UPDATE: Heroes of Ft. Hood Terrorism Awarded Purple Hearts, Now Granted Crucial Benefits

Here we go again! The Obama Administration just can’t seem to admit that the attack by a radicalized Muslim Army major that killed and injured dozens at Fort Hood, Texas, constituted a combat situation equivalent to combat situations elsewhere in the world.

As you will doubtless recall, the Administration initially (and inexplicably) called the Fort Hood attack an incident of “workplace violence.”

The ACLJ – on behalf of tens of thousands of Americans – demanded from the beginning that the Administration recognize the Fort Hood attack for what it truly was, an attack by an enemy of the United States in furtherance of the ongoing war on terrorism.

Finally, after years of waiting, the Administration has awarded the Purple Heart medal to the victims of the attack—a major victory. Yet, receiving the Purple Heart normally brings with it certain benefits to the families of those killed and to the soldiers who were wounded and survived the attack.

Not so here. The Administration continues to downgrade what happened at Fort Hood. The victims and their families get the medals, but not the benefits that every other Purple Heart recipient gets.

Somehow, the lives sacrificed at Fort Hood in the war on terrorism don’t seem to be as important in the Administration’s eyes as lives lost elsewhere in the same war. That is a travesty and constitutes a continuing injury to the soldiers who bear the scars of the wounds they received as well as to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives in the attack on that fateful day.

In my view, it is a betrayal by the Nation of those who put their lives in harm’s way for the rest of us. We all need to press Congress to enact a statute to right this continuing wrong!

4.16.2015 UPDATE:  You spoke out, and now a victory.  We are pleased to report that the U.S. Army has announced that recipients of the Purple Heart from the Fort Hood terrorist attack will now also receive the benefits they so desperately deserve.  Tens of thousands of you spoke out as we worked with Members of Congress to pressure the Obama Administration.  Your voice is making a major impact in the lives of these true American heroes.