• 2 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 24th, 2023

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  • When you went to boot camp (assuming you were/are a sailor based on verbage), you lost 5% of your division to mental health issues. It seems to me that people considered unfit for duty wouldn’t graduate basic training at all.

    I think you’re missing my point. It’s not about being unfit to fight, it’s about the willingness to defend your home. I can’t get behind people that turn and run when the people that make up their country need them. I can’t support people that aren’t even willing to try given these circumstances.


  • Basic training was the easiest part of my military career. The recruits that went home did so because they got hypothermia or cracked the tops of their humerus, not because they couldn’t hack it mentally. If they wanted to weed out those unfit, then the individual who this article is about would be disqualified or an RTT in basic. I was discharged at the end of my contract because of physical injuries, so I understand being considered unqualified for military service.

    I cannot think of any reason I wouldn’t defend my home, friends, and family against a foreign invader. If the US was being invaded and my family’s lives were at risk, you can bet your ass I’d be doing everything I could to defend my country.











  • There’s no doubt that I beat up my body while I was in the service, but no more than most tradesman do in their first years of life. I still train jiu jitsu regularly and am capable of doing most things (save for running).

    You’re correct in assuming that I receive some of my benefits due to my disabilities, such as my property taxes and my disability payments, but lots of benefits are available to those without any disability rating.

    Some of the non disability related benefits include:

    Education benefits via the post 9/11 GI Bill cover 4 years of schooling and provide a housing stipend during your time in school.

    Education benefits for your family via Chapter 35

    Access to the VA Loan program, which is a federally guaranteed loan. I used one to buy my house and did not have to pay a down payment

    Again I am considered a disabled veteran, so some of the benefits I gain from that are:

    Education benefits via Chapter 31, which is what I’m using currently to receive my bachelor’s. It’s similar to the GI Bill, but will pay for trade school as well

    Health benefits: I am 100% disabled, so I receive free healthcare from the VA, but I’m also eligible for CHAMPVA health insurance, which is what my family is under

    Disability pay: I get paid at the 100% rate, which is about $50k a year. There are lower rates all the way down to 10%, which is $171.23/ month. You can be awarded 10% for something as simple as tinnitus, which I assure you everyone in the Army has.

    Property tax exemptions: a lot of states will exempt you from some or all of your property taxes if you’re a disabled veteran, which lowered my house payment by $400.

    All of my injuries are what I would call “wear and tear”, I have shin splints and back pain and what have you, things that everyone gets on their way to their 30s regardless. I’m just lucky enough to have been in a place where I can receive compensation for that wear and tear. The only exception to my injuries that most people won’t have is a genetic blood clotting condition that I’ll be on thinners for for the rest of my life, but they only awarded me 20% for that.

    You also don’t need to be 100% disabled to collect these benefits, things like Chapter 31 are given out pretty liberally, and property tax exemptions are usually pretty well laid out.

    All this to say that while yes some benefits are locked behind a disability rating, you will receive one for regular wear and tear on your body




  • I can’t speak to everyone’s experience, but I did my 4 and got out in 2020 due to a physical injury. While I was in it wasn’t great, but my wife and I collectively made about 100k/year with her as a teacher, we lived pretty well.

    Since I got out, I attend school for free, receive a housing stipend, don’t pay property taxes, receive free healthcare, and I’ll receive about $50k this year in tax free disability. My kids and wife will have tuition if they decide to go (back) to school and they all receive free health insurance.

    I don’t think there’s a lack of incentives at all, but simply people don’t know of the benefits they can receive. No one sits down with them and explains it all and we end up with vets with PTSD on the streets because of it