Battle of the Bilge

Update on Email Rumor

Last week, we brought you the viral email regarding a change in the language when a survivor is presented the flag at a military funeral. The rumor stated that the White House had changed the protocol to remove the words ‘On behalf of the President of the United States’.

At the time of that posting, we brought the issue up with DVA’s National Cemetery Program for review. The VA was initially unaware of this specific issue, they discussed it and responded.

Response from the Department of Veterans Affairs

The following was related to MOAA from James Flanagan, Program Manager for Presidential Memorial Certificates at the National Cemetery Administration (please note that the NCA is not responsible for regulations of the recitation – that comes from the Department of Defense):

“[Y]our inquiry also questioned the burial ceremony recitation by the different branches of the military in presenting a burial flag to the family or loved one of a deceased veteran, with some research and considerable discussion the National Cemetery Administration is now sharing these (your) concerns across our system and staff. We feel that the guidance below is appropriate to the needs outlined in your inquiry and we hope that this response will assist you in addressing the questions from your membership accordingly.

While military funeral honors often are presented at National Cemeteries, the Department of Defense (DOD) is responsible for providing military funeral honors. Each individual branch of the Armed Forces may establish its own protocol, typically issued in the service’s policy manual. This includes guidance on the statement to be recited when presenting a burial flag to the next of kin. When a VA national cemetery representative presents the burial flag to the next of kin in lieu of a member of a military honor guard, they use these words: “This flag is presented on behalf of a grateful Nation, as a token of appreciation for the honorable and faithful service rendered by your loved one.”

While there may be some variations at the unit level in reciting the appropriate verbiage, neither the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, nor any branch of the military have published or directed any recent change to the recitation for presenting a burial flag to the loved one of a deceased veteran.

The military funeral honors website is located at www.militaryfuneralhonors.osd.mil.

Questions or comments concerning the DOD military funeral honors program may be sent to the address listed below:

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense For Public Affairs
Community Relations and Public Liaison
1400 Defense Pentagon, Room 2D982
Washington, DC 20301-1400
Phone: 703-571-3343
(emphasis added by author)

Additionally, Mr. Flanagan gave information regarding the Presidential Memorial Certificate Program (PMC):

“[E]very Presidential Memorial Certificate that is mailed to a family member or loved one of a deceased veteran contains the signature of the President of the United States. The PMC program continues to be a White House program that is exclusively administered by the Department of Veterans affairs. It is truly unfortunate that a message is circulating in any form or in any medium that suggests otherwise.

If you would like to read more about the Presidential Memorial Certificates I would always encourage you or any of your membership to visit our web site at http://www.cem.va.gov/pmc.asp

