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

For one, the VA disability compensation program...is not just for "combat" veterans. Veterans normally serve during the prime "health" time of their lives, and spend many months, even years away from family in far-off countries...just because they were injured or fell ill because of their service when they were not deployed, or even after their service has ended doesn't mean they don't deserve to be supported for what they have done for their country.

Case, in fact, my grandfather was in the Pacific during WW2, served from 1942 to 1946, had a plate in his head from a sniper's bullet, was patched up, and returned to the front. Other than unit awards he received no commendation for his heroism which was common at the time, no purple heart, and not even an achievement medal (about the lowest you can get these days for actions you take on duty).

When he was 80 we thought he had a heart attack while working on his farm, still providing for his family, he rarely went to the VA but when they found shrapnel next to his heart, which was the cause of his heart attack systems the Army and the VA refused to acknowledge and give him so much as a purple heart let alone any sort of commendation...I mean he went 45 years with this ailment, without complaint, just heartbroken at the way the government treated him all those years.

He was in a foxhole when a grenade went off, again he was shipped off to a field hospital in the Philippines, patched up, and returned to duty....but no medical record exists that anyone can find...so the Army says they wouldn't recognize his heroics because they can't find any records of it....but yet the shrapnel next to his heart and the metal plate came from where exactly?

So when I compare my service to my grandfather's, sure I have felt that maybe my issues are nowhere near what his were, and do I deserve the 50% rating I receive when he received nothing other than annual checkups? Makes you wonder really just now many WW2 vets were ignored and/or died later because of lack of care, reminds me of the horrible way our Vietnam vets were treated.....and this poor treatment continues. He died at the age of 90, just after receiving the last denial from the Army and VA for any recognition for his service...other than his unit awards.

I'm glad currently active duty members and retirees are being treated better, but there is always room for improvement.

I kinda cringe sometimes when people thank me for my service, knowing how my grandfather was treated, and really if you want to thank a veteran...give them a job, do business with them when they come in looking for work, etc. Too many times businesses won't work with someone who claims a veteran status, even to the point of refusing to give them 5 minutes to discuss what they have to offer and that is really the saddest part of it.

Ah, someone who thinks occupational injuries occur solely in a war zone. SMH
You should spend some time in emergency rooms and you'll see the not-insignificant statistics of workplace-related injuries. That may avail you of some sense of perspective, not to mention enlarge your worldview which is clearly focused on one thing and maybe--just maybe--you'll acquire some humanity for others in uniform who had the bad taste to get injured working on the job for flag and country.

How can you know if a injury is by terrorists or accidental friendly fire?? An injury is an injury, no matter who is responsible for the inury.....

Negative SGT. I don't feel bad at all for getting compensated for my runner's knees. If the AF wanted us all to be track stars, they will have to live with the repercussions of those policies.

I know being one freaked me out at first cause I’m sure my neighbors either thought I was crazy or full of it but once I figured myself out I was ok with and if their not o well

NO! If you were disabled from duty related issues, compensation should be awarded.

Actually this question is asked by many and often comes from a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge. There are disability compensation rates for service non-combat disabilities and for combat related. There are additional allowances for specific anatomical losses and special needs. There is a pension system for unemployable vet; it's income based. Then there military service disability retirements. How all of these do or don't interrelate often takes a well versed consultant.

I've received a 100% non-combat award related to Agent Orange. I saw combat on the rivers but never directly wounded, though some would say AO was a direct one. My wife came back from Desert Storm and over the years we noticed a degradation that finally crossed over a threshold and I had also just discovered the Desert Storm Syndrome VA rating. God, she fit nearly every symptom. We filed, and 2 months later at the C&P she was rated 100% on the spot.

A good deal of the problems (not all) in applying to the VA is in not researching the symptoms listed in 38CFR, not dotting i's and crossing t's, coupled with guys trying to macho it through. I had a vet with AO post -prostate surgiery urination issues who only received 10% when he was eligible for 20% because he wasn't completely honest. Now it becomes more difficult to up the rating.

my feet are so bad, the police impounded my car, threw me in jail, after being stopped at a check point. I don't drink. on the way to jail I made them stop by hospital for blood test. $4.8k and a year later all charges dropped. the doctors said my feet would get messed up and put it in my med. records before I reached boot camp. they were right, it only took 10 days in those dam boots, I was crippled. the medical treatment for this, was an extra hour of boot camp in the morning before any one woke up, and at the end of the day, as every one went into the dorms I had to go out for another hour or 2 of marching. by week 6, I couldn't walk or march. they literally carried me to my final PT. test. my first year in the army, my feet were crippled, my anckles , knees, back and shoulder pain were listed as related to the feet. why I would piss blood after PT., they didn't say. all I knew was food slowed down after it went past my stomach and required 2 glasses of water. I served my country from march 93, to 1998, and treated or saved or 60 lives as a certified professional rescuer (stopped counting) . I have no guilt over the 10% disability they give me for the ringing in my ears.
(IYF) Not even the President of the United States could get treatment for high arches from the Army up to 1995. I only know this because one of his top brass military saw my feet after I saved his kid and restored his vitals. within a week the Airforce (Langely), the Navey (Norfolk), and the Army (FT.Eustis) were calling me about my feet. that was the only time my feet got acknowledged

NO NO NO Only combat vets

Yes. The only ones receiving disability should be those with a Purple Heart. Not just service connected. Not just being in a combat zone. We can get injured in a combat zone from a traffic accident or playing a game of basketball. Purple Heart, period.
Disability has even been "awarded" for venereal disease. (Google it.) I know of a SP4 who got 100% disability because she had a nervous breakdown after being chewed out by her NCO. The stories could go on and on.
All of us know disabled veterans leading perfectly normal lives. Active lives, in fact. They hold down full-time jobs.
Not only is it immoral, but if we don't fix this, the civilians will. Those wounded in combat may find the level of care they need reduced or unavailable because the funds or medical care to treat them has been used on others with sleep apnea, diabetes or a number of other preventable or age-related illnesses.
We've made a mockery of good intentions, but the military disability system is rotten.