$178 million investment for Florida's active military, veterans

Gov. Rick Scott proposes $178 million investment for Florida's active military, veterans
ABC 27 News
November 13, 2017

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Gov. Rick Scott says he supports a proposal to provide free college tuition to the families of first responders, state law enforcement officers and military members who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

The Florida governor announced that he will $178 million in total funding to support active military, veterans and their families in Florida as part of his 2018-2019 recommended budget.

He also said he supports a proposal being considered by the Constitution Revision Commission to provide free tuition to the families of fallen first responders, state law enforcement officers and military members who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

The proposal would make each family entitled to one four-year degree from a Florida state college, university or participating technical school.

$200,000 for search and rescue vessels and protective equipment for our National Guardsmen to use during deployment;

Nearly $8 million to begin operations at the Lake Baldwin State Veteran Nursing Home, which will allow this facility to serve more than 110 veterans in the coming year;

$2 million for Building Homes for Heroes to build and modify homes for veterans who were severely injured while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan;

$2 million for the Florida Defense Support Task Force, which helps support our military and defense communities and the many families who rely on them; and

$2.7 million to support veterans looking to obtain employment, start their own businesses and make Florida their home, including $1 million for Veterans Florida to continue their mission of helping veterans find great jobs at Florida businesses.
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Troy Yocum raised just over $500,000 for military families

Iraq War Veteran Is Back Home, But Plans Another Tour
Devin Katayama September 3, 2011

Yocum raised just over $500,000 dollars by Thursday and around 34 sponsors will donate an undisclosed amount on Sept. 14 in New York City, he said.

Iraq War veteran Troy Yocum is already planning another U.S. trip after finishing a nearly 8,000 mile hike around the county to raise money and awareness for military families.

Yocum and a group of 50 walked the last mile to the Louisville Slugger Museum on Saturday. He walked a total of nine miles in the final day. He was lead by a full military marching band playing down Main Street. Some people stopped to take pictures of the celebration, as Yocum held the hands of his mother and his wife, Mareike Yocum, who walked the first 4,000 miles of the journey with him.
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Fallen soldiers' families ripped off by Prudential Financial?

UPDATE
A Fallen Hero: How an Insurance Company Profited
Katie Couric Reports on One Family's Experience with Dead Soldier Benefits and a Giant Insurance Firm
By Katie Couric

(CBS) In nearly a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, 5,620 Americans have died. Survivors of these fallen heroes are entitled to a life-insurance payment and the government uses a private company to handle it. What happened to the mother of 24-year-old Ryan Baumann of Great Mills, Maryland when she tried to collect serves as a lesson to every military family.

According to a Bloomberg Markets Magazine investigation, insurance companies have been profiting off of the death-benefits of fallen heroes.

"Ryan was a neat kid," said Cindy Lohman - Ryan's mother. "He really wanted to join the Army after 9/11 because he saw that, you know, there were things he could do."

CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric reports Sgt. Ryan Baumann was as proud of his mission in Afghanistan as his mother is of him. A soldier with the 101st Airborne, he was stationed in eastern Afghanistan - protecting villagers from the Taliban and providing critical services - like repairing pumps supplying water.

"One of the things that he said to me," Lohman said, "he said 'if anything happens to me, just let the world know we're making a difference over here.'"

But on August 1, 2008, Ryan was riding in a Humvee when he spotted an improvised explosive device, an IED.

"He told his driver, 'go left,' and that placed the IED directly under him," Lohman said.

Baumann was killed instantly. The driver, gunner and medic with him all survived.
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How an Insurance Company Profited

VCS in the News: Fallen Soldiers' Families Denied Cash as Insurance Companies Profit
Written by David Evans
Wednesday, 28 July 2010 09:52
Top VA Officials Unaware of Scam; VCS Blasts "Secret Profits" for Prudential and MetLife

July 28, 2010 (Bloomberg News) - The package arrived at Cindy Lohman’s home in Great Mills, Maryland, just two weeks after she learned that her son, Ryan, a 24-year-old Army sergeant, had been killed by a bomb in Afghanistan. It was a thick, 9-inch-by- 12-inch envelope from Prudential Financial Inc., which handles life insurance for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Inside was a letter from Prudential about Ryan’s $400,000 policy. And there was something else, which looked like a checkbook. The letter told Lohman that the full amount of her payout would be placed in a convenient interest-bearing account, allowing her time to decide how to use the benefit.

