My email to the Adjutant General of Arkansas

Monday, July 28, 2008 10:53PM

Dear Sir,

My husband, SSG Michael R. Griffin (SSN), was deployed with the 39th Brigade for their first tour in Iraq. He was injured there, as well as in New Orleans when he volunteered with the ARNG after Hurricane Katrina. He has had two shoulder surgeries and is unable to work his job as an LPN. He has been put on INCAP pay with the National Guard while waiting for his PEB/MEB proceedings. He has gone to his FFDB, and has appealed their decision.

We have had numerous problems with the INCAP pay being processed during the time he's been receiving it. This is mostly due, in my opinion, to the high turnover of administrative personnel within the National Guard, their age and rank (and, therefore, their lack of training), and a lack of communication between the unit level personnel and the state level personnel. We are constantly given the "runaround" by all involved.

As of this letter, he has not received INCAP pay for April, May, June or July. We are trying to make ends meet, but are two months or more behind on the majority of our bills. We were told the pay problem is due to the fact that no one has ever filed an INCAP Pay Extension on his behalf, but that they are working to get the extension filed. We were told first that they would be able to file his packets for April, May and June pay without the extension, and now they are telling us the INCAP pay for April, May, and June cannot be filed and accepted without the extension being processed first. My husband has given the administrative personnel assigned to his case his trust and is always one to take people at their word. He has been very patient and tried to do things via his chain of command without any results. Any guidance or help on this matter would be greatly appreciated at this point, as we are already in desperate times. I am attaching the call log that he has been keeping over the last month to give you some idea of what we've been dealing with. Here is our point of contact information on all those involved with my husband's case:
[I listed contact info for Michael, SGT Casey Jackson, SSG Eugene Moore, MSG Harry Cummings and Mrs. Bridget O'Connell]

Thank you for your time,
Brie'Anne Griffin