Veteran Studies: The Effects Of War On Family Life

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Identifying with Another Throughout this semester, I have learned about many different identities through class discussions, but veteran studies are my group’s main focus. My key point in veteran studies is the effects of war on the family life, not just the individual that was previously in war. As I came into this project, I was particularly interested in discovering the realities of effects on families who’s loved one was previously in war. Although there is a large amount of movies, music, and books that describe the troubles, hardships, financial and emotional effects on the families, I am more influenced to do this project because of the people that I know personally who have experienced this. When I began my research, I wasn’t exactly …show more content…
Beyond losing a veteran mentally, the death of a veteran is never easy on a family either. This brings me to discuss the financial situations of a family who lost a loved one in war. I discovered from the Department of Veteran Affairs that if a person dies in war, they will reimburse the cost for burial benefits up to two thousand dollars(VA). If a person dies in the hospital, they will reimburse up to seven hundred and forty-seven dollars for burial and funeral expenses(VA). This is a significant difference in amount and it all depends if a veteran were to die immediately at the scene or if they can get the person to a hospital to attempt to revive the person(VA). Also, there are the ongoing issues of who receives a burial in the Arlington National Cemetery and other aspects. In the Department of Veteran affairs it states, “Service members who die while on active duty and veterans dis- charged under conditions other than dishonorable may be eligible for the following VA burial benefits: (1) burial in a VA national cemetery; (2) government-furnished headstone or marker; (3) Presidential Memorial Certificate; (4) burial flag; and in some cases, (5) reimbursement of burial expenses” (VA). This is a very broad statement concerning the issue of the burial benefits. There are much more details to the various benefits for the family regarding burial, but it gets more complicated to where I don’t completely understand. Concerning financial benefits for the surviving family, I found out there is a program called the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) program, that allows spouses who have been married for a year or more, not remarried, or had a child with them are eligible to receive monthly tax free monetary benefits (VA). It is also for children, but the child has to be