The widow of an airman killed on a combat mission in the Middle East has shared her outrage after it took a viral social media post to get issues related to her husband's benefits and basic pay months resolved. Alex Klinner, 33, was one of six military members onboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft when it crashed in western Iraq in March while supporting operations against Iran. A total of 18 U.S. service members have been killed, along with 790 wounded, since the war began more than six months ago.
The Air Force reached out to his widow, Libby Klinner, this week to clarify that his final paycheck would include hazard pay and combat-related tax breaks. This came after she voiced frustration on social media at being told by a military officer assigned to support her after her husband’s death that he was ineligible for those benefits because “we were not at war.” “My husband lost his life because we’re in a war, and then I was told that because it’s not technically a war, we lose out on something,” Klinner told The . Vice President JD Vance promised to look into her case after being asked about it during a White House briefing on Thursday.
On Friday, President Donald Trump called U.S. strikes “intermittent" and defended Vance's comments. In late July, the Trump administration created a new, separate category in the Pentagon's casualty count system for those killed and wounded in renewed U.S.-Iran fighting. Pentagon officials said the change was necessary because “Operation Epic Fury,” the original name for combat operations against Tehran, had ended.
Since July 7, all U.S. casualties in the Middle East have been tallied under “Overseas Operations.” Libby Klinner said Air Force officials contacted her this week to say they were initiating a review of her husband's pay. The Air Force acknowledged to her Thursday that it had initially provided inaccurate information and clarified that she was receiving the full pay and benefits her husband was owed, she said. She said she was told that her husband's paycheck had already included but incorrectly itemized the combat-related hazard pay and tax breaks.
The pay incentives commonly known as “combat pay” are $225 per month and are not conditioned on a formal war declaration but just that the service member be in an area where there is “grave danger of physical injury” or be “killed, injured, or wounded by a hostile fire event,” according to a military website. Alex Klinner’s final paycheck would have included half that amount since troops are paid twice per month. It is difficult to calculate how much in federal tax breaks Klinner would have been receiving without more information.
Klinner declined to specify the amount of money she was initially told her husband, an eight-year Air Force veteran from Birmingham, Alabama, would be ineligible to receive. The Air Force said officials spoke with Klinner this week to “ensure all her questions are fully addressed” and confirmed that “all eligible combat theater benefits were included” in her husband's pay. Klinner, as well as all the families of the Airmen who died in the KC-135 crash,” the Air Force added.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
