Quote of note:
Many former soldiers are finding it difficult to return to 9-to-5 America. The number of disabled vets from all wars deemed "unemployable" by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs tripled from 71,000 to 220,000 between 1996 and 2005. Unemployable vets receive about $2,393 a month, with the total cost of the program now $3.1 billion a year (up from $857 million in 1996). That staggering price tag doesn't include the bulk of recent vets from Iraq and Afghanistan who will enter the system over the next few decades.
Supporting the Troops
The yearly cost of unemployment benefits for disabled military personnel has ballooned to $3 billion. Is the U.S. prepared for the oncoming wave of Iraq war vets?
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Martha Brant
Newsweek
June 14, 2006 - Ron Dickey wanted to make the Army his career. When he joined the service at 19 he traded Rienzi, Miss.—a town with fewer than 500 residents—for a world of opportunities. Ambitious, Dickey became a member of the elite special forces and fought in the first Persian Gulf War. But when he got back from the Middle East, he developed extensive skin abrasions. He still doesn't know if he was exposed to something during the war, but his health began to deteriorate quickly. In addition to the mysterious skin disease, he came down with diabetes and he already had some hearing loss. In 1993, he opted not to re-enlist.
...In a much-anticipated report issued last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) criticized the VA's unemployablity benefits for having unclear guidelines and weak follow-up. They found the big jump in those receiving benefits particularly troubling at a time when "advances in medicine and technology, along with labor market changes, have provided greater opportunity for people with disabilities to seek and maintain employment." Even the VA concurred with the criticism. "The VA should look at the program as an opportunity to return people to work if they can," says Cristina Chaplain, a GAO director and author of the May 30 report—the first major review of veterans' disability benefits in 50 years. "The demands of a new generation of veterans are going to be incredible, and the VA needs to get a good system in place."
It's difficult to gauge how much of an impact the new generation of war vets will have on the VA's already strained system. More than 150,000 military personnel are now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the total number of troops who've rotated through either country at some point since September 2001 will definitely be much higher. About 18,000 military personnel have already been wounded in both conflicts. And many injuries like posttraumatic stress disorder may not surface until well after their homecomings.
