Soldiers Risk Ruin While Awaiting Benefit Checks

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Soldiers risk ruin while awaiting benefit checks
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO - His lifelong dream of becoming a soldier had, in the end, come to this for Isaac Stevens: 28, penniless, in a wheelchair, fending off the sexual advances of another man in a homeless shelter. Stevens' descent from Army private first-class, 3rd Infantry Division, 11 Bravo Company, began in 2005 — not in battle, since he was never sent off to Iraq or Afghanistan, but with a headfirst fall over a wall on the obstacle course at Fort Benning, Ga. He suffered a head injury and spinal damage.

The injury alone didn't put him in a homeless shelter. Instead, it was military bureaucracy — specifically, the way injured soldiers are discharged on just a fraction of their salary and then forced to wait six to nine months, and sometimes even more than a year, before their full disability payments begin to flow. "When I got out, I hate to say it, but man, that was it. Everybody just kind of washed their hands of me, and it was like, `OK, you're on your own,'" said Stevens, who was discharged in November and was in a shelter by February. He has since moved into a temporary San Antonio apartment with help from Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization.

Nearly 20,000 disabled soldiers were discharged in the past two fiscal years, and lawmakers, veterans' advocates and others say thousands could be facing financial ruin while they wait for their claims to be processed and their benefits to come through. "The anecdotal evidence is depressing," said Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., who heads a subcommittee on veterans disability benefits. "These veterans are getting medical care, but their family is going through this huge readjustment at the same time they're dealing with financial difficulties."

Most permanently disabled veterans qualify for payments from Social Security and the military or Veterans Affairs. Those sums can amount to about two-thirds of their active-duty pay. But until those checks show up, most disabled veterans draw a reduced Army paycheck.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080616/ap_on_re_us/waiting_wounded

[Booster]

1. A hefty tax on the profits by gas companies, a hefty penalty for

companies with their headquarters offshore, a hefty tax on the very rich, and a hefty penalty for corporate polluters, and then we can make sure our soldiers, ALL OF THEM, are taken care of when they come home. The Bush administration should be ashamed of themselves, but they just don't care about these men and women who fight their stupid war and come home injured.

[biermeister]

4. amen! kick

[L0oniX]

2. Let this serve as a warning to all those who may consider joining the military.

"Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." -- Henry Kissinger

[Maine-i-acs]

3. Meanwhile McCain STILL gets $58K a year in disability

Even though he is seemingly fit for office ...
His injuries were sustained decades ago ...
And his trophy second wife is a millionaire.

No means test, no red tape, no hassles at all for old John.