Should Veterans feel bad about being awarded and receiving VA disability compensation for non-combat related injuries?

Absolutely not! Most people who have not been there do not understand how dangerous going to sea on ships, operating aircraft, jumping out of aircraft, firing weapons, etc. actually is; even when no one is trying to kill you! More service members have been injured and killed in training accidents than in combat during the post 9/11 era. Being there and being ready to decisively destroy any threat as a deterrent to armed aggression is the true mission of the US military. When we have to actually go to combat it is because our politicians have failed and our enemies believe they can prevail. If you have been there and trained and served in that deterrent role you deserve every benefit this country can provide you. Never feel bad for serving or claiming the benefits your country owes you. And for those who served in the Viet Nam era and were despised and even physically attacked for wearing a uniform or even having a military haircut, the trauma is even worse. And remember, the service member who was removed from service for an injury and not allowed to make it to retirement, will never draw retirement pay, so any disability compensation is only a small consideration in comparison.

If you retire as an O4 or higher, you do not get 5 point veterans preference. If disabled, you get all ten. This means someone chaptered after six months will get hired over me and this system all but says, get a rating. Is it wrong, yes. Is it right someone that does not want to adapt to military life gets hired over me, absolutely not.

Absolutely not! If their disabilities are service related, then they should get what they are due. When I was in basic training at Fort Dix in January 1969 I was hospitalized for a few days with pneumonia. In the bed next to me was a soldier with both legs in casts and in traction. He was a grunt (11B) just back from Vietnam. He had spent a year + in action and never got a scratch. In his last week in country he was scheduled to ETS from Vietnam and become a civilian. He got run over by a "deuce-and-a-half" which crushed both his legs. If anyone thinks this soldier didn't deserve a disability, he/she should reconsider his/her opinion.

Not unless you lied on your form to get benefits your not entitled. I recommend giving them your whole medical record and working from there.

That's a stupid question and perhaps it's not the OP's question. Maybe he is asking because some asshole harassed him or someone else. I've been deployed three times but that doesn't mean squat. Take a look at military disability or VA disability. Where is it written those two things are for combat zone related injuries. Sure, the combat zone related ones are tax free and there are others who above the rating system altogether.

No, why? If I’m injured badly jumping out of an airplane why wouldn’t I have earned that? It’s like I wasn’t going to jump out of an airplane while working at Little Caesar’s.

I am combat Nam Vet. Guys i service with r 100%. When apply get Nada. Amazing i see people never in combat r 100%. Luck of the draw. My Poker game is all bad luck. Well still get little work and with social security i make. If u went to Nam we r to old, forget it. Its fucking joke that claim shit

I struggled with this for years. I was medically discharged from service. I was so ashamed of it. I was a Submariner served 6 years. Held a Top Secret Crypto Clearance. Passed every Psyc Evaluation there is. Spent time on 2 Submarines. During that time they changed the rating system. I was a Technician they loaded or rate full of button pushers. The Command climate at my second boat was very hostile. Had an NCO that would keep us around all day long in port. Until it was about time for everyone to leave. Then he would have us start field daying. So CO. XO. saw we where still there cleaning after hours sucking up. Then when cleaning was done I would be approached and told. Some gear needed to be fixed. As I was the only technician no one else could fix it. This is after sitting around all day with nothing to do. Never left the boat in port before 2000. I had excellent evals until my last one. For some reason one day I hit my breaking point and Snapped. I was Discharged within a week. Medically stating a Personality Disorder. I struggled for years never filed a claim. Until my Father a Retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Explained that I didn't need to feel ashamed. I was not that way when I went in. A mental injury is no different from a Physical one. I Finally applied 4 years of fighting nothing. Paper work keeps getting lost. Refilled twice after they lost my paper work both times. Got to the point were the fight is just more damaging. Wish I wouldn't have felt so ashamed when I was Discharged and filed. Maybe one day I will actually get paper work through that isn't lost.

No. Sometimes the military or VA can't determine the complications related to the on going situation. I had two serious serious ceasures while in the military. Fortuantely I recovered with no residual known affects. After retiring "eons ago," the VA could not determine the direct cause although the history was related to my time on active duty. It was suspected that the cause was chemicals or fuels stored while I worked in Base Supply or years later related to chemicals or "processes" associated with manufacturing of aricraft and munitions that I had oversignt of in Europe. Regardless, after retiring, local doctors stopped accepting military retirees. I visited the VA with an issue and they were concerned that I may need future access to the VA. They could not determine the causes for past ceasures but since I had one of my fingers cut off (and sewed back on with residual damage) they ganted me 10% disability rating so I would have access to the VA. The government was not paying, I am paying for my own disability via my retirement pay - it comes out of my retired pay and transferred to the VA and then paid back to me. Fortuanately, a couple years later, Congress passed a law that MDs & Hospitals accepting retired seniors on Scocial Security had to also accept retired military and their families who were on Tricare.

In a word: No.