I feel weird even posting this here but I hate fraud more than most things.

When I was at a previous company, we hired a guy straight out of the Navy into a computer type role.
During that first year he was there, he walked with cane, took pain pills, put on 40 pounds from lack of exercise, etc from a back injury sustained in the Navy on a ship. He got his claim settled and while I don't recall if he get 60 or 80% lifetime disability(is that something?), but it was significant. He was trying for 100%.

Fast forward 4-5 years. He is now doing Brazilian Jui jitsu tournaments on a weekly basis and competing at fairly high levels. So obviously, he is no longer physically disabled.

Is this fraud? is there short term military disability?

In general disability is awarded based on conditions rather than symptoms. Claiming back pain alone for example is not enough to warrant a disability rating. However, if medical evidence shows that something is actually wrong with his back, they may award a rating.

This doesn't necessarily mean that he can't overcome the symptoms of that disability, for example through exercise, surgery, or medicine. The condition still exists, even if it is under control.

Of course it's entirely possible that he was malingering to exaggerate his conditions and get a payment, any time you dangle money in front of somebody that's a possibility. But his current level of fitness in itself is not evidence of this. It's equally, or even more, likely that because he took up athletics and started working out that he's strengthened his back to compensate for the injury. But again, that doesn't mean the condition isn't there, even if it is currently not impeding his function.

To your question though, it's most like not fraud. But the VA does not give temporary disability, because disability is awarded only for permanent conditions, regardless of symptoms. The VA also tends to err heavily on the side of the veteran, because of the danger of revoking claims that are deserved. I tend to agree with them that it's better to allow 1 veteran who doesn't deserve compensation to have it if it prevents 1 veteran who does deserve it from being denied.

The VA already has an atrocious track record with failing to give ratings where they are deserved.

makes sense. Thanks.

I assumed military disability was like insurance disability, which it is clearly not.

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makes sense. Thanks.

I assumed military disability was like insurance disability, which it is clearly not.

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glad to help. It's definitely different. For example, if I break my arm the last week I'm in the military, and can't use my arm for a few months after I get out, the VA would not award me disability, even though by insurance standards I am technically "disabled."

Actually this isn't a hypothetical, because I did dislocate my arm 4 days before my ETS. I spent my first month as a civilian with my arm in a sling.

It wasn't until over a year later when I went back to the VA complaining of constant pain in my shoulder that they took x-rays and an MRI and determined that I had severe damage inside my shoulder that they awarded me a 10% disability rating for my shoulder. As of today I'm obviously more functional than I was the month after I left the service, but never the less that shoulder is f***ed and it occasionally causes me considerable problems.

Trying to understand VA disability is akin to solving the mythical gordian knot.

Understood. And in the past I was an ass to you. I apologize for that.

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Understood. And in the past I was an ass to you. I apologize for that.

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Apology accepted, I'm not sure I remember the situation though.

old politics board....

Also, and maybe of more importance, is the disability rating and status from the service component.

You can google temporary disability retirement list (TDRL) and permanent disability retirement list (PDRL) for a good explanation.

Basically, if the service member is boarded out TDRL and is reevaluated , say, 3 years later, and are found to be all healed up, they lose that disability retirement and are either reinstated (doubtful, in reality) or are then separated.

yeah, disability seperation is as entirely different animal

When I was with NCIS, we did many disability fraud cases. One was a guy who ended up losing his based on our photos - he was using a "yoyo" type weed whacker in the ditch by his house and lifting a powered weedeater over his head to pull the starter rope. Another was a lady who was caught skiing at the lake with 100% back disability - she was also video taped retrieving her boat onto her trailer with the hand wench while her husband sat by drinking beer. Another was caught working an extra job at the local Walmart Garden Center - loading 100 pound bags of garden soil etc into peoples' cars. Needless to say, all of them lost their disability; some had to pay it back based on date they started the job or when we first photographed/video taped them.
So, yes, it is fraud and can be investigated - anything over $500 obtained fraudulently is considered a felony (or was when I was an Agent...I may be a higher cutoff now with inflation etc). Feel free in turning the person in if you like. NCIS has a phone number on their website to contact field offices.

It's only fraud if they're receiving the "unemployable" compensation. VA disability doesn't mean you're too disables to work, play, weedeat, etc

SOme of the stuff the VA pays out for is BS... 30% for a hysterectomy? 10% for a C-Section? Its crazy because my dad never went to sick call his entire 20 years in the Navy, was shot at exposed to all kinds of carcinogens, then subsiquently died of and extremely rare type cancer and the VA didnt pay him a dime...

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-me-adv-disability-politics-20141116-story.html

It seems every other vehicle in Killeen has DV on the license plate. I know of one case where a band director got 100% because he had to stand on his feet his entire career. He holds a 1st class (the most stringent) FAA medical certificate.

And I work with an academy grad who was shot off of a compound wall in Iraq that broke his back and neck. They misdiagnosed it in country so he served the rest of his tour that way leading a scout platoon. He didn't get near the disability you would expect.

For every free loader there is someone under served.

AGLa06 is right. Besides the band director, I had another student who had been wounded by an IED and required the use of a cane. He missed several classes due to the necessity of taking physical therapy and trips to Brooks in San Antonio. He had never been awarded a Purple Heart because "they" had lost the paperwork. And yet, another student who was a drummer in an army band was encouraged, during his out-processing, to take a partial disability due to possible hearing loss and he refused to do so.

You walk into the VA with your military medical records (or they access them directly from DoD). You tell the VA what ailments you have. VA checks your medical records to confirm that the ailments occurred while you were in the service. They give you various VA medical exams and tests to verify the ailments still exist and are permanent. They then run the verified ailments against a congressionally approved disability list to determine the amount of money and rating, if any, you're entitled to. If you don't like this system, get Congress to change it--they own it--but don't blame vets for seeking compensation for the battering their bodies took while they served.

Infuriates me when Congress calls some vet to the hill and interrogates them for taking disability for something they don't find worthy. The vets aren't the ones overseeing the VA...