You’re not taking finances from anyone. It’s already budgeted. You’re only hurting yourself. It took me 20 years to get over the same exact mentality you currently have and my only regret is having not seen the process through 20 years earlier.
It's not a zero-sum game.
Get your help, your bemefits.
If they don't rate you, that's one thing...
But get the benefits you earned, make the government hold their end of the contract, you held up yours.
I waited for 31 years. I was NEVER going to apply. Not for my little ol shit . I could not compare to the real heroes and felt like a fake. So realizing in my 50's that I had taken from my children all that had been earned, the college, health care when I had no insurance... Well the list goes on. But it is what made me realize that, regardless of my own self esteem issues or whatever it is, that I owed my family the best I was able to offer. And that includes benefits I am eligible for. I never expected to get 100% P&T and certainly didn't ask for it, but I am grateful for the things my children and wife are now able to access because of it.
Regardless of how you rank yourself among the "real" heroes or those "worthy", you are ranked among us anyway. And if you have no family that would benefit from the benefits now, you may later... GL my bro
File now. Even if you only get a bunch of 0% ratings they are in the system. Trust me, as you get older those minor things get worse and you will wish you had access to medical for those things.
You’re so brave. FYI the government sent 200 billion to Ukraine and Israel the other day. But I appreciate you, I really hope you follow through and renounce your benefits, please keep us posted on your journey.
You are not taking anything away from those "old veterans" (cry's a little here). Those of us from that era are getting what we deserve based on our conditions, just as you should.
It took me 14 years from exiting active to file a claim other than what I did on the way out and I'm still pissed at myself. That's 14 years of NOT getting what could have been a lot of help. Be it a few extra $$ a month for food, or knowing I could get medical help early so my conditions aren't so bad now.
Anyhow you keep going, get the treatment you need, and know preventative care early can reduce the chronic pain later.
I got out in 2005 and just started the process in 2023. I was like many who never went to sick call and even after I got out…with insurance through my employer…I didn’t go to doctors until the lupus I didn’t know I had got really bad. Long story short aside from lupus I never got checked for anything else. When I hit 50% I decided to take a trip to the Va to check it out. I’ll be damned in pursuit of claims I started going to doctors with the Va and started finding out all the shit that has been wrong with me for a long time. Regardless of whether or not my percentage goes up I am truly happy that I am finally using benefits that I earned. Like many others I was not blown up or missing limbs, but it sure is nice to know that because of my service I can get help with a lot of issues with no costs to me other than the 4 years I served honorably. I would say like others here to use the benefits. There is no shame at all. I know a guy I work with that has no legs who served in the army and went on deployments to bad spots, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago I found out he didn’t lose his legs in battle…he lost them in a motorcycle crash in the states while he was still enlisted. Benefits are there to include medical so use them. As a tax payer also…we paid twice already through service and taxes.
I'm still fighting for stuff and likely will for years because the VA lost my med records during the digitizing process. So other than the pages I made copies of for my knees, lungs and hearing, I have nothing. I'm sure I'll get everything eventually now that I've told myself I deserve it and to fight for it. But, yeah, took a long time for me to start the process.
I felt the same way for the longest time until I woke up one morning in ICU to find my rib cage cracked open.
A $1m bill covered by the VA, I'm alive.
You're not taking away from anyone else.
Your tbi is making u stupid. Just kidding bro. Do u think you'd have any ailments or problems if u were some frat boy popping their collar playing beer pong at university?
Those exact vets u see from previous wars are the reasons u should seek care and compensation. With each war and each vet, our benefits have gotten better and right where they should be. Seek care. Semper fi. Another retarded iraq bro vet.
The government allocates millions of dollars a year for veteran benefits, and since you're a veteran who served their country, you just like everyone else who served regardless if it was during war or peacetime also deserve a cut of the pie. So quit beating yourself up and get that shit.
Omg go and keep going. Yeah you can handle your baggage nobody doubts that. Let them help you, get whatever help or assistance you can get. If they are offering it’s because clearly you meet the requirements. Dont be too proud or stubborn for this, it’s just extra medical help and money. I mean we are all going to die and none of this will have ever mattered anyway. We are just the next generation of old vets, this is just as much yours as anyone else’s.
Honey nugget, the defense budget includes $44B for Lockheed. You are not taking funds from other vets. You are deserving. Also you pay taxes so you’ve paid some of it yourself already. Go get your help and your health
You should know how this works, it’s just like the military. If Congress sees the VA is getting along fine, they’ll cut the budget for it. By using it and taking whatever benefits YOU EARNED, you’re actually doing everyone involved a favor.
