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What constitutes a disabled vet?

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Displaced Bama Fan

Displaced Bama Fan

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I guess I'm a traditionalist in that if you are injured to the point that it affects your ability to live a normal life, such as a foot blown off by a land mine, you're shot while serving and are partially/fully paralyzed or use loss of an appendage or even if you are serving in a non-combat function, such as a munitions expert and a bomb drops on your foot and you lose the foot as a result of the accident...or like in the movie Men of Honor, getting your leg nearly amputated by a snapped cable.

However, I'm seeing more and more vets basically stealing from the taxpayers. My neighbor is a former Marine. Never served in a combat/front line group. He was a Harrier mechanic. He was diagnosed with narcolepsy and gets full disability. I respect him for serving, but when he told me he gets full disability for narcalepsy, I questioned his character.

I always think back to the US House hearing on a contractor claiming to be disabled to a football injury at a military school - VMI I believe. Where as Rep. Duckworth was severely injured serving her country.


So what should constitute a disability? How do we address this or can we? I hate knocking guys that served, but dammit, narcolepsy? Really?
 
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Tidewater

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Displaced Bama Fan said:
I guess I'm a traditionalist in that if you are injured to the point that it affects your ability to live a normal life, such as a foot blown off by a land mine, you're shot while serving and are partially/fully paralyzed or use loss of an appendage or even if you are serving in a non-combat function, such as a munitions expert and a bomb drops on your foot and you lose the foot as a result of the accident...or like in the movie Men of Honor, getting your leg nearly amputated by a snapped cable.

However, I'm seeing more and more vets basically stealing from the taxpayers. My neighbor is a former Marine. Never served in a combat/front line group. He was a Harrier mechanic. He was diagnosed with narcolepsy and gets full disability. I respect him for serving, but when he told me he gets full disability for narcalepsy, I questioned his character.

I always think back to the US House hearing on a contractor claiming to be disabled to a football injury at a military school - VMI I believe. Where as Rep. Duckworth was severely injured serving her country.


So what should constitute a disability? How do we address this or can we? I hate knocking guys that served, but dammit, narcolepsy? Really?
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Nope. West Point, playing intramural football.
If a cadet gets hurt at VMI, the Army says, "Gosh. That's too bad. Good luck with whatever comes next. Bye." No disability because those kids are not in the Army.
At West Point, however, those cadets are in the Army (sort of), so if they become unfit for service by becoming injured, (yes, including playing intramural football), they are medically retired (and you and I get to pay for that for the rest of the retiree's life). Another reason to get rid of West Point, if you ask me.

To answer your question, if a service member becomes disabled while on active duty, the service member is eligible for medical retirement (unless it was "not in the line of duty," i.e. drunk driving or some other negligence). There is a medical assessment and an administrative board, but there is a lot of latitude, because, as I have said before, we as a society suck at judgment ("This one is worthy, but that one is not,") so we tend to give everybody everything rather than exercise critical judgment.

And boy Duckworth sure ripped that guy a new one, didn't she?
 
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bama_wayne1

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I don't know how it can best be handled, but I will say until you've held your son down on the hospital bed for them to pull the packing out of his wounds from an IED you will have a more distant view than I. They had administered all the morphine allowed and it took three of us to hold him still. It had to be done though because he was still awaiting surgery to remove shrapnel that was entangled in the optic nerve behind his right eye. They did a fantastic job of saving his eye and getting him patched up. Since then he has required back surgery by a neurosurgeon to correct some nerve damage from the blast. If you saw him drive up on his pickup with the purple heart tag you wouldn't see him use a reserved parking spot. If you didn't see the deep scars in his arm and leg you wouldn't realize he was ever injured. He was very lucky. He was repelling out of a Blackhawk helicopter seeking high value targets with the 10th Mountain group. His squad went door to door looking for particular people. It was his choice to go and for the exact job he was doing but sergeant pay doesn't seem equitable for the risks they take every day nor for the impact it can have on the rest of their life. If we are not willing to go we must be willing to pay, or we could welcome in the people who wish to devour our way of life. I'm not trying to malign anyone or be rude but that is my not so humble opinion. Sorry for the soap box.
 
crimsonaudio

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bama_wayne1 said:
If we are not willing to go we must be willing to pay, or we could welcome in the people who wish to devour our way of life. I'm not trying to malign anyone or be rude but that is my not so humble opinion. Sorry for the soap box.
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I think we all can appreciate what your son has gone through and I doubt very many (if any) would want to see his disability removed. But certainly you can see a vast difference between your son's situation and the one mentioned in the OP (narcolepsy).

The problem here is first and foremost discernment, as highlighted by Tidewater above. Beyond that, it's also a character issue, which we see amongst people all the time who sue businesses who are involved in auto accidents because they see it as a pay day.

