Salute The Marines said:

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I can't count how many "disabled veterans" I know with a 100% rating still working full time jobs with no issue whatsoever. It's maddening.

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100%. Have to in-laws that are 100% disability and are now retiring from the post office and the majority of their disability occurred while at the post office. Doesn't matter, got the 100% plus the other post office benies. Will easily live better than 90% of the US. Never saw combat, wasn't ever hurt on duty. It's crazy.

Gotta agree. The number of non wartime, non combat vets at 100% I have personally run into is stunning. From radar techs to pure admin. It's incredible really. The amount of perks that come along with it as well are huge too. Know several that try their hardest to cash in every chance they get and for honestly, it sickens me. The ones that ask for discounts everywhere they go, special accomodations, etc.

Not going to lie, I actually usually don't mix very well with other veterans. The most recent generation tend to be ****ing obnoxious and it annoys the hell outta me.

After my service, I had a year and a half of therapy and meds to get my PTSD "managed". My hearing is still toast but, I've had a fairly productive life post-service. I still struggle at times. No disability for me.

My FIL was an officer in 2/75th at Ft. Lewis. He was deployed numerous times. He is on 100% disability for PTSD. He's a dangerous man when he's not on his meds. On his meds, he's highly intelligent and cool as a cucumber. It's a full time job to keep him on his meds though. He doesn't like the way it takes his edge off...dull and stupid...his words.

Everyone is fighting some battle...mental, physical, or otherwise. I get the fraud and abuse angle. The unfortunate side effect of making changes to the system is that we get those who really are suffering missing out on the help they need. Naturally, government programs are never adjusted with a scalpel; always with a machete.

A_Gang_Ag_06 said:

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I know of three infuriating instances.

1. Guy at the gym I go to is retired Air Force. He parks in the handicapped spot every day in his jacked up four door keep, comes inside and rolls (spars) for an hour. We're a jiu-jitsu gym. I finally said something to him one day half joking to see if he would get the hint.

2. My ex wife's cousin gets full disability from the Coast Guard because his back hurts and his hearing is bad. He gets $70,000 a year from the government PLUS all his kids can go to college for free. He spends all day on a tractor now shredding people's pastures and high on edibles.

3. When I moved to the gym I'm at now from Houston I had one of the coaches ask me if I got money for disability from the VA for the four years I was in. I said no. He asked why not. I said because I never got hurt. He said "but how do you know." I told him because I think I'd remember that. He then proceeds to tell me a story about how he knew a guy in boot camp who got kicked out. The guy eventually claimed he got hurt and the government gives him some money every month. He told me it might be worth my while to go down and get evaluated because I might "be able to get a couple hundred bucks a month out of the deal." Same as my first example. This guy competes fully in bjj and receives full disability.

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$70,000 per year and free college?? Did he retire or is that a disability check?

Absolutely agree about the VA and disability. I did read somewhere that DV plates will no longer allow you to park in a handicapped spot though, you will have to have the wheel chair logo on your plates or display the tag now. Can't remember the timeline for this but it's coming.

In the system there are too many people milking it and a good amount not getting their fair share. I saw several guys get burned when they transitioned from Active Duty to National Guard and were collecting disability while drilling. How TF can you be disabled and yet still serve in a combat MOS in the guard. Uncle Same caught them eventually and I believe several had to get re-evaluated and had their ratings drop as well as having to drill no pay to pay back the government.

I have a relative that went into the army with neck issues from lifting weights in high school. Went to boot camp and deployed to Iraq within a few months. Was there less than a couple months and reinjured his neck lifting weights. Came back to the states for treatment and broke his foot playing in his back yard. Somehow got that to go on his disability report as well.

I believe he managed to get all the way to 100% between his neck, foot, hearing, back and PTSD. Went to visit him after he got back and remember how embarrassed I was when he pulled up to the front of a restaurant to park in the handicap spot and we had to get out, and the two of us perfectly healthy men walked past a guy in a wheel chair waiting outside for a table to open up.