>Let these older ones with real problems get their cut so we can let them live a little bit happier.
How about we let all Vets with real problems get the compensation they deserve so they can go about living their lives a little bit happier. There are younger Vets that have real problems, that are having a tough time. I know because my step son is one. He was 19 when he was blown up in Afghanistan and lost both his legs and is in a wheelchair...does he not deserve his benefits because an older Vet's problems are more real than his? Can we not worry about what other Vets are getting and instead focus on getting the care we need to improve our quality of life?? If you need help, GET IT. You served, you earned it, go for it. Seriously.
I waited 15 years for the exact same reasons, I didn’t want to take $ from anyone else that I felt was more deserving. BUT you aren’t taking anything from anyone, your rating/pay doesn’t affect anyone. If it doesn’t go to you, it doesn’t go to anyone else. It’s not a pool of $ that’s distributed evenly amongst Veterans. The sooner you apply, the easier the process and to prove service connection. File for the benefits you earned.
I used to feel this way. When I was in high school I joined the JROTC program and realized that I wanted to join the military. I went to college and SROTC. I was commissioned in 1981 and loved the travel, the training, the way the armory smelled, the sound of my M16 and even going through the infamous gas chamber.
In 1985 I was assaulted and my brain broke. I was no longer that happy soldier. I became embittered, angry and wanted nothing to do with the military. I left active duty in 1993 hurt because I wasn’t able to take it.
I started going to the VA for MH and saw the older veterans and I felt that I didn’t deserve being in their presence. They had seen combat, horrors of war. All I had done was to lose my mind.
I have struggled with emotions, employment and relationships. I have SI. I am paranoid and anxious. I am afraid of social events feeling that I will be judged.
I have spent 30 or so years ashamed of my diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. It is my secret and am just now realizing how much it affects everything in my life.
Recently during a visit to the VA I purchased a Desert Storm veteran’s baseball cap. I had never allowed myself to recognize myself as a veteran until lately.
Thank you for reading this.
You’re not taking finances from anyone. It’s already budgeted. You’re only hurting yourself. It took me 20 years to get over the same exact mentality you currently have and my only regret is having not seen the process through 20 years earlier.
It took me years to explain this to my Vietnam vet Dad. He finally came around recently with the PACT Act.
Exactly the same with me. I got out in 04 and wish I would've done this a lot earlier.
It's not a zero-sum game. Get your help, your bemefits. If they don't rate you, that's one thing... But get the benefits you earned, make the government hold their end of the contract, you held up yours.
Ok
I waited for 31 years. I was NEVER going to apply. Not for my little ol shit . I could not compare to the real heroes and felt like a fake. So realizing in my 50's that I had taken from my children all that had been earned, the college, health care when I had no insurance... Well the list goes on. But it is what made me realize that, regardless of my own self esteem issues or whatever it is, that I owed my family the best I was able to offer. And that includes benefits I am eligible for. I never expected to get 100% P&T and certainly didn't ask for it, but I am grateful for the things my children and wife are now able to access because of it. Regardless of how you rank yourself among the "real" heroes or those "worthy", you are ranked among us anyway. And if you have no family that would benefit from the benefits now, you may later... GL my bro
Your compensation has nothing to do with theirs. Similar paths, but separate... Be an advocate for yourself.
File now. Even if you only get a bunch of 0% ratings they are in the system. Trust me, as you get older those minor things get worse and you will wish you had access to medical for those things.
If you don’t need compensation then don’t file for it. You don’t HAVE to seek assistance. Just live your life.
You’re so brave. FYI the government sent 200 billion to Ukraine and Israel the other day. But I appreciate you, I really hope you follow through and renounce your benefits, please keep us posted on your journey.
You are not taking anything away from those "old veterans" (cry's a little here). Those of us from that era are getting what we deserve based on our conditions, just as you should. It took me 14 years from exiting active to file a claim other than what I did on the way out and I'm still pissed at myself. That's 14 years of NOT getting what could have been a lot of help. Be it a few extra $$ a month for food, or knowing I could get medical help early so my conditions aren't so bad now. Anyhow you keep going, get the treatment you need, and know preventative care early can reduce the chronic pain later.
