For Your Benefit
For and about Hawaii's military
See also: In The Military
VA offers markers
for cremated veteransQuestion: My husband's ashes have been scattered at sea. Does the Department of Veterans Affairs provide a marker so that there is a visual remembrance of him?
Answer: To memorialize an eligible veteran whose remains are not available for burial, VA will provide a memorial headstone or marker. It will be the same as that used to identify a grave except that the phrase "In Memory of" precedes the inscription. The headstone or marker is available to memorialize eligible veterans or deceased service members whose remains were not recovered or identified, buried at sea, donated to science, or cremated and scattered. The VA will supply the marker and pay the cost of shipping, but does not pay for the plot or the placement of the headstone or marker in a state, local or private cemetery. For further information, contact the VA at 433-1000. You can also bring a copy of your husband's discharge certificate (DD 214) and copy of his death certificate to the VA's E-Wing, Diamond Head side of Tripler Army Medical Center and ask to talk to a benefits counselor. Additional information is also available at www.va.gov/hawaii.
Q: I hear a lot about the VA and Department of Defense working together. How is that program coming along?
A: The Department of Defense and the VA recently approved an initiative to deliver seamless, cost-effective, quality services to veterans, service members, military retirees and their families. Among the plan's goals are efforts to improve access to benefits, streamline application processes, eliminate duplicated requirements and smooth other business practices that complicate service members' transition from active duty to veteran status. This will be done by ensuring service members are aware of benefits, eligibility rules and services available to them from both VA and Department of Defense. These benefits include health care, educational assistance, home loans, disability compensation, pension, insurance, burial and memorial services.
The ability to transfer data from Department of Defense to VA quickly, easily and securely is a key element to making the transition seamless. In addition to enhancing and expanding the technical capability of Department of Defense and VA information systems, an "information sharing task force" will be established under the VA-Department of Defense benefits executive council to develop a plan to automate the data collection process. VA and Department of Defense also plan improved coordination of their business processes to better manage capital assets and find ways to enhance other business functions.
If you have questions about your benefits as a veteran,
call Fred Ballard at the Veterans Affairs at 433-0049
or visit the VA Web site at www.va.gov/hawaii
or the Star-Bulletin at 529-4747.Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin,
can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.