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Military Denied Benefits to Surviving Son
By GARANCE BURKE,AP - Posted: 2008-04-17 12:26:22
FRESNO, Calif. (April 17) - Forced to leave the combat zone after his
two brothers died in the Iraq war, Army Spc. Jason Hubbard faced
another battle once he returned home: The military cut off his
family's health care, stopped his G.I. educational subsidies and
wanted him to repay his sign-up bonus.
It wasn't until Hubbard petitioned his local congressman that he was
able to restore some of his benefits.
Now that congressman, Rep. Devin Nunes, plans to join three other
lawmakers in introducing a bill that would ensure basic benefits to
all soldiers who are discharged under an Army policy governing sole
surviving siblings and children of soldiers killed in combat. The rule
is a holdover from World War II meant to protect the rights of service
people who have lost a family member to war.
"I felt as if in some ways I was being punished for leaving even
though it was under these difficult circumstances," Hubbard told The
Associated Press. "The situation that happened to me is not a one-time
thing. It's going to happen to other people, and to have a law in
place is going to ease their tragedy in some way."
Hubbard, 33, and his youngest brother, Nathan, enlisted while they
were still grieving for their brother, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared
Hubbard, who was 22 when he was killed in a 2004 bomb explosion in
Ramadi.
At their request, the pair were assigned to the same unit, the 3rd
Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, and deployed to Iraq
the next year.
In August, 21-year-old Cpl. Nathan died when his Black Hawk helicopter
crashed near Kirkuk. Jason was part of the team assigned to remove his
comrades' bodies from the wreckage.
Hubbard accompanied his little brother's body on a military aircraft
to Kuwait, then on to California. He kept steady during Nathan's
burial at Clovis Cemetery, standing in dress uniform between his
younger brothers' graves as hundreds sobbed in the heat.
But Hubbard broke his silence when he found his wife, pregnant with
their second child, had been cut off from the transitional health care
the family needed to ease back to civilian life after he was
discharged in October.
"This is a man who asked for nothing and gave a lot," said Nunes, R-
Calif., who represents Hubbard's hometown of Clovis, a city of 90,000
next to Fresno. "Jason is one person who obviously has suffered
tremendously and has given the ultimate sacrifice. One person is too
many to have this happen to."
Hubbard went to Nunes, who began advocating for the former soldier in
December, after hearing the Army was demanding that he repay $6,000
from his enlistment bonus and was denying him up to $40,000 in
educational benefits under the GI bill.
After speaking with Army Secretary Pete Geren, Nunes got the repayment
waived, and a military health policy restored for Hubbard's wife.
But the policy mandated that she be treated at a nearby base, and
doctors at the Lemoore Naval Air Station warned that the 45-mile trip
could put her and the fetus in danger. Hubbard said doctors offered
alternative treatment at a hospital five hours away.
Meantime, Hubbard and his two-year-old son went without any coverage
for a few months.
The Hubbard Act, scheduled to be introduced Wednesday, would for the
first time detail the rights of sole survivors, and extend to them a
number of benefits already offered to other soldiers honorably
discharged from military service.
The bill - co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. - would waive
payback of their enlistment bonuses, allow them to participate in G.I.
educational programs, give them separation pay and access to
transitional health care.
Meanwhile, Hubbard, his wife Linnea and his son Elijah, have permanent
health coverage now that he is once again working as a Fresno County
sheriff's deputy, the job he left in 2004 to serve in Iraq.
The Army will adopt to any changes in policy springing from the
legislation, said Army spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks.
"Foremost the Army itself sympathizes with him for the loss of his
brothers," Banks said. "We will do everything within our means to
rectify this issue. He is still one of ours."
Hubbard's father, Jeff, said that resolving the family's bureaucratic
difficulties would provide some comfort, but would not help lessen
their pain.
"We're still very much deeply involved in a grieving process. We're
pretty whacked," he said. "This doesn't relate back to the loss of our
boys, it can't, but we would consider it a positive accomplishment."
