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The United States Air Force is reportedly reviewing a case of a Gold Star widow who claims she was denied benefits because Congress has not officially authorized the war in Iran.
Maj. John Alexander Klinner was one of six servicemembers who were killed during a refueling mission on March 12. His widow, Libby Klinner of Alabama, shared on her Instagram account last weekend that she was being denied widow benefits following his death.
Per Klinner’s recollection, a casualty assistance officer told her that she couldn’t receive what was owed to her because “we have not declared war.”
Klinner’s post went viral, prompting the Air Force to issue a statement claiming that military officials have reached out to her to ensure she will receive “all eligible benefits she and her family are entitled to.” In an update she posted to her Instagram account on Monday, Klinner appeared to confirm that she had been contacted by “the director of mortuary affairs.”
While the process seems to be moving forward, the situation does raise questions over whether benefits are being adequately administered — a point that Klinner herself alluded to by pointing out that contact was initiated “because of the response to my post.”
Benefits to members of the U.S. military appear to have been disrupted in other ways. According to a recent report from The Guardian, there have been “shortfalls in payroll” in the Navy, with the publication citing a memo that suggested this was due to the Department of Defense (DOD) “raiding” Navy funding to help pay for the war.
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While not completely emptied, funding accounts for the Navy are “running dry,” The Guardian reported, with one official stating, “The piggy bank is broken.”
The Pentagon has also faced criticism over how the administration is now counting casualties in the U.S.’s war on Iran. In July, despite the enactment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran, some hostilities between the nations resumed. However, casualties from those incidents were not listed alongside others relating to the war, officially called Operation Epic Fury.
Instead, the DOD has revised its accounting methods, with casualties after July 7 being listed in a separate category — “Overseas Operations.”
With the war ramping up again, it’s unclear where new casualties will be listed, although so far, they appear to have been placed in the Overseas Operations category, as the count for Operation Epic Fury has listed no new casualties since early July.
Between the two lists, the total number of wounded U.S. servicemembers since the start of the war is 767 (417 listed as wounded in Operation Epic Fury, and 350 listed in Overseas Operations). The total number of killed between both lists is 18 soldiers.
In Iran, at least 3,468 people have been killed, with an estimated 26,500 injured, though those figures are likely much higher, as they were last updated in June.
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