My relative shows no shame in it either. Talked openly about how him and his buddies were all told what to say and do to maximize their disability.

I have a ton of respect for the professional soldiers that join and serve for the right reasons. Unfortunately, there seem to be a ton of men and women who join for the wrong reasons, give the armed forces a black eye and milk the system for everything they can.

I offer my resources for your use if you decide to try an alternative like cannabis or psychedelics therapy.

Nobody deserves to be a big pharma walking cocktail.

Gotta love hearing about a pilot who claims PTSD gets him to 100% and can still fly passenger planes too. That's my favorite. Seems like that shouldn't be a thing, but?

TTUArmy said:

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After my service, I had a year and a half of therapy and meds to get my PTSD "managed". My hearing is still toast but, I've had a fairly productive life post-service. I still struggle at times. No disability for me.

My FIL was an officer in 2/75th at Ft. Lewis. He was deployed numerous times. He is on 100% disability for PTSD. He's a dangerous man when he's not on his meds. On his meds, he's highly intelligent and cool as a cucumber. It's a full time job to keep him on his meds though. He doesn't like the way it takes his edge off...dull and stupid...his words.

Everyone is fighting some battle...mental, physical, or otherwise. I get the fraud and abuse angle. The unfortunate side effect of making changes to the system is that we get those who really are suffering missing out on the help they need. Naturally, government programs are never adjusted with a scalpel; always with a machete.

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I 100% understand your FIL. I already have severe reservations against meds anyways but the stuff I am supposed to be on is life changing. And not for the better for me. I was first prescribed a cocktail over a decade ago. Tried it for a week. Was left with the shakes and supreme lethargy. Never again. I take my chances without it.

It's an imperfect system unfortunately. Like you say, every veteran with issues needs to be targeted and worked with individually. And that is simply impossible unfortunately. So you have to just accept the bad to help wherever you can. It's why I don't really fight for this topic. I have opinions but I'll be damned if I can't think of any real solutions that are feasible. It is what it is I guess.

Until you get the draftees from Vietnam out of the system, these issues will continue.

I believe that the system needs to be fixed. There are too many that are able to get high disabilities and they never left the admin office. Bunch of POGs who hardly kitted up getting out with 50% or more.

I personally have some disability. I never got out trying to "milk the system" and just answered questions honestly. . I was genuinely surprised at what I got.

I was in as an infantryman and my 31 y/o body, as some others have mentioned, feels 20 years older.
-I've got 30% hearing loss in my left ear and 10% loss total. My baseline was reset twice while I was in. I also have bad tinnitus in my left ear and have a hard time sleeping at times.
-My right knee is ****ed. I can still run and lift, but I feel like it's going to blow out at any point.
-Both of my feet are jacked up. I've had fractures and broken bones in both ankles and feet from carrying weight. Multiple hikes while I was in when we weighed before stepping off, I had anywhere from 185-210 lbs above my body weight that I was carrying for 8+ miles.
-I have had to see a chiropractor and have done therapy twice a month for my back since I've been out. I had a healthy back going in and I have issues all the time now. Most of this was the weight I carried. I also fell off the top of a gun truck and landed directly on my back (stupid by me).
- I have frequent migraines, at least once-twice a week, which I believe is partly due to having artillery shooting 2000ish rounds over my gun position while we pulled security for them in country. The ones that ****ed me up were the ones that went at night when I was on rest plan and didn't have ear pro in.
-I never claimed PTSD. Had a combat deployment and this wasn't ever on my radar. I can't stand when dudes pull the PTSD card.

As mentioned, I never lied or attempted to embellish my problems. I answered questions and performed movement tests and this is what I got. I see this like the IRS issues. Don't blame individuals that are truthful and get what the system gives them. The system needs to be fixed. If the system is changed for the better and I lose any disability rating, I won't lose any sleep over it. On the other hand, the fraud committed by individuals needs to be weeded out better somehow.

HDeathstar said:

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All Govt. workers remain on the payroll for life and vote accordingly. Feds down to the city. It is welfare.

