The politically motivated, veteran disability inflation that began with the invention of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder by Berkeley, California professors (Stolen Valor by BG Burkett) continues apace with the exponential proclivity for political pandering. The November 2, 2013 Military Update by Tom Philpott reports “78,000 vets still have a chance at ‘retiree’ status.” Beginning with phrases “Applying is a breeze…” and “To win…” Philpott mimics all the other federal give aways explaining vets with 20% disability ratings or less don’t even have to appear before another evaluation board to apply for lifetime military benefits. Neither need they worry about a downgrade in disability rating – that’s prohibited.
This sounds a lot like the presidential directive for the IRS to contract out solicitations for signing up for the mega-mess Earned Income Credit costing billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to “community organizers.” In violation of federal law, EIC applicants don’t have to show up in person either (Byron York, “IRS tax credit scandal bad omen for Obamacare”) to qualify for your tax money nor, not so coincidentally, to sign up as a registered voter. Both VA and EIC are running Ponzi schemes structured for massive fraud.
In true government form congress is throwing money at a temporary problem. This is going to cost taxpayers a lot of money. The problem was “For many years, the Army led the services in tweaking policy and using VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities in ways that kept ill and injured soldiers from a combined rating of 30 percent or higher to qualify for disability retirement. It was less costly to rate a single unfitting condition, ignore others and separate rather than retire soldiers by awarding soldiers 0, 10 or 20 percent.” First of all, 30% qualifies for disability retirement? For someone who may have served only one or two tours in the military? Using old math that means a former serviceman is 70% healthy and, thus, able to perform some kind of income-earning labor. In military terms he is still “combat effective.” (depending on the branch of service) Add the 10-15% Veteran preference given for federal and many state jobs and the “disabled” veteran becomes 80-85% employable. Add to the equation once word got out the VA was “awarding” 50% disability for all separating veterans with sleep apnea – a malady caused mostly by obesity- almost everyone leaving the military qualifies (well, maybe not as many Marines). And, like the EIC applications, all the vet has to do is tell a doc he has it. Voila’! And what happened to the hard-line (depending on rank) height and weight standards that are supposed to prevent the obesity causing sleep apnea?
Maybe generations of civilian education’s great self-esteem movement that has permeated current military training (particularly within the enlisted ranks “no AIT student fails or it looks bad on my OER”) has infected the VA Disability Review Boards (performance evaluations being what THEY are.)
How does 20% disability qualify for lifetime military retirement? The answer is Congress ordered this vote pandering review and the military dutifully “stepped out smartly” to produce the desired 96% eligibility review.
It is neither illegal nor immoral to tell a veteran “no.” Teddy Roosevelt dealt with a similar issue by saying “Any man who risks his life in the service of his country deserves a square deal. No more. No less.” The feeding frenzy by vets deep throating disability political largess is nauseating. The military organizers in cahoots with the Earned Income Credit community organizers are goose stepping with the Imperial Idiots. They’re like rats gnawing at our nation’s tax base. Don’t blame Obama. Look in the mirror. Both are turning a square deal into a sweet deal.
