Almost Half of New Veterans Seeking Disability Benefits
05.27.2012 at 10:45pm
The Associated Press reports that 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. (Source: Stars and Stripes)
That is more than double the estimated 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told the AP.
These new veterans are claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones over the last year are claiming 11 to 14. By comparison, Vietnam veterans are currently receiving compensation for fewer than four, on average, and those from World War II and Korea, just two.
A few thoughts off the cuff:
5% of 1.6M is a lot of folks- in other words “almost half” is a little misleading. If it was 49%, then I would use “almost half”. 45% is as close to 40% as it is 50%…
Comparing this to Storm and Vietnam is disingenuous. The average joe is deployed more today than in those fights.
Talking to doctors treating patients (as opposed to those in policy positions), and I am hearing that combined with multiple deployments, the amount of gear and body armor we lug around, and the amount of training we do is taking a toll on the average body- lots of joint problems, back problems, and arthritis- and its happening earlier and earlier for military folks today.
Maybe we should do a better job planning for injuries and health care costs prior to deploying our troops- and then our politicians using that calculus to figure out the fiscal implications of war- and thus make better-informed political decisions. Assuming things will be the same- and yet everything about the current wars are different- is not smart.
Oh- and one wonders about how we handle our troops. In other words, in the past there was some decompression figured into deployments- long trips on troop carriers that offered a transition of sorts between combat and home life. Today you can get on a plan in a combat zone and in less than a week be back with family- maybe even as short as one day. The Brits- at least some from what I understand- take their guys to Cyprus and let them hang out on the beach drinking beer and fighting and getting counseling for a week prior to coming home- and supposedly the wives thank the military for that.
Would like to point out the following;
Yes the current force has been on repeated tours and that is not comparable to a single Viet vet tour—but the based on the intensity of the fighting on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis —there is no comparision between the two.
Example in 2005 when IDFs were common it was three rounds and the IDF team ran for cover. My ODA Tm would take as many as 600-700 rounds per day, with no helmets/body armor and we ran ditches under those heavy barrages just to maintain command and control.
So yes while todays vets have done many more operational tours again the intensity is not the same which lends itself to the interesting question as to why PSTD rates are far higher among Iraq/AFG vets than say Viet vets. Most Viet vet PTSD was based on pure trama—having served along side the current vets as a Viet vet defense contractor doing the same job—I am not sure what is causing this level of PTSD.
One needs to also look at the impact of 10 plus cans a day of Red Bull on the sleeping habits of todays’s vets-vs previous wars and then look at why such a large number of current vets have sleeping disorders.
Everyone knows of the Red Bull problems, but no one wants to curtail it’s use in theater.
Just a side comment—most vets of today have heard from other Iraq/AFG vets just how much they can get in disability payments plus they claim for all related injuries ever sustained while on active duty. You now have vets getting 50-60% disability with payments in the 1K plus ranges—most Viet vets even with PTSD and a verified second injury are lucky to rate at max 600-700 unles you are suffering from AO where the rates are far higher.
On the other hand Viet vets had to literally fight for years to get PTSD approved and there is still and ongoing fight with Agent Orange.
VA to a degree has made it far easier to claim for disability in this vet generation than in any previous vet generations.
The power of word and mouth will always drive the rates higher.
I could see that the government has a problem with the veteran’s disability benefits. The problem is that there are several Soldiers that come into the military and after they complete their service, they claim disability and the government has to pay them for the rest of their lives if the injury or illness is service related. Some veterans have service related disabilities and some simply do not, but they just want to get a check for their rest of their lives so they fake injuries in an attempt to get medically discharged or they had planed to get out of the military anyway. They just want a check to continue to hit the bank. I feel a solution to the whole problem is to make applying for the disability a whole lot harder. I understand that it is already a problem for the ones that really deserve it, but the bad apples make the whole system difficult for others who do deserve it. Also another solution could be—unless you are a service member that had a direct combat related injury such as loss of life, limb, or eye sight you should not get paid for VA disability. Sorry but because the system is being abused, we should cut the whole thing out altogether. If we continue to pay people the rest of their life due to 20 years of service and also pay those who do one or two years or less the rest of their lives, the US government will be bankrupt in a matter of time. There are just too many people retiring and getting a retirement check and in addition to that get a VA disability check and also claim every little ailment as a service related injury just to fraud taxpayers out of money. The dishonest people are ruining the system for everybody and I would rather see noone get it rather than some chumps who do not deserve VA disability benefits.
