Military VA disability question?

I am with Wine ....

All the things you mention about your Father are pretty normal for just about ANY career Servicemember.

If the VA only provided care to people with combat related issues...you would cut 95+% of their workload

I served over 10 years before seeing combat for the first time

About 2 years before that I went to a chiropractor for the first time...at 26 years old after 9 years of service

I had a neck x-ray you would normally see on a 60+ year old man...at 26 yo

Carrying around 80-120 pounds of sh*t on your back and jumping out of planes (and more precisely the landings) will do that to you

And is no less a medical issue, "earned" in the line of duty than is a combat wound

You don't have to have been in combat to get disability from the VA. Only that your conditions following service were incidental to your service.

Working on a ship can bring about all kinds of crap on a body. Only he can tell you what it's all about, and if he isn't talking, then you will simply have to deal with it. He can get a job, but depending on the number of hours he works, they could limit payments to him.

Same way I did. If he was injured in any way while on active duty, even outside of combat, he is eligible for a VA disability. I've known of people who ended up with 100% disability during peace time, stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky because their car was rear ended off base by some local.

He's not necessarily hiding anything from you. If he's got the disability, it's there for a reason. I got mine because I blew out a knee jumping out of planes for years....and I never saw combat.

There are many military disabilities that are not combat related.

Many people are killed or injured while on active duty due to plain old accidents.

Th e most deaths
occurred in years when major combat operations were ongoing; from 2004 to
2007, war-related injuries accounted for approximately 40 percent of all deaths.
From 2000 to 2011, two-thirds of all deaths unrelated to war were caused by
transportation accidents (n=4,761; 37%), other accidents (n=1,358; 10%) and
suicides (n=2,634; 20%).

My husband was in Desert Storm and drove tens of thousands of miles without incident but he received a 30% disability when a load slipped from a truck and caught him where the neck meets the shoulder. One inch further and it would have snapped his neck. It's been 23 years and still feel a cold shudder when I think how close I came to losing him.

Disability often does, but is not required to, stem from combat service. Injuries incurred in the performance of regular duties or illnesses contracted while serving are often the sources of Disability ratings.

I recently spoke with a retired Coast Guard Senior Chief who participated in the post-Katrina operations in New Orleans and I can understand the emotional issues that and spending many years picking up dead and dying people could cause him.

My PTSD happens to stem from operational and combat stresses I incurred, no big deal.

Your Dad's rating is for separate ratings for each unrelated issue that military service caused him. You should simply tell him you are concerned and ask him to sit down and keep you informed.

Honestly...You really don't Need to know...
If you knew what happened, you would probably
wish that you didn't know...

In 21 years of Serving in the Coast Guard...
He has to have seen some really Bad Sh*t...(Fire Fights)
and was probably seriously injured more than a few times...
It ain't like all of those fun commercials they put out...

Warning: He best check his VA Award Papers to make
sure that he doesn't have "Individual Unemployability"...
That means he can't Work...

If he has that, it means he is being paid at the 100% Rate...
and should have applied for SSD also...
(If he isn't at 80% IU he needs to get it Upgraded...to that...ASAP)
(Contact a DAV, Veterans Service Officer to handle His Claim...)

Thank Him for his Service for Me !!!!