Uncle Sam Wants You

I was listening to the radio and they were talking about stop-loss benefits for veterans. The reason it was being aired is because The Department of Defense is having no luck at finding some of the service members who are entitled to the benefits. Using the last know address has not been effective due to many address are more than two years old. Many who returned from their tour of duty no longer had homes, many are ill, living with relatives, in shelters or just living on the streets. I decided to publish this in the hopes that a friend, relative or ex-spouse may read this and know of someone who may be eligible to receive the benefit.

The stop-loss benefit is an emergency supplemental war funding program; It was signed into law June 2009 by President Obama. Only the veterans who had involuntary extended stays during the periods of September 11, 2001 to September 30, 2009. The average benefit is $3,800.00.

WHO IS NOT ENTITLED

• Those who volunteered to re-enlist and received a bonus
• Those who volunteered to extend their service
  

The Department of Defense filmed public service announcements to get the word out, sent letters to last know address, etc.

145,000 veterans are eligible to receive benefits and only 62,000 of that amount have collected. The pool was 300 million dollars and there is still 82 million left uncollected.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg is pushing for an extended deadline to Oct. 21, 2011 to give the Department of Defense more time to reach troops who served over their scheduled time to return home.