I have read through many of the comments on here and it would seem to me that quite a few commenters are envious, jealous and angry that today’s Soldiers are getting more VA benefits than previous generations of Soldiers who fought tougher, more deadly wars but came away with less benefits. That seems to be a controlling point-the most benefits should go to those who sacrificed the most. Sort of like a sliding scale. The more atrocious and deadly the war was, the more benefits you should receive. I agree but disagree with the commenters who think modern veterans of the Iraq/Afghan wars are receiving so much more in benefits.
I spent ten years in the Army. Half as an enlisted man, then I commissioned through ROTC, then I commissioned again as a JAG Officer even though I was already commissioned. Yes it does not make sense but I signed a new oath of office and accepted a new Presidential commission though I was already an Artillery Officer. That’s another story. Point is, as a JAG Officer who only recently got out because I was finding Army policy and overall strategy and treatment of Troops so appalling I could not accept seeing so many young troops readily accept such a raw deal while their commanders and higher ups were concocting schemes to get rid of as many Soldiers as possible as Iraq ended and as Afghan slowly is coming to an end. I went to FORSCOM VTCs where the 4 star was actively telling his Corp and Division Generals to find any medical or admin way possible to give people the boot. I actually heard these clowns tell each other to start holding hard working Soldiers to such perfect standards that to miss a medical appointment twice in a year was worthy of a sep board. And I am not being sarcastic. As a JAG lawyer about two years ago, I saw a unit actually initiate a sep board on a 10 or 11 year E6 because he missed some medical appointments. But the real reason was because he had the nerve to seek medical help at the Army Hospital for his overwhelming depression and his unit was angry he thus didn’t have to go to NTC. Mind you he had deployed twice already. His commander was incensed he had the nerve to seek medical help before a deployment and so they found all sorts of petty BS to sep this guy and NOT only sep him but his sep board, made up of Officers and Sr. enlisted guys from his BDE set to deploy in two weeks also handed him a general discharge. You don’t have to believe me but I was the board’s legal advisor and though I could not tell them how to vote and what findings to make I did walk the line of my duties and allowances and told them their finding as to his characterization of service was not within the reasonable meaning of characterization of service and the evidence was not enough, legally, in my legal opinion, that reasonable board members could differ on honorable or less than that. I was scolded by my JAG superiors because none of them gave a flying shit about Soldiers, no one in the Army really does. And before you all scream “higher standard” let me tell you how many men and some women I represented who for years held their head high and bemoaned the sad state of the Army and how everyone should be kicked out who doesn’t score a 300 on PT tests or who fails once at anything, etc, etc., and then a funny thing always happens-that Soldier or Officer finds him or herself in trouble and then, boy, does their attitude change and once they find they become an Army target I would watch them sink into overwhelming depression at the prospect of losing everything with a bad discharge-and we’re not even talking about a court martial. No, just your run of the mill administrative sep board or officer elimination board, also called a “show cause” board. I saw this ALL THE TIME. So pardon me for not taking the high and mighty of the Army discipline patrol seriously because if I learned one thing as an Army lawyer it is this-Pride goeth before the fall.
Which brings me to disability and the VA. I could write about this forever as I actually assisted MED Board lawyers. The Army was moving to hire civilian lawyers to rep Soldiers at med boards but JAGs were still used though they were a dying breed. As Iraq and Afghan were in their primes, more JAGs were desperate to deploy. You see, in JAG deploying can be difficult so many will fight and claw their way over each other to get a deployment slot. I didn’t care. To me, I wanted to deploy but I was not going to let some Army beaurocrat or dumb O5 make me feel guilty for not begging to deploy. If you have to beg and kiss ass to deploy just for your career and tax free income then chances are you need to ask yourself a higher question: what kind of War in the desert that has nothing to do with America really do I beg to go to? For generations we were told we fought wars so our kids can live in peace and yet I am sitting here begging to go just so I can get a badge? Don’t believe me? Every single JAG Officer I know was told they need to deploy by any means possible to get promoted. That is not a just war in my mind. But no one in the Army wants to ask questions about morals, or just wars, or whats right. No, everyone just wants to be Rambo, get a superficial flesh woundget tax free income and a deployment patch. Don’t get me wrong-many go there and die. Yes, the young men in combat roles die. But as a JAG Officer or any Officer it really is the Officer Corps. duty to always answer the call but tto also always, and I mean always think like an educated citizen and professional man of arms. Officers are taught to think and lead, not be drones. Yes-follow orders always but don’t be a drone who would invade Canada if it meant a good career and tax free income. Disgusting.
