Veteran Disability Compensation and the Army Profession: Good Intentions Gone Awry
Abstract
For 40 years, from 1960 to 1999, about 8 percent of the veteran population received disability compensation. In 2000 the percentage edged up to 9 percent or 2.3 million veterans. By 2018 the percentage had tripled to 24 percent or 4.7 million veterans. Although many researchers attribute this upward trend to the influx of wounded from the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War, the authors show that favorable legislative action, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policy changes, societal developments, and improved information flow enabled and encouraged many more veterans to file for disability. The rise in the number of veterans receiving disability compensation signaled a cultural transformation concerning disability compensation that would eventually spread throughout the US Army and the other services. The culture surrounding disability compensation gained strength after the 9/11 attacks as it moved from loosely connected groups of veterans to units in the repetitively deployed Army reserve components. Eventually, the culture developed inactive units as participants in the VA Benefits Delivery at Discharge program and a surge of retirees in the Department of Defense shared their insights about the disability process with those still in uniform. Underlying the situation is the good-news story that more soldiers and veterans have gained awareness of a valuable entitlement and are understanding the process for obtaining the entitlement. Today, nearly two-thirds of all soldiers depart the Army with a disability rating. Unfortunately, the data also point to less benign implications for the military.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1146828
Entities
People
- Leonard Wong
- Stephen J. Gerras
Organizations
- United States Army War College