The world renowned Mayo Clinic defines sleep apnea as “a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. You may have sleep apnea if you snore loudly and you feel tired even after a full night’s sleep. There are two main types of sleep apnea: Obstructive sleep apnea, the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax; and Central sleep apnea, which occurs when your brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing.” Both type symptoms include sleepiness or lack of energy during the day, sleepiness while driving, morning headaches, and forgetfulness, and mood changes.
All personnel leaving the military are required to attend pre-separation briefings conducted by each installation’s retirement service officer (RSO). When I retired the RSO strongly emphasized documenting any existing active duty ailments and securing our military health records in order to obtain legitimate VA coverage for service-connected disabilities.
Now, rather than ensuring legitimate existing active duty ailments are documented, RSOs for the last several years appear to be encouraging retirees to create ailments in order to receive the coveted 50% VA disability that triggers receiving both full retirement and disability rather than a lesser percentage resulting in only a tax-free deduction of “X” amount of disability from a retiree’s pension. The difference is with a 50% disability – automatically granted for sleep apnea – a retiree receives a combined annuity that’s basically the same paycheck he received on active duty. Try finding that in private, non-union industry.It’s very much like unemployment insurance that pays non-workers a liveable wage not to work.
Some veterans’ groups and the federal employees’ unions appeared to have adopted benefits tactics akin to the AFL-CIO. That’s not a coincidence. Since union membership in the private sector has steadily declined for decades, and two Supreme Court cases (Communication Workers of America v. Beck; and Abood v. Detroit Board of Education) prohibit unions using membership dues for political purposes (ignored by unions and congress), unions have encouraged military interest groups and government employees to adopt union political tactics – like constantly demanding more, more, more. That is why government won’t stop growing (see Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down their Membership and Corrupt American Politics by Linda Chavez [former Secretary of Labor] and Daniel Gray). Since being elected president of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, often boasts of influencing many government organizations to – wittingly or not – implement the Clower-Piven strategy to bankrupt America. Since military special interest groups are basically de facto unions in their lobbying pressures, sleep apnea for military retirees contributes to that strategy.
It’s a fine line between a “wink-and-a-nod advisory” and conspiracy to defraud the American taxpayer. But it is highly suspect that military personnel in such large numbers are receiving sleep apnea disability for an ailment that, if reported while on active duty, would have resulted in a medical profile requiring assignment to limited duty, removal from some critical MOSs, and removal from deployment or promotion lists for inability to perform the mission. Most would at least have been ordered onto a weight control program with their records flagged. So how does this serious ailment suddenly appear upon retirement? Ask the retiree and your congressman.
And how do military retirees with such a serious disability continue working in their prior military occupations as contractors? For example, how do retired Army aviators, UAV controllers, and others requiring fine motor skills obtain defense contract employment with a disability that would certainly disqualify them from flying commercial aircraft and other private sector occupations. Is that what autopilot is for on RC-12s and UAVs – so the pilots, controllers, etc. can do it in their sleep? Apparently. Although that may not distinguish them from many other civil service employees it is discomforting to think there are people flying planes, UAVs (some loaded with explosives), and other high tech equipment with an ailment that would disqualify them from those jobs on active duty or in the private sector. It gives “The sky is falling!” a whole new dimension to consider.
RSOs are not the only ones complicit. Civilian private care managers (PCM isn’t supposed to mean “Profit Chief Motive) nationwide participate by requiring little or no medical evidence other than the patient’s complaint. Try getting a sleep apnea disability from a private corporation’s health insurance (if there are any left) – or a job with a commercial airline with sleep apnea. They ask about applicants’ disabilities and weed out those with disqualifying ailments. “Sleep centers” run, again, by doctors with a profit motive, also know the amount of money involved and guarantee 100% positive results (another wink-and-a-nod).
So, as with labor unions, pre-separation briefings have devolved from taking care of the soldier to – in the words of Godfather Don Corlioni – “making them an offer they can’t refuse.” It’s time this dirty little secret was investigated and terminated with extreme prejudice.