Moving on-point is I saw many young Soldiers get screwed out of their entitled Med Board where, by all rights, they should have received an Army disability paycheck-Not a VA one. The Army has what is called IDES or “Integrated Disability Eval System” where the Soldier has a MED Board initiated but the Army rates him and the VA and they try to mirror each other’s ratings or reconcile differences between the Army and VA doctors in assessing if their is a disagreement. Well, this process takes, on average, 16 months. So imagine a broke Soldier in the WTU (traditionally called the “medical hold” now Warrior Transition Unit) whose command hates him and wants him gone, who serves no purpose and never knows when he is getting out all while often on very powerful narcotics and oter controlled meds. Well, as a JAG lawyer at a huge base with these problems I will tell you what happens. The Soldier often gets in trouble. Usually they piss hot, use each others controlled med pills which under UCMJ is same as doing cocaine or marijuana or heroin, or they get in a serious alchol incident or a domestic. Now I know what you’ll say “higher standards!!!” I heard this nonsense all the time and it reminded me of an Ostrich with his head in the sand. You can yell moral platitudes all day in the Army. In fact GEN Petraeus did that and even wrote a book about his serious military bearing and moral compass all the while engaging in a serious affair with a little tramp while he was in a war zone and seriously compromising our National Security, but hey, he only started banging her the day he retired and not the year before when he took her as his personal biographer downramge even though she had never written a book in her life and there were far more superior writers with years of experience who wrote military autobiographies.
What’s this all got to do with VA disabilities? It’s about truth. Soldiers in todays Army are absolutely entirely expendable and they know it. Now the Army is actively looking for ways to bounce all this extra fat it begged to recruit 7 years ago. But now the top brass wants to kick out all these guys. Well how do you do it? It’s like I just said-you talk about “discipline” as a subterfuge to find more and more ways to kick people out. You initiate MED boards left and right if you cannot find Soldiers who missed a medical appointment. Then you wait until these Soldiers with problems make one mistake while waiting 15 months for their MED Board and hopefully you can kick them out with a less than honorable discharge while avoiding a court martial. I’m just talking about admin separations. They can hurt too. So these guys get out with less than honorable discharges with nothing on the outside.
Many of you talk about the Vietnam Soldier and World War II Soldier. Here is a news flash of sorts. Sure, there were less claims for disabilities but men from the late sixties and seventies who got out of the Army were going back to an America with opportunities. No one, for the most part, who gets out of today’s Army will have nearly the same amount of opportunity the Vietnam Soldier had. Not to mention the Vietnam Soldier was drafted. So even if he messed up in the Army, no one cared to the point he lost any real opportunity. He was drafted into a War everyone despised. All his buddies were drafted and they ALL WANTED OUT OF THE ARMY ASAP. Unlike the majority of todays Soldiers who ALL WANT TO STAY IN because everyone knows that by and large it is near impossible to survive in todays America even with a great education. Most of us have next to nothing whereas our Vietnam or baby boomer parents or grandparents had way more opportunities that were affordable unlike us. You weren’t quite as desperate for the GI Bill as a baby boomer. Know why? Because you could afford higher education. And know something else? Once you earned that degree you actually found a pretty decent job unlike todays job market where you’re lucky to wait tables.
And yes, the VA has evolved on PTSD. Many of you act like the claims are just skyrocketing and this is bad. Well here is a newsflash again. World War 2 and Vietnam Soldiers maybe did not have the same access to PTSD benefits but they had access to benefits as an American citizen-like affordable higher education they could pay by working a summer job, and affordable meaningful health care they could pay with earned income and way more opportunities without crippling competition from women, Hispanics, Chinese and other ethnic groups, they had powerful unions that were easy to get on, and on and on. So you guys whine about today’s Soldier filing more claims and I say good for them. You say the USA will go bankrupt because of the veterans who will get disability checks for PTSD. Give me a break. America spends more of Iraq and Afghan puppet governments and international aid and treaties with other countries that are effectively billion dollar bribes that taking care of some more Soldiers is hardly the reason America will go bankrupt. Reading that kind of nonsense makes me nauseated. Do you realize that most Soldiers wait almost 2 years and undergo all kinds of medical exams? You just don’t fill out a piece of paper and get PTSD payments. Please. And its about time Soldiers were rightly compensated for their suffering. Unlike days of yore when the Soldier came back from a vicious front line war, but yet he had a wife who took care of him, he had healthcare he could afford on his wages and a society that put him in an upper class, todays Soldiers go home to nothing. Oh sure, there may be people wearing yellow flags on their BMWs and maybe his family throws a welcome back party but then he is stuffed right back into the heap of society he came from. He is again nothing, with nothing. So do not presume to think that Vietnam and World War 2 Soldiers had it so much worse simply because they filed less PTSD claims. You see, they didn’t need to file claims the way today’s Soldier does.Today’s Soldiers do not have anything except debt and regret. Our American economy is a shell of its former self.
