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

The concern I would have is cases that can't be proved service related or have to prove that it's service related. I'm thinking of cancer but also things mentioned in the comments. All service members should be medically covered.

Unless you're somehow getting 200% because you inexplicably fell out of deer stand. I know a guy like that. (Not me)

Many troops question themselves over receiving disability but in my opinion if your disability is service related (peacetime/wartime) then there is nothing to feel bad about. You are entitled to receive it and thats that. In the end when you look in the mirror thats what is important. Once again this is my opinion, I feel that many question themselves because of that very small group of (Fill in the profanity) morons that game the system for financial gain. Far more good troops get shortchanged by the system than rob it. In my case I get 10% for my Hearing Loss/Tintanitus plus free hearing aids. I would rather have my hearing back but for now thats a pipe dream. I feel zero guilt and don't feel a smidgen bad about getting my payment. I have seen far more troops that were hurt that are not being properly compensated and will make no effort to correct that due to their belief they don't deserve it.

I have issues with my back and sciatic nerves from the excessive amount of sitting in front of a computer in cramped spaces. I exercised incessantly running as much as 10 miles a day before my legs decided to stop for a year. I also inflamed my back from the long periods of wearing body armor while training Afghans. None of my issues are combat related (i.e. directly). These are what the Purple Heart is for.

All that said, I would easily give up my VA rating if all this pain could simply go away and I could run more effectively (I still run, just shorter distances and much slower) and be able to sit for long periods of time in a car again. At the same time, I do not take all the benefits that come with the rating such as using my DV plate to park in handicapped spaces (which is allowed in the state of Texas). Today I am trying to work with the VA to cover better treatment options vs just giving me drugs for pain, like chiropractor services (which Tricare doesn't offer to retirees yet). The VA unfortunately only authorizes 12 seasons a year despite the fact chiropractors don't do one session a month (it's more like 2+ a week).

Now all that said, I know for a fact some people have exaggerated and/or even flat out lied about their conditions, so to that I say yes, they should feel bad.

I injured my neck in training trying to teach a guy how to wrestle. He used a move that is illegal in wrestling (full nelson) and instead of stopping him, I wanted to see if I could get out of it. A full nelson is just two half nelsons applied simultaneously; I'd get out of one and then the other. Almost did and was in process of pulling his top hand off, but when he felt his grip going he pulled down on my neck as hard as he could. I was looking up as hard as I could as I couldn't look away to either side because I'd be looking into the other half nelson. His arms were stronger than my neck and I felt something squirt inside [which, in hindsight, was my disc rupturing] and stopped him.

The people that hurt you are the ones that don't have a clue what they're doing. Had a stiff neck for awhile and the symptoms went away after a couple months. Was still running 300 PTF's and went through OCS and TBS with the ruptured disc. The problem didn't resurface till a couple years after the original injury. Was in flight school and my arm was feeling achy and my fingers were going to sleep. A thorn had grown at the site of the injury and was pushing into the nerve going down my arm and it was stimulating the muscle fibers to contract and twitch, making it feel like I worked out hard to the point of being sore for days. The VA removed the torn disc and fused the bones together, and the symptoms disappeared. I did not seek disability for that.

Had I been working at a civilian job, I would not receive disability compensation for the rest of my life. Perhaps I could have sued for millions but I feel too many folks want something for nothing. That's not me. Accidents happen. The government fixed my neck. It will never be the same, but that's life. You deal with things and move on. People thought I was crazy for not trying to get compensation but at the end of the day I have to look in the mirror and my conscience does not bother me.

I'd like to add something else. I'd gladly give up this disabillity if the pain was gone!!

I rolled a D-7 cat bulldozer down a steep incline and was tossed from the hydralic tank to the control levers. It broke my back at 19 years old but we still got our mission done and dug four more tank traps. I wake every day to unbelievable pain and have fought back the temtation to end the pain permanatly after 8 lumbar surgeries and 1 neck surgery every day is a constant reminder of my time in the Army. Today I go to the doctor for sacarilliac injections which must be bad because they want to put me under but I have opted for a local instead. I never felt guilty for collecting 100% until these wars broke out and I saw all the carnage at Tampa VA hospital. There was wound soldiers lining the hallway I felt terrible for them being treated that way but the VA just could not keep up. I put all of my treatment on hold for two years but could no longer stand the pain. Thanks SGT David Reynolds I'd been wanting to get that off my chest for years (1994).

That would be a Resounding NO Sir. Any man or woman in uniform who receives disability compensation should be Proud to have served this nation, and wear their battle scars even more proudly!

Not at all if they are being awarded for valid reasons. The individual is the only one that knows the truth behind their injuries. I have both combat and training related injuries and I let my VA packet sit for years before a Marine that was at Kha Sanh in 67-68 told me to submit.

No, combat or no combat, you are just a set of orders a way from combat duty. Of all the soldiers that went to Vietnam, only a small percentage ever saw combat. I was only nineteen years old and I faced death many times in those rice patties. When death if at your face, only your combat training will save you, do or die kind of thing. I was just a grunt door gunner on a Huey. Many thanks to the Air Force and their Puff the Magic Dragon aircraft. They saved my life quite a few times.