By GARANCE BURKE,AP - Posted: 2008-04-17 12:26:22
FRESNO, Calif. (April 17) - Forced to leave the combat zone after his
two brothers died in the Iraq war, Army Spc. Jason Hubbard faced
another battle once he returned home: The military cut off his
family's health care, stopped his G.I. educational subsidies and
wanted him to repay his sign-up bonus.
It wasn't until Hubbard petitioned his local congressman that he was
able to restore some of his benefits.
Now that congressman, Rep. Devin Nunes, plans to join three other
lawmakers in introducing a bill that would ensure basic benefits to
all soldiers who are discharged under an Army policy governing sole
surviving siblings and children of soldiers killed in combat. The rule
is a holdover from World War II meant to protect the rights of service
people who have lost a family member to war.
"I felt as if in some ways I was being punished for leaving even
though it was under these difficult circumstances," Hubbard told The
Associated Press. "The situation that happened to me is not a one-time
thing. It's going to happen to other people, and to have a law in
place is going to ease their tragedy in some way."
Hubbard, 33, and his youngest brother, Nathan, enlisted while they
were still grieving for their brother, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared
Hubbard, who was 22 when he was killed in a 2004 bomb explosion in
Ramadi.
At their request, the pair were assigned to the same unit, the 3rd
Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, and deployed to Iraq
the next year.
In August, 21-year-old Cpl. Nathan died when his Black Hawk helicopter
crashed near Kirkuk. Jason was part of the team assigned to remove his
comrades' bodies from the wreckage.
Hubbard accompanied his little brother's body on a military aircraft
to Kuwait, then on to California. He kept steady during Nathan's
burial at Clovis Cemetery, standing in dress uniform between his
younger brothers' graves as hundreds sobbed in the heat.
But Hubbard broke his silence when he found his wife, pregnant with
their second child, had been cut off from the transitional health care
the family needed to ease back to civilian life after he was
discharged in October.
"This is a man who asked for nothing and gave a lot," said Nunes, R-
Calif., who represents Hubbard's hometown of Clovis, a city of 90,000
next to Fresno. "Jason is one person who obviously has suffered
tremendously and has given the ultimate sacrifice. One person is too
many to have this happen to."
Hubbard went to Nunes, who began advocating for the former soldier in
December, after hearing the Army was demanding that he repay $6,000
from his enlistment bonus and was denying him up to $40,000 in
educational benefits under the GI bill.
After speaking with Army Secretary Pete Geren, Nunes got the repayment
waived, and a military health policy restored for Hubbard's wife.
But the policy mandated that she be treated at a nearby base, and
doctors at the Lemoore Naval Air Station warned that the 45-mile trip
could put her and the fetus in danger. Hubbard said doctors offered
alternative treatment at a hospital five hours away.
Meantime, Hubbard and his two-year-old son went without any coverage
for a few months.
The Hubbard Act, scheduled to be introduced Wednesday, would for the
first time detail the rights of sole survivors, and extend to them a
number of benefits already offered to other soldiers honorably
discharged from military service.
The bill - co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. - would waive
payback of their enlistment bonuses, allow them to participate in G.I.
educational programs, give them separation pay and access to
transitional health care.
Meanwhile, Hubbard, his wife Linnea and his son Elijah, have permanent
health coverage now that he is once again working as a Fresno County
sheriff's deputy, the job he left in 2004 to serve in Iraq.
The Army will adopt to any changes in policy springing from the
legislation, said Army spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks.
"Foremost the Army itself sympathizes with him for the loss of his
brothers," Banks said. "We will do everything within our means to
rectify this issue. He is still one of ours."
Hubbard's father, Jeff, said that resolving the family's bureaucratic
difficulties would provide some comfort, but would not help lessen
their pain.
"We're still very much deeply involved in a grieving process. We're
pretty whacked," he said. "This doesn't relate back to the loss of our
boys, it can't, but we would consider it a positive accomplishment."
