By Jonathan Lehrfeld | Air Force Times
Parents of young officers in training and incoming recruits who died in connection with military activities want Congress to approve death benefits that others in the armed forces already receive.
“It’s just been an absolute nightmare. There’s no aspect of our lives that are the same,” said Jessica Swan.
Swan’s daughter, Mackenzie Wilson, 19, a student at Oregon State University and an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet, died in a vehicle accident in June 2022, while at an Air Force base in Idaho for a development program.
Family members of active duty troops can collect financial compensation from the military after a service member dies. But Swan received nothing after her child’s death. Loved ones of those in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, as well as those in a pre-basic training program, are largely ineligible for such payments.