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It’s Time to End Disability Payments to Veterans with PTSD
The VA is literally paying Veterans with PTSD not to improve. The very system designed to save Veterans is killing them. Here’s how it works and how to fix it.
On the 1st of every month, $3,317.63 lands in my bank account.
I don’t do anything for it, it just appears. Well, that’s not exactly true. I get that money for being fucked up — I’m rated 100% disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a result of my two tours in Iraq between 2006 and 2010.
I was awarded that disability rating a full decade after I separated from the Military. I spent those 10 years bouncing along the bottom — depression, anxiety, addiction, psuedo-homelessness, broken relationships, losing jobs because I couldn’t handle the stress, and several suicidal episodes.
I finally broke down and sought help and when I was awarded this disability rating, it was a lifesaver. It took the pressure off. It allowed me to stop worrying about how to make ends meet and allowed me to focus on putting the broken pieces of my life back together.
But here’s the catch: because I’m doing better today, I risk losing the very thing…
