There are people like you. And there are fakes. I’m guessing, unlike my former SIL, you don’t go for long hikes or ride motorcycles all day long. His ex and his kids believe there is nothing wrong with him.
I’ve met too many “disabled vets” who have gamed the system. When 3 disabled vets go for a day hunting in the mountains, or have no problem bar hopping, I lose sympathy for their “I can’t work because of the pain” schtick.
And fwiw, all my uncles were in WW2. So was my Dad, but he stayed in and died in Vietnam. I was career military and my kids have all been in the military. My nephew is and my nieces all married military vets. I’m not anti-vet and there ARE vets who have suffered horribly. Not all physically. After he died, my Mom told us my Dad suffered from nightmares his entire life - although he refused to tell her what they were and no one else ever knew about them. But he’d start shaking and sweating in his sleep and he refused to talk about the 3 wars he was in.
But not all disabled vets are disabled. Some are good at lying.
I don’t go on long hikes, but I do hike, and I have some nice
electric bikes and I do peddle about 90.00% of the time when
I ride.
My problem was my circulation. My main veins were gone, and
the valves along with them.
The legs are pretty amazing though. There are enough veins
down there that eventually they will kick in and alleviate
the problems. It took about 25 years for that to happen
for me.
About ten to fifteen years in, I was still having a real
problem.
I had to wear pressure socks all the time, if up or
sitting.
Then I noticed, I was no longer having issues, after taking
a few years off, and not stressing my lower extremities.
So yeah, I look pretty normal these days. Of course folks
don’t seen my disfigured feet and legs when I’m out. They’d
understand that I have been through a lot, if they did.
I never got a handicapped placard. I could have and was
urged to by family. I wanted to leave those slots for
others with lifetime affirmatives.