1. Why didn’t he stay for 20 and qualify for retirement annuity and other benefits?
2. Are some or all of his health problems service related, such as to qualify him for a special class of separation from service with ongoing medical treatment?
3. Can’t he get medical treatment from the VA?
Not to disparage his remarkable achievements in any sense, but his words convey a flavor of immaturity, which is not incompatible with near reckless bravery.
I believe that his medical issues have not yet reached a point where they will give him full disability. My suspicion, if we discover the whole case....is that he has been through the physical....has ailments...they want to medically discharge him...but they won’t pay 100 percent on disability (my humble guess is that he’s getting in the thirty percent range).
I will add this. If you go and find a hundred Army and Marine personnel who’ve deployed four times or more...almost all will get some disability payment upon their 20th year and they leave the service. Most will get in the ten to thirty percent range. Some will get fifty percent. Maybe a handful will get the 100 percent deal.
I’m amazed at the number of folks getting it for sleep issues these days. That’s generally worth ten to twenty percent of disability.
If you don’t report any problems before you sign your papers, then no problems exist. He should have stayed for 20 instead of whining. I only did eight and I found a job with health insurance when I got out. That is all.
Among the many reasons to doubt this entire piece....which I do.
This doesn’t sound right. I’m wondering if Esquire wasn’t hoaxed.