Veterans' Administration Gives Benefits For Battle Scars Seen And Not Heard
The Veterans' Administration (VA) helps returning veterans whose service has left them injured, especially when these injuries make adjusting to civilian life harder. When we think of wounded veterans, we may picture individuals with missing limbs, but the truth is that most veterans who receive benefits get them for subtler injuries. If you are a returning vet or a loved one of a returning vet, you have to know that you may be eligible for benefits. Here are some of the most compensated injuries to help you understand when you may be able to get compensation for injuries.
Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is an actual loss of auditory acuity. This is a separate condition from tinnitus, although the two may be related. Hearing loss is actually going down among Iraq and Afghanistan vets. There are more than 702,000 veterans being compensated for hearing loss, but there are only about 76,000 from the GWOT.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops after being involved in a stressful event. This used to be called "shell shock," then "battle fatigue," and "operational exhaustion." Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, memory problems, emotional numbness, and more. PTSD for GWOT veterans is about average for conflicts. Of about 500,000 veterans receiving compensation for PTSD, 115,000 are from the GWOT. PTSD peaked in Vietnam, the only war for which it exceeded tinnitus and hearing loss as a compensated injury. The Gulf War is the only conflict in which post-traumatic stress disorder is not in the top ten compensated conditions.
Tinnitus
Tinnitus, what we commonly describe as ringing in the ears, is the most commonly compensated injury for veterans. Due to changes in tactics tinnitus is becoming even more prevalent in veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Of the more than 840,000 veterans receiving compensation for tinnitus, 201,000, nearly one-fourth, are veterans of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), as the VA describes the current conflicts.
Scarring
Scars are the remnants of injuries sustained but healed. They not only serve as a reminder of the wound and potential trigger for PTSD, some of them may result in enduring pain, and disfigurement may result in a significantly diminished quality of life. Most compensated scars are of the head, neck, or face. Overall, about 441,000 veterans are compensated for scarring, with about 80,000 from the GWOT.
Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine condition in which the body cannot properly regulate blood sugar levels. In general, diabetes is acquired either as a genetic defect (type I) or due to weight gain and poor diet (type II), but more than 303,000 of the 355,000 veterans receiving compensation for diabetes are from the Vietnam War. Agent orange has been linked causally to type II diabetes. Only about 10,000 veterans from the GWOT are being compensated for diabetes.
Helping Injury Victims
The VA is set up to try to help people who served and sacrificed for their country, no matter the nature of their sacrifice. In order to get compensation, veterans must prove a connection between their service and their injury:
- Direct service connection--your injury was directly caused by an incident that occurred during your service
- Aggravated service connection--your injury or condition was pre-existing, but an incident or exposure during service caused it to worsen
- Presumptive service connection--for some conditions, the connection with certain service-related events is so strong that you do not have to prove a connection, just show that you have the condition and that you served
- Secondary service connection--if a service-related condition causes another condition, you may be able to get compensation for the caused condition
- PTSD connection--can be established by showing a diagnosis of PTSD, making a statement about your traumatic event, and having a VA psychologist or psychiatrist state the event was sufficiently traumatic to lead to your condition.
Dr. Matthew B. Candelaria (PhD, U of Kansas 2006) broke a proud tradition in his family by not joining the service. He tries to make up for this lack by writing about veterans' affairs and military SF. And good-naturedly suffering taunts from his other family members.
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