re: So I was listening to Tony Aguilar on Tucker, and I am wondering about military disability

Everyone's cow is sacred

My 2nd cousin was denied 100% disability until just before he died. He had been pursuing it for 20+ years.

Apparently hearing voices telling him to kill every woman he meets is enough for a discharge but it is not disabling.

The only reason he had a pt job as a bagger at the grocery store was because he was a local in an area where the population is like 1500 including infants and the elderly. The store would hold his job for him to return after up to several months of being committed to various VA psych wards.

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My 2nd cousin was denied 100% disability until just before he died. He had been pursuing it for 20+ years.

Apparently hearing voices telling him to kill every woman he meets is enough for a discharge but it is not disabling.

The only reason he had a pt job as a bagger at the grocery store was because he was a local in an area where the population is like 1500 including infants and the elderly. The store would hold his job for him to return after up to several months of being committed to various VA psych wards.

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i would love to hear the story of how it's the military's fault that your batshit crazy cousin is telling women he wants to kill them.

I do know a few who probably are physically fit but are definitely emotionally/mentally messed up from stuff they were exposed to oversees.

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They deserve the benefit of the doubt.

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why?

Because they served in a combat zone. Literally the most difficult thing a country asks its citizens to do

VA disability ratings are a combined rating from your various, service-connected disabilities. These individual disabilities can be rated anywhere from 0% to 100%, but it’s rare to have a single, 100% rating.

VA math isn’t difficult to understand either, it’s just math. You can’t use 2, 50% off coupons to get a free item at the store. So you have to think of it like that. If you have a 50% rating, then 50% of you is still good. If you get a 20% rating next, it’s 20% of the remaining 50% and so on. VA rounds the overall rating using normal rounding rules. If you are 95% or up, you are rounded to 100% overall. Ratings can move up or down over time if you get better or worse. Unless you are given Permanent and Total disability status, your conditions get reviewed every 3-5 years.

It takes a lot to get to 100%, but many people get there based on having everything documented in their medical records with an actual diagnosis. You can’t think of disability in the way most people do, either. Pain is a disability (usually rated 10%, and you can’t test for that), painful scars are a disability, sleep apnea (50% rating if a CPAP is required) is a disability, tinnitus is a disability (10% rating), eczema is a disability, and so on. Essentially, most medical conditions are considered a disability of some sort. Taking that into consideration, you can begin to see how people get 90-100% ratings. Are they disabled in the normal sense of what we consider, no, but many are.

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I mean if you are 100% disabled from the military, God bless you! But if you are claiming 100% disability

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My ex-brother in-law just finished up his disability fraud claim. He has a torn ligament or something in his knee. The military was going to pay for the surgery. Instead, he denied the surgery so that he can get disability an leave the military. He was in signals intelligence, so I assume it was not the most physically demanding job.

Now he'll get a check for the rest of his life. He's going back to school, paid for by the gov, and taking the minimum amount of classes because they also pay him I think $3,000 a month while he's in school.

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ETA: She is far from disabled. Had her knee scoped and now does kickboxing, hiking, and all sorts of recreational sports.

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Prosecute and punish.

Skin all lawyers helping in the fraud.

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Also, depending on the type of VA disability you receive, you can work in the private sector and there is no income limit to keep receiving your payments.

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VA disability is not the same as SSDI. One is for damages incurred during services rendered while the other is for people who cannot work.

Some dude who killed a dozen people, saw 3 friends die, and another 2 friends lose legs is perfectly capable of working in the private sector. He also deserves compensation for the PTSD he earned serving his country which will stick with him until his dying day.

All that said, there's definitely abuse these days. When I got out in the late 90's, no one talked about getting full physicals before separation or immediately heading over to the VA to file for disability for every ache and pain you have. Today? That's exactly what these young people are doing. They're going to have to change the rules as the word is out now amongst those currently serving. Each one of them separating honorably will likely file claims.