A little over two years ago I become a widow of a retired Army officer. It was unexpected and I was left to pick up the pieces with my children and to navigate through life as a widow on my own. After having been an Army wife for 28 years, I've worked with many casualty assistance officers who helped widows/widowers through the grueling process of planning a funeral, receiving benefits, pay, etc. It didn't occur to me at the time that retirees do not have anyone to assist them. The Global Military Family Coalition didn't exist at the time. So I, along with an advocate who has worked with many military families, co-founded GMFC. We want to ensure that what I had to deal with following the death of my husband, is avoided in the future. Of course, that is only one piece of everyone's story we will assist with, GMFC is there for every military family every step of the way.
The past 7 months has been something short of a nightmare for me and my family. My warrior passed away with Cancer the first part of March and I found myself not knowing who or where to turn for help with reinstating his pay, Burial Benefits, VA, it was all a jumble and a very difficult bureaucracy to navigate. I had tried to file for his benefits through a VA Service Officer when I realized that retired military did not have a Survival Assistance Officer any longer. I did manage to get his Life Insurance policy, and notified my bank of his passing, our Auto Insurance, etcetera on my own. I found myself without his VA benefits, DIC, and DFAS, struggling to make ends meet. I reached out to some of our retired friends and they weren't
sure, and pushed me toward a VA Service Officer that I had already seen. Zero. I was speaking to a friend of mine that had lost her husband 2 years ago and she mentioned that she had been given a list of organizations after his death and gave me the telephone number of Global Military Family Coalition at MacDill AFB.
I called this organization on a Wednesday afternoon nearly at my witsend believing I would hear from them the next day. At 5:30 PM that day I receivied a call from Larry Rivera and we agreed to meet the next day. At this point, I am flabbergasted to have this kind of service and he was here with his Partner Jeannie Bennett Strattis the next day at noon. Within less than 2 hours, I had most of my affairs back in order and he immediately went to work on them. When I was told what they were going to do, I was in tears of joy and relief. It was the first glimmer of hope I had since my husband had passed away. I found money out of seemingly nowhere coming back into my checking account within 3 weeks so that I can finally pick up the pieces of what's left of my shattered life. This Organization did this in less that 1 month what had taken me 6 months. I owe a debt of gratitude to these people. I cannot thank them enough for their kindness, support, and knowhow!
A resounding Thank you to you both Jeannie and Larry I will be forever grateful!
Respectfully,
Jan Dunlap and Family.