Foundation to Cover Sequester Cuts to Iraq, Afghanistan Scholarships

A Florida-based charity announced today that it will cover the funding cut from scholarships for children of military members who died fighting in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars because of sequestration.

ABC News reported Tuesday that scholarships were being cut by as much as $2,133.81 per recipient this year because of automatic budget cuts to the Department of Education included in the sequester legislation.

The Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, a Jacksonville Beach organization that helps children of military members who perished while on active duty to finance their education, said it will use funding from private donations to cover the gap left by sequester cuts.

"We work with our children any way to find them all available funding and grants towards college," Executive Director John Coogan told ABC News today.

Coogan said the organization dedicates every dollar of donations to identifying children of the fallen, advising them on how best to find grants and scholarships for higher education, and covering whatever costs are left over.

The foundation is nonpartisan, but Coogan said the announcement about sequestration triggered an increased sense of responsibility to help out in this respect.

"I think, generally speaking, it's important for us to stay focused that the children of these fallen patriots aren't affected by policy disagreements," Coogan said.

The challenge for the organization is finding these children - be they infants or just reaching college age - so they can help. Coogan said the organization had already enrolled 1,800 children, but he estimated there were about 15,000 who had lost a parent in the line of duty.

"We're really looking to increase the number of children that we've identified so that we can be sure we're doing what we're supposed to be doing as an organization," Coogan said.

In speaking this afternoon, Coogan said the group had already begun the process of reaching out to families of those Marines killed in a training exercise in Nevada Tuesday.

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Helicopter crash in Afghanistan kills five foreign troops: NATO

KABUL (Reuters) - A helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan killed five members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, NATO said on Tuesday, although there were no immediate details about the cause of the crash.

A brief ISAF statement said the crash occurred on Monday.

"The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident," the NATO statement said.

It also did not give any details about the nationality of the troops killed, although U.S. and British forces make up the bulk of the NATO-led contingent in Afghanistan's south. Australian troops also still operate in the south.

The crash came on the same day that two U.S. troops and five Afghan police and soldiers were killed in a so-called insider attack by a person in an Afghan military uniform in the restive east of the country.

New Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel left Afghanistan earlier on Monday after a difficult first trip to Kabul.

His trip was marred by a suicide bomb attack near where he was holding a meeting, and differences with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who accused the United States of colluding with the Taliban.

Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Afghanistan and the Taliban and others often claim to have shot them down, although such claims by insurgents are often exaggerated.

Last August, 11 people, including seven U.S. soldiers, were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan.

The worst such incident was in August 2011, when the Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, killing all 38 people on board, including 25 U.S. special operations troops.

(Reporting by Paul Tait; Editing by Michael Perry)

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