Gaming the System

[mikoyan29]

http://www.upworthy.com/whats-the-wo...attle-found-it

In summary, dude gets a determination that he is a disable veteran because he was injured playing football while at a military prep school. In turn, he gets bodyslammed by a real disabled veteran.

[Panacea]

Daaaaaaammn!

Ms. Duckworth got game! You go, girl!

How in the HELL did a guy qualify for veterans benefits when he was not actually a military member? Since when does going to a military prep school make you a military member?

[Hyena Dandy]

We need a way of saying "Condescending jerk, but in the best conceivable way."

[mikoyan29]

Daaaaaaammn!

Ms. Duckworth got game! You go, girl!

How in the HELL did a guy qualify for veterans benefits when he was not actually a military member? Since when does going to a military prep school make you a military member?

Evidently, the military prep school in this case was the West Point Prep School, which I guess technically makes you a member of the military. Although it sounds like he was gaming the system in other ways too....

[Greenday]

Ah, Ft. Monmouth. I miss that place. Worked there for a few years, sometimes spent my lunches watching the prep school kids practice football.

Evidently, the military prep school in this case was the West Point Prep School, which I guess technically makes you a member of the military. Although it sounds like he was gaming the system in other ways too....

I'm not entirely sure how it works. I don't know if you are technically considered in the Army while in the school, I just know it's run by the Army. They call them cadets, but it's basically a school for people who want to join but can't because their grades were crap or physically not fit for it. It's just basically trade school run by the military, not actually being IN the military.

[mikoyan29]

Ah, Ft. Monmouth. I miss that place. Worked there for a few years, sometimes spent my lunches watching the prep school kids practice football.



I'm not entirely sure how it works. I don't know if you are technically considered in the Army while in the school, I just know it's run by the Army. They call them cadets, but it's basically a school for people who want to join but can't because their grades were crap or physically not fit for it. It's just basically trade school run by the military, not actually being IN the military.

Okay, thanks. So it's kind of a gray area, but with enough white that the VA considers you a veteran?

[Greenday]

Okay, thanks. So it's kind of a gray area, but with enough white that the VA considers you a veteran?

I don't think so. It's basically an academy to train you and see if you are worth signing up for West Point. It doesn't take actual soldiers.

[s_stabeler]

Whatever your opinion on if he should get disability benefits, he should not be entitled to preferential treatment on contracts. disability benefits can possibly be excused as being cheaper than this asshole suing over the injury, but preferential treatment in contracts is supposed to be because soldiers risk their lives for the US.

The disability benefits? I would need to know more about exactly how he got the injury.

[bara]

Soooo my dad. My dad was in Vietnam. He suffered from PTSD, horrible back injuries, diabetes, severe depression when he could no longer work and eventually Lymphoma (a form of leukemia that specifically attacks the lymphatic system).

He didn't get 100% service rated disability until nearly a year AFTER he died. My mom receives widow benefits, but had he gotten that rating when he should have then it would have saved many financial hardships that my family suffered. Mom and Dad just barely managed to avoid bankruptcy and foreclosure on the house. I had no idea how bad it was at the time.


As an Iraq veteran myself, I find myself in full agreement with Rep. Duckworth. That ass never even enlisted...

Members of my family have been involved in every major US conflict since at least WW2. That includes Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom. I can only think of a couple of Uncles got out without any sort of lasting injury.

[Panacea]

I looked this up.

Ft. Monmounth is a prep school for the military academies; you get appointed by your Congressman or Senator but have to qualify for admission as well. This school and others like it are farm programs for the academy athletic teams.

It is a grey area. While you are in the prep school AND while you are a student at a military academy you are not actually a member of the military, even though you wear a uniform and are subject to orders. You are a student, in training to be a service member.

If you leave of your own volition (or flunk out) you are not considered a veteran, to have done any military service, and are not eligible for any services or preferences.

However, if you are injured and have to leave the program, you are eligible for veterans benefits.

I can understand why. This dates back to when cadets in the service academies could during their training actually be subjected to actual combat situations. If the cadet died, he was deserving of full military honors. Ditto if he had to leave training due to an injury sustained during that training.

This guy parlayed a football injury into a vet disability DECADES after the original injury; going on to play football (badly) for another college program. That loophole needs to be closed. The injury should result from actual military training, not a car accident or a sports injury.

[s_stabeler]

yeah, I agree- make it a requirement that any injury be in training or an actual combat situation for vet disability benefits.

[Andara Bledin]

Wait, he got disability for a football injury after having continued to play football?

How can they possibly know that his injury as a cadet was what caused his disability and not further injury sustained over the next X years?

[Greenday]

I don't even care if it is a football injury. If he were to be paralyzed or severely shatter something, I could understand. But a twisted ankle is not a valid reason for benefits.

[HYHYBT]

yeah, I agree- make it a requirement that any injury be in training or an actual combat situation for vet disability benefits.

So, none for people who are legitimately serving, but happen to be injured on the job but outside of combat?

[hinakiba777]

So he played football in prep school and hurt his ankle. He continued to play football in college. Then decades later he gets 30% disability benefits because NOW the foot hurts?

That is gaming the system hard. My uncle who is a Navy Vet refuses to even get a vetran's license plate because he didn't see active duty, but this guy gets disability benefits for spraining his ankle in prep school? Messed up.

People like him are the reason service men and women with legitimate issues have to wait nearly a year to even start getting benefits. It's sickening.