‘Wartime Veterans’ and the Aid and Attendance Benefit

There are several different types of pensions available to veterans from all walks of life and all ages. These pensions are designed to provide financial assistance to qualifying veterans, whether they may need help learning a new vocation, changing careers, getting adequate medical attention, or even relying on home care support services.

The Aid and Attendance Benefit is one such a pension program.

This pension was developed following World War I and was initially intended to provide support to soldiers who had been injured and disabled during battle. Through the years, though, it was expanded to provide financial assistance to veterans of all ages, whether they saw active combat or not, and whether they were injured or disabled during service or not.

A common question people have is about wartime veterans.

In order to qualify for the Aid and Attendance Benefit, the veteran needs to be considered a ‘wartime veteran.’ This essentially means the veteran has to have served at least one day of active duty during an official time of combat. This ‘official time of combat’ is defined by Congress and basically covers World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. For veterans who served any time during the Gulf War, their minimum time of active duty service needs to be two years. For other qualifying veterans, it needs to be 90 days.

Does this mean a veteran has to have been in a combat situation?

No. This is one of the more confusing components of this provision for the Aid and Attendance Benefit. The veteran does not need to have fought in a forward combat situation. For example, a qualifying veteran may have served during the Vietnam War, but was stationed in Africa, on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, or even on a base in the United States itself.

Since their time of service fell during a time of official combat, they would qualify for this particular pension, but only based on that requirement.

There are other requirements for this pension. This includes the need to prove home care is necessary at this point in the veteran’s life, and that their income and assets meeting a certain threshold limit.

Their assets amount also needs to be low in order to qualify for this pension. Any veteran who is having difficulty with their safety, well-being, or quality of life and would benefit from a home care aide but can’t afford it is encouraged to investigate the Aid and Attendance Benefit in greater detail.

If you or a loved one are considering hiring home care for veterans, please contact the friendly staff at Veterans Care Coordination™. Call today: 1-855-380-4400

Posted in Aid and Attendance Benefit

About Kyle Laramie, Founder & CEO

Kyle founded Veterans Care Coordination in April 2011. As its founder and CEO of VCC, Kyle is driven by the memory of his grandfather, a World War II Veteran who unnecessarily missed out on essential VA benefits because Kyle’s family wasn’t aware of available opportunities. In recognition of his impact in leadership, Kyle was named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s prestigious “40 Under 40” list and St. Louis Small Business Monthly’s “100 St. Louisans to Know” in 2014. VCC was named a St. Louis Small Business Monthly “Top 20” small business and a finalist for the St. Louis Post Dispatch Top Workplace (2015-2022), St. Louis Business Journal Best Place to Work (2019 & 2022), and the Arcus Awards (2014). The team has served more than 14,000 Veteran clients and their families. Kyle frequently speaks on Veterans’ benefits, addressing conferences such as the Home Care Association of America and Decision Health. He is passionate about giving back and has built a charitable-minded organization that supports various philanthropic efforts.