Do y’all believe that the prolonging of veterans benefits and employment denials due to disabled veteran status is affecting recruitment?

First - no. No kid is out there basing their decision to join the Army on whether or not the VA is performing well. I'm sure we have some former recruiters here who can tell us the top ten reasons recruits accept and decline joining the Army, and I bet the VA isn't on that list.

Veterans preference is for government jobs, the government can't tell civilian that they will hire a person because they are a veteran. Even in the government system, the veterans preference is only a few points. It's means that if two candidates are equally qualified then the veteran must receive the job. That's the law. However, if the other candidate is more qualified, they get chosen. Being a veteran is not a job skill.

As far as Arellano vs McDonough, the guy spent four years in the Navy, then applied for benefits 30 years later and wants back pay for those 30 years. The VA is not a babysitting service for people who can't adult.

I've had a lot, a LOT of friends and coworkers retire and go through the C&P exams and the VA rating process. The exams are not performed by VA doctors, they are performed by third party doctors. The VA has no effect on the outcome of the exam. Most people I've met who have gone to the exam either said the doctors rated them fairly, or generously. I'm sure there are some doctors out there who don't like to see their tax dollars wasted and conduct very strict exams, but they are not the majority.

I'm going to assume that since you're a SPC talking about the VA that you were medically separated. Since you are talking about having benefits revoked, you were most likely placed on the TRDL Temporary Retirement Disabled List. As the name states, the TRDL is temporary and must be reevaluated. Most initial term, or very short career, Soldiers who separate medically are not injured enough to warrant a full medical retirement, unless they were seriously injured. There are a lot of examples I can go into, but a few would be chronic back pain, mental health, or wear and tear. These people are placed on TDRL and must be reevaluated. They can and will lose their ratings if they are not following up with their required treatment. Things like taking their mental health meds, going to doctors appointments, filling prescriptions, going to physical therapy, etc. The majority of people are not placed on TDRL and TDRL people can be moved over to the permanent retirement list at later exams.

No, most people on AD do not look that far forward and recruits certainly do not. While there are bad providers out there, I have seen the level of people dissatisfied with their healthcare increase with their ability to research their condition on Google. The VA is a large healthcare system and as such will have more internal issues however we also have a clientele that expects a level of free care that matches what they read on WebMD. We are supposed to treat conditions how patients see and feel but doctors have to be able to quantify their actions and if not supported, they can go to jail for insurance or Medicaid fraud.

Over time I have experienced VA Doctors who would not agree to write nexus letters. Also. I have witnessed VA Doctors who would minimize things communicated to them while being seen. Also, I have heard(in the past) that the (VA) doctors had the practice of not writing anything that reflected negatively on the VA in support of filing a claim! The current practice now is to have 3rd Party folks perform C&P Exams is a much better practice and or situation!