Gunner's Blog

James:

I surfed around the net, and found a reference on the subject of siblings in service. Here is a link to the Selective Service information:

http://www.sss.gov/FSsurviv.htm

Here is a quote from that page:


"It is important to keep in mind that the provisions are directly related to service-connected deaths. The mere fact that a man is the only child or only son does not qualify him for exemption - he must be the survivor of one who died as a result of military service.

The present law provides a peacetime exemption for anyone whose parent or sibling was killed in action, died in line of duty, or died later as a result of disease or injury incurred in line of duty while serving in the armed forces of the United States. Also included are those whose parent or sibling is in a captured or missing status as a result of service in the armed forces during any period of time. This is known as the "surviving son or brother" provision. A man does not have to be the only surviving son in order to qualify; if there are four sons in a family and one dies in the line of duty, the remaining three would qualify for surviving son or brother status under the present law.

The surviving son or brother provision is applicable only in peacetime. It does not apply in time of war or national emergency declared by the Congress."

In order to know the answer, we must find out if the Iraq operation is a national emergency. I know that it has not been declared war.

Wikipedia has an answer in an article named "Declaration of war by the United States". Here is a link to the article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States

It indicates that while the "Iraq War" was explicitly authorized by Congress, it falls short of a formal declaration of war.

In my opinion, and based upon the above, I think that if you should lose one of your sons, you can have the other one sent home, as it is still a peace time operation as opposed to war time operation. Please note that Wikipedia entries are written by members of the public who feel that they know enough about a subject to write about it. They are not considered an authority on any subject.

Please remember that I am not an attorney, and the above is a layman's opinion. I recommend that you contact an attorney that specializes in military law.

anon