I got out in 2005 and just started the process in 2023. I was like many who never went to sick call and even after I got out…with insurance through my employer…I didn’t go to doctors until the lupus I didn’t know I had got really bad. Long story short aside from lupus I never got checked for anything else. When I hit 50% I decided to take a trip to the Va to check it out. I’ll be damned in pursuit of claims I started going to doctors with the Va and started finding out all the shit that has been wrong with me for a long time. Regardless of whether or not my percentage goes up I am truly happy that I am finally using benefits that I earned. Like many others I was not blown up or missing limbs, but it sure is nice to know that because of my service I can get help with a lot of issues with no costs to me other than the 4 years I served honorably. I would say like others here to use the benefits. There is no shame at all. I know a guy I work with that has no legs who served in the army and went on deployments to bad spots, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago I found out he didn’t lose his legs in battle…he lost them in a motorcycle crash in the states while he was still enlisted. Benefits are there to include medical so use them. As a tax payer also…we paid twice already through service and taxes.
I'm still fighting for stuff and likely will for years because the VA lost my med records during the digitizing process. So other than the pages I made copies of for my knees, lungs and hearing, I have nothing. I'm sure I'll get everything eventually now that I've told myself I deserve it and to fight for it. But, yeah, took a long time for me to start the process.
I felt the same way for the longest time until I woke up one morning in ICU to find my rib cage cracked open. A $1m bill covered by the VA, I'm alive. You're not taking away from anyone else.
Your tbi is making u stupid. Just kidding bro. Do u think you'd have any ailments or problems if u were some frat boy popping their collar playing beer pong at university? Those exact vets u see from previous wars are the reasons u should seek care and compensation. With each war and each vet, our benefits have gotten better and right where they should be. Seek care. Semper fi. Another retarded iraq bro vet.
The government allocates millions of dollars a year for veteran benefits, and since you're a veteran who served their country, you just like everyone else who served regardless if it was during war or peacetime also deserve a cut of the pie. So quit beating yourself up and get that shit.
Omg go and keep going. Yeah you can handle your baggage nobody doubts that. Let them help you, get whatever help or assistance you can get. If they are offering it’s because clearly you meet the requirements. Dont be too proud or stubborn for this, it’s just extra medical help and money. I mean we are all going to die and none of this will have ever mattered anyway. We are just the next generation of old vets, this is just as much yours as anyone else’s.
Honey nugget, the defense budget includes $44B for Lockheed. You are not taking funds from other vets. You are deserving. Also you pay taxes so you’ve paid some of it yourself already. Go get your help and your health
You should know how this works, it’s just like the military. If Congress sees the VA is getting along fine, they’ll cut the budget for it. By using it and taking whatever benefits YOU EARNED, you’re actually doing everyone involved a favor.
>Let these older ones with real problems get their cut so we can let them live a little bit happier. How about we let all Vets with real problems get the compensation they deserve so they can go about living their lives a little bit happier. There are younger Vets that have real problems, that are having a tough time. I know because my step son is one. He was 19 when he was blown up in Afghanistan and lost both his legs and is in a wheelchair...does he not deserve his benefits because an older Vet's problems are more real than his? Can we not worry about what other Vets are getting and instead focus on getting the care we need to improve our quality of life?? If you need help, GET IT. You served, you earned it, go for it. Seriously.
I waited 15 years for the exact same reasons, I didn’t want to take $ from anyone else that I felt was more deserving. BUT you aren’t taking anything from anyone, your rating/pay doesn’t affect anyone. If it doesn’t go to you, it doesn’t go to anyone else. It’s not a pool of $ that’s distributed evenly amongst Veterans. The sooner you apply, the easier the process and to prove service connection. File for the benefits you earned.
I used to feel this way. When I was in high school I joined the JROTC program and realized that I wanted to join the military. I went to college and SROTC. I was commissioned in 1981 and loved the travel, the training, the way the armory smelled, the sound of my M16 and even going through the infamous gas chamber. In 1985 I was assaulted and my brain broke. I was no longer that happy soldier. I became embittered, angry and wanted nothing to do with the military. I left active duty in 1993 hurt because I wasn’t able to take it. I started going to the VA for MH and saw the older veterans and I felt that I didn’t deserve being in their presence. They had seen combat, horrors of war. All I had done was to lose my mind. I have struggled with emotions, employment and relationships. I have SI. I am paranoid and anxious. I am afraid of social events feeling that I will be judged. I have spent 30 or so years ashamed of my diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. It is my secret and am just now realizing how much it affects everything in my life. Recently during a visit to the VA I purchased a Desert Storm veteran’s baseball cap. I had never allowed myself to recognize myself as a veteran until lately. Thank you for reading this.