"Mr. Lawton, 64, a resident of Vienna, Va., who retired from the Army with the rank of colonel in 1991, said that he earned his retirement pay during 37 years of military service, and that it is unfair to ask him to give it up because he was wounded. "I didn't ask to get shot," he said"
Mr Lawton was wounded in Vietnam in 1967. He retired from the Army 24 years later in 1991. If he was so disabled, how did he complete 24 more years in the Army? If he was able to retire as a colonel with 37 years as stated, his retirement is adequate.
Many times an injury or illness doesn't show up immediately. You can only imagine what Mr. Lawton has suffered.
Who are you to judge him? In order to get his disability rating he had to prove to the VA beyond a shadow of a doubt that his disabilty was and is service connected. And it isn't an easy process.
I visit the local VA clinic every 6 months. They are still treating people for exposure to agent orange from over 30 years ago. They have been screening people who may have had blood transfusions, where the blood was tainted, and may have caused hepatitis. Persian Gulf vets are being treated for exposure to toxic chemicals. Six years ago, I had to undergo surgery at a VA hospital, my room mate had surgery to remove cancerous growths inside his body due to exposure to agent orange. So how do you put in your 20 or 30 years and then get a disability? Well sometimes the things you were exposed to, don't show up for 20 or 30 years.
I'm retired and I get a 10% disability which is immediately taken from my military retirement. I don't need the separate disability, but there are retirees out there with 50-100% disability that do.
Bruce Kurtz