In the government handout envy department, it drives DH CRAZY that my brother has received the benefits he has from the VA. My brother was in the Army for 6 months 40 years ago. They actually REMOVED him, with an HONORABLE discharge (which also drives DH crazy) due to alcoholism. Has anyone ever heard of someone being released from the service because they were alcoholics?

Anyway, those 6 months have probably given him more lives than a cat. He has bounced from VA program to program for substance abuse. He got Hep C and they gave him Harvoni ($1000 a pill), and he's now cured. They have also given him an apartment, complete with furnishings for no more than a couple of hundred bucks out of his pocket (and his pocket is filled with money from the government's SSDI funds.)

Meanwhile, DH served in the Marines during the Vietnam era, and because of our household income, he has not qualified for any/many benefits. I know that when he dies he can get some burial benefits. We've never taken advantage of the GI bill for housing, because of the red tape it would have required.

Some might be as angry about my brother's good fortune as my husband, but as a sister, I can only be grateful that he hasn't had to die homeless against the wall of a New York City building on a cold day like my father did.