DIC+SBP UPDATE 04:   The husband of Anne Parks-- a military policeman exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange during two tours in Vietnam -- paid 30 years of premiums on their Defense Department Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) insurance policy the couple believed would allow her to pay the bills and live comfortably after his death.  When he died in 2006, Parks learned that the law allows the government to significantly cut -- and in many cases eliminate -- that Defense Department insurance payment if the surviving spouse elects to receive a Veterans Affairs benefit (DIC) established to compensate for the loss of a family member whose death was service-related. DoD refunded the Parks' premiums, but it paid no interest on the money, which was counted as income and taxed. Called an "offset," the dollar-for-dollar cut was created to limit how much compensation payments cost the government.  Nearly 57,000 surviving spouses of military retirees argue that the benefits are separate. One is insurance, bought and paid for through premiums, and the other is a federal benefit for surviving dependents.

      In most cases, surviving spouses were unaware they wouldn't get that money after their husbands or wives died. The offset has forced some elderly surviving spouses to live solely on the VA benefit -- with a base rate of about $13,100 a year -- or to get a job to make the rent or house payments. Eliminating the offset between the SBP and DIC programs is estimated to cost between $6 billion and $8 billion over the first 10 years, an argument used by some people who oppose eliminating the offset. "That cost is a cost of war," said Jeanne Thompson, president of the El Paso del Norte Chapter of the Gold Star Wives of America. "They don't mind spending money" on equipment and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The Gold Star Wives have been at the forefront of the effort eliminate the offset.  "They (members of Congress) don't feel they need to find the money because we're not a very vocal group," said Edith Smith, a Virginia resident who is on the Gold Star Wives Government Relations Committee and has been trying to persuade lawmakers to remove the offset since 1999. "Most of our members don't understand the process of

government and how important it is to participate --just to call their representatives in Congress."

Joey Strickland Director, Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Joey Strickland was appointed to head the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services by Governor Janet Napolitano. Colonel Strickland comes to the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services from serving as the Deputy Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, a 500-employee department. Colonel Strickland previously served as the Executive Director of the Department from June 1998 to August 2004, successfully working to obtain state and legislative approval and funding for four additional war veterans homes and two state veterans cemeteries in Louisiana.

Colonel Strickland, who is half Choctaw-Cherokee, has also served as the Director of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs from January 1996 to August 2004, and the Executive Director of the Louisiana Troops to Teachers Program from July 1995 to June 1998, working with the Department of Education and the military to recruit retired military personnel with education degrees to be teachers in Louisiana. Colonel Strickland is also a fluent Spanish speaker.

From 1966 to September 1994, Colonel Strickland served as an Officer in the U.S. Army. He served more than 28 years as a combat arms officer for the Airborne Infantry and Armor assignments, and served two combat tours in Vietnam. In 2003, he was inducted into the Louisiana Military Hall of Honor. Colonel Strickland has a bachelor’s in political science from Hampton University in Virginia, a master’s degree in counselor education-psychology from Auburn University in Alabama (’81), and a certificate in aero space studies from Maxwell Air Force Base’s Air Force Command and General Staff College (the equivalent of a master’s degree).

Colonel Strickland is a life member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and of the Disabled American Veterans.