thedrifter
10-18-08, 08:58 AM
Injured Iraq war veteran forced to pay back compensation
WFAA Dallas-Fort Worth - Oct 17
10:00 PM CDT on Friday, October 17, 2008
By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA-TV
A News 8 investigation finds that thousands of wounded American war veterans are being wounded twice.
First by the agonizing injuries they suffer in the Iraq war and then by our own military, concerned more about cash than their lives.
For five years, thousands of wounded American vets have been hounded by a bill collector - the very army they served in.
They got discharged because they're wounded. They get a check to compensate them for their wounds.
Then the military tries to get it back.
News 8 has discovered cruel financial practices engaged in by the military, with the full knowledge of Congress.
They combine to increase the pain for wounded men and women who are already suffering.
"I led raids. I led combats ops. They were all successful," said one veteran.
That was until his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb.
He suffered a concussion, broken nose, torn tendons, mangled back and neck and a traumatic head injury.
He was still alive, but the Army he discovered, was done with him.
"You're basically no good to them no more because you can no longer carry your rucksack, carry all that weight and go the distance," he said.
We'll call him Alex.
He doesn't want to us to reveal his identity because of all the problems he's dealing with.
He can't eat, can't sleep, and can't hold a job because of his war injuries.
He drinks a liquid diet because a mouth injury makes chewing painful.
He takes methadone for back pain, as well as anti-depressants and tranquilizers for his post traumatic stress disorder.
More drugs for sleep but they don't always work.
The fact is, the war now lives with his wife and son.
"If I'm asleep and they're awake and I have a nightmare, they see it. They see me while I do dreams because I wake them up because I started shouting. I start yelling commands, as if I was still out there," he said.
There were 28,884 men and women wounded in Iraq between the beginning of the war and January of this year.
And there are thousands like Alex.
Because of their pain and their medication, they struggle to find work.
"It's very hard to get a job. Because due to all the meds I'm on, when they do a urinalysis, I'll flunk them right off the bat," said Alex.
Without a job, they don't get enough money to pay the bills.
Alex, for example, is supposed to get about $1,000 in disability payments from the Veterans Administration every month.
But he, his son and wife end up with just $225.
Here's what happened to Alex. He got medically discharged two years ago and he got a lump sum medical severance check of about $25,000 from the Department of Defense. He didn't know there'd be strings attached.
"The lump sum how they explained it to me was for the years I served in the military and my disability," said Alex.
He started coming here to the VA for treatment of his injuries. They decided he had major medical problems and awarded him disability payments of about $1,000 a month. Then he was shocked to learn the Army wanted its $25,000 back.
"They didn't say that if you went to the VA and you filed for disability you'd have to pay them back," he said.
So, while the VA pays him more than $1,000 a month, the Department of Defense takes about $800 a month back, until the $25,000 is repaid.
Congress in this year's defense bill did a little to stem the problem. Beginning this year, servicemen and women don't have to pay the money back.
But section 1646 of the bill is not retroactive. Those hurt before January of this year, most of those wounded in the Iraq war, are not covered.
"There's a lot of soldiers, airmen and marines that are going through this. Basically, I feel like they kicked me to the curb," said Alex.
Ellie
WFAA Dallas-Fort Worth - Oct 17
10:00 PM CDT on Friday, October 17, 2008
By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA-TV
A News 8 investigation finds that thousands of wounded American war veterans are being wounded twice.
First by the agonizing injuries they suffer in the Iraq war and then by our own military, concerned more about cash than their lives.
For five years, thousands of wounded American vets have been hounded by a bill collector - the very army they served in.
They got discharged because they're wounded. They get a check to compensate them for their wounds.
Then the military tries to get it back.
News 8 has discovered cruel financial practices engaged in by the military, with the full knowledge of Congress.
They combine to increase the pain for wounded men and women who are already suffering.
"I led raids. I led combats ops. They were all successful," said one veteran.
That was until his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb.
He suffered a concussion, broken nose, torn tendons, mangled back and neck and a traumatic head injury.
He was still alive, but the Army he discovered, was done with him.
"You're basically no good to them no more because you can no longer carry your rucksack, carry all that weight and go the distance," he said.
We'll call him Alex.
He doesn't want to us to reveal his identity because of all the problems he's dealing with.
He can't eat, can't sleep, and can't hold a job because of his war injuries.
He drinks a liquid diet because a mouth injury makes chewing painful.
He takes methadone for back pain, as well as anti-depressants and tranquilizers for his post traumatic stress disorder.
More drugs for sleep but they don't always work.
The fact is, the war now lives with his wife and son.
"If I'm asleep and they're awake and I have a nightmare, they see it. They see me while I do dreams because I wake them up because I started shouting. I start yelling commands, as if I was still out there," he said.
There were 28,884 men and women wounded in Iraq between the beginning of the war and January of this year.
And there are thousands like Alex.
Because of their pain and their medication, they struggle to find work.
"It's very hard to get a job. Because due to all the meds I'm on, when they do a urinalysis, I'll flunk them right off the bat," said Alex.
Without a job, they don't get enough money to pay the bills.
Alex, for example, is supposed to get about $1,000 in disability payments from the Veterans Administration every month.
But he, his son and wife end up with just $225.
Here's what happened to Alex. He got medically discharged two years ago and he got a lump sum medical severance check of about $25,000 from the Department of Defense. He didn't know there'd be strings attached.
"The lump sum how they explained it to me was for the years I served in the military and my disability," said Alex.
He started coming here to the VA for treatment of his injuries. They decided he had major medical problems and awarded him disability payments of about $1,000 a month. Then he was shocked to learn the Army wanted its $25,000 back.
"They didn't say that if you went to the VA and you filed for disability you'd have to pay them back," he said.
So, while the VA pays him more than $1,000 a month, the Department of Defense takes about $800 a month back, until the $25,000 is repaid.
Congress in this year's defense bill did a little to stem the problem. Beginning this year, servicemen and women don't have to pay the money back.
But section 1646 of the bill is not retroactive. Those hurt before January of this year, most of those wounded in the Iraq war, are not covered.
"There's a lot of soldiers, airmen and marines that are going through this. Basically, I feel like they kicked me to the curb," said Alex.
Ellie