And most veterans get a 100-200 bucks from the VA. This idea they roll around in cash from VA disability payments is absolutely absurd. Bottom line is this: todays Soldier has been fighting two wars with one of them still going on almost 14 years later after the start of the conflict. At this point it is unclear as to what our mission even is. Its ridiculous. You think it is VA PTSD claims that will “bankrupt” the county? That’s a laugh. If people even had any idea how much each disabled vet cost with their disability payments as compared to the amount of money the US spends oon providing countless countries including the dismal Iraq and Afghanistan their armies, their police, their governments and their bribes and payouts to politicians. So why don’t you blame the US not having its priority spending right.
So before you blast troops for daring to get compensated by the right Agency, the VA, for their service-connected injuries maybe you should stop and think, “it’s not the troops’ getting disability that will ruin us, it is the stupid never ending wars and conflicts that will bankrupt us. And maybe if the disabilities are too expensive to pay for the rest of the vets life then just maybe the politicians who are so gung ho to fight wars will consider some of the long term costs, like disability, before making wild claims to go to War. It’s that simple.
I will always be on the side of the veteran. It’s the conflicts we are never leaving which is bankrupting us. And for once I’d like to see Soldiers get the respect they deserve. That’s my two cents. And I could keep writing way more facts than what I just did.
condor—this actually supports what I have been saying about the “entitlement” mindset of the current military generation:
From Stars and Stripes which one cannot fault as left or right these days so therefore it should be paid attention to.
…..that 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. (Source: Stars and Stripes)
That is more than double the estimated 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told the AP.
These new veterans are claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones over the last year are claiming 11 to 14. By comparison, Vietnam veterans are currently receiving compensation for fewer than four, on average, and those from World War II and Korea, just two
Condor 45% of 1.6M is close to 800K disability claims and if the statistics are right and each of those military members are claiming 8-9 aliments per member THEN either this Force is chronically damaged goods and or “someone” has taught them what to claim. My assumptions are in fact correct that the entire Force fully understands that it can walk around with 1000 to 1400 USD per month for life if the answers are correct so why not do it. By having the final medical done inside the Army as a time saver for VA has made the problem even worse—loop holes were made in it from the beginning and so it should not surprise us that the 45% exists.
Claiming now 11 to 14 aliments just means military members are getting greedy and know that some aliments will be rejected so the motto pile it on and we will still come out ahead—they are trying for full disability as the word on the street is full means anywhere from 2700 to 3300 USD per month for like on top of a regular employment salary—does it not make you stop and think? Maybe one should change the laws and state if working no VA comp until retirement age and then the full amounts—just a thought—watch then the numbers drop.
Condor—and this is something not talked about in the article nor outside of the Force–so if one is so chronically ill then just how is it possible for say that MSG who is getting 1375 USD per month for sleep and PTSD issues to then be fully employed as a Defense Contractor knocking down six digit incomes AND on top of his retirement all at the age of say 40/41?
If one has and or is suffering from PTSD–is he or she should be in constant therapy if not why not then how is it then possible to sidestep the “triggers” in a civilian work environment that does not want to know you have PTSD? One is never really “cured” when you have PTSD—there are always triggers.
If the stats for DS are correct at 21% and VN vets who were far more “exposed” to serious injury, illnesses via AO and 5 other defoliants that VA is disputing were dropped but records indicate otherwise just WHAT is then the increase of ailments being claimed equal nearly 50% over say VN vets by this generation. Sleep, PTSD, leg/back/ankle.
Does it not strike you as being “odd” as statistics yes can be manufactured to slant but VA does a good job at recording that the sheer numbers are not “telling” us something?
SO just maybe I am correct in both my observations and assumptions—“entitlement” mindset and a Force that understands how to capitalize on money when it is offered with little resistance by the Federal Government.
If have to often heard the young NCOs talk about this to believe that it does not exist.
Another issue that is totally ignored—the defense contractor who deployed—yes many will say he was in it for the money but if one really looks at what the Force calls “follow on civilian forces” as regulated by Federal Law and DoD regs—the Army could never have deployed without the massive civilian support side.
Now if they get injured—any disability—are you kidding, if injured is he or she treated—are you really kidding and is there any compensation —now one is seriously kidding.
