Since the government shutdown has barred non-military Catholic chaplains and priests from military installations, thousands of Catholic servicemembers had to go without mass and other religious services. Now, a Catholic priest has sued that federal government for being denied base access, CNN reported.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in a federal district court by Father Ray Leonard, claims that his First Amendment rights have been violated. According to the news source, Leonard is a newly contracted civilian employee who was scheduled to begin his religious duties at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia Oct. 1. While thousands of civilian Defense Department employees have been recalled by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel since the start of the shutdown, Catholic clergy who provide their services to military bases remain on furlough, the news outlet stated.
News broke that non-active duty Catholic clergy were blocked from accessing military bases shortly after the shutdown began when John Schlageter, General Counsel of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, published an Op-Ed on the organization's official website. Schlageter wrote that Catholic priests and chaplains were subject to arrests if they entered a military base during the shutdown.
Schlageter added that there is currently a shortage of active-duty Catholic priests, who compose only 8 percent of the chaplain corps.
President Obama recently signed legislation granting death benefits to the families of fallen soldiers killed during combat, bringing some relief to the military community. The bill passed the House of Representatives in an unanimous vote earlier in the week, MSNBC reported.
The legislation came after news spread that the federal shutdown left military families without death gratuity benefits – a tax-exempt $100,000 cash payment wired to the surviving families within 36 hours of a soldier's death while on active-duty or during training. The payment acts as transitional benefits for military families, covering the cost of transportation, funeral services and other financial needs.
Fisher House Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing medical care for servicemembers and veterans, donated its own funds to the 26 families of fallen soldiers that were unable to receive the death gratuity benefits because of the shutdown. However, the Defense Department announced in a statement that it will reimburse the organization once the shutdown ends.
While many members of the military community, including Iraq War veteran Rep. Tammy Duckworth, expressed their appreciation of the law, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a press conference that the legislation was nonessential, according to the news source.
Military families already struggling with recent setbacks caused by the ongoing government shutdown have just been hit with another hard reality.
The Department of Defense announced in a recent statement that it currently lacks the funding to issue the $100,000 "death gratuity" benefits to the families of fallen soldiers.
"All of the leaders noted that despite the recall of most civilians and the resumption of many activities, critical programs and benefits remain halted," the Pentagon said in the statement. "For example… the department does not have the authority to pay death gratuities for the survivors of service members killed in action."
According to The Washington Times, the families of at least five fallen servicemembers killed in Afghanistan last weekend were denied these transitional survivor benefits. The "death gratuity" benefits, which are cash payments typically wired to the families, ensure that the families can pay for funeral services, fly to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware – where the coffins are delivered – and cover other costs until the official survivor benefits are enacted. None of these benefits are available during the shutdown. However, the Pentagon maintains that survivor benefits and military life insurance will be paid to military families.
Although the Pentagon said that its officials were working to remedy the recent suspensions of death benefits and other military programs, the statement revealed that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel remained concerned for active-duty troops and their families during this period of uncertainty.
While many overseas military programs remain open despite the government shutdown, closures are beginning to strike at global installations.
According to USA Today, the American Battle Monuments Commission just announced that all of its cemeteries will close temporarily due to lack of funding.
"ABMC will resume normal operations when a new funding measure is passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the President of the United States," the organization said in a statement on its website.
About 20 cemeteries around the world that serve as the resting place for veterans who fought in both world wars, as well as other conflicts, will be affected. The cemeteries are located in France, Belgium, Tunisia, Mexico, Italy and Great Britain, according to the news source. One of the most visited cemeteries is in the Normandy town of Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach – one of the landing places of the infamous World War II invasion – and receives about a million visitors each year.
The ABMC also stated on its website that it will be unable to respond to inquires or provide various services, including letters authorizing free passports for military families, escort assistance and arrangements for floral decorations.
Although the government shutdown is expected to have a larger effect on domestic U.S. military installations, many overseas servicemembers might feel the strain of the federal closure on some of their military benefits.
Administrative services at overseas bases will be reduced due to civilian furloughs, while the Armed Forces Network will be scaled back to only one news channel, Stars and Stripes reported. However, overseas commissaries and exchanges will remain open, despite being closed stateside.
According to the news source, military personnel will step in for furloughed civilian staff to help facilitate AFN's broadcasts.
The U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa is expected to lose 1,400 of its 1,726 civilian workforce, the news outlet reported, while the Navy is bracing for the furlough of 60 percent of its 200,000 civilian staff.
Health care services for active-duty troops in Europe might also be reduced if the government shutdown lasts longer than a week, according to a statement released by the U.S. Army's Europe Regional Medical Command. The ERMC is suspending 38 percent of its civilian staff, and another 25 percent at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany – the largest military hospital outside the U.S.
"The absence of such a large portion of our Army Civilians could have an impact on access to care and the level of non-critical services we are able to provide," a spokesperson for the ERMC said in a statement.
As the government shutdown looms closer, the defense department is preparing for the worst.
Although servicemembers are exempt from government furloughs, military members will be working for free if Congress fails to pass its budget for the 2014 fiscal year, according to Business Insider. In the case of a government shutdown, servicemembers will have to wait for retroactive pay once the shutdown comes to a close.
