I don’t collect disability and I didn’t serve overseas. I did however get hearing damage when in. I didn’t know better to document it. My understanding is hearing loss gets you 10% disability. Shit happens to lots of people in the military such as dying during training exercises when not in war time and yes people get disabilities when serving even if they didn’t go overseas. Everyone of them signed their contract with the knowledge they could die in service of their country. So, that guy needs to chill.
Meby, but I sustained a pretty spectacular injury that I shrugged off at the time because nothing was broke, and about ten years post military it hit me like a ton of bricks. CT scan showed a hell of a lot of scar tissue pushing on my spinal ganglion. Very uncomfortable. I did not think anyone owed me anything, and I suffered with it for about ten years till it just went away. Never even considered trying to weeze juice from Uncle Stupid for it. Some physical discomfort is NOTHING next to what some of the guys in the VA hospitals have to try and live with.
If you don't think that tons of veterans would try to game the system and sponge off all of us who get up every morning and work, you have never served, because there are a shitload of shitbirds who would do that without a single reservation. Many of them probably grew up with their families on permanent welfare and every freeloading program there is.
This, and people who are really disabled and actually can't work have to rely on private charities like Tunnel to Towers to be able to live a semi-normal life.
I've never been accused of being very compassionate. I can be cold with a very dark sense of humor. I am pretty sure that I had PTSD for years, but I don't look at it like the therapy community. It's not a fucking "disability", it's a survival mechanism. It's how the environment trains the brain to think and react in order to survive. When I first got out I was very paranoid, very distant (in as much as I would ignore irrelevant, non-threatening information coming in), I had a short temper, and I drank too much. That isn't some "disorder". It was a healthy reaction to being under stress for extended periods, and adopting a way of thinking and reacting to maximize my survival and the survival of all my friends. The drinking was a way to get out of that loop at least temporarily, and when that became a problem I addressed that too. It's not that I don't get this can lead to depression and cripple you in regular society, I just think that treating it like some disorder rather than a healthy and natural reaction is a mistake, and they tell people who have it that there is something wrong with them that needs to be fixed. They don't need to be fixed, they just need time and distance to train their brain to understand that not everything needs to start with a threat assessment, and that they are not around people who speak plainly anymore.
I believe for every person who is genuinely suffering and deserves compensation there are probably a dozen who are full of shit and are milking the system. We have a fucking Medical officer at my Legion Post who gets constant updates of every program and benefit possible, and 90% of them will fill out the paperwork and sign up for anything at all if it increases what they're getting from the government. They're not bad guys, they're great guys, but they see nothing wrong with this, and think any way you can get money back from Uncle Stupid you should. If you don't think that scammers are stealing money from the actually disabled/blown up/amputees, you are a fucking idiot. It's a problem, and a huge one, but in the age of, "Thank you for your service", no one will call out this bullshit. They would rather have half their money confiscated than ask tough questions and be seen to not be compassionate. Fuck that.
