Will he get Veteran Benefits forever?
If he was classified as 100% Disabled, Permanent & Total, and he has been receiving those benefits for at least 10 uninterrrupted years they are now permanent for life. Strangely, if you are classified as 100% Disabled, Permanent & Total, at any time during the first 10 years of that classification the VA can call for a new Compensation & Pension Examination and change your benefits that were classified as Permanent & Total. So "Permanent & Total" does not necessarily really MEAN "Permanent & Total" in VA-speak. However, your relative is now safe from the VA.
Should I go to the VA to receive benefits?
I joined the army reserves in 2014 but unfortunately I was injured in basic training. I was chaptered under 5-17 which is neither honored nor dishonorable discharge. It is uncharacterized. I injured my shoulder and it has not fully recovered until this day of July 2016. Friends and family keeps telling me to go to the VA to try and get benefits whether it be for school (I'm a college student) or disability. Would the VA do anything? Thanks in advance
Can a divorced spouse get veterans benefits?
Only if you have minor children with the veteran and he gets financial benefits from the VA and they are in receipt of family allowance with 30% or higher. It called an Apportionment Allowance. Call VA at 1-800-827-1000 for more information. Usually any allowance the veteran gets for dependents can go to the ex-spouse or children directly. Also court ordered payments for support. In some cases if the veteran has dependents and don't claim them the ex can provide proof of relationship. Remember the VA protects the veteran and if their spouse or exchange makes more money than the veteran it may not work out.
Why do soldiers get so many benefits after they leave the service?
I spent 4 years active duty in the Marine Corps. I had money taken out of my already measly paychecks so that I could collect on the GI Bill once I got out. I then put more money into the GI Bill to make it pay out slightly more when I got out. I received 2 knee surgeries while active. I have chronic knee pain to this day... Yesterday someone told me, "... I could tell that it was you by the limp." I am now 2 years from completing my degree in Engineering after years of full time classes while working at a bar to ensure I don't go broke. I was just informed that I have used up all of my GI Bill benefits. My high-school counterparts are all doing pretty good. Many are now managers, and one just sold his startup to Google. Whereas I currently lead my undergraduate class in highest hairline. Now don't take this the wrong way. I am actually not complaining. I am very happy with my life. But please don't insult veterans by presuming that we are a recipient of charity. We worked our asses off for what we have... And I, for one, am proud of that.
Do people who work as military contractors get military benefits?
Do not mistake a military contractor with a military service member. Even though a military contractor could (and in some cases can) be a service member, the military contractor is in no way entitled to any military benefits apart from those earned while actually in the military.In all ways that really matter a military contractor is just like any other corporate worker. They do many of the same jobs, at the same pay, with the same corporate BS that goes along with it. They get the added benefit of piling military BS along with it, extra paperwork, and sometimes a more extensive background check than a corporate job.CONUS:Unless you are prior military, as a military contractor you do not receive any of the military benefits. You might be carrying around a DOD CAC, but that doesn’t mean squat in the commissary or 99% of the other on-base unpaid amenities experienced by the military. The one exception might be the gym or on-base commercial restaurants. Don’t try to go to the Officer’s Club without an explicit invitation unless you are/wore an officer. (Geez) Anything CONUS that is provided (i.e. Government furnished equipment) is and has been negotiated as part of the contract between the government and the corporation. This would be spelled out in the statement of work.OCONUS:Can work in much the same was as CONUS, but many times you obtain a Letter of Authorization (LOA) that is similar to a service members orders. This LOA tells you what additional benefits you might receive as a military contractor working for the military overseas. This is very clear on your LOA:Regardless of what your LOA says or doesn’t say, and regardless of who you are the; the two things that the military will always provides are emergency medical and security. Note it will be emergency care (i.e. you’ve just had a heart attack or been shot), not primary care. If you need primary care, it’s up to the company/you and not the military to arrange and pay for it.
Do military veterans maintain their titles after retirement?
