Libby Klinner Lost Her Husband to the "War We Can't Call a War" — Now She's Being Denied Some Survivors Benefits on Technicalities

Six months ago, Libby Klinner lost her husband to the Iran War. 

Maj. Alex Klinner was one of six airmen killed on March 12, when their refueling aircraft went down over western Iraq while supporting military operations against Iran. He left behind a wife, a 2½-year-old son, and 7-month-old twins.

This weekend, Libby marked six months since his death with a photo of her and her child on Instagram. The caption: "Six months of a war we can't call a war…”

Here's why that wording matters.

Libby said the Air Force recently told her that because the U.S. hasn't officially declared war on Iran, her family isn't eligible for certain benefits — benefits she says her late husband's service should have earned his children.

Libby explained where the information came from. Her casualty assistance officer told her directly that certain benefits couldn't be paid out because war hasn't been declared — and that what's missing is combat-pay related: hostile fire and imminent danger pay, combat zone exclusions, and similar compensation built specifically for families who lose someone in a war zone.

She put it plainly:

"So not only was my husband killed in a war he never wanted to participate in, but now the benefits we're left with are being dictated by semantics and public perception."

She's also had to fend off strangers questioning her husband's choice to serve, and bot-generated hostility flooding her comments — which she's since turned off.

"No one joins the military because they want to go to war," she wrote back. "They chose to defend their country knowing they could be sent to war but hoping they won't be. They also join with the assumption that a war would be the last resort, which was not the case in Iran."

Alex Klinner was 33. He served as chief of squadron standardizations and evaluations for the 99th Air Refueling Squadron in Birmingham. He entered the Air Force through Auburn's ROTC program; Libby is a University of Alabama grad. They met through mutual friends and built a family together.