Giff
Johnson, Editor, Marshall Islands Journal / RNZ
Pacific correspondent
The death earlier this month of
a 26-year veteran of the US Army from the Micronesian island
of Kosrae, who was an ardent advocate for healthcare
benefits for island veterans, highlights the ongoing lack of
promised US healthcare support for those who served in the
US armed forces.
Kosraen Robson Henry, who died
earlier this month at age 66 in Kosrae, spent nearly half
his life in the US military and was part of the initial
invasion of Iraq in 2003.
A huge issue for
Marshallese, Micronesian and Palauan members of the US Armed
Forces is that once they get out of the military and return
home, there are no Veterans Administration health services
available to them as there are in the US and other
international locations for American veterans.
To
access medical care, island veterans must fly at their own
expense to Honolulu, Guam or the US mainland where VA
hospitals are located.
Despite the US Congress in the
past several years adopting increasingly explicit
legislation directing the US Veterans Administration to
initiate systems for providing care to the hundreds of
veterans of these three US-affiliated island nations,
services have yet to materialize.
The Compact of Free
Association (COFA) that became part of US law in 2024
“included provisions to have this healthcare available in
our islands – as this Congress emphasized in November’s
Continuing Resolution and December’s National Defense
Authorization Act,” Marshall Islands Ambassador to the US
Charles Paul told a US House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs,
Subcommittee on Health hearing in January.
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However, he
said the Department of Veterans Affairs has not acted to
make the healthcare available.
“Robson has been
actively advocating to extend veteran benefits to COFA
citizens since at least 2008-09, when I first met him,” said
filmmaker Nathan Fitch, who directed the award-winning film
Island Soldier that tracked the lives of Kosraeans in the US
Army – from Middle East war zones to their isolated and
tranquil island home in the North Pacific.
Fitch said
the Kosraean veteran had been active for the longest time
advocating for services for veterans.
“Any progress on
benefits for COFA veterans has to be part of Robson’s
legacy,” Fitch said.
Still, despite ongoing advocacy
by veterans like Henry and Marshall Islands Foreign Minister
Kalani Kaneko, a 20-year veteran of the US Army, services
mandated by US Congressional legislation remain in
limbo.
Henry was also one of the first Micronesians to
join the US Army when he entered on 13 October 1987 – just a
year after implementation of the first COFA that allowed
citizens of the three freely associated states to join the
US military.
Henry stayed in the Army until October
2013, a total of 26 years, through which he was posted to
locations around the world and saw tours of duty in various
Middle East battle zones. His story is not atypical, as many
islanders who join the US military remain in the US armed
forces for decades.
The US military “enlists our
citizens at rates that are higher than the enlistment of US
citizens in most US States,” noted Paul in his testimony at
the hearing in Washington.
Paul told the House
Veterans Committee members that healthcare for returning
military veterans “was a major issue in the renegotiation of
our free association, which culminated in the enactment of
the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2024. The
law was intended to resolve the issue”.
But he said
the Veterans Administration “has acted contrary to what we
negotiated, and Congress has said is the intent of the law.
The Government of the Marshall Islands, therefore, strongly
supports the enactment of legislation to ensure that our
veterans can receive the care if they return
home.”
Meanwhile a small section at the end of the
over 3,000 page National Defense Authorization Act passed by
the US Congress in December sets out a timetable for action
by the Veterans Administration.
The US Defense
spending law requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
provide the US Congress with updates within 30 days of the
passage of the law and monthly thereafter on the
implementation of provisions relating to services for
military veterans in the freely associated states.
The
defense law includes provisions requiring the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs to develop plans and costs for providing
health services for veterans from the freely associated
states. This includes the requirement
of:
- Engagement with the three island
governments. - A projected timeline for island
veterans to receive hospital care and medical
services. - An estimate of the cost to implement these
services.
“For many years, Marshallese and other
Freely Associated States veterans have served honorably in
the United States Armed Forces, often at higher per capita
rates than many States, yet without full and equal access to
veterans’ benefits,” Foreign Minister Kalani Kaneko was
quoted by the Marshall Islands Journal in its January 9
edition. “Addressing that inequity has always been about
fairness, dignity, and recognition of service not
politics.”
Kaneko said that while the language of the
US legislation passed in December is “encouraging … the
most important phase now is implementation.”
He said
the Marshall Islands government is ready to “work
constructively with US agencies to support that process.
This moment represents progress, but it is also a reminder
that our partnership works best when commitments made in law
are carried through in
practice”.
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