Five families of United States service members who died this past weekend in Afghanistan were told by the government that they will not be receiving a "death gratuity" usually sent to next-of-kin 36 hours after death.
As a result of the government shutdown, a handful of families won't receive the $100,000 benefit usually issued to relatives to help soften the blow of high funeral costs and living expenses. The money also helps with airfare that brings families to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to attend official funeral services, NBC reported.
But now, mothers like Shannon Collins - whose son was killed in Afghanistan over the weekend - will have to work more quickly and diligently without the feds to make arrangements for their fallen loved ones.
"The government is hurting the wrong people," Collins told NBC News, adding that she isn't sure when her son's body will be given to her for a family burial. "Families shouldn't have to worry about how they're going to bury their child. Families shouldn't have to worry about how they're going to feed their family if they don't go to work this week."
Her 19-year-old son, Marine Lance Corporal Jeremiah M. Collins, Jr., died on Saturday in Afghanistan's Helmand Province while engaging in combat operations. He, along with four other members of the United States forces, were killed during an IED, or improvised explosive device attack.
"While that benefit may not be urgent for me, it's urgent for somebody," Collins continued. "There's somebody who needs to fly their family home. There's somebody who needs to have expenses covered, or be able to take off work to handle the affairs of their loved one. And to know that the government shutting down will delay their ability to handle their business, some people just won't be able to do it."
"Washington may be shut down, but it's still asking people to go to war," Council on Foreign Relations official Gayle Tzemach Lemmon told NBC. "When people realize that they can serve and fight for their country, but that their families will get an I.O.U. until the shutdown is over, I think they're shocked."
Last week, a piece of legislation passed that allows the continued payment of civilian military personnel in the midst of the government shutdown, NBC reported. But this compensation doesn't extend to the death benefit usually given to families of the deceased.
Republican aides told NBC that they are working on writing a bill that will focus on this concern, and that officials could start moving forward on a draft as soon as Wednesday.
