Fort Hood Terror Victims Getting Purple Hearts — But No Benefits

The victims of the Fort Hood shootings are receiving Purple Hearts, but the military is continuing to deny benefits for the injuries that the soldiers sustained in the attack, something one man who was shot says is "unheard of."

"I think it's almost unheard of for someone to receive the Purple Heart but not have their injuries deemed combat-related," former Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning, who still carries two bullets in his body from the attack, told Fox News. "I know that was not what Congress intended to have happen, but it is what currently the Army has determined is going to happen."

Manning has also been suffering from PTSD since the Nov. 5, 2009, incident, when Maj. Nidal Hasan shot him and several other victims in a terrorist attack that has since been linked to al-Qaida. 

The Defense Department initially classified the attacks as workplace violence, but changed the designation to terrorism. In this year's defense budget, the National Defense Authorization Act, there is language saying a person injured or killed in an attack inspired or motivated by a foreign terrorist organization can receive the Purple Heart and the Defense of Freedom Medal.

However, a physical evaluation board rejected Manning's appeal,  saying the new law does not offer combat benefits for victims in attacks like the one at Fort Hood.

Manning said he appreciates the recognition, but the board's decision means he will lose back pay and $800 a month in benefits, and other Fort Hood survivors are facing the same treatment. 

"I think you know it's a huge let down," he said. "I hope that's not what the Army had intended to do."

The Army in 2012 denied that Hasan had acted as a terrorist, and found that he had not used a military weapon, but a private semi-automatic pistol, and that the evidence "does not support that the injuries sustained were the direct result of armed conflict."

Sen. Ted Cruz, a GOP presidential candidate, Friday said it is "outrageous and it's indefensible" that Manning and the other Fort Hood victims are being refused attack benefits, reports Breitbart.

The Texas lawmaker, speaking to "Fox & Friends" from Fort Hood, the site of the Purple Heart ceremony, lambasted the Obama administration, saying lawmakers passed the legislation so the soldiers injured could get their benefits.

"It shouldn't have taken five years; this should have happened five years ago," he said. "Enough games. Five years is far too long."

Cruz said that it is his responsibility to "fight for 27 million Texans every day in the Senate," and he plans to continue to fight until all the soldiers get the benefits they deserve for fighting terrorism.

Source http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/637748