Lottery

[Moe]

I will be stoned for what I am about to say but I have never won a popularity contest.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth when people act like they have won the lottery when granted a disability award. This is evident at all vet forums not just here. I know it is a long and torturous process from personal experience and everyone should feel relief and joy at finally getting the "Envelope." But when folks say "now I can go buy this and that toy" it doesn't sound right. Almost like they beat the system out of something...

I am rated 70% and feel like it is simply compensation for the loss of physical ability to perform meaningful employment. It defrays the cost of having things done that I can no longer do myself. I will not seek IU because in my case 70% is adequate compensation. This not meant to suggest that others do or feel the same, I encourage everyone that feels he/she deserves IU to pursue it. I will even assist if I can.

Guess being retired military gives me a different slant.

Also, I am not painting with a broad brush. Not all, not even most fit the description I have drawn. But when I see it I get a bad feeling..

This is just MHO and I probably will regret saying it, but had to get it off my chest..

[Railroader]

If your wife or husband bought an insurance policy for a Million Bucks and they died would you tell the insurance that you only wanted a little of the money? That you felt guilty for taking the whole amount or that you didn't think of yourself as worthy. BS, take what is yours and what you have paid for and get on with it!! If you don't need all of the money for your disabilities then take it and give it to someone that you know.

Railroader

[SLEDGE]

Moe,

How far did you fall when you hit your head??

sledge

[free_spirit_etc]

Yeah..Kind of like if you work for someone and they don't pay you most of your wages for years --and you fight and fight and finally get them -- would people think you are "lucky"?

What is sad is that we feel someone is lucky when they get the fairness and justice that ALL deserve.

I will have to say when my husband got his back pay from Social Security - he traded in his 10 year old car that had 247,000 miles on it and a major oil leak -- and got a truck with a bumper to bumper guarantee.

And I will have to say it is very nice to leave home and know your vehicle will get you back home with no problems.

Free

Mrs John M, I truly agree with you. It seems prople feel guilty for some reasons and post whatever is in their heads. I also believe the post was out of line.

Vets dont win the lottery, They often get back pay for that they deserved and the money should have been theirs years ago. That is not a lottery, That is justice.

[Moe]

When I started this thread I said I would regret it. This seems to be too emotional a subject for most people and I understand that.

I certainly don't suggest that people don't deserve compensation. Just the opposite. The majority will never receive close to what they deserve for their pain and suffering and much too late. Joy and relief should be the feeling when the "envelope" arrives. I know because I have experienced it myself.

Then it is time to use the retro to try and get ones life back in order after years of going without and losing a lot their possessions. That is what it is for.. it is not the lottery but just compensation earned by suffering painful injuries.

What I was trying to say but apparently failed to do is the ones that don't need it do a diservice, in my opinion, to those who have suffered monetarily and painfully for years waiting on their just compensation when they act like they won the lottery.

Yes, it is their money and they can do with it whatever they want. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when they talk about all the expensive toys they can go buy, rather than like most, have to use it to put together a shattered life. I just don't feel they need to be reminded of that fact.

This is simply my opinion and if I have still failed to articulate my thoughts you will just have to, as one poster suggested, stone me. I am a big boy and can handle it.

Last but not least, I spent all of my young adult life in uniform. I have great respect for all Veterans, disabled Vets in particular. If I have once again failed to get my thought across I'll just leave it be..

[LarryJ]

Moe, I think you just did a better job of explaining what you were trying to get at in your original post.

And, I agree with you.

[vaf]

The hitting the head comment was uncalled for.

Although I disagree with Moe, I think he deserved more courtesy than we gave him here.

My opinion is that any vet, regardless of age or financial circumstances, who survives the process involved in receiving disability compensation deserves it. The manner in which the veteran spends the money is nobody's business.

That being said, I don't think anyone should interpret Moe's comments as a personal attack, but it sounds to me like that happened here.

Just my opinion.