AFP Newsletter - Summer 2020 ENGLISH

5 Issue #35 • Summer 2020 Armed Forces Pensioners’ / Annuitants’ Association of Canada Guarding YOUR Pension Join Us Today Membership ensures that all Armed Forces pensioners and their spouses have a strong advocacy voice. The Armed Force Pensioners’ / Annuitants’ Association of Canada is committed to protect and promote the interests of retired Canadian Forces personnel and their spouses. AFP/AAC objectives: • To oppose attempts to reduce indexation of the CAF Superannuation Benefit. • To advocate for an increase in the Survivor Benefit. • To lobby against a “Target Benefit” pension plan which could replace the current “Defined Benefit” plan (and inflation protection), for CAF pensioners. • To lobby for benefits of widows/widowers of CAF pension- ers who they married after the pensioner reached age 60. Visit www.afpaac.ca to learn more about membership benefits. Membership is only $ 15/ year Disability... On the Veterans Affairs Can- ada website, it says, “During this time, we are using the Veterans Emergency Fund to the full extent possible to support Veterans’ safety and well-being. Should you require emergency financial assistance, the Veterans Emergency Fund is a pos- sible solution for your needs.” In addition, the website notes that VAC recognizes the difficulties some veterans may have to obtain all the documentation needed for their disability benefits application to be processed, especially if they cannot access their regular health practitioners. “We want to assure you that your date of application is protected, even if you are unable to submit medical (or other) infor- mation to support your claim until later. If your claim is approved, you will be paid back to this date. It is important to remember, Pain & Suffering Compensation decisions and effective dates cannot predate April 1, 2019. If there is a delay in providing requested information, veterans or their family members do not need to request an extension, and their claim may be placed on hold until such time as the required documentation has been received.” The pressure to automatically approve applications for veterans’ disability benefits is being made with the understanding that VAC could conduct audits afterwards to confirm eligibility. This is deemed by many to be a prudent course of action given that approval rates for most categories of injuries — in- cluding post-traumatic stress dis- order — are extremely high. It has also been pointed out that during the pandemic, the federal govern- ment has been providing billions of dollars in support to Canadian individuals and businesses with the caveat that should these recipients not meet eligibility requirements, they may be required to return the funds later. Continued from page 4 A n all too obscure vignette of Canadian mili- tary history is our involvement in a super-elite, American-Canadian commando unit —The “First Special Service Force” — during the Second World War. It was formed in July 1942 from care- fully screened Canadian and U.S. volunteers, many of whom were formerly hard rock miners, explosive specialists, skiers, parachutists, hunters and rugged individualists. Popularized in a somewhat distorted 1968 Hollywood movie as “The Devil’s Brigade,” the unit became better known and feared by the Axis and Allies alike as the “Black Devils.” Conceived in part by Winston Churchill as part of his Special Operations plan to “set Europe ablaze,” the unit trained first in the mountains of Montana, where it was rapidly moulded into one of the most highly skilled and successful combat units to serve in World War II. Its motto was “more sweat on the training field means less blood on the battlefield.” Strenuous 100-mile speed marches were the norm. The men were all specially trained in hand-to-hand combat with all kinds of weapons and explosives along with innovative all-terrain vehicles like the Weasel de- signed especially for their daredevil initiatives. They bonded tightly through intensive training and dedica- tion to the Force. The rigorous training routine sifted the hard from the soft, fully integrating Canadians The Devil’s Brigade – by Derek H. Burney See Devil’s on page 6