I haven't seen any yet.
I have seen Hispanic veterans though.

Your quote is so wrong.  The VA gives ratings on service-related injuries.  The joke is that many veterans never went to sick call when they served, their injury surfaces years later but can’t prove it was the military’s fault.  They get nothing.

You’re not speaking factually.

Used to be an MOS chart VA raters used for tinnitus. They’ve moved away from that and now want in service complaints of tinnitus. Which is crazy if you know how hard it is for junior enlisted and NCOs to go to medical in an infantry battalion. I’d wait until I was on leave then go to the base hospital and hand carry the paper records back to my unit after leave and give them to my corpsman.

Alpha squad, bravo squad, Charlie squad is out.

Ramirez squad, Hernandez squad, Lopez squad is in

X2. Worrying about VA care is really far down the list of things to be concerned about.

I have had to basically fall out of my rack and use a straw broom handle in order to get a wall hanging phone transfered to my location. To call a base ambulance and telling them to come quickly. Then some guy came in that we had had words over some barracks whore or something.

Well, actually they had been engaged.

Then the dude realizing that I was immobile started kicking the shit out of me which landed me in the hospital about a week later than if he would have ever find me compromised or anything like that.

It is in my record some of it anyway.

I don't know how many times in a month you could tell a motherfucker that you m had merely fallen down a flight of stairs. Lol

I got my ass whooped by a Japanese National Poriceman going into places that I shouldn't have been going into.

The next day I was stunned and still suffer from it at times even today.

Found out later it was probably completely intentional.

Their guy had about three black belts and was a Dan in some other martial bullshit as well.

And the way he was screaming at me too. Emotionally fucked me right on up into defeat.
My Dad and Grampa showed their asses though.

I was denied all of my orthopedict conditions. Things I went to medical for were missing from my records. Things that were in my records were disregarded my the VA claims examiner. Other things I just never got seen for. Who goes to medical for a twisted ankle? I should have, because I have a complete separation of an ankle ligament and it will hurt every day the rest of my life. Shoulders both hurt. Never went to medical for them so I didn’t even claim them. Shoulder pain is 20% per shoulder IIRC.

Active duty guys: if you injure your shoulder go to medical!

I would say sometime around 1945 if it existed then. When I asked my grandfather about going there all the time, he told me they drafted him then tried to get him killed multiple times and they owed him for it. I think he was wounded twice during the European campaign, and they kept sending him back to fight.

I saved every sick-call slip and medical document ever given to me.

When the VA was reviewing my medical conditions, almost all of my claims were service connected because I had the paperwork to back it up.

I tell people, if you're injured, get it documented. You may not need to go to sick-call or on profile, but get it documented because you never know if it'll get worse.

Do you know millions of people (from all over the world) have passed the border in the last few years and have unlimited medical access, and the OP is complaining too many veterans have medical access.  What are you trying to say about Hispanic veterans?

Some of us were drafted, and did not "see" combat but did what we were told to do. The pay was bad and the jobs were not very glamours but we did them. I have most likely paid far more taxes that have gone to the VA than you. And of all the uses of taxes that is one that I don't mind.

2 notes

There are at least 5 guys that might still be alive running around with my blood in them that they got in SE Asia.

Oh by the way I don't use the VA but have volunteered my time to them. You should try it, you might come away with a different attitude.

We call them people sick call rangers.

What about Hispanic veterans?

You're not wrong on the welfare angle - but I saw more "disabled vets" that claimed congenital or random issues - and got approved as a fluke - than I did legit fucked-in-action guys.    The real deal guys never wanted to go to VA almost in protest.   The ones showing up were the wannabes.

I dont think the short term guys get all the same benefits. Unless they got jacked up when they were in. And if you don’t have a prior injury, unless you can say it was service related, you don’t get everything until you’re 60. Then you can apply for the tricare, if you have your 20. And the VA is not very nice about fixing bad knees from what I’ve heard. Hard to get them fixed if you don’t have it well noted in your medical history. I paid for my own knee surgery.
There are plenty of exGI’s that game the system for sure. But if you put in your 20, you should get what you are eligible for. But the VA is a socialist system and the care you get may take a while and may not always be top notch. Hit and miss from some I’ve talked to. I’m eligible this year for mine. I’ll know more in the coming years. 😉

Not wrong.


If the Army accepts your enlistment, they accept preexisting conditions. They try to screen very thoroughly for medical conditions that can affect service before people join.