You are entitled to whatever rank it says on your DD-214 upon separation,* and that goes for everybody, whether you retired or not and whether you separated as General of the Armies of the United States or as a buck Private.Having said that, as the other answers have noted, veterans seldom actually append their names with these ranks. We occasionally refer to each other by service ranks, but mostly as friendly banter. And you would definitely appear . . . eccentric at best if you went around expecting people to actually call you “Private First Class Doe” or “CS2 Smith.” Even retired officers of O-6 grade and above who insist upon being called Colonel, etc., are considered somewhat eccentric, which is why you usually only see that with fictional characters.The obvious exception to this is when former flag officers occupy high government positions that may or may not be available to actively serving officers, e.g. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.) and General Colin Powell (ret.).I do know of one former Army Captain who walks around his tiny Pennsylvania town publicly wearing a saber, which he insists is his permanent right as a commissioned officer, and everybody leaves him alone since he’s not really hurting anybody. But again; eccentric and not likely to be taken very seriously.There are also honorary titles bestowed by state governments, or that are simply nicknames, that tend to stick. The classic examples are “Colonel” Sanders and “Commodore” Vanderbilt. These are not actual military ranks in these cases, and this fact makes it even less likely that an actual retired Colonel would want to go around having people think he or she is a chicken peddler.And finally, you are allowed to append your name with whatever titles you feel like, so long as you aren’t doing so to deceive people for financial or other personal gain (a.k.a. fraud). You can call yourself Generalissimo, even if you’ve never served in any military. Just don’t try to collect any veterans benefits.Norton I, Emperor of these United States of America and Protector of Mexico.I hope you found this answer satisfactory.*This is one of several reasons that service members who are discharged for bad or dishonorable conduct have reduction of rank to E-1 included in their sentences at courts martial, so that they cannot legitimately claim any higher rank in their civilian lives.
Do American Veterans get free healthcare for life?
No. The VA has a listing of priority for who receives free care and how quickly:Priority Groups - Health BenefitsThe VA also has a specific list of guidelines to determine what copays individuals will be required to pay if they receive care at a VA facility:Health Benefits CopaysEven those of us who are rated at 100% permanently and totally disabled (Priority Group 1, all healthcare at VA facilities is free, mandated to be received within 30 days, and requires no copays of any kind) are asked at each visit whether or not we have health insurance outside our VA coverage. If we do (or if any VA patient does), the outside insurance provider would be billed for a portion of the care that we receive at the VA medical centers.Recruiters used to promise “free healthcare for life” and did so all the way up to the 1990’s at least (it was something my recruiter said that I looked him in the eye and told him was bullshit—my entire family were veterans, so I knew better). In the early 2000s, an Air Force COL, George Day, who was both an attorney and a MOH winner, took the government to court regarding promises of free healthcare for life. Though the Appeals Court ruled against him (though it did acknowledge the ‘moral claims’ of the plaintiffs against the government—in other words, the court acknowledged that government had made a promise it refused to keep) and SCOTUS declined to hear the case, Congress enacted Tricare for Life—a low-cost (at the time $100 a month) program to allow older retirees access to medical care (the cost has since gone up—one Tricare for Life member that I know was paying $400 a month in 2014). But “free healthcare for life” for veterans is and always has been a myth—we only get free healthcare if Uncle Sam breaks us so badly that not only can we not continue to serve, we cannot continue to work at all.
How can I pull up my fathers military records online?
His service record is protected by the Privacy Act. For living veterans, they are the only ones that can request it. You could ask him to show you his DD-214. That is a one page document that lists the important things like dates of service, medals and awards, and type of discharge. Veterans are supposed to keep that with their important papers since it is the key to getting veteran benefits.
Every day when I get out of BART (San Francisco), I see some homeless person asking for money and claiming to be a veteran. I really feel sorry but cannot believe that US is not taking care of it’s vets. What is the truth?
Believe it. The US does NOT take care of its Vets. There is more help here in Virginia, but no one goes into the US Military believing they will be cared for. Illegal immigrants get more health care and financial support. It’s a disgrace.Vets returning with PTSD and other mental and physical disabilities are shunned and ignored. Unless you happen to have an excellent officer who cares enough about you to point out how to manage your money, and see that you get the financial help you need while IN the military, you will suffer.The military can’t be 100% to blame. Many enlistees think the money, work, and team will continue forever and they don’t plan for their exit. NEVER trust anyone, any company, any entity to take care of you. It’s your job to see that your money is managed.