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Operation Hero Miles focuses on wounded
Published on Tuesday, Mar 25, 2008
Our attempt to help local military families is going a bit like the war itself: Some progress has been made, but there's no resolution in sight and the frustration is building.
As we reported a couple of weeks ago, service members who want to fly home for a visit before or after shipping out to Iraq or Afghanistan have to pay their own way — and often must pay the same astronomical rates as last-minute business travelers.
The airlines offer only modest discounts to military personnel, and only in selected markets. Some carriers don't offer any discounts at all.
That's a stark contrast to the Vietnam era, when a service member could fly inexpensively on any commercial flight with an empty seat.
Some area families are nearly going broke because of this. It's a significant, ongoing problem — and it's just not right. We take these young kids, ship them halfway around the world to risk their lives in some God-forsaken desert, and then we won't even fly them all the way home?
Juanita Newell's son has logged six tours in Iraq. She is a middle-class resident of Doylestown who struggles to keep her checkbook in the black. When she had the chance to hook up with her son before a couple of his tours, she had to pass because she simply couldn't afford it.
''My heart would sink each time my son was heading out and we couldn't see each other because of the expenses,'' she says. ''But through a lot of prayer, we did what we had to do. . . . It's sad that so many Americans aren't even aware of these issues.''
Readers from all over our area spoke of similar financial burdens.
Their pain is felt deeply by Tim and Marla Conley of Canton, who know firsthand the wrenching emotions a parent feels when his or her child heads off to war.
The Conleys have an Army son in Iraq. They sent me a $300 check with this note:
''Flights are costly, and we cannot imagine parents not being able to meet their soldiers coming home or leaving to war. Please accept this check to help out some deserving military family.''
University of Akron Vice President Ted Curtis wrote a check directly to Ruth Morris, the Cuyahoga Falls woman who went into debt to fly home her Guardsman. Several other readers came forward with generous offers of assistance.
But in terms of establishing an ongoing program, we're still looking for the right business or group — someone, preferably with official 501(c)(3) charity status, capable of raising funds, screening applicants and processing donations.
Two readers misinterpreted the original column and expressed shock that the government won't pay to fly the troops back to the U.S. from Iraq and Afghanistan. Just to be clear, the troops are not left to fend for themselves at Baghdad International Airport. All of them are flown for free back to the continental U.S. The financial problem kicks in when they attempt to get from their domestic base to their hometown.
If a service member is coming home from the war on a formal rest and relaxation
leave (''R & R''), this is not an issue. Since 2004, folks in that situation have been flown door-to-door for free. But if you're coming home right before shipping out to the war or coming home after a tour of duty, you're on your own.
Prior to 2004, the slack for R&R travel was picked up by a group called Operation Hero Miles. Launched by a Maryland congressman, the program allowed ordinary citizens to donate frequent-flier miles to the troops.
Since the government started picking up those fares (finally!), Operation Hero Miles has shifted its focus to helping those who have been wounded. Today, Hero Miles will cover round-trip tickets in two instances:
• When a service member at a military or VA medical center gets a leave of five days or more to travel home.
• When family members or close friends of someone being treated at a medical center come to visit the wounded person.
Ten airlines participate in the program, including the dominant carrier at Cleveland Hopkins — Continental — and the top carriers at Akron-Canton — AirTran and Delta. For more information or to donate miles, visit the group's Web site (http://www.heromiles.org). That should be music to the ears of the two readers who offered to contribute frequent-flier miles.
But that still doesn't address the issue of noninjured military fliers. Nothing is in place for that.
Subscribing to the theory that every little bit counts, though, here's a Web site that pinpoints the cases in which various airlines will waive fees and penalties for last-minute changes: http://www.defenselink.mil/mapcentral/airtable.html.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
Our attempt to help local military families is going a bit like the war itself: Some progress has been made, but there's no resolution in sight and the frustration is building.
Get the full article here.
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