Artbrooks:

I never said a word about Veterans' Affairs. I said the military won't pay for your benefits. 0% disability means you do not get any percentage of your base pay. You have no choice BUT to go to Veterans' Affairs because that is the ONLY option you have unless you can get someone to change your disability percentage (it literally takes an act of Congress but it has happened for some lucky few).

Nor is there any guarantee VA will do anything. They may, they may not. But my bone to pick is not with VA, it's with the Army and the military in general.

As for PTSD, no matter what they say officially, military brass does not believe in it and will look for any other pre-existing condition to deny you disability pay. If you ever suffered a head injury, were treated for depression, had ever been to rehab, had a bipolar disorder before enlisting or being called back to duty, etc., count on not getting a penny out of the army. And with the lowering of standards for recruitment, these are not rare cases anymore. Years ago they wouldn't have taken you with any of those conditions but now it is getting to be routine and that spells catastrophe for a system that is hellbent on denying compensation for such conditions. It is a system set up for failure--it already is failing.

>>Admittedly, there are major issues right now with soldiers waiting for medical discharge, because the wheels of the military bureaucracy grind slowly, but the military and civilian agencies involved recognize the problem and are trying to deal with it.<<

The way they army is currently trying to deal with it is by denying every injury or medical condition that they possibly can. I'm a vet and have worked for years in the defense industry where I still work. The bottom line is--the money isn't there. And it's getting worse. They're denying as many claims as they can and it is only a matter of time before VA is overwhelmed by people who couldn't squeeze a penny from the army.

They went to war with a peacetime infrastructure in place that is now cracking under the strain. And THAT is what is hurting the soldier.

>>I cannot comment on your point about wounded soldiers being housed in a crumbling, decaying govt building while receiving treatment because the army has no place else to put them.<<

It's at Walter Reed Hospital.