We get to ride free on Toll roads!?

[TreyG-20]

I have ALWAYS believed that the military should de 2 tiered. Those that have been in a combat zone for which they drew combat pay and those who have not. If you have drawn combat pay then you are elgible for 20 year retirement and disability, those that have not are looked at real hard for any disability claim and are not eligible for 20 yr retirement.

There is NO shortage of enlisted and officer who have never seen a combat tour or hardship tour in 20++ years.

Umm. I know a few vets that deployed to "combat zones" just to get fat in the defac's and collect bootleg dvd's. They got combat pay, but never saw any combat. Maybe a camel spider in a latrine, but that is it.

 

[grasshopperglock]

Knew some MPs that touched down in Iraq. Helping drop off company supplies. Left with the plane.

BAM....gaggin' dragon on both arms. Theres your combat patch


"Sent from a jail"

 

[TreyG-20]

That said I've done two tours in Iraq. Have a super thick medical record and have never even attempted to try and make a claim. Everyone keeps telling me to do it, but I think there are more deserving people than me.

 

[Ole Cowboy]

Umm. I know a few vets that deployed to "combat zones" just to get fat in the defac's and collect bootleg dvd's. They got combat pay, but never saw any combat. Maybe a camel spider in a latrine, but that is it.

I can do better than that???

Johnnie Belcher went into the Army, did his Basic and Advanced training and arrived at a unit. He figured the Army was not for him, but he signed on for 3 years and he would stick it out. He working in Bde HQ when a message came in looking for someone to come over and be a caddie for the Div CO when he played Golf, Well Pfc Johnnie had worked over at the local golf course on his summers in HS. He says he go caddy for the GO.

21 years later he retired as a E 7 and for all but a few training mo when he first came in he worked for GO's on golf courses, never saw a combat tour, hardship tour and even a long tour overseas.

This is not rare:

I spent my last 9 years on active duty on the same post and all but 1 year of that in the same Directorate. Why, how. I sat in the ONLY auth slot for a software engineer at TRADOC HQ. That said my last 3 years I worked for HQDADCSOPS who did not have a slot but had the job, so they transferred the job down to me, by name.


I would have gone to the Gulf War I. I had orders and was leaving on a jet plane the next day. It was about 11pm the night before and I was packing when the fone rang. it was some guy, same rank and same branch, infantry (infantry was my basic branch and I was managed by them). He tells me his wife is divorcing him, his girlfriend is prego, he is being audited by the IRS and life is mucked up in more ways than he can imagine. He tells me he will take my place if I will agree. I laugh and say sure, but I have orders and am leaving out at 0 dark thirty in the am. He says no sweat, Col Belcher will call he is a Pers guy at the Pentagon cut me new orders. He hangs up, 5 min later I get a call saying same. I say I do not have orders. Col Belcher says do you have access to a FAX machine? Yep! You will have them in about 30 min resinding and reassigning you back to HQ TRADOC. I did and ended up not going as a result.

 

[Ole Cowboy]

To receive DV tags in Texas, the disability must be related to military service (and provide by the VA). Note that I said service-related, not combat related. While it can most certainly be the latter, it doesn't have to be.

Also, per Texas Transportation Code Section 681.008, "A vehicle may be parked for an unlimited period in a parking space or area that is designated specifically for persons with physical disabilities if the vehicle: (1) is being operated by or for the transportation of: (A) the person who registered the vehicle under Section 504.202(a) or a person described by Section 504.202(b) if the vehicle is registered under that subsection; and (B) displays special license plates issued under Section 504.202; or(2) displays license plates issued by another state of the United States that indicate on the face of the license plates that the owner or operator of the vehicle is a disabled veteran of the United States armed forces." In other words, in Texas, DV-tagged vehicles can park in handicapped spaces without a handicapped placard or symbol on the license plate.

The VA does not distinguish between service and combat related. I wish they did, but they do not. A service connected can mean you were shot up on the killing fields or you were back at Ft Bumchuck Kanasas, got drunk and fell down the stairs, broke your neck and are confined to a wheelchair. Both draw the same disability and the same amount of money...sumptin wrong with that IMO!!!!

 

[grasshopperglock]

The VA does not distinguish between service and combat related. I wish they did, but they do not. A service connected can mean you were shot up on the killing fields or you were back at Ft Bumchuck Kanasas, got drunk and fell down the stairs, broke your neck and are confined to a wheelchair. Both draw the same disability and the same amount of money...sumptin wrong with that IMO!!!!

My injury, TBI.

Caused by a fellow soldier, that no likey Military Police. He swung a 10 pound, steel gym disc on my skull. Woke up at the TMC, no clue where the **** I was.

Laid me the **** out. 70% for TBI, 30% for headaches. I lost my career over this crap.

Where do I fit in all this?

I served under Operation Nobel Eagle, for those wondering.




"Sent from a jail"

 

[Ole Cowboy]

In reality its not a combat injury, did not say its not legit. But I think we need to move to a 2 tiered system. The mission of our military is to protect these United States, that means war or combat with a foreign adversary. Can your get hurt on the job back at Ft bumchuck, YEP and nothing wrong there, happens to a lot of folks in companies across the US, but we need to identify whether it was combat related or not and I will even give space to the guy in the rear who got drunk at the NCO club and fell in a dtich in a combat zone.

There are far more disabled vets from general workplace injuries than disabled vets from the killing fields. Friend of mine got 100% from a car wreck off post....go firgure.

 

[grasshopperglock]

In reality its not a combat injury, did not say its not legit. But I think we need to move to a 2 tiered system. The mission of our military is to protect these United States, that means war or combat with a foreign adversary. Can your get hurt on the job back at Ft bumchuck, YEP and nothing wrong there, happens to a lot of folks in companies across the US, but we need to identify whether it was combat related or not and I will even give space to the guy in the rear who got drunk at the NCO club and fell in a dtich in a combat zone.

There are far more disabled vets from general workplace injuries than disabled vets from the killing fields. Friend of mine got 100% from a car wreck off post....go firgure.

The military views a person as undamaged property in basic. No matter where he or she gos, their federal property. You signed your life away.

This is your honor:

I never got one. And to my dismay, ill die on earth and never will.

Theres no honor in a VA check. For anybody.


"Sent from a jail"

 

[Governors20]

Service connected makes the location of injury a moot point. I was on TDY orders when I went down sick, spent the next week in the hospital, didnt know if I was going to see my next birthday. Surgery, four months of follow up, and life really sucked. I submitted all the paperwork, and the VA gave me 60 percent. Keep in mind that people dont get to choose the percentage. As with everything in Govt, some will work the system. Do I look perfectly healthy? Yes, will I ever be the same? No.

I got more screwed up state side than I did overseas. When I got the plates, the clerk looked specifically for the words Service Connected on the VA paperwork.

 

[Army 1911]

Agent Orange in vietnam got into all the drinking water sources. We were poisoned by your government (mine would not have done that to me). Because of this, we vietnam vets have a significantly higher percentage of the presumptive diseases than the rest of the population.

For toll roads to be free you have to have a disabled veteran plate, not just a handicapped plate and note that the North Texas Tollway Authority does not offer free use to disabled veterans. They claim it would be millions of revenue lost each year. So check with the toll authorities in your baliwick of travel.

I have a 70% disability from the VA due to heart and diabetes but can still work and do.