I tried to join the military 3 times.   Multiple near-death experiences, three slipped discs, one chronic sciatic lower back pain since age 14 and three cancers - and I hate people.   I avoid crowds.   I'm mid-forties.  Had I gotten in, I'd be 100% disabled based on current criteria.

But for better or worse, I work 50 hours a week as my own boss.  

I'm not discrediting your service - because it sounds like you carried a heavy load for your country and you paid a heavy price.    I'm also in no way saying our experiences are remotely equal (they're not).

I'm just pointing out that many times the diagnoses thrown around for "disability" are not exactly unique to the VA and certainly are not equal.

There's a lot of assholes in the VA that think their irritable bowel syndrome puts them on the same level as you.   And they're not.  

Part of fixing the system is holding people accountable for being assholes - even if those assholes are technically "veterans."

I saw a guy with a 40% disability for lazy eye once.  

That's weird.  I started the process last month. Already had a meeting with one of their social workers and have an appointment for primary care next month.  I could have had the appointment earlier but I have some stuff going on.  

I use my employer insurance.  As a bonus there is a clinic less than 5 minutes away and they are building a massive VA hospital 15 minutes away from me.

Agree with what Freefall said.  Also, I could give a fuck less what a bunch of whinny asses that didn't serve think.  You don't get to have an opinion on military or VA issues.
Shit, I was promised all kinds of stuff if I stayed in for 20.  When I signed up, we were promised free health and dental for life if we stayed for 20.

Common?? In my civilian life family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances I do not know a single civilian with PTSD, TBI, traumatic amputation, or paratroopers knees.  The ones with ÷eeeeeeeeeee were self induced by voluntarily going to concerts or ranges.

Reminds me I need to get mine documented and start the ball rolling.

Get on it.  Saves you the trouble.

GWOT



H

My coworker just got 80% so I need to. How does it affect monthly drill pay?

I’ve talked to recent discharges and they’ve all told me “apply for VA benefits” is the standard for out processing even if they never stepped foot out of country

Before GWOT and before Obamacare, the VA was essentially 100% federally funded Medicaid for a subset of poor Americans. Few folks went to the VA in the 80s and 90s if they had other options.

According to VA numbers, there are 18.9 million veterans (FY 2023) and there were 6.81 million unique patient encounters in FY 2022. There are 5.3 million receiving VA disability.

I think your premise is flawed.

About twenty years I worked with an SF guy.  Nordic ubermench.  6’4” tall. Former Ranger Bn 11b.  220 ripped unless working out like a boss then 235 ripped.  SFCD qualified.  Was crushing selection as an 11B but fell down a bank in the dark on his 20 mile and broke his fibula.  Went to SFAS and Qcourse.  Became an 18B.  Second time at selection and got pneumonia and was dropped.  Stayed SF with no chance for OTC after two selection FTCs. Crushed SFARTEC.  Went to a different SMU.  Ended up with horrible sleep apnea a few years later.  While still a physical beast mode specimen.  I couldn’t wrap my mind around how he had sleep apnea.  Awesome dude.  Kind of guy with a barn door surburban and kick ass SHTF drawer system.  Just an awesome American.  And over the next decade or so ran into several similar.  NOT former stud that got out of shape and ended up with sleep apnea,  - still a stud crushing it like a boss types with sleep apnea and other issues.  Sure, now we can understand operator  syndrome, etc. ( don’t have to have been an operator, could have been DS, a civilian trauma surgeon, an ATC, etc.)

This is where I fucked up. I pulled a bunch of stuff out of my records and just tossed them. One injury in particular, crush fracture to C-6 from a jump, was pretty bad but I was so concerned that it would take me out of the unit that I hid it and other injuries as well.  So when I retired, after about 21 years in SOF, my med records were maybe 1/2" thick.  Luckily for me we had Docs assigned that were familiar with the work we did and he captured a bunch of stuff during my retirement physicals (plural…) in verbiage that the VA understood.  That being said I've still had to get former team mates and CDRs write statements for particular injuries or events.

In recent years much of this has changed though. Under McRaven SOCOM formed something called Care Coalition which shepherds a member thats ETS'ing or retiring through the entire retirement medical process. They even have a VA rep assigned right to the unit. This has been a godsend for guys as there's no more VA fuckery going on….if there is it immediately gets 4 star visibility, while the guy is still on active duty, as well as visibility with civilian DoD leadership at the upper echelons.

While this is great it doesn't solve the problem of the average 11 or 03 MOS dudes. 18's generally get top of the line care, both in CONUS and Deployed, and quality medics and Docs are everywhere in an 18 environment. The same can't be said for the average infantry dude. They get rode hard and put up wet….and they generally don't get looked after all that well.

