100% T&P va rating and a 1st class medical
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Unit74
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Lindberg
Final Approach
Ah, so when you wrote
you meant just the one thing that the OP actually bolded knowing that it might be an issue.
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I would love to know where are you in the process? Did you consult with Dr. Kramer? Any tips on your journey that you’d like to share?
bbchien
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Dr Beaty just passed away 
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Lndwarrior
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Gary
No idea what your life is really like or whether you are fit for your goal.
I thought I had more physical problems than just about anyone. Apparently I am at least number 2!
I fly myself and my wife, but only when I'm feeling safe. There are many days when I am not good enough to fly. There is no way to predict how I might feel on any given day, so no way to fly for a living.
If you can day that you feel good enough to fly, even on your bad days, then why not?
If this is your passion, you at least have to try.
Good luck, and thank you for your service!
Digging up this post, what about bilateral radiculopathy in legs? Would that get deferred during a medical to OKC?
100% disability through the VA doesn’t necessarily mean you cannot work. Just because someone has OSA, MIGRAINES, Plantar fasciitis in both feet, a less than stellar ROM in their back, pain in both feet, pain in both ankles, pain in both knees, acquiring flat fleet could get you close to around 100%. You also mention a base level of fitness, most people in the military had a way higher standard than a base level of fitness and wear and tear on their bodies down to a base lvl of fitness is getting them compensated according to the VA.
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just that u r on the public dole for the rest of your life.
Most people are on the dole as you put in some form or fashion in life. I am certainly not going to question any veteran about money when we have had no issues sending billions upon billions to foreign countries to fund whatever they needed for the past 30 to 40 years.
RussR
En-Route
The unfortunate thing is that when they developed the VA disability program, they called the levels "percent". They could have called it levels 1 to 10 or something like that. All it is, is the rating value and compensation you get for that rating. The percent does not relate to, and is not intended to relate to, your ability to function as a human.
100% disability does not mean that you are a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair. Instead, it essentially just means you are rated in the highest category the VA uses - call it level 10.
That's what causes the misunderstanding, people think that "100% disability rated" means "100% disabled" (i.e. can't do basic human things), when it doesn't at all.
Which is actually a good thing it doesn't mean that. If it was supposed to be a direct measurement of your ability to function, where would you be if, say, you lost a leg? Is that 50% since it's half your legs? 25% (since it's 1/4 of your limbs)? Less? More? I'm sure most people would agree that losing a limb should put you in the top rating - that's a pretty serious injury. And that is indeed where loss of limb puts you with the current system - in the top rating, which is called "100%", although clearly the vet can still do most human functions.
They could have (should have IMO) called it levels 1-10, or levels A-J, or used roman numerals or something like that instead, but they didn't.
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Lindberg
Final Approach
If level 10 doesn't mean totally disabled, what level is totally disabled? Is there no difference between migraines + flat feet and quadriplegic, or is there some other system that applies there?
RussR
En-Route
At some point you qualify for social security disability, but I don't know enough about that to discuss.
I do agree that the scoring method could probably use some work. How I understand that it works is this (this MAY NOT be correct, it's just what I seem to remember from when my wife went through it - and I think it's at least conceptually close).
Let's say you have three conditions eligible for a rating:
Condition A would be worth 50%
Condition B would be worth 30%
Condition C would be worth 20%
That doesn't add up to 100%. Instead, they take the 50%, then take 30% of the remaining 50% (so, 15%), add those up to equal 65%, then take 20% of the remaining 35% (so, 7%), and add that to 65% to get 72%. Then they round, I'm not sure if it rounds to 70% or 80%. But that's the rough idea.
I do not believe there is any provision for "overlapping" conditions - everything is just additive. So if you have enough small issues, it can add up to a big rating. I suspect that's what we see a lot of when talking about someone 100% disabled but seemingly perfectly functional. And this may be something that could use some review and adjustment, but that's a pretty big change.
This is the best explanation I’ve saw of the system.
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3G
There is a Total & Permanent rating. But it does not mean what you may think it means.
Yes and no.
About disability ratings | Veterans Affairs
We assign you a disability rating based on the severity of your service-connected condition. We use your disability rating to determine how much disability compensation you’ll receive each month, as well as your eligibility for other VA benefits.If you have multiple disability ratings, we use...
www.va.gov
The worst thing Congress did on this subject was attach the word ‘disability’ to the program. The reason they did so was to exclude C&P payments from IRS income tax calculations.
The reality is every military member enters with a documented ‘known good’ physical. At the end of their service, each member has an option to let the Va determine if they are still in that ‘known good’ condition. This is known as the VA’s Compensation and Pension exam.
For the VA