Army is holding back on rating troops’ disabilities to hold down costs, critics say

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/02/TNSmedholdmoney070222/
The Army is deliberately shortchanging troops on their disability retirement ratings to hold down costs, according to veterans’ advocates, lawyers and service members.

“These people are being systematically underrated,” said Ron Smith, deputy general counsel for Disabled American Veterans. “It’s a bureaucratic game to preserve the budget, and it’s having an adverse affect on service members.”

The numbers of people approved for permanent or temporary disability retirement in the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have stayed relatively stable since 2001.

But in the Army — in the midst of a war — the number of soldiers approved for permanent disability retirement has plunged by more than two-thirds, from 642 in 2001 to 209 in 2005, according to a Government Accountability Office report last year. That decline has come even as the war in Iraq has intensified and the total number of soldiers wounded or injured there has soared above 15,000.

[babylonsister]

1. Did you think you could read anything more outrageous?

It's tiring being angry all the time...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2742517

[EFerrari]

2. It's the same for civilians and has been for years.

How much lower can these greedy bastards go.

We need to network advocates -- get real infrastructure that links us up all over the country because these patients are low hanging fruit for these predators. :mad:

[Ian David]

3. Why does The Army hate our troops?

Oh, wait.

They don't hate our TROOPS.

They hate our VETERANS.

My bad.

[Monkeyman]

4. Let me tell you this one

Here is a lady who was wounded in Iraq after three years of being on a waiting list. The VA decided she is only worth 30%. She can hardly walk without pain. They are cutting cost on the backs of wounded troops. Why to go ass wipes