Congratulations young man or woman! You were a patriotic member of the United States All Volunteer Military. You volunteered to serve with the full expectation that “Support the Troops†was not just empty rhetoric piously mouthed by politicians, generals, and the yellow ribbon displaying American public. You served honorably sometimes with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, you returned damaged to the point that you can no longer serve because of wounds, injury, illness, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). You must be discharged from active service. You have just earned your ticket to the 30% Shell Game.
There are two players in the 30% Shell Game, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). You are the pea in the game. Ah, but you ask, “What is the prize in this Game?†The answer is your health care and your family’s health care for the rest of your lives as well as other benefits that retired members of the Armed Forces are entitled to.
How you ask is the game played? Let me explain and you will see. The first player is the DOD who has already decided that you can no longer serve on active duty. Now they get to decide your level of disability. In this process the DOD is not your friend. The magic hurdle is a designation of 30% disability. At or above that hurdle you are retired from the military with full benefits for you and your family including Tri-Care, the health insurance that allows you and your family to acquire care in the civilian health care system. The catch for DOD is that they have to pay for both retirement pay and benefits. Below the magic 30% you are passed on to the next player, the VA. Now guess how eager the DOD is to have you continue on their payroll. If you guessed not much, you would be correct. If you guessed not much and were in the Army, you would be twice as correct as if you were in the other services. It seems that the other services are almost twice as generous with the magic 30% disability designation as is the Army. However, the Navy and Air Force are still pretty miserly. Oh sure, there are appeals and enough bureaucracy to give the appearance of fairness and due process if you have a lot of time and the money to hire lawyers to fight on your behalf. “The Chain of Command,†you ask? Forget it. However, you can rest assured that in all likelihood you will not clear the magic 30% hurdle with DOD on appeal if you were short of it in the first place.
Now you become the VA’s pea in the great shell game with a few thousand dollars in severance from DOD. In all likelihood, if you deserved the 30% disability rating you will get it from the VA. Congratulations, you are now entitled to care in a VA facility and you get a lifelong disability check. Not so bad, huh. How about your family’s medical care you ask, forget it. How about if the nearest VA facility is hours away? Too bad. How about if you have PTSD? The VA mental health system is already overwhelmed. To add insult to injury you will not receive any disability payments until the severance pay you received from DOD has been fully repaid to the military.
Welcome to the world of “Supporting the Troopsâ€Â. The next logical question is, “What should be done?†I have a very simple solution. By decree declare that if a service member must be medically discharged from active duty for a service connected disability they are by definition at least 30% disabled and let the bureaucrats and politicians sort out the jurisdictional turf between DOD and the VA.
Empowering Veterans wants the story of your first person experience with the shell game. Please go to the website EmpoweringVeterans.org and click on “Record Your Story†and we will publish on the site as well as circulate in on the blogs.
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