If I had my druthers I'd form a separate VA track for combat arms MOS's, in particular 11 and 03, staffed with VA people that understood the jobs of those folks.  Again though, based on my experiences the VA really doesn't want to "help" guys. They will provide benefits if certain criteria are met but they certainly don't weigh in to help dudes.

You need to know the right verbiage to tell the VA and have all your documentation in order otherwise they'll politely tell you to get fucked. If you operate under the premise that the VA hates you, wants you dead and off their books you'll do ok. Just don't trust those fucks.

OP is not complaining too many veterans have medical access.
OP does not think a bunch of illegals should be getting free medical care and other benefits.

Op is saying-

“You know, I basically spent 87% of my life with the concept and  surrounded by people with the concept that active duty covered medical care for everything, retirees got significant medical coverage, and any veteran got service related stuff covered, but I have come to find out a bunch of non retiree veterans think .gov owes them free STD checks, primary care, trauma care, OB care, HiV treatment, monkey pox treatment, every sniffle treatment, every thing related to weighing 387 pounds, smoking crack until their heart and kidneys are dead, etc. Treatment for life.  This is a new concept to me and foreign to me and essentially everyone I served with in the 80s, 90s, aughts, and teens.  When did this become a concept and expectation?”

I gave some answers to this earlier but honestly I'm speculating. Critical to the expansion of the VA was when it became a department and now has a dedicated cabinet position. With that came budget and with budget comes power. To get more power you spend and then ask for more money. Bigger budget equals more power so there's that….

What I missed earlier, and I also feel was critical to VA expansion was Obama care. I seem to remember that when Obama expanded medical care he also opened the aperture of access to the VA to a much wider audience. This would make sense as while Obama care is matter of congressional funding the VA isn't….the President can directly "influence" how those monies are spent.  

Essentially under Obama VA medical care became another social program with very loose caveats to gain access.  This approach to expanding what is essentially welfare is pretty artful if you think about it….I mean who would argue with increasing vets medical benefits, even vets who served for a few months and got a paper cut, especially during time of war. You have to hand it to Obama and his crew. They were pretty smart about how the ass raped this nation.

This.  Document everything.  Save it in your safe and upload to Onedrive, cloud, etc.

Get your treatment and get back to work.  Repeat as necessary.

My point, which I really didn't develop all that well, was that in VA math it really doesn't matter how the individual disabilities add up.

What matters are the effects on you as a total human. I know plenty of guys whose individual injuries might add up to let's say 160% but they're drawing maybe 60% disability because the type of injuries and how they effect them.  

The other poster explained it better than I can but that's my understanding.

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.

This..

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.

This what?  That's some fucking bullshit VA propaganda paper. It has no bearing whatsoever on the expansion of benefits, essentially welfare, that the OP raised? It's just more VA bullshit.

As a vet who works for the VA, the biggest concern is the number of people collecting 100% who never deployed, many didn’t complete their enlistment.
We see guys with multiple deployments, multiple TBIs, scarring/ortho damage/retained metal from combat wounds, permanent limp, limited rom of arms, amputations, getting the same amount as the anxiety diagnosis who got kicked out for doing steroids and gets admitted 10x/year for alcohol/crack detox (owes the dealer money/has a warrant so hides out in the VA).

I was at the VA on Monday, going again tomorrow.

There wasn't a line of confused former service members lined up in the lobby thinking they could get treatment when they couldn't.

That might vary by location.

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.

so,

when they started making everyone, a "disabled vet"

extra several-thousand a month is pretty sweet

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

Like all things, the VA is nebulous and confusing regarding Tinnitus and hearing.

To them, it is separate.

If you go for hearing, hoping for a Tinnitus ruling, you probably won’t get it.

If you go for a Tinnitus ruling, and leave hearing out of it, you will almost 100% get it.

Combat vets in combat arms are a lock, as are some other MOS that are around loud noises constantly.

Since the military is soooooooo good at protecting hearing, they cave to tinnitus pretty easily.

I found through my process the gyros inside a tank are quite damaging to hearing, and are a major contributor to tinnitus.

CVC helmets aren’t enough protection.

A former co-worker of mine was medically retired after he broke his back on the obstacle course in basic training.  He had a blue ID card with the rank AB on it.

I was never armor or mech or around armor a lot but I rembember having to help move a bunch of CvC helmets once and I remember just hearing those vehicles, M109s and tanks being loud just passing past me.

He’s USAF

Thanks again