Army Times Fix disability system

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Army Times Editorial: Fix disability system


Recent news reports by this newspaper, The Washington Post and others have highlighted the plight of hundreds of injured and wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

These troops fight their way through red tape toward the disability ratings that determine what, if any, compensation they will receive for their injuries.

While they run this gantlet, many live in rundown housing with moldy walls, vermin infestations and other problems.

In the wake of the media attention on Walter Reed, senior military officials initially seemed much more focused on dealing with the mold, rats and roaches than in grappling with the bigger issue: a highly flawed disability review process that keeps these troops in limbo for months and sometimes years — and that appears to be shortchanging them on benefits.

Since 2001, the number of people granted permanent disability retirement in the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force has stayed relatively flat. But in the Army — which accounts for almost two-thirds of the troops wounded in combat — permanent disability retirements are down by two-thirds in the same period.

Military officials deny any intentional effort to save money by handing out lower disability ratings. But cases like that of Army Cpl. Richard Twohig make you wonder. He was thrown from a vehicle in Iraq, landed on his head, and developed short-term memory loss and paralyzing migraines that have left him unable to work.

Yet the Army granted him only a 10 percent disability rating because, his lawyer says, he could not prove the condition didn’t exist prior to his deployment.<snip>
http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_opinion_disabilityeditorial_070305/