I don't like any welfare from Govt. I wish we could replace it with local churches/ neighbors providing support. Federal welfare destabilizes the country. Right now locally, no one really knows who needs help. People receive checks and do not need to have local interactions. Good people don't know how many are in need and welfare recipients only build contempt of their neighbors and communities. If people had to seek help from local neighbors, they would be humble and respect the community. But we are long past this point.

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Stop with that BS, when you use the word all, you immediately show yourself as ignorant

Knew a guy who was "disabled" due to a back injury in the military.

He worked at Lowe's loading lumber and concrete bags onto trucks…

TxTarpon said:

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Sensitive topic but I believe he is dead on. I've talked to individuals who admitted to joining just so they can eventually milk the disability rating once they leave. A Marine who broke his ankle playing a pick up basketball game will get the same disability as a Marine who broke his ankle carrying a combat load up a mountain in a firefight.

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Yep.
See Senator Duckworth and the "disabled veteran" who got the half billion IRS software contract.

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It's expensive to the American tax payer and it takes money and recourses away from actual wounded veterans. What is worse is eventually Joe public will notice and lose respect for our military members.

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That is very true.
Cue Poster Emeritus Ulysses90 and his post about two guys arguing about how is "more disabled" and receiving more money from the govt.


Texas: New Rules Coming on Who Can Park in Handicap Spots

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She lost her leg, I'd say that would qualify her as disabled

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She lost her leg, I'd say that would qualify her as disabled

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She lost both of them.
The contractor got hurt playing football.
Before you go down a misinformed statement path, use the Google machine to find the video.

TxTarpon said:

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So making $150k as a PE vs $50k in tax free bennies and property tax avoidances?
Damn.


Burd, your are in the 210 too and here we can throw a dead fish over our shoulder and have it hit 2-3 DV plate cars in any public parking lot. One guy described it this way (years ago). He said "I worked for Uncle Sam who is now Sugar Sam" because he was getting all these sweet govt payments for things after his military career was over and while he was working civil service. Yes, he was black and knew all the rules.

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This guy's wife is a PM for a pharmaceutical company and vocal Democrat. She makes some serious money, and likes to keep her trophy husband on a short leash. If you talk to him he has conservative opinions, but to give you an example of their relationship she made him get rid of all his guns when they got married. As they say, P is undefeated. We worked together at the large municipal utility that sells water. I just found out he left there and went to work as a civilian employee for the DoD at Lackland. DV status got him extra points on his application.

We had another guy at the water utility who was a DV from the same era. We would occasionally see him walk with a cane, sometimes no cane. We never could figure why it varies day to day. He was big in VFW and would always be in my coworkers cube telling him how VFW could help him get more disability. We had to run him off a few times for wasting people's time on non-work stuff.

In our office parking garage where I work now there are a handful of cars with DV plates. They are Raptors, Chargers, Challengers, and Corvettes, often parked in handicapped spots.

My neighbor across the street has DV plates on both his new cars. He does his own landscaping and works like a mofo every weekend in the yard. I am guessing this career officer has PTSD too.

The folks abusing the DV benefits cheapen the real heroes who serve our country. It is frustrating to watch

When I was a young guy in the oilfield I came across many veterans, and it was exactly like everyone else here is saying. Some of them were very proud of their service and did not seek to milk the taxpayer for every bump and bruise that they had. Some of them had very legitimate issues that they needed extensive assistance for, and there's no reason we should deny that support. But the first time I came across one of these veterans who for some reason is bragging to me how much money he can get from the government by weaseling his way into a higher disability rating, it blew my mind. He made it seem like it was very cool and I should congratulate him for it, whereas all I felt was disgusted and embarrassed that we as taxpayers are getting duped in this way.

If they were to be any reform in this area, I would think it would need to come from a veteran, emphasize that real disabilities and those acting honestly should keep their benefits, but that they will be rooting out any dishonesty. How you do that, idk. Maybe they just need to get the VA to start being more stringent as a start.

