Posted on 05/27/2012 2:36:53 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
A staggering 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. That is more than double the estimate of 21 percent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials said.
What's more, these new veterans are claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones over the last year are claiming 11 to 14. By comparison, Vietnam veterans are currently receiving compensation for fewer than four, on average, and those from World War II and Korea, just two.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Of those who have sought VA care:
--More than 1,600 of them lost a limb; many others lost fingers or toes.
--At least 156 are blind, and thousands of others have impaired vision.
--More than 177,000 have hearing loss, and more than 350,000 report tinnitus -- noise or ringing in the ears.
--Thousands are disfigured, as many as 200 of them so badly that they may need face transplants. One-quarter of battlefield injuries requiring evacuation included wounds to the face or jaw, one study found.
for later
I believe it.
Sadly with so many of our military men and women, including National Guard and Reserves being sent by our Government to active combat zones on multiple tours it is very understandable.
Huh. I have had ringing in my ears ever since I left the service at the tail end of the Vietnam conflict. Never thought to file for disability.
And still won’t.
One of my friends was part of a tank crew and is really screwed up both physically and mentally. Him I understand. Still uses a cane and wakes up screaming almost every night.
I walk around with a nice scar on my left shoulder from being shot. Looks ugly so i don’t go shirtless or wear a tank top. When i did, i was asked too many questions. After a while, you really don’t want to talk about it.
And I am in DC for Rolling Thunder!
The hearing loss and tinitus is mostly a BS ailment. I wonder how much they get. The rest listed are certainly valid and we, the people, should pony up to take care of our military once they deros.
They may be being encouraged to file for disability. Then they don’t have to count you as unemployed.
When I retired, we had an outbrief from some VA drone. He practically begged us to get a VA physical and apply for disability benefits. Even if you DIDN’T THINK anything was wrong with you.
I will ditto tailback on this one. My ears ring all the time. It’s from military service. It’s fine with background noise, but loud as he’ll going to sleep. I can cope by using a “squirrel cage” fan which is very loud. I have not filed for disability but my hearing is deteriorating at middle 40’s.
I won’t try to file until I need hearing aids.
Audiology exams difficult to fake nowadays.
I’ve got hearing loss in both ears, with a 70dB threshold at 6,000Hz. Never thought about the disability angle.
Well don't be a hypocrite, punk. If you get cancer or a brain aneurysm you just go right ahead and tell them not to use those BS machines on you because you know for a fact the things they show aren't real.
You will have no problem doing that, because you weren't talking out your ass, right?
Is the incident in which you lost partial hearing fully documented? If not, try proving it 20-30 years hence.
Here's a suggestion. Free. Take one of those no-cost hearing tests. They may be able to tell you what range of hearing loss you suffer from and give you some idea of what to do.
Hearing aids may run $5K-for a good one.
It’s probably about the same amount of paperwork whether it’s 10% or 100%. The VA drone is there to generate paperwork. In Washington generating paperwork creates jobs.
I declined the letter, and had the test done in a frequency that I can hear.
An interesting side note is that my hearing loss is a nice notch filter that excludes shrill females and most whiney teenagers.
My grandchildren catch my eye to talk to me so I can read their lips.
/johnny
So was I. Wonder how many were there today? I think that at least three of the Pentagon parking lots got packed.
My hearing is blown as well. I'm not disabled- folks just need to stop mumbling and sound the F off. :-)
Never filed any claim either, that's just the breaks.
Husband has both and gets 0% for it and he had an anti-tank grenade nearly take off his head to be blunt. I think the hearing loss has to be pretty severe to get any kind of rating for it.
I was diagnosed at 30 percent loss on exit. I think I can get the hearing aids paid for.
Very, very difficult to get 100%. Requires mountains of paperwork. Many exams. 10% for tinnitus is the max. One exam. One audiology exam. Reviewed by Regional office. Ruling issued.
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