Readers of Tom Philpott’s Military Update column sound off

Generational Difference In Disability Pay Opposed

I've read there is a plan to give men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan higher disability compensation payments than those who served and were wounded in other wars or have service connected ailments from earlier times.

I think this idea is very stupid and dangerous as it would pit one war wounded group against another.

I am a Vietnam War wounded paraplegic (1967). I can assure anyone willing to listen that my wounds don't know what war they came from or that they are less deserving than wounds received later by someone else.

What the hell is the mindset of those who make these types of decisions? We veterans who served our country when we were needed did not ask for something different, and surely did not feel we were any better than those who preceded us in serving our nation's needs.

CRAIG SWANSON

Lance Corporal, USMC-Ret.

The plan to which you refer is President Bush’s package to reform the disability compensation system, which the White House sent to Congress in mid-October.  It is based on recommendations from the President’s Commission on Care of America's Returning Wounded Warriors, chaired by retired Sen. Robert Dole and Donna Shalala, a cabinet secretary in the Clinton administration.

Congressional leaders and many veterans’ service organizations oppose the plan’s call to apply a new four-part disability compensation scheme only to future generations of service members plus those who have served since Oct. 7, 2001, the date of the Afghanistan invasion, if they would elect to switch out of their current disability benefits.

Prospects for the Bush plan must be viewed as dim at this point given the strength of opposition and the waning influence on Capitol Hill of the lame duck Bush administration.

– Tom Philpott

I am glad that at least someone is trying to increase disability pay.  However, if you’ve been disabled serving this country, whether in combat or not, then the disability should be viewed as in the line of duty.

I am a 100-percent disabled veteran. I was paralyzed from the waist down and had back surgery while in service in the 1980's.

I don't feel there ought to be any difference in disability pay for anyone who served. We all served the same government, the same people. Some served during wartime and some of us didn’t, but we all held up our hands. Let’s not draw more lines.

ALVIN R. ALLDREDGE

Grove, Okla.

Should the time frame that a soldier served and was injured have anything to do with the amount of compensation? No. A gun shot is a gun shot and a lost limb is a lost limb, regardless of which war was responsible.

My husband was wounded in Vietnam in both ankles. He is 58 years old and haunted by pain in his ankles and numbness in some toes in each foot. He has been waiting for over a year to find out if he will receive any compensation for his wounds. Many soldiers have been waiting far longer only to be told they are not entitled.

Sure, after service in Vietnam he opted out of the Army. He later went back in and last year he retired after completing 20 years. But that doesn't change the fact that he was wounded.  

A. JONES

North Carolina

I am a 30-percent disabled veteran of the Vietnam War. My disability is not combat-related but it is due to service. After I entered the Army in July 1964 we ran in combat boots on road surfaces, which caused knee, ankle and foot injuries.  My condition was diagnosed after I had been in service 12 years after I had to fall out of a PT run. The doctor said I had bilateral chondromalacia of the patella in each leg.

When I retired after 20 years in 1984, I was given a “picket fence” profile rating in my out-processing physical. With the stroke of a pen, I was completely healed! I appealed to the Department of Veteran Affairs. After two years they gave me a 30 percent rating and back dated the compensation to my retirement date.

Those of us rated below 40 percent are still having our disability deducted from our retirement monies. It is as unfair today as it ever was and needs sorely to be corrected.

As usual, the President has acted on behalf of newly disabled veterans and to hell with us older disabled vets. 

KENNETH A. PARTYKA

Sergeant First Class, ARNG-Ret.

Via e-mail

Vet with Bad Loan

I’m wondering why, as a 90-percent disabled veteran of the USS Midway (1984-88), I am losing the home I put $60,000 down on three years ago to an adjustable-rate seagull named Countrywide. Scuttlebutt is I will probably end in foreclosure, losing everything including my respect for the guy holding the nation’s highest office.

Does Mr. Bush understand I have been raising three teenagers by myself for the past five years? Their family and friends and the people they know are watching how this disabled veteran is being taken care of.

My reputation and character would define a moral and ethical monument in the town square, not the dysfunction and chaos that is the stereotype of a bum. I have paid my bills, made the meals, done the dishes, shopped for necessities, protected my children and kept my sanity.

What do I tell the guys who come to carry my fat anchor out of here when they ask about the plaques on the wall? A favorite is my Letter of Commendation from the Capt. R. A. Wilson. I suppose I might say something like, “Yeah, it meant something to be on the flying squad and a trusty shellback. Now it means I lose everything, which will be a burden on my family and my mental health.”

I believe I should not have to move, that there should be a special benefit clause for veterans facing foreclosure who do not have a VA home loan or guarantee.  My home was listed for sale twice and didn't sell because the offer would have required me to bring cash to the table! I am not kidding. I have an interest only loan with a balance of $305,000. I have hit the rocks…Man overboard.

DAVID C.

Via e-mail

Letters may be edited for clarity or length.  Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com.

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