Civilians were covered by the Longshoresman Act of 1942 and Congress never did update that for us—so compensation forget it if your company did not fully pay into the insurance which many did not as they pocketed the money instead—serious leg injury–hospitalization covered, rehab not covered, disability payment usually one time and never again and forget that knee replacement due to the injury because if you settle then early that is excluded even though even one knows it will be needed in the future—so one has to wait maybe 30-40 years before one can finally settle and if you die along the way you family gets nothing due to the 1942 law—so do vets really have it hard with the VA–not really in the grand scheme of things.
Some civilian Arabic interpreters from the US are still waiting in vain for settlements from IED injuries from 2004/2005—and we worry about veterans and the long VA waits–they will never receive anything and yet without them the Force could not speak to the locals.
The problem is not that veterans do not deserve benefits, it is that to many veterans are claiming and receiving benefits that they do not deserve. As an example my job I see many veterans receiving benefits that are for conditions not related to their service. They should only receive benefits for conditions that were directly caused by their service. I have seen more than one veteran that was rated 50% disabled for sleep apnea. That is not a service related condition. I know. I have it as well. Most if not all people with this condition are born with it or develope for reasons totally unrelated to military service such as stress, over weight, etc. Yet in their infinite wisdom the VA calls this a 50% disability?!!! My father served and was actually injured while serving. So much so the Air Force would not allow him to finish his enlistment or re-enlist. It was a back injury while on duty. And for his trouble they allotted him $253 for life. He has received minor increases over the years, but if he was to be in the service today he would be receiving far more than that. But there are many veterans that think and act like they deserve payment for conditions that were in no way related to their service. Just because and solely because it started coincidently while they were serving, or even after they served these veterans file claims for disability and receive benefits they should not be receiving. This needs to stop so that only the real needs are met. I have seen active duty veterans receive 50, 60, 70% disability payments after serving then continuing to serve in a guard or reserve unit?!!! If you are disabled and cannot serve active duty how can you serve in a reserve or guard unit that could in effect bring that veteran back to active duty in the future?!!!! How in the world does that make sense? Receiving benefits for conditions that are either not serious enough or non-service related and also receiving additional payments from the same government for continue service? If you are disabled enough to receive benefits your days serving need to be done! Especially for PTSD. And I have seen that as well. Just like every other benefit that is in theory deserving being abused. But from the recent conflicts a far higher and greater percent. Look at the statistics. Far more veterans are claiming for benefits then in any other period of our history. It is the “I am owed” attitude we now find this country in. Time to change that and return to the principles of our forefathers and grandfathers instead of the selfish attitude this country is quickly sliding into.
You know why veterans are filing claims for every little thing and ailments unrelated to service? Because the VA denies their real ailments. Here is my example: While I was deployed I suffered a spinal injury and broken two bones in my leg. When I got out, I filed disability claims for these injuries, because both precluded me from continuing in my line of work. My legs were denied, and my back was connected at 10%. Do you know what compensation I got for that? $133 a month. What the hell am I supposed to do with that? So I appealed it, denied. The whole process took 5 years. I then filed a new claim for tinnitus, ankle sprain, and other minor injuries I suffered while active-duty. I was connected for tinnitus at 10%, the same as my back. Yes, tinnitus is both annoying and caused by my service, but it does not impair my ability to perform work. My back stops me from doing almost any form of work. Altogether, I ended up receiving 70% after 7 years of waiting, which is what I felt I should have gotten for my back alone the first time I filed. This adds up to $1334 a month, which basically means I have the income of a minimum wage worker. I can survive, barely, but I can’t afford to do anything else, not even to have a dinner out once a month. So yeah, vets are claiming more disabilities because the VA is screwing them out of care and compensation for their real ones. Since I had to wait 7 years just to get this far, the VA is still coming out on top financially, since they successfully evaded paying the first 5 years of my disability, during which I enjoyed financial ruin because I couldn’t retain gainful employment and unemployment benefits ran out after the first 2 years. I never should have served, and I wouldn’t have if I’d known it would have destroyed my ability to provide for myself or a family for the rest of my life.
They probably file for those injuries/illnesses because the VA denies their claims for their real ones. Just because you see someone with a 50% rating for being overweight, that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t deserve a 50% rating for SOMETHING. I now have rated disability for sprained ankles, which I only filed after 5 years of getting denied by the VA of a decent rating for my spinal injury that has kept me from being able to work full-time. So, don’t be so quick to sneer and judge vets you see with overrated ailments. You don’t know what else they might be dealing with that the VA cruelly brushes off. http://buyoxycontinonlinenow.com