It's official

[pecunium]

I am a disabled vet.

The actual percentage is croggling, and the effects will be good, and (honestly) a bit life changing.

I am rated 80 percent disabled. I get a pension. If I read it right I also get PX privileges (I can go back onto the Presidio of Monterey again).

I don't know if it gets me schooling (I think I might be able to get some rehab money). I don't know what it gets me by way of tuition breaks in Calif.

I'll have to look into it.

It's a lot to digest.

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Er. Congratulations and commiseration. As it shakes out. (Hope it does mean you get school and tuition breaks.)

[jonquil]

In the immediate term, thank GOD. I'm so glad this came through. I hope in particular that it makes the financial situation comfortable rather than a struggle.

Speaking as another disabled person, I know this recognition is also a loss; it remains hard for me to embrace the word "disabled" even though recognizing it makes my life easier.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on official recognition!

I hope that you can go back to school. You already have much to offer the world, and more schooling will just increase your value.

[redbird]

The trick, I think, is to remember that the official label doesn't change what you can do, physically.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

This is what I was thinking. You likely know what you can and can't do. Given that, there are advantages to a high disability percentage; it's not as if the label itself changes what you can do physically.

It's still a lot to digest.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Yay, for suitably Emotionally COmplex values of yay.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

what matiociquala said, just exactly.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Right. That sounds like an appropriate recognition of a condition in which you're perfectly fine, perfectly fine, perfectly fine, until and unless you go into the wrong environment, in which case you're likely to die.

We all prefer that you wait as long as possible before you do that, all right?

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the official recognition. That can be damned hard to get, as Jeff Stone's story (and too many others) illustrates. I hope the recognition opens useful doors for you.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

One of the things which made me bark with laughter (I broke down a little bit when I read the letter... it was as in a movie, things just sort of fell away and I was at a stand... flipping the pages and not seeing them; after that the shaking and wailing), was the name over the signature... Ulrike XXXXXXXXXX.

Made me think of you.

Hugs.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

*hugs* because it is all complicated.

*hugs* because this is an emotional weight...one being lifted and one landing on you.

*hugs* because it is a huge financial change.

*hugs* because of the reasons you didn't expect to get a result like this.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

... I think that is what I meant by "Oh. My. God."

Things might have been a bit incoherent this afternoon at Casa Snail.

[pip-r-lagenta.livejournal.com]

The recognition is good. I am glad that your life will be a little better. By a coincidence, my sister and I are trying to get a similar recognition for my mother. My mother, who turns ninety-two in five days, is a World War II veteran. We are trying to get a "Non-service Disability Pension" for her, where her disability is old age. We don't know if this is going to wash.

[coffeeem.livejournal.com]

Damn.

And yaaaayyy!

And damn.

Well, you know. Better than I do, in fact.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Hey, a pension and PX privileges? Nothing to sneeze at! Even if there's crogglement involved.

Here's to the life-changing effects being all to the good.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

As pensions go, it's not much, but it's something, and I sure as hell earned it.

[songblaze.livejournal.com]

I'm glad and I'm sorry.

I know having someone identify you as disabled is...a blow. Even when you know and recognize it beforehand, it's still...it hurts to have someone else say you're disabled. I wish I knew why.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I was ready for being rated. I wasn't ready for the number. I was hoping for 30, would have been surprised at 20.

80... damnit I'm not that damaged.

Or something. Right now, however, I feel a trifle fragile.

It's a wierd sort of hope to have, becauase of it.

[kukla-red.livejournal.com]

Complex indeed. I'm very glad you will get some bucks out of this and I am also extremely glad that they finally came through for you. But hearing the official designation has to be hard too, in some ways. Congratulations and hugs, simultaneously.

[sylphslider.livejournal.com]

I am sorry that you are officially disabled, but I'm glad to hear that you are about to get all of the official benefits of being disabled.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

That's really perfectly phrased. Terry, I concur with sylphslider.

[zeeth_kyrah]

Gratuconlations.

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

Wow--this is major news. Would it be appropriate to say congratulations on getting through the determination process?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Congratulations for getting something back. I hope it's enough to make a difference.

[djdigit.livejournal.com]

*hugs*
I imagine it feels good (though, yeah, a lot to digest) to have that acknowledgement.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

OK- I really, REALLY need to get to the VA and see what I will get- before I end up in the damn wheelchair.

Sigh...

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that's settled, so you can get on with the next thing.

I'm sorry it's needful.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is a lot to digest. I'm satisfied that the system is treating you fairly, and relieved that the VA is being good to you. Now I hope they can manage to actually provide you with some useful and effective therapy too.

If it gets you schooling, that'll be good. It will combine with that partial tuition reimbursement to make things affordable.

From the perspective of a one-time platoon sergeant, and Company Gunnery Sergeant, and later a Commanding Officer, I'm really, really sorry that you suffered a disabling injury in the service of our country. It's a sad truth that the best troops are often the ones who take the brunt of the injuries. Thanks for being one of the best troops. Now I just hope our country does right by you.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on getting through the process and getting the money.

Would it be possible and conceivably worth the trouble to try to find out on what basis they gave you 80%?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

It's a formula, based on the various things in my history, and on the physical exam.

The pain in my right great toe... 10 percent.

The neuropathy in my arms, 20 percent, ea. Add them all up (there were more than that) and it's 120 percent.

There is some way in which they evaluate all of that and come up with the final number.

Now, I think, getting my rank straightened out matters a bit more.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure "congratulations" is the right thing to say on this.

I'm glad you've finally gotten official recognition, rather than further fucking-over by the VA.

I hope this makes things easier, especially on the financial side.

[bifemmefatale.livejournal.com]

This.

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

Completely selfishly, one of my first thoughts upon reading this was "Oooo. Can you get me onto Presidio grounds?"

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Maybe. We shall see if they send me a grey card.

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you were recognised rather than denied, sad that the disability happened in the first place.

And BTW I finally got around to friending you after the wedding/committment ceremony. You need feel no pressure to do the reverse.