On another note, I don't think that disabled veterans should have their property taxes reduced at all due to this exact reason of having multiple classes of citizens created and incentivizing bad behavior. /Libertarian view

Sims said:

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Until we get back to a place where actions, and not professions, qualify people to be heroes, this will always be a problem.

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I am going to steal this quote! Absolutely true.

My bad, when I first read your post I mistakenly thought you used the quotations when you referred to disabled if reference to Duckworth. I mistakenly thought you were inferring that she was not disabled

Salute The Marines said:

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I can't count how many "disabled veterans" I know with a 100% rating still working full time jobs with no issue whatsoever. It's maddening.

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I have two...

CW3 I replaced as PBO, was retiring but hung around looking to get disability for diabetes. Glad he did, he taught me the ropes. This was in '75.
On my exit physical, I couldn't pass he hearing test. They asked if I wanted further testing. I said no, just let me sign my way out of the Army.

I personally am entitled to health care for life from the VA but based on the care I got there and the fact I have other better options I'd never consider going back to them for care. Add to that, I worked for the VA for over a decade and I saw how dysfunctional it was and would never consider trusting my health to them. So far as disability, I figured that despite my issues due to my service, I make more than enough and am successful enough that I'd never consider bilking the system. I'm very active in the Veteran community as it relates to preventing suicide among our ranks, because I was once there, but I will never step foot in a VFW ever again. There is no more corrupt group of Veterans than them. Prior to making the choice to never step foot in one again, I walked in numerous times, and every time they tried to convince me I needed to file for disability. What kills me, I never discussed with them the actual issues I had since my time in Afghanistan, they just tried to convince me to file for disability for BS reasons they knew would guarantee a payout.

One big issue is that medically, you can't prove with an MRI that someone isn't in pain. Another issue is that some disabilities people can be up and walking for short spurts, or have better days, but still be disabled.

Its a common source of abuse and waste, but if you put private investigators on watch it would just create another huge mess PR wise.

There are a lot of veterans that are angry they got discharged before reaching 20 year retirement. Getting disability helps even the score in their minds.

Eh **** it, military works you like dog let them have a bone

hedge said:

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Eh **** it, military works you like dog let them have a bone

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The problem is that the folks bull******* their disability claims negatively impact the folks that actually need help for real claims

How so? Is there a limited amount of funds? I'm not military so I'm pretty ignorant to what goes on

hedge said:

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How so? Is there a limited amount of funds? I'm not military so I'm pretty ignorant to what goes on

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Yes, the VA has a limited amount of funds and because of that, especially when it comes to other Federal employees who have great health coverage, I always argue that we shouldn't be double dipping. If you have good health care coverage, don't add further burden to an already over burdened system. There are people that don't have other options, those are the people that need to be cared for.

We got a lot of looming problems in the US right now. VA benefits don't even blip the radar.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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We got a lot of looming problems in the US right now. VA benefits don't even blip the radar.

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No reason we can't multitask... Otherwise what one or two things do you think ARE worthy of our attention, everything else be darned? We have a whole entity (VA) dedicated to getting this right and they aren't.

Also, the people making bs claims muddy up the system, which causes people with valid claims to wait for years to get their claims processed while the reviewers investigate the bs claims

One of my good friends got a pretty high rating (80% maybe?) for mental health issues when he was getting out and I remember a bunch of guys we worked with complaining about how BS that was and that he didn't deserve it. He committed suicide a little over a year later. Now I'm sure there are people who abuse the system especially when it comes to mental health ratings but it always makes me uncomfortable when I hear people questioning whether a person deserves their rating.

Also know a guy who had to have his arm below the elbow amputated after it got caught in a line during a jump and from what he's told me he's getting what seems to be a ridiculously low rating for that type of injury. Can be a strange system I guess.

Agreed, you lose any body part that should be 100% no questions asked. End of inquiry.

hedge said:

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How so? Is there a limited amount of funds? I'm not military so I'm pretty ignorant to what goes on

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You must be a politician if you're asking this question. Obviously not a taxpayer.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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We got a lot of looming problems in the US right now. VA benefits don't even blip the radar.

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I think you'll find that most of the people who are upset are veterans.