Psychological "Friendly" Fire

Following up on other posts:

More Vet Funding But...: Some good improvements on Vet funding, but still no movement on the Personality Disorder scam being used to deny benefits to veterans.

Illinois No Longer Dead Last: Illinois is no longer dead last in benefits pay... but it's still pretty close to the new dead last awardee in actual dollar figures.

Pentagon Disorder: The Personality Disorder Scam. The DoD takes service connected disabled vets and says they have pre-existing mental problems that get the government off the hook for paying for benefits for their war time and service connected disabilities. A real travesty.


Today's post is about another regularly occurring theme with disabled soldiers:

WEST BURLINGTON -- Billy Carter is not angry with the Veterans Administration. He is not angry with the Army.

He just wants his neighbors to see, to understand, to feel for a moment what it means to be a veteran caught in limbo.

"It's kind of like you're in a convoy," Carter said Monday in an interview at the home of his fiancee's mother, "and you get a flat tire and the rest of the convoy drives off and leaves you."

Now unemployed and living part-time in a rental house without running water in Fort Madison, the former member of the Iowa Army National Guard's 224th Engineer Battalion began the process of applying for disability benefits a year ago this month. He continues to wait for the first payment as his bills pile higher and his life unravels, and he said there are other Iraq war veterans in the area who share his plight.

...

"They told us at (Ft. Sill) that if you have any issues to tell us now," he said. "But then they also said that if you have any issues and they're not resolved when we go home, you're not going home. You've been deployed for a year; all you want to do is go home. You're not bringing that stuff up."

...

Carter will be listed in those [VA patient] ranks. When his application is complete, that is. That can't happen, though, until he makes up that missed exam, and the wait may well be long.

Kirt Sickels, a spokesman at the VA hospital in Iowa City, said there are more than five doctors handling compensation and pension exams. Their workload is large, though, with 18 to 20 requests for initial exams coming in each day.

Two issues. First: The government's fondness of giving soldiers the impression that if they have any medical problems they won't be able to go home. To someone who has been dreaming of going home for months and months through hell and heartache it is like telling someone who just crossed the desert that they'll have to cross it again if they want some water... or they can get a drink here, if they make a deal with the devil.

Even soldiers who haven't been disabled in the service probably remember a similar spiel in boot camp, "If you want to quit you can quit... but it'll take you even longer to get home while you sit around in Seps!" Seps being the separations process.

To non-Vets this may also sound familiar with the recent Walter Reed scandal where soldiers often told tales of immense wait times to go home and be reunited with their families if they tried fighting their absurdly low disability ratings from the medical board.

To me this sounds like psychological warfare to save a buck at veterans' expense. And it especially resonates with me because I heard the same BS in boot camp and the same BS while at the Naval hospital after my injury. The strange part is that when they told us this crap they really seemed to believe it. Is the guy who is trying to get us to sign that Faustian paperwork being similarly misled by his superiors? It certainly seems that way. It isn't until much later that many vets find out that "the easy way" damns them when they need help with their injuries and ailments later.

It pains me to find out that this problem wasn't just an isolated incident but rather systemic. Time and time again as I read the stories of returning soldiers, especially those with "Personality Disorder" discharges, I see the same themes: being told that signing the Faustian paperwork will get them home faster and often being misled that they'll still just as easily qualify for benefits or care. This needs to stop.


The Backlog

The other issue is the backlog on claims. The VA is overwhelmed with C&P exams for guys trying to prove they are qualified for their VA benefits. It takes forever to get these appointments and for returning vets who are having severe medical problems the ability to get to these appointments (or if they're moving around a lot due to severe financial difficulties even to get notified of them in time) can be very difficult.

It may be necessary to allow some private exams to cut through the backlog. The Social Security Administration uses selected private doctors in the area of the claimant to help verify their medical conditions. The VA should implement a similar program in addition to their normal VA-only C&P exams to help cut through the backlog.

When we have a backlog that is over half a million veterans waiting over half a year on average for benefits while they suffer financially and in desperate need of medical care for their service connected disabilities, this is an entirely unacceptable situation. Especially with the many claims that drag on for a year or years.