Army Weekend

James is in the Utah National Guard. Once a month he has an army weekend. He's tried to "shelter" me (in his words) from the guard and the strangeness of it, I guess. Yesterday, though, was a family day with spouse briefings. He said I didn't need to go, but I wanted to go and see what it was all about. We learned about the variety of benefits offered to veterans, family readiness, and financial planning. Here are some tidbits of the briefings.

James is "disabled." I knew that. He has a knee injury that happened in Iraq when he jumped down from a truck. He has filed the proper "medical" paperwork for this injury so that in the event (years down the road) that his knee needs more medical attention, the VA will cover it. He's on a medical "profile" which basically means he doesn't have to do the running portion of the his PT tests because it hurts really bad and makes his knee worse. That we knew. What didn't we know?

There are a variety of services reserved for veterans who are actually disabled in the sense that they cannot work or care for themselves and they need government assisstance. However, there are also a lot of benefits for any veterans who are "disabled" like James is, whether it be from a bullet wound or a messed up ankle from an army softball game. If we fill out a couple more forms, James is eligible to receive 20% off our on our home and vehicle property taxes. He can get a free lifetime national park pass as well as a free lifetime state park pass. He and I both can be buried for free at Camp Williams with a free brass headstone. Cool, huh!

Okay that's all I have to report.