So yes, your son deserves whatever he needs, but those on disability who weren't injured in the process by their work in the military need to be ignored. Sorry if you have narcolepsy, but it's not my problem to pay for it.
 
Displaced Bama Fan

Displaced Bama Fan

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bama_wayne1 said:
I don't know how it can best be handled, but I will say until you've held your son down on the hospital bed for them to pull the packing out of his wounds from an IED you will have a more distant view than I. They had administered all the morphine allowed and it took three of us to hold him still. It had to be done though because he was still awaiting surgery to remove shrapnel that was entangled in the optic nerve behind his right eye. They did a fantastic job of saving his eye and getting him patched up. Since then he has required back surgery by a neurosurgeon to correct some nerve damage from the blast. If you saw him drive up on his pickup with the purple heart tag you wouldn't see him use a reserved parking spot. If you didn't see the deep scars in his arm and leg you wouldn't realize he was ever injured. He was very lucky. He was repelling out of a Blackhawk helicopter seeking high value targets with the 10th Mountain group. His squad went door to door looking for particular people. It was his choice to go and for the exact job he was doing but sergeant pay doesn't seem equitable for the risks they take every day nor for the impact it can have on the rest of their life. If we are not willing to go we must be willing to pay, or we could welcome in the people who wish to devour our way of life. I'm not trying to malign anyone or be rude but that is my not so humble opinion. Sorry for the soap box.
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BW - Surely you don't think I'm pointing out your son in this. He's one that clearly deserves just compensation and more. My beef is with what I'll call "made up" injuries or illnesses to glean more from the taxpayers with no real injury. I would rather this guy's money be redirected to people like your son, who have suffered legitimate injuries while serving the country. I'm just pointing out that the Marine with a diagnosis of narcolepsy is getting full disability pay the same as someone like your son who was truly injured. I don't think that's right or fair.
 
jabcmb

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On the other hand, a lot of vets who are deserving can't get proper benefits. Try getting multiple schlerosis recognized as a service related disability--when it was contracted by a fifty year old man 6 weeks into his anthrax vaccination shot series. You would be amazed the resources expended by he VA for inconclusive studies to prove that his, or any other service member's autoimmune disease was caused by the shots. Dozens of vets who were scheduled for Korea duty with a near identical story--but nope! Not the VA's problem--here look at all these studies by these pointy heads paid by the VA! As though all of the affected service members had simply got a little food poisoning. NOT sorry for the soap box, nor should you be either, Bama Wayne. God bless your son.
 
Chukker Veteran

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Sometimes I've learned that I simply don't have enough info or experience on a particular topic to have a valid opinion.
I'm not qualified to determine what is or is not a disability for a veteran. Narcolepsy seems like a real stretch...but then I'm not an expert on it. At some point, you have to rely on others who are in a position to make a more informed decision.
I'm sure there are guidelines for what qualifies as a disability. My inclination is it's better to tolerate some exploiting the system rather than to take a chance of denying someone something they have earned with their service.
 
Displaced Bama Fan

Displaced Bama Fan

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Chukker Veteran said:
Sometimes I've learned that I simply don't have enough info or experience on a particular topic to have a valid opinion.
I'm not qualified to determine what is or is not a disability for a veteran. Narcolepsy seems like a real stretch...but then I'm not an expert on it. At some point, you have to rely on others who are in a position to make a more informed decision.
I'm sure there are guidelines for what qualifies as a disability. My inclination is it's better to tolerate some exploiting the system rather than to take a chance of denying someone something they have earned with their service.
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Maybe so. I'm a big believer in karma too, so I tend to think the world "balances" itself out based on your integrity and how you treat others.
 
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bama_wayne1

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Displaced Bama Fan said:
BW - Surely you don't think I'm pointing out your son in this. He's one that clearly deserves just compensation and more. My beef is with what I'll call "made up" injuries or illnesses to glean more from the taxpayers with no real injury. I would rather this guy's money be redirected to people like your son, who have suffered legitimate injuries while serving the country. I'm just pointing out that the Marine with a diagnosis of narcolepsy is getting full disability pay the same as someone like your son who was truly injured. I don't think that's right or fair.
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No, DBF I know where you're coming from and I agree there is waste. I just think when we cut our military benefits we need to be very careful. This government of ours tend to paint with much too broad a brush. Thanks to everyone's comments my son was and is proud of what he was able to contribute and would like to still be doing it today. I'm glad he isn't...
 
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bama_wayne1

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Again let me say thanks for all the kind words. I just wanted to let you all know that my son is doing well and has been blessed. He is the father of two wonderful kids and is able to work again. He is a helo mechanic turned supervisor at Ft Rucker AL.
 
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