MOAA appreciates the efforts of Mr. Flanagan to help us raise awareness on this issue and hopefully put the rumor to bed.

~~~~~

MOAA Online Help Center

MOAA members and registered guests can now access the Member Service Center’s Online Help Center by visiting here.

Background

A story about the White House changing the military funeral protocols for the presentation of the American flag to survivors has gained a good deal of traction in recent weeks. The email, a variation of which is shown below, states that the statement made by the soldier to the recipient of the flag has been changed to remove mention of the President of the United States and replaced with ‘Secretary of Defense’. However, there has been no change in policy regarding funeral protocols and the separate services maintain their own version of the presentation statement.

Email Iteration

As I’m sure you have witnessed during military funerals, a soldier bends to one knee and recites a scripted message to a surviving relative that begins ‘On behalf of the President of the United States and a grateful nation, I wish to present you with this flag in appreciation for your husband’s service …’.

However, today the dialogue was ‘On behalf of the Secretary of Defense and a grateful nation …’ After the service I approached the soldier who presented the flag to my aunt to inquire about the change in language. His response was “The White House notified all military funeral service detachments to immediately remove ‘the President’ and insert ‘the Secretary of Defense’.

I couldn’t believe what I heard and the soldier smiled and said “You can draw your own conclusion sir but that was the order”. He, too, was ashamed of what he was required to say. This president has taken off the gloves. My only response to this endless cesspool of Anti-American rhetoric dripping from his mouth is to borrow a phrase (with one minor change) uttered by another temporary Washington resident living in government housing: “Today for the first time in my adult life I was ASHAMED of my country”

Analysis

The presentation of the flag and the accompanying statement from the service varies by service. They are as listed below:

United States Army: On behalf of the President of the United States and the people of a grateful nation, may I present this flag as a token of appreciation for the honorable and faithful service your loved one rendered this nation.

United States Navy: On behalf of the President of the United States and the Chief of Naval Operations, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s service to this Country and a grateful Navy.

United States Marines Corps: On behalf of the President of the United States, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s service to Country and Corps.

United States Air Force: On behalf of the President of the United States, the Department of the Air Force, and a grateful nation, we offer this flag for the faithful and dedicated service of (Service member’s rank and name).

United States Coast Guard: On behalf of the President of the United States, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s service to Country and the Coast Guard.

Military funeral protocols are spelled out in law under U.S. Code, Title 10, Chapter 75, Section 1491, last revised in January 2007. But the code only governs who receives the flag at the presentation. The statement made is left up to the services and according to each source contacted, there has not been any modification of their tradition.

TruthorFiction.com goes into more details about the origin of this rumor and also confirms with US Army Public Affairs that there has been no official changes to protocol.

Part 2

This article continues here.

MOAA Online Help Center

MOAA members and registered guests can now access the Member Service Center’s Online Help Center by visiting here.

Representing MOAA

This morning, MOAA’s President, Vice Adm. Norb Ryan, Jr., USN (Ret), participated in a discussion on Fox News’ morning show “Fox & Friends” about military pay raises. Admiral Ryan carried the MOAA message of an increase in active duty pay from the 1.4% proposed amount to 1.9%.

The best quote, in response to a question regarding why there is resistance to this modest pay increase:

“This is a recommendation from the Pentagon and I happen to believe that the bean counters have taken over and they’ve forgotten Leadership 101 principles. Like I said, you have to have enough money for the weapons systems, but you have to have enough money for the only weapon system that has never let this country down: it’s people.”

View the full video here:



Take action and send your representatives in Congress a message via MOAA’s Action Center by clicking here and filling out the message.

Introduction

In a change of pace from the usual insidious messages that are forwarded around the internet, the email in question does not necessarily provide bad information, but it did not, as stated, originate from the Department of Veterans Affairs. MOAA contacted the VA and VSO Liaison Kevin Secor to confirm and he stated that he never sent the message. Other sources, including the Better Business Bureau, have confirmed that Michael Dougherty is a current staff attorney for DVA, but did not write this email and that the VA did not issue this warning. However, there is some wisdom to be gleaned from the apparently fake message.

The Email (one version)

WARNING TO VETERANS

Forwarded by Kevin Secor, VSO Liaison, Office of the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

An organization called Veterans Affairs Services (VAS) is providing benefit and general information on VA and gathering personal information on veterans. This organization is not affiliated with VA in any way.

VAS may be gaining access to military personnel through their close resemblance to the VA name and seal. Our Legal Counsel has requested that we coordinate with DoD to inform military installations, particularly mobilization sites, of this group and their lack of affiliation or endorsement by VA to provide any services.

In addition, GC requests that if you have any examples of VAS acts that violate chapter 59 of Title 38 United States Code, such as VAS employees assisting veterans in the preparation and presentation of claims for benefits, please pass any additional information to Mr.Daugherty at the address below.

Michael G. Daugherty
Staff Attorney
Department of Veterans Affairs
Office of General Counsel (022G2)
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420

Reality

As stated above, the message is not an official DVA release. As reported by the Better Business Bureau:

