Posted on 12/21/2016 7:23:10 PM PST by nickcarraway
“It feels like a slap in the face,” Oklahoma veteran trying to change law that requires repaying severance
Service members are often given severance when the military downsizes and closes bases, but now in some cases years later the government is taking that money back.
Under federal law, until veterans pay back their involuntary separation pay, they can have their VA disability withheld.
Tim Foster, an Oklahoma veteran, is trying to change that by changing the law.
“It feels like a slap in the face. It really does,” he said.
Foster started his military career at 23.
The marine served for 12 years with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before his world changed.
“I got an honorable discharge in August of 2014,” he said.
He was essentially laid off due to a force reduction.
He was given involuntary separation pay when he left service.
“A couple of months later, I started having some medical issues. I went to the VA. They ran some tests. They found a number of service-related medical issues,” he said.
Foster was approved for disability, but he was told by the VA there was a catch.
“Because I accepted a severance pay whenever I left the service of nearly $40,000, I'd have to pay all that back at 100 percent before I received any type of disability compensation,” he said.
Once the shock set in, the reality of what he was facing took its toll.
Unable to work because of his injuries, he went almost a year without any income at all.
He relied on friends and family to get by.
Foster said it got so bad he thought about suicide.
“Because I was in so much financial strain, I went through a divorce, bankruptcy and I just was at the end of my rope. A lot of that could have been avoided if it didn't have that huge debt that I owed the government," he said.
Somehow, he said he was able to turn that dark time into a purpose.
He’s been working for the last year to make sure this doesn't happen to other veterans.
He started a petition to get the federal law changed that requires service members to repay severance if they later become eligible for disability or retirement.
Foster has already repaid severance and now qualifies for 100 percent disability.
He said he can now focus on getting better.
He has 30 doctor appointments a month to manage.
“I was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer in my right leg due to some of the radiation I was exposed to while I was in service. I had to have that removed," he said. "Also, I have severe depressive disorder and PTSD due to the wars I was fighting in, the battles I was in, the friends that I lost. That sticks with me every single day."
In addition to chronic shoulder pain, a sleep disorder and liver problems, the 32-year-old has a long road ahead.
Foster is hoping to get more signatures and take his petition to Washington DC to present it to congress at the end of January.
lots of old school naval communications type on ships have this issue....often makes them sterile and forces them to adopt kids. I know two of them. I think it comes from fixing high microwave antenna or comms gear without shutting down other comms gear that is running.
Flagrant. A real injustice.
Yeah, this law needs to go away.
He joined the Marines at age 23 and served 12 years. Now he’s 32? I’d bet it’s the reporter who screwd up.
Congrats bro. Thank you for fighting this injustice. It took me 27 months to get my 100%.
Sat cong
This is a gross injustice to miltary men.
It is stuff like this that makes me burning, hopping, teeth-gritting mad, that we treat our veterans like this, but give funds FREE to PBS and NPR.
$445 million dollars worth in 2012. Probably more in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
That there is a couple of billion dollars we could have spent to let these men keep their severance pay. But instead, we BORROW this money from places like China to GIVE to NPR and PBS.
This infuriates me.
And the government needs the money back, why?
We owe our veterans not the other way around. The law needs to be repealed.
I have an uncle who was a radioman in the Navy. He ended up sterile. He also died of bone cancer.
Some Comm gear puts out massive amounts of radiation - the dish on the AWACS can fry you.
thanks
Actually, this is not as egregious as it may seem. The law requires the VA to recoup from disability compensation an amount equal to the disability severance paid for the VA compensated disability. For instance, if a Veteran receives $40,000 in disability severance pay from the military for lose of a leg, the VA would recoup that amount from compensation for that particular condition only. They would not withhold compensation for any other condition for which he did not receive severance pay. This is in keeping with a long standing principle that a person is not due double compensation for a loss. Indeed, most accident insurance policies include a provision that any payment for treatment will be recouped from a tort claim for that same accident.
not sure I understand your explanation. Are you saying that if I lose a leg and get disability pay from the govt because I am 100% disabled that the VA gets to take that money?
Let me try again as I am having trouble even asking the question correctly. I get a disability payment from the VA for losing my leg. On top of that the Feds pay me disability until my death. So are you saying that the VA grabs this money back they paid me in a lump sum disability until my federal disability payments equal what my disability payment from the VA was? And, after they take my 40k from my federal payments the VA stops taking my money from my federal disability? Did I even ask the question correctly?
Essentially correct. The military and VA are both part of the same government so there is a longstanding principal that the government does not pay for the same thing twice (at least not supposed to). When the $40,000 is recouped, the full VA disability payment is resumed. By the way, when the military service pays the serviceman disability severance pay, they notify him that it is subject to recoupment should he apply for and be granted VA disability payments for the same condition.
This law has been in force for many years and as both a tax payer and a veteran, I can’t find anything unfair or underhanded about it.
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