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

A service related disability is a service related disability, is a service related disability. A loss of hearing is just as real from engines or high pressure air as from an explosion, and likewise for any other injury.

No. I receive a monthly VA Service Connected Disability check. My disability is a back injury while doing security detail on the flightline at the then Torrejon AB, Spain. The only thing I have a problem with is the VA only gave me a 10% disability, 15 yrs later I finally got it up to 20%. I have to use a walker now all attributed to my back injury and all they give me is 20%? My son was recently discharged medically, he hasn't lost any limbs, he has to deal with back pain like me, the VA gave him 100% disability. I get $262.oo a month, he gets a little over 4000.oo a month. The system is unfair, because I only have 20%, I have to jump through hoops in order to see a specialist. For instance I'm still trying to get an appointment with Neurosurgery, still hasn't happened. My son doesn't have to get a referral to see a specialist, he just goes to the section and boom he's got the appt. He gets travel pay for every time he goes to the VA, I only bet it when I'm seen for my service connected injury. Anyway you should NOT be ashamed of receiving a VA check. Good luck.

SGT (Join to see) Absolutely Not! Why do you ask?

Over the course of a military career, especially as a ground troop, you can (and will) sustain a wide variety of physical (an possibly psychological) ailments. The military (Army) by nature is a very physically demanding career field, where you can easily sustain injuries that you carry for life - Road Marching, Airborne Operations, Night Operations, Air Assault Operations, Live Fires, and the list goes on. If it is in the line of duty, and service connected, it is within the realm of things the VA will consider. I was in the Army 33 years, and most of my service connected disabilities are not directly related to combat operations; only TBI, headaches, and an eye injury are. I spent about 6 years of that 33 deployed on various operations, which a fair amount of time, but I spent a lot more of that time in high end training, and PT... etc. More injuries happen in training, that in combat.

If you have been only a reservist or guardsmen and never deployed and claim PTSD, I have zero tolerance and not one ounce of respect for their theft of services from the VA. I have seen it too many times and it is disgusting.

No

- You are up before probably 90% of the civilian workforce, and on many days you will get off duty a few hours after 90% of the civilian workforce.
- Many daily tasks in the military are exceedingly tough to perform, physiologically, and we take a highly-motivated, mission-first, do-or-die approach to said tasks or missions.

For years I watched mechanics in the motorpool go in directly after PT, and often not come back in the barracks, soaked in grease and ATF (and sometimes a bit of blood) @ 2200, only to wake up again and repeat.

Same with many other MOS's.
We are a self-sustaining fighting force that requires 100% commitment to maintenance of the unit and ones self to ensure mission readiness and effectiveness.

If you conduct yourself with the mission first attitude and dedication, and get injured in the line of duty, whether in garrison or in combat, then you are absolutely justified in utilizing the VA to receive disability compensation for "non-combat related injuries".

Anyone who says otherwise, in my opinion, is completely bereft of the realization of what we do and prepare for in the military.

You don't just "get a benefit-rich job" by joining the military.

You have signed on to:

A. Do what you are told to do, when and where you are told to do it.
B. Place your personal and family life secondary to the mission.
C. Hold yourself to extremely high, and secondary standards far exceeding social norm (AR 670-1, UCMJ enforced behavior standards, Courtesies and Customs, etc.)
D. Completely submit yourself to a secondary system of law that can effectively end your marketability and potential life-success when you get out, which is ultimately in the hands of the few appointed above you, not all of whom have your best interests in mind (unfortunately).

If, in the service of your country, in *any capacity*, you are injured, and it will have lasting effects, you are wholly justified, by virtue of what you signed on to do, selflessly, to receive VA benefits for said disabling condition.

For those of us who deployed into combat operations, we still deployed with this mentality and realization.

Sure, the effect of combat operations may have a slightly higher impact than something that happened in garrison, but this does not diminish the character of said person in garrison, or their contributions to the "one team, one fight" mission.

Acting as if a training accident is somehow "less valid" than an in-theater injury is indignant.

It wasn’t the Taliban that was driving the truck that crushed my knees when an inattentive driver pinned me to a wall. Hand I not been in the military would it not have happened? Maybe, but I’m not afforded the same civil options any other person is allowed. Just because you don’t see combat doesn’t mean you don’t share some of the same types of scars.

Absolutely not! Anyone who has Honorably Served should not "Feel guilty" for receiving benefits they deserve or need.

Veterans should not feel badly about claiming ANY VA compensation for ANY disabilities incurred in the line of duty.

Absolutely not. VA disability compensation was created to make ALL veterans whole for injuries and diseases caused by military service. VA disability payments are the military equivalent of workers compensation pay. If you are injured in a civilian job, you are entitled to worker's comp. payments. The only difference is that veterans deserve the disability payments more. Those who wore the uniform and took an oath should never feel bad about holding the government accountable to its promise. Whether an injury is combat related or non-combat related does not matter. As an infantry officer I saw soldiers crippled in training accidents. I also have plenty of buddies my age who did not deploy but can barely walk now from all of the peace-time ruck marches and airborne operations. I'm now a VA disability lawyer and I know thousands of veterans suffering from non-combat related injuries and they deserve every penny.