend dollars on a new study, some pork they want for their state or for a project of a contributor to their last election rather than pay for your ills. If you don't believe it, then just ask some of the veterans who have been jacked around after past wars.

You are young and don't believe that the hard landing you made in that disabled helicopter will affect your life. You may be right, and then on the other hand that aching back may be more than a little trouble when arriving at your 60th birthday. You had better keep good personal records.

Overall our government has been exceptionally generous with its military veterans. When compared to other countries, ours has been a leader in the care of veterans. Then there was its response or lack of response to Agent Orange by refusing to recognize the damage the defoliant did to the troops. Many died and even more were disabled before the Veterans Administration recognized the illness as service connected. Some veterans had reason to believe their government was waiting for them to die so money wouldn't have to be spent on them. Sometimes even written contracts with your government are later altered beyond recognition. Excellent examples are the military retirees who agreed to pay a monthly premium so their spouses could draw survivor benefits. The retirees' monthly payment would cover 60 percent of the cost for survivor benefits and the government w ould cover 40 percent of the benefits.

The form the retiree signed stated, without reservation, that it would provide 55 percent of his retired pay to his named survivor. This was a fair Survivor Benefit Plan.

So what happened? Today survivors are having their dreams shattered. The April issue of Military Officer magazine points out the major inequities today of the tampered-with Survivor Benefits Plan.

There are three major SBP inequities:

So, sometimes even written contracts with the government aren't binding.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., has submitted H.R. 548 and Sen. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, has put in S. 451 to help correct this situation. Nevada's Rep. Shelley Berkley and Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign have again thrown their support behind these and prior efforts to provide a fair SBP. This corrective legislation is moving very slowly, and unless the White House gets behind it, nothing will be done to change a bad situation.

I have been most fortunate and received good medical care and the G.I. Bill education benefits. Others haven't been as lucky, and those men and women are the ones the rest of us must not allow our government to forget.

The new combat veterans from Afghanistan and Gulf War II are not all coming home in good health. Americans must make sure that they, along with the widows and children of those who were killed, aren't forgotten after the bands quit playing.