GOOD Magazine has a nice piece on the struggles of being wounded in battle, and a proposed increase to the family separation allowance. The family separation allowance is a benefit paid out to servicemembers separated from their families during a tour of duty. As the author of the article notes, the family separation allowance can make a big difference when a servicemember is wounded and is taken to a military hospital back in the US. Since the military hospital is often located far from the wounded servicemember’s family, it is costly for the family to come visit. The family separation allowance can help to reduce this financial burden.

The family separation allowance is currently set at $250 per month, but Congressman Jerry McNerney of California is proposing that the allowance be increased to $450 per month, in addition to increases for a number of other benefit payments (read here for more details on Congressman McNerney’s proposed legislation).

Imagine how difficult your life would be, and how much more money you would have to spend, if your husband or wife left home for seven to 15 months at a time. Would you have to pay more often for babysitters, lawn services, and prepared food? Would you have to take extra time off from work to do all those things that usually take two?

Now imagine the stress on you and the rest of your family if your spouse wasn’t just gone from home, but in Iraq or Afghanistan, and you spent every day scared to death of a phone call. Or imagine yourself as the deployed service member, trying to focus on the mission in front of you, worrying from afar if your family has enough money to pay for food, rent, and utilities. Isn’t it worth $200 more per month to help alleviate the psychological and physical stress, heartache, lack of sleep, and the cost of a missing spouse and parent?

Read more: http://www.good.is/post/from-the-hurt-locker-to-capitol-hill/#ixzz0fAmLBW1V
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Read the full article here.