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CNN Live At Daybreak
What's Being Done For Families of Soldiers Who Don't Come Home
Aired July 02, 2003 - 05:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The violence has been escalating against U.S. troops in Iraq. Twenty-five Americans have been killed since May 1st, when President Bush announced that major combat operation had come to an end.
In part four of our Forgotten Heroes series, CNN's senior business correspondent, Rhonda Schaffler, takes a look at what's being done for the families of soldiers who don't come home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is overwhelming.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Servicemen and women returning home...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job, Gary.
SCHAFFLER: ... to heartfelt appreciation and a hero's welcome after a successful tour of duty in Iraq. But nearly 200 American families who lost loved ones during major combat operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom did not get that opportunity. Neither did Jean Gibbs.
JEAN GIBBS, MILITARY WIDOW: His helicopter just crashed and he died. It was a training mission.
SCHAFFLER: David Gibbs was a career military man, first joining the Marines out of high school and later becoming an Army pilot. He was in Albania in 1999 when the accident occurred, leaving her to mourn and care for their young children.
GIBBS: When your husband is taken from you, a lot of things aren't important, you know? I mean so what's important, I mean, is you and your family, and that's it.
SCHAFFLER: Soldiers killed in action are eligible for a full military funeral, an American flag draping the casket, "Taps" playing in the background and a burial in a national cemetery.
(voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to places like the Korean War Memorial to honor those who paid the ultimate price in war. But what's often forgotten is what happens to those families the soldiers left behind.
(voice-over): Currently, a surviving spouse is eligible for $935 a month. Each surviving child increases the payment by $237. Families also receive a life insurance payout of $250,000, far greater than the $10,000 coverage given to widows during the Vietnam War.
Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss, who heads the subcommittee on military compensation, says he's committed to making sure widows like Jean Gibbs are treated fairly.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: We want to make sure that it's a real benefit. We don't want it to be a token benefit because anybody who makes that ultimate sacrifice is doing so in the interests of freedom and democracy. And we've got to make sure that we provide benefits commensurate with that kind of a sacrifice.
SCHAFFLER: Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi says that's why he is constantly looking at the system.
ANTHONY PRINCIPI, SECRETARY, VETERANS AFFAIRS: I'm always looking, trying to identify where we need to make improvements and how we can better serve those who lost their life in uniform. Again, I think it goes to the heart of what we do.
SCHAFFLER: The military provides casualty officers to survivors to assist in their initial shock and grief. But often the need for help lasts a lot longer.
DAN DRUEN, CEO, TAPS: That's where TAPS steps in, if you will. TAPS was formed out of that need to have somebody there to pick up the pieces, if you will, and take that family from that two to four weeks after the death through a lifetime of overall wellness.
SCHAFFLER: Druen is the CEO of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a non-profit, peer support and counseling service founded in 1994. Gibbs says TAPS has helped her and her children deal with the tragedy.
GIBBS: I think that just seeing so many other people that made it, that have survived, and having that common ground, I mean just, they made it. I've just -- and then them letting you know you can do it, and just taking it slowly.
SCHAFFLER: Slowly and surviving one day at a time.
Rhonda Schaffler, CNN Financial News, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired July 2, 2003 - 05:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The violence has been escalating against U.S. troops in Iraq. Twenty-five Americans have been killed since May 1st, when President Bush announced that major combat operation had come to an end.
In part four of our Forgotten Heroes series, CNN's senior business correspondent, Rhonda Schaffler, takes a look at what's being done for the families of soldiers who don't come home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is overwhelming.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Servicemen and women returning home...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job, Gary.
SCHAFFLER: ... to heartfelt appreciation and a hero's welcome after a successful tour of duty in Iraq. But nearly 200 American families who lost loved ones during major combat operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom did not get that opportunity. Neither did Jean Gibbs.
JEAN GIBBS, MILITARY WIDOW: His helicopter just crashed and he died. It was a training mission.
SCHAFFLER: David Gibbs was a career military man, first joining the Marines out of high school and later becoming an Army pilot. He was in Albania in 1999 when the accident occurred, leaving her to mourn and care for their young children.
GIBBS: When your husband is taken from you, a lot of things aren't important, you know? I mean so what's important, I mean, is you and your family, and that's it.
SCHAFFLER: Soldiers killed in action are eligible for a full military funeral, an American flag draping the casket, "Taps" playing in the background and a burial in a national cemetery.
(voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to places like the Korean War Memorial to honor those who paid the ultimate price in war. But what's often forgotten is what happens to those families the soldiers left behind.
(voice-over): Currently, a surviving spouse is eligible for $935 a month. Each surviving child increases the payment by $237. Families also receive a life insurance payout of $250,000, far greater than the $10,000 coverage given to widows during the Vietnam War.
Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss, who heads the subcommittee on military compensation, says he's committed to making sure widows like Jean Gibbs are treated fairly.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: We want to make sure that it's a real benefit. We don't want it to be a token benefit because anybody who makes that ultimate sacrifice is doing so in the interests of freedom and democracy. And we've got to make sure that we provide benefits commensurate with that kind of a sacrifice.
SCHAFFLER: Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi says that's why he is constantly looking at the system.
ANTHONY PRINCIPI, SECRETARY, VETERANS AFFAIRS: I'm always looking, trying to identify where we need to make improvements and how we can better serve those who lost their life in uniform. Again, I think it goes to the heart of what we do.
SCHAFFLER: The military provides casualty officers to survivors to assist in their initial shock and grief. But often the need for help lasts a lot longer.
DAN DRUEN, CEO, TAPS: That's where TAPS steps in, if you will. TAPS was formed out of that need to have somebody there to pick up the pieces, if you will, and take that family from that two to four weeks after the death through a lifetime of overall wellness.
SCHAFFLER: Druen is the CEO of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a non-profit, peer support and counseling service founded in 1994. Gibbs says TAPS has helped her and her children deal with the tragedy.
GIBBS: I think that just seeing so many other people that made it, that have survived, and having that common ground, I mean just, they made it. I've just -- and then them letting you know you can do it, and just taking it slowly.
SCHAFFLER: Slowly and surviving one day at a time.
Rhonda Schaffler, CNN Financial News, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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