Originally Posted By sakohntr:

Do you mean the same cigarettes that came with C Rations and you deposited in the ashtray of a Huey dashboard?

Originally Posted By NavyDoc1:

Why? The military is very much anti-smoking and tells people not to smoke. Has been that way since the 1970’s.  You continue to smoke in spite of being told it’s unhealthy, how is that on the taxpayer?

Originally Posted By Stan08:


My wife and I are both veterans and she works on the VA campus.  Do you know how many broken vets show up complaining about pain but say, “I never went to sick call because I wasn’t a wimp etc…”

Then they get nothing.  “Not service connected.”

Can’t prove it, can’t pay you.

Originally Posted By pdm:



Well….that's great. In my case I had a year as an 11 and then 20 as an 18 in SOF, both traditional SF and another unit. I was an Assaulter for 11 years as well as a breacher. I've been exposed hundreds of close proximity explosive blast waves, within a few feet, and been knocked unconscious multiple times by them. Got so close that I'd cough blood. Flash bangs out the wazoo. I've shot 100's of thousands of rounds from 10.5" bbls, most of them right next to dudes.   Weapons fired would include just about every infantry weapon in the inventory including AT and mortars and lots of them….also tons of Warsaw pact weapons. I have 600+ jumps….200 static and 400 MFF….and so on…you would think that the VA would have a deep understanding of what this type of job entails, wouldn't you? Well they don't or at least they won't admit it.  

BTW, none of the injuries associated with the above were documented other than at the team level.

The premise that if it's not documented it don't happen is absolute bullshit. There have been plenty of studies done on Operator mentality. You're asking men to go do things that there's a high degree of likelihood they'll get fucked up on or not come back from but you're also expecting them to run to sick call?  What fucking planet is the VA on?  Does this nation want meat eaters that gladly go in harm's way to do bad things to evil people or do they want snivelers that go to sick call when they stub their toe?  You can't have both.

Now you look at pro sports….3 or 4 concussions are considered significant with a high degree of likelihood of CTE (TBI). The average assaulter gets 3 or 4 a fucking day…for years and years but the VA doesn't care what medical science says. They find every excuse they can to deny medical care for injuries that are so fucking obvious that only an agency with criminal malice would ignore them.  

In my case it took a Congressional investigation to get my TBI diagnosis resolved. They hid paperwork, "lost" exams and slow rolled and obfuscated for years…and lied about it. They got caught but you know what? No one, and I mean no one, was held accountable. Just business as usual at the VA….slow roll and hope the Vet kills himself. Mine wasn't about money either. I was already at 100% from other injuries. I wanted the TBI noted so that I have access to emerging treatments to combat the dementia that most certainly is coming.

So I had some fun with them, especially when they "lost" an exam. The dude on the phone said there was nothing he could do, sorry. Well I explained that then this was no longer about my disability. This was now about loss of my HIPPA act information. Once I said that there was a pause and then I was told that he's have to get back to me. Magically they found it a few weeks later but then told me it couldn't be used for some reason….anyways that led to Congress.

So you're right the VA doesn't give a fuck. Knowing that SOCOM told the VA fuck you and formed Care Coalition. I spoke to Uncle Bill about that years ago, thanking him for what he did for the command and his response was that Care Coalition was perhaps the proudest accomplishemnt he had while being CDR…he was right.

edit: I almost forgot. Disability benefits aren't approved or denied through the VA. These are handled by the VBA and guess what?  There is no Patient Advocacy or IG in the VBA. None. No accountability though normal channels. Even when my situation was resolved by my Congressman there was no accounatbility.

Originally Posted By AbleArcher:

I guess so. I gots the post traumatic down syndrome too. I'm bouts to get paid son.

Originally Posted By exDefensorMilitas:


Nope.

Originally Posted By TimeOnTarget:

This is how I roll.

Originally Posted By SuperHeavy:



Isn't the right about NOT having the government taking care of you? And not carving out protected groups from such things?

Originally Posted By 11boomboom:

We got NA beer in 2012 for the Superbowl and 2 alcoholic beers for the Superbowl in 2009.

Originally Posted By Paul:

But it's really easy to make your annual physical appointment right?

In the Navy if you were dink you'd get heat for it. The medical department aggressively hunts down those that miss their annual appointment. Failure to be at the appointed place-and-time if they really want to resist going to medical.

Originally Posted By Morgan321:


Once upon a time I had a neighbor across the street who had disabled veteran license plates.  We were both on active duty so it seemed odd but whatever.  

Our wives were talking one day and she(neighbor's wife) is telling my wife about how she was in the Navy and is a disabled veteran.  Come to find out later she broke her leg during initial training and got a medical discharge, but she had been in long enough to be eligible for VA benefits(60 or 90 days or something like that).  She ran and rode a road bike like crazy, clearly had no lingering leg issues.  Not sure what her rating was but she milked it to the max.

Originally Posted By 30calTBLkid:


Every unit hated you that bad? Kidding.
What'd they do, deploy you and then pcs you when you got back so they could duck dwell requirements?