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Coming Home: Disabled Soldier
Faces Battle in Seeking Benefits
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ^
| 8-12-03
| ROBERT TOMSHO and RACHEL ZIMMERMAN
Posted on 08/12/2003 4:42:42 AM PDT by SJackson
Edited on 04/22/2004 11:49:39 PM PDT by Jim Robinson.
[history]
BLUFFTON, Ind. -- Jason Stiffler, a high-school dropout, hoped the U.S. Army could help him make something of himself. But two years after enlisting, the 20-year-old veteran of the Afghanistan war struggles just to care for the tiny garden outside his rented trailer home.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; dav; va; veterans; welcomehome
1
posted on
08/12/2003 4:42:43 AM PDT
by
SJackson
To: dennisw; Cachelot; Yehuda; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; ...
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
2
posted on
08/12/2003 4:58:30 AM PDT
by
SJackson
To: SJackson
My Dad came out of literally years of combat during WWII
in the European theatre in such rough shape he doubted at
that time he would ever live to see his 70th birthday.
He had been wounded but not disabled. He passed away over
a year ago from prostate cancer at the age of 81. He was
surprised to have made it to that age. He did get quite a
bit of care at a nearby VA hospital during his illness.
3
posted on
08/12/2003 5:00:59 AM PDT
by
Twinkie
To: SJackson
The reason this story is being reported is that it is an egregious example of bureaucratic buffoonery in a system that is known for its slowness. Certainly the telling points out many areas of improvement but the bottom line is that the poor soldier here has gotten the assistance that is needed.
4
posted on
08/12/2003 5:15:35 AM PDT
by
thegreatbeast
(Quid lucrum istic mihi est?)
To: SJackson
This case is not at all unusual! Some VA Regions are quicker than others, but the delays and red tape nonsense is a shame and disgrace to America's veterans.
In addition to this story, look at what treatment the career military retiree receives!
If a retiree experiences service connected, and VA rated, disability compensation for injury or illness incurred as service connected, his/her retired pay is reduced...dollar for dollar, by the VA amount received. No other federal employee (including the congress!) has that offset imposed...none! It is an issue called "Concurrent Receipt" that has been bantered in the congress for the past eighteen years (in spite of full support of 94% of the House and Senate combined to eliminate this discrimination) and dies in committe each and every year!
We did not ask for the disability...we incurred it in the lione of duty. The VA conducts rather in depth examinations (evidenced by the slow process described in this artile) and awards a decision (and they are not, "slam dunk, here ya go" decsions), yet the military retiree forfeits the same amount of retired pay he gets in VA compansation...it's a wash!
Lool up "Concurrent Receipt" on the web...this is what your career warriors are handed by congess...and George Bush refuses to correct this problem citing "funding" issues...BS! Funding for retired military isalready in the Military retirement Fund (MRTF), so...when our retired pay is reduced...where does it go? It goes to DOD for "discrectionary" (read that "unaccounted for") spending...an issue Secretary Chu and Donny Rumsfield refuse to address (though Chu wrote the in depth "Rand Stufy" when he was on the other side of the fence with the Rand Corp. and reported that concurrent receipt was a fully viable and affordable program that should be initiated!)
Very few civilian folks are aware that being disabled as a result of a career in uniform means you give up retired pay! Many must do that to receive medical care because the military facilities also place retirees on a space available basis (and with closures and down-sizing...there ain't no space!)
Yes, it is true...spend a career iin uniform and incur a service connected diability and you lose retirement...the veteran who spends 30 days in uniform can work for federal civil service and lose nothing because of the identical condition!
Help us, citizens...contact Bush, the congress...and the press...this is a serious slap in the face to our veterans...it needs to stop now!
5
posted on
08/12/2003 5:21:19 AM PDT
by
NMFXSTC
To: SJackson
Am I reading this correctly?
He sustained his injuries in a fall after the Gulf War?
He says he cannot read......could he read before he dropped out of high school and joined the Army?
Seems there's a lot of buffing up of his complaints.
He's now 20 yrs. old and has a wife and year and a half old baby?
Flame away!
6
posted on
08/12/2003 5:48:17 AM PDT
by
OldFriend
((Dems inhabit a parallel universe))
To: SJackson
The roughly 175,000 military personnel who have served in the war against terror have not begun to apply for VA services in big numbers. But about 50,000 of them will file disability claims in coming years, if the 30% rate of VA utilization after the Gulf War is any guide. The expected rate is 30%? That seems high. Is this a case of folks taking the benefits merely because it is available?
The VA denied the claim, saying it couldn't locate his Army medical records.
Waaaaaaaay too common. The system loses records, then denies a claim based on their mistake.
7
posted on
08/12/2003 5:55:28 AM PDT
by
TankerKC
(If corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from?)
To: OldFriend
"Mr. Stiffler was injured while manning an Army watchtower near Kandahar in April 2002
Wonder why he was in Afghanistan?
"He says he just wanted to get out of the hospital and was in a fog brought on by painkillers and his injuries. Back then, "if I tried to read something, like maybe a paragraph, I couldn't comprehend it."
Brain injuries also causing tracking problems with vision and pain killers are just debilitating.
Naw, I don't think he's bluffing. Used to see those silly bluffers at Walter-Reed. Forty percent mobility loss is a cinch....right?
8
posted on
08/12/2003 5:56:39 AM PDT
by
OpusatFR
(proudly tv free since 2003)
To: SJackson
TOMMY-
I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!
Rudyard Kipling
9
posted on
08/12/2003 6:00:51 AM PDT
by
joesnuffy
(Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
To: SJackson
"Just before Christmas, Mr. Stiffler suffered a seizure in his front yard and fought off responding paramedics with a crutch, calling them "Afghanis."
Bullshiite. People suffering a seizure are incapable of fighting off anyone. They are unconscious and unable to speak, so he couldn't have called anyone anything. Same applies to a period after the seizure ends; the person "sleeps" for up to about 2 hours, varying with the intensity and duration of the seizure.
This statement alone causes me to disbelieve much of his non-physical symptoms.
To: SendShaqtoIraq
'Seizure' as defined by an EEG may not be the have the same symptoms as a
"grand mal" seizure associated with epilepsy..
11
posted on
08/12/2003 9:35:26 AM PDT
by
joesnuffy
(Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
To: joesnuffy
There are different types of seizures, yes. But ALL involve being unaware of their surroundings.
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