Right here is where we’re supposed to say that all veterans are saints that would never lie.
I’m a veteran and have seen LOTS of scamming with this stuff.
I have never understood PTSD. I am aware it generates big VA ratings.
I am also aware law firms with VA focus-of-practice maneuver every possible way to get PTSD awarded. They know the specifics.
But the veteran has to exhibit the required symptoms and has to do it with a trained shrink.
My suspicion is the shrinks refuse many of these claims, because they failed one of the requirements during the exam.
I have heard far more stories of guys who probably deserved ratings get denied them, than guys who didn’t deserve a rating and got it. Why do I say this?
Because the process is really difficult. I have listened to former enlisted who just can’t understand the process and file the wrong forms and say the wrong things on them, or miss appointments or whatever. It’s really difficult and the vast majority of vets (the majority are enlisted, not officers) can’t figure it out. So they file, get refused and shrug and move on.
Lawyers bypass the difficulty, but they won’t take cases that are not going to generate their fees. They have to have good confidence the veteran is going to qualify or they won’t step in (to take their 30% of backpay or whatever).
Nah, the VA is not stupid. They know guys will try to fake something. And their process weeds that out most of them. Maybe over-weeds.
Also, there are a lot of us who won’t go to the VA because we believed it’s only for the guys who got torn up in combat, but it isn’t. Those who served honorably and saw no combat signed the same dotted line. The guy who lost an arm in Iraq and the guy who broke his back falling off a loading dock while humping a case of .45 acp in GTMO signed the same paperwork. Both are lifelong injuries, and both earned the disability. It took me awhile to learn that, but a one-armed combat vet showed me the light.
So have I, trust me, but I’ve also seen Army vets where were injured during training (their back) and the VA still hasn’t granted him a disability rating though there is ample proof it happened.
I am a retired VA Rater and getting a diagnosis of PTSD was absurdly easy. I use to say that psychiatrists, especially VA psychiatrists, would diagnose a rock with PTSD just to help create a “client base” to ensure the need for their questionable profession. With a diagnosis all you need is a stressor linking it to service which is also a cinch for event the least creative mind. I personally believe that fully 90 percent or more of PTSD claims are bogus. It’s become an easy to obtain retirement fund for anyone dishonest enough to take it.