In our recent posting for the FAC Veterans Support Group, a question was asked in the comments’ section concerning VA burial benefits.

My husband recently passed away, and I chose to have his ashes buried at the Jacksonville National Cemetery.  Part of the process involved a questionnaire that was given to me over the phone.  At the end of the questions, the staff member said she had two more questions that she was required to ask me and added she was sorry that she had to do so.

Question #1:  Had my husband ever been convicted of a capital offense?  No, he had not.  I was starting to get nervous.

Question #2:  Had my husband every been convicted of a sex offense…?  My heart sank.  The punishment never ends.  He was deceased.  I, the spouse, who had never committed a crime, was the one being punished and punished severely.  I had lost the love of my life, who had served 24.5 years in the Navy with 3 tours in the Viet Nam War, going up every other day to face the vicious North Vietnamese pilots–risking his life for a war that all the pilots knew the U.S. should never have become involved in.  He did what his commanding officers told him to do, knowing that he had a wife and 2 children back in the states who desperately needed him to come home alive. Then the staffer added, “where the mandatory minimum sentence was life in prison?”  I praise God for those last 9 words.  I was able to answer, “No.”

So, the only two things that could keep a veteran from being buried in a National Cemetery is if (1) they were found guilty of a capital offense and (2) they were found guilty of committing a sex offense where the mandatory minimum sentence is life in prison.

It is too bad that people entering the military are not warned before signing the dotted line that regardless of what they do for their county, no matter what their sacrifice is along with their family’s, there are certain conditions for which the military will turn its back on them: cannot be buried in a National Cemetery and cannot enter a military base.

The concern is not just for certain sex offenses.  Many of our veterans have returned home from wars with brain injuries like the concussions professional football players suffer from, causing CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).  It is known that CTE can cause people to do things they would never have done before this condition sets in, such as committing 1st degree murder.  This is the thanks that our country gives these people who were ready at a moment’s notice to defend our country–because of brain injuries suffered in battle, they cannot be buried in a National Cemetery.

(Note:  Even though the North Vietnamese pilots and military were ruthless, this is not meant to be a reflection on all Vietnamese citizens who are a blessing to have on this earth.)

Also, concerning VA nursing homes, my husband was declared 100% disabled by the VA due to a severe anxiety/PTSD diagnosis.  I talked to two different social workers at the Gainesville Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center asking them what would happen to my husband if I were to die knowing that he was on the Sex Offense Registry.  I was told that if someone would bring him to their medical facility and explain that his wife could no longer take care of him, a room would be found for him in their hospital until they could find a permanent facility to put him in.  They would not allow him to become homeless.  It was explained to me that because of his service to our country, the VA would see to it that he was taken care of.  

The VA does NOT discriminate.

I do not know their policy, though, if you are not with the VA.  That is why every veteran needs to reach out to the VA or DAV, particularly since they have recently opened their medical facilities to more veterans. It never hurts to ask.

Sarah