30 plus years of service and 100% disability plus regular employment? He should be able to afford to pay his own bills.
I hope your comment is sarcasm.
“He should be able to afford his own bills “
Really? The guy serves 28 year, then gets called to active duty, is severely wounded, permanently. The VA takes a way a benefit he is entitled to and that is your response? I hope the govt. takes away some of your benefits some day. What a nice guy you are.
You don’t know what his retirement benefit is. Apparently, some of his service was in the Reserve Component and some was on Individual Ready Reserve. Your assumptions are flying out of your butt.
Congratulations, that's the ugliest post of the year.
Morally ugly. Soul ugly.
Among other things, the guy has a brain injury. How many pennies does your shit-covered-heart allocate for that?
When you die, you're going to hell. Just wanted you to know that. And good riddance, because the purpose of hell is to store people like you - in dumpsters.
I think I should point out to you that this man already PAID IN FULL.
So why don’t you just go and perform an anatomically impossible act on your self.
And just in case you can’t understand the big words; GO F#CK YOURSELF.
You sound like you work at the VA you heartless bastard.
Maybe if he didn't also have considerable healthcare expenses. The article doesn't say where he lives, so cost of living in that area may well be a factor. I didn't retire to my home of record mainly because I couldn't afford to live there. Retirement pay is not the same as military pay. 100% disability is not full military pay, either. Nor does the article tell us what he's getting in wages from his full-time employment. Military retirement pay is based only on military base pay, which is usually less than half of total compensation. With 24+ years of service, I got 60% of my base pay of $2600. Depending on when he enlisted, and how much of his time was active-duty service, his retirement pay could vary considerably from mine, and the later he retired, the more likely it is to be less than I got.
Another thing, he enlisted only a couple of years after I did. I suspect he got the same promise I did, of free medical care for life if I stayed to retirement. However, that promise was broken. Congress never passed the law to support that promise, and they keep changing the rules and increasing the costs we pay out of pocket. Same thing Congress has been doing to the military since the Revolutionary War.
Yeah he doesn’t deserve care for the injuries received.
Do you have any idea what it costs to hire a qualified care giver? If a veteran needs one they usually need one 24/7/365, and the people who do that usually need medical training, must be reliable, a very hard worker, and if they don’t understand TBI, PTSD, and other issues the veteran may have they will not last long. That sure eliminates paying lower wages to get adequate care. In many cases a wife, parent, or other relative has been willing to do it which even receiving payment from VA it actually saves the VA a lot of money.
The real sadness is the VA tries to cut corners where they shouldn’t, at the expense of the veteran. Many think disabled veterans get paid so much money but the reality is it costs a lot to be disabled, there are a lot of extra expenses people don’t realize. What is it worth to be disabled? There is no real way to put a price on what this man or any other disabled veteran deals with every day.
As for me I think our disabled veterans deserve much better treatment than they ever get.
Little more background...
http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2013/11/19/watters-world-wounded-warrior-edition/
The 376th AG BN DET. 4 mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom August 20, 2005. The unit was assigned to LSA (logistical support area) Anaconda in Balad, the largest support base in Iraq. 1SG Acosta received his hard-earned promotion to SGM (Sergeant Major) effective January 1, 2006. On January 16, 2006, SGM Acosta was wounded in a mortar attack on LSA Anaconda.
Despite his injuries, he continued on active duty for four years. Sgt.Major Acosta then retired in 2010 from the Army to begin another battle for his fellow veterans.
Acosta’s injuries included loss of his eyes and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). He was leading his troops in Iraq, just three miles into a training mission when a mortar round blasted through the left side of Sgt.
Major Acosta’s face and exited on the right, and another shelling permeated his brain and went out through his left eye.
At the time of his injuries Acosta was one of the highest-ranking, non-commissioned officers with the most severe injuries. Shrapnel remains in his legs. His face was reconstructed using wires, Teflon and pig skin, his jaw was bone grafted, and implants were installed for new teeth. He also suffered some hearing loss, and the cartilage was blown out of his knee. His calf muscle was left herniated.
http://www.tavnow.org/#!president/c24sx