Getting your paperwork in order - Just Do It!

  • Published
  • By Thomas Krug
  • Air Force Service Center
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  We are all very busy and many times we find ourselves rushing to get somewhere or are too busy to deal with our own lives. I have a great job working with others, trying to get their lives straightened out after being wounded, ill or injured in the Air Force and I had to stop and realize that I am just as guilty as the rest of the world at not getting my life in order.


I want to share with everyone the importance of getting your life in order through paperwork and ensuring that your loved ones will not struggle to do what you should have done.


I was helping an individual with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and he retired in February of this year. He retired from the National Guard in Delaware and said he had several things going on, so of course he, as many of us, kept delaying the boring paperwork, i.e. living will, veterans' paperwork and other things he needed.


Shortly after his retirement, he ended up in the hospital with some medical issues that nobody expected, which led to his death. He leaves behind a loving family.


The one big thing in his favor was he had life insurance for his young daughter. However, he never completed the rest of his paperwork. After his long military career, he never got married, so the retirement pay that he worked for will end.


He never completed his combat pay paperwork. His Veteran Affairs entitlements never started and if he were to have gotten this all done, his medical benefits would have kicked in sooner and he possibly could have had a different ending. He could be alive instead of being used as an example in an editorial.


The main point I want to get across to everyone is the fact that we all need to take a little more time away to help ourselves. This means getting all of that "boring" paperwork done. If we don't get the paperwork done, in the end, we have no one to blame but ourselves.


If we get the paperwork done we can then live life to the fullest with the knowledge that if anything does happen to us, our loved ones will not have to catch up on the things we should have done for ourselves. We can rest in peace knowing our loved ones are taken care of and that we have provided them a sound future.