However, some military banks will reportedly pay the troops through other means. The news source reports that the Navy Federal Credit Union will provide servicemembers with their scheduled Oct. 15 paycheck as long as the money is deposited directly into their accounts. According to the bank's website, this option is available to all active-duty members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Members must sign-up for the direct deposit prior to Oct. 9.
The Navy Federal Credit Union is not the only military bank providing assistance to at-risk servicemembers. The USAA is extending several benefits to active-duty troops, including a zero-interest payroll advance, while also remaining flexible with credit card and insurance fee payments, the news source reports.
Veteran benefits will not be affected by the possible government shutdown.
Many U.S. military veterans currently residing in Bermuda do not realize that they qualify for military benefits. Now, they have the opportunity to fully receive the rewards they deserve for their service, The Royal Gazette reports.
At a meeting recently held by U.S. Consul General Robert Settje, former Marine Corps Staff Sergeant David Perinchief met with about 30 veterans to discuss the benefits open to them. Perinchief, a dual U.S.-Bermuda citizen who works out of the Boston Veterans Affairs office, travels to Bermuda on occasion to educate and foster a personal relationship with the veterans, making it easier for them to understand the complicated VA system.
Perinchief told the news source that he was surprised by the large number of former U.S. servicemembers living on the island.
"Their numbers are more than I originally thought – you wonder how many more of them are out there," Perinchief said.
According to the news source, Bermuda-based veterans are entitled to full benefits, including health care and disability, from the U.S. government.
"It's the best feeling in the world when these guys come in to see you," Perinchief said. "They're so mad, so angry, and when you explain it to them they get that smile."
For Naval Senior Chief Dwayne Beebe-Franqui and his husband, Jonathan Beebe-Franqui, a routine trip to the commissary has never felt so satisfying as it did Sept. 3.
In a three-minute video released this week by the Department of Defense, the Beebe-Franquis document their new life as a married couple finally recognized by the U.S. military.
"It all changes today, for not just us, but thousands of other families," Dwayne says in the video's opening.
Following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act, servicemembers currently involved in same-sex relationships became eligible to receive various military benefits previously available exclusively to heterosexual couples, including family healthcare plans, military identification cards and survivor benefits. A valid marriage license is needed to obtain these benefits. For couples who are based in a state where same-sex marriage is outlawed, the DoD is granting seven days of leave for travel.
Since the DoD officially expanded these benefits Sep. 3, same-sex military couples across the nation have celebrated, like the Beebe-Franquis, by proudly flashing their military I.D. cards on military bases and installations. In the video, the Beebe-Franquis happily grocery shop in a Naval commissary – for the first time as a true military family.
"Now to be recognized through the federal government, his career, his job, is just amazing, it's a crazy feeling," Jonathan says in the video.
Newly released data from the Pentagon reveals that mental illness hospitalized the most servicemembers and veterans at military medical centers in 2012. Post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and other mental illnesses were among the leading causes for the hospitalizations.
USA Today reports that some servicemembers suffering from mental illness remained in a military hospital for more than a month. The only patients who reported longer stays were amputees. Pentagon data also reveals that servicemembers coping with severe mental illness account for the most lost workdays than any other disease or injury, the news source reports.
About 20 percent of Iraq and 11 percent of Afghanistan veterans currently suffer from PTSD, according to the National Institute of Health. The PTSD rate is highest among Gulf War-era II veterans, though about 30 percent of Vietnam servicemembers are afflicted with the mental illness.
The institution also states that PTSD is often linked to mild or moderate traumatic brain injury, which is triggered by blast waves rattling the brain inside the skull. According to data compiled by the Department of Defense, more than 30,000 servicemembers were diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury in 2012.
Defense officials stated to USA Today that both the decade-long wars and the stigma of mental illness are the most likely causes for the high hospitalization rates.
"The increase in mental health hospitalizations is most likely influenced by exposure of servicemembers to stressful events associated with deployment," Army Lt. Col. Catherine Wilkinson, a spokeswoman for Pentagon health affairs, told the news outlet.
Gulf War II-era veterans have joined the fight to protect military shopping benefits and base commissaries, which are increasingly under pressure to close due to reduced defense budgets.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a veterans association with more than 270,000 members nationwide, has teamed up with The Coalition to Save Our Military Shopping Benefits, a military advocacy group composed of 1.9 million members devoted to maintaining shopping and exchange credits for servicemembers, veterans and military families, the Herald Online reports. The two organizations are currently fighting cuts to commissary subsidies, which offer servicemembers and veterans a 30 percent discount for various household goods and products.
"Commissaries and exchanges are a key part of the military community, connecting the youngest service members to military families and even local retired veterans," IAVA Chief of Staff Derek Bennett said in a statement. "Protecting this benefit will ensure that veterans and their families have access to discounted, quality groceries and products."
According to the National Military Family Association, commissaries do not make a profit, and the cost of running a commissary is subsidized by the federal government. However, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has voted in the past to eliminate the federal subsidy of commissaries and combine the commissaries with military exchanges, the organization states on its website.
The sequester and impending government shutdown might jeopardize the future of military commissaries, the Herald Online reports. The closing of commissaries and exchanges might also affect the stability of the military, the news outlet adds, since it is the largest employer of veterans in the nation.