“You can hold the money in the account for safekeeping for as long as you like,” the letter said. In tiny print, in a disclaimer that Lohman says she didn’t notice, Prudential disclosed that what it called its Alliance Account was not guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its September issue. Lohman, 52, left the money untouched for six months after her son’s August 2008 death.

“It’s like you’re paying me off because my child was killed,” she says. “It was a consolation prize that I didn’t want.”

*** Stephen Wurtz, deputy assistant director for insurance at the VA, who has overseen the insurance program for 25 years, has been kept in the dark by Prudential. ***

*** “It’s shameful that an insurance company is stealing money from the families of our fallen servicemen,” says Paul Sullivan, who served in the 1991 Gulf War as an Army cavalry scout and is now executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington. “I’m outraged.” ***

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Fallen Soldiers Families Denied Cash

New Scholarship for the Children of Fallen Service Members

New Scholarship for the Children of Fallen Service Members
Benefit Honors Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry

WASHINGTON (April 30, 2010) - The children of military personnel who
died in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001 can apply for an
educational scholarship similar to the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. Benefits
are retroactive to Aug. 1, 2009.

The scholarship, which is administered by the Department of Veterans
Affairs, are named after Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry, 28, a
Texas native who died in Iraq in 2006 while disarming an explosive. He
was survived by three young children.

"The Fry scholarship represents this nation's solemn commitment to care
for children whose mothers and fathers paid the ultimate price for our
country," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

VA begins accepting applications for the Fry scholarship on May 1, 2010.
For more information or assistance applying, call toll-free
1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551), or visit the VA GI Bill Website at
www.gibill.va.gov


VA estimates nearly 1,500 children will receive benefits under the Fry
scholarship program in 2010. Recipients generally have 15 years to use
their benefits, beginning on their 18th birthdays.

Eligible children attending institutions of higher learning may receive
payments to cover their tuition and fees up to the highest amounts
charged to public, in-state students at undergraduate institutions in
each state. A monthly housing allowance and stipend for books and
supplies are also paid under this program.

VA will begin paying benefits under the Fry scholarships on Aug. 1,
2010. Eligible participants may receive benefits retroactively to
August 1, 2009, the same day the Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect.
Eligible children may be married. Recipients are entitled to 36 months
of benefits at the 100 percent level.

When dependents also serve in the military, the reserves or are Veterans
in their own right, eligible for education benefits under the Montgomery
GI Bill for Active Duty, the Montgomery GI Bill for Selected Reserves or
the Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP), then they would
relinquish their eligibility under those programs to receive benefits
under a Fry scholarship.

Dover Air Force Base to expand care with Center for Families of fallen

Dover facility will serve families of war dead

By Randall Chase - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 5, 2010 12:55:06 EST

DOVER, Del. — The military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, where U.S. war casualties from overseas are brought home, will open a new facility Wednesday to serve families who travel there to witness the return of their loved ones’ remains.

The Center for Families of the Fallen will be staffed by counselors and support specialists who will assist families awaiting the return of their loved ones to the nation’s largest military mortuary. Families also will be able to meet with casualty assistance officers who are assigned to them.

Officials said the new center will be more convenient both for families and mortuary officials than the space now shared by the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover with the base’s active duty and reserve wings.

“Sadly, as the death toll has grown in Afghanistan and Iraq, we find we need a larger facility,” said Maj. Shannon Mann, a spokeswoman for AFMAO.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/01/ap_dover_new_mortuary_010510/

Louisiana National Guard Families of Fallen not being paid

Sen. wants to expand military survivors law

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 31, 2009 9:03:35 EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. — The chairman of a state Senate veterans committee says he wants to expand a state law that pays $250,000 to the survivors of Louisiana National Guard soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The law has been in place since July 2007, but Sen. Robert Adley says it should be made retroactive to include all troops killed since the conflicts began. The Louisiana National Guard’s call-up for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq began in 2004.

Adley is the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs.

The law provides a $100,000 payment to guard members who are permanently disabled and $250,000 to the families of troops killed.

Adley says it appears no families have received the benefits so far, so he also wants the program publicized more to families who might be eligible.
Sen. wants to expand military survivors law