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You should not compare the veteran's disability payments to private sector disability insurance because in almost any private sector disability plan benefits would cut off completely after only two years if the person could hold any job. The VA plan sounds alot closer to Worker's Compensation, which is no picnic because employers actually fight claims.

You said: Now do you think it is right for your pay to stop and for you be told to live on the 20 year retirement pay at the Ulcer Plant? Especially when you had the potential to earn 20-30 years more wages there or elsewhere? That's what this is about

Even if the 60% limitation were put in place, that does not mean that a vet eligible for both retirment and disability benefits will not also find good work. If this was really just about vets who can no longer work then Congress then I would agree with you. Congress should write a bill that fixes that problem rather than throwing together two programs that were specifically designed to have an offset.

As a former member of the 82d Airborne Division, three tours, and a hundred jumps, 4-miles a day in the morning, 30-miles running a week for over 12-years of my 20-years, plus one or two 2-3 hour stints a week with a 45-60 pound pack, plus rifle, helmet, etc., I would tend to beleive that the "average" veteran has some hard miles on their bodies also. Most people on active duty actually have to perform "athletic level" physical fitness routines, routinely. This aspect alone makes military service extra hard on a person, not to mention the dangerous type of work many are involved in to start with; not everyone in the military is a clerk or civilian wearing a uniform - and those who do 20-years in any branch have been rode hard and put away wet too many times. Military folks normally work 12-hours a day and miss out a lot of weekends to boot. I'd say your average 20-year retiree did more damage to his body than a 30-year civilian ever could; then you image someone who does more years - the ratio is 1.5 military years to one civilian year in wear and tear. Of course, I know there are some civilians who work in harsh conditions, firefighters, law enforcement, construction, farm workers, and some factory jobs, but your normal couch potato"e" doesn't have a clue.