“Someone pretending to be an attorney with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is sending an email to military veterans “warning” them against using the services of a group called Veterans Affairs Services. BBB Military Line, a complaint resource specialized for the military and their families, has received several inquiries about the email.”
…
“The BBB advises anyone who receives this email to not click on the link. You should never click on links in emails that are from unknown sources as they may contain viruses. Such viruses are typically designed to steal private information from your computer. Also, the VA advises veterans seeking the assistance of a VA-recognized service organization for purposes of submitting a claim for VA benefits to search at the General Counsel’s accreditation search page.”

Author’s Note: The Link referred to by the BBB has been omitted from this article and the only link in the example email is to the home page of VAS.

VAS describes themselves as a ‘non-profit veterans service organization’ but they are not recognized as a chartered or non-chartered VSO. Check the full list of VSOs here. They are, however, registered as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization. MOAA has not had any formal dealings with VAS so we can not comment on their dealings with veterans or their legitimacy. The VAS shield can conceivably be seen as a ‘close resemblance’ of the VA’s, so the email is on base with that statement, as you can see here:

Compared to the seal of the VA:

However, the VAS site does contain the following language in their web wrapper:


While the email is not what it purports to be, the message lends itself to a much bigger issue of the exploitation of veterans using survivor benefits as a hook by financial services companies to get their business. It is a growing problem, and one that MOAA is paying close attention to, especially the tactics being used. Speaking with Lt Col. Shane Ostrom, USAF (Ret.), MOAA’s Deputy Director of Benefits Information, he stated:

“This marketing plan by financial firms is only getting worse and will continue. I had one MOAA member state they wanted him to start trusts where assets could be hidden appearing to be poor in order to qualify for VA benefits based on financial need. He said the plan was to move his assets into the trust and replace his current assets in the trust with annuities. There would be no reason for this except to generate high commissions for the financial firm.”

Another member of the MOAA benefits team, Mr. Phil Dyer, a CFP, also stressed the dangers of financial firms soliciting via VA survivor programs:

“At a time when major budgetary pressures are coming, these companies – while not advocating outright fraud (mostly) are trying to shoe-horn people into a benefit they might not otherwise qualify for while enriching them in the process and (potentially, depending on the state) dis-inheriting children/grandchildren depending on the annuity beneficiary requirements.”

In other words, be careful who you put your trust in when it comes to financial matters and veterans benefits. This email may be bogus, and VAS has not been implicated in any wrongdoing that we are aware of, but many companies out there have been trying to fleece the veterans community, or at least take advantage of it. The true warning to veterans that should be ringing through the web is the fragility of their earned benefits, from TRICARE and Tricare for Life, to retirement pay and continuing attacks on personnel costs by deficit hawks that have a way of disregarding the concepts of sacrifice and honoring promises. There is a war ahead of us, and we’ll need all hands on deck this next year and beyond to avoid the deep cuts that are being floated by the deficit commissions and congressional members.

Further Reading

MOAA’s Financial Frontlines blog recently ran a story about financial companies exploiting VA survivor benefits and using phone marketing to get their foot in the door. Read the entire story here.

Discussion

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Too Successful to Keep

In 2009, the MyCaa program was initiated to help all servicemembers’ spouses further their careers by providing up to $6,000 in grants to take a variety of educational and credentialing programs. The program was meant to help with the disruptions to military families caused by frequent moves and deployments.

However, after the program proved to be incredibly popular and subsequently expensive, the program was cut off to new participants. After an uproar of complaints, the Department of Defense announced in July that the program would open up to new applicants again starting in October. At first the news seemed to be excellent. Furthering spouse education and career advancement should be a high priority of DoD to help military families.

Then we all took a closer look at what the new program entails.

Too Weak to Succeed

First, the amount of the aid was reduced to only $4,000 over a two year period, with a yearly ceiling of $2,000. This includes a total cap of $4,000 per person, so you can not continue beyond the initial phase. It also requires the spouse to complete their associates degree or certification or licensing program courses within three years, starting with the date of the first enrollment. In other words, DoD will help you start out on a program that will most likely take more than two years given the demands of family life (especially for spouses of deployed servicememebers), but they won’t help you go for a bachelors degree or post graduate education.

Second, and more important to our members and spouses, the program only applies to the most junior servicemembers’ spouses (E-1 through E-5 in the enlisted grades, warrant officers in grades W-1 and W-2, and officers in grades O-1 and O-2). Spouses of any other grades are not eligible for educational aid and it is also only applicable to active duty personnel.

Help Us Fix This

Our military force is stretched thin and deployments are stressing families to unprecedented levels. What kind of message is this reinstatement of the program at severely under funded and restricted levels sending to our troops and their families? If the program was too successful to fund originally, doesn’t that signal a very strong need in the community? And with the economy the way it is, shouldn’t we be promoting a program that will lead to a stronger workforce?

Many military organizations have praised the reopening of enrollment for MyCaa, but MOAA feels that it is not acceptable with the new guidelines. Please help us express this to Congress and get the inequity fixed.

Use this link to send a message to your elected officials. Share the link with friends. You don’t need to be logged in or in the military to use the link provided. Our military families are too important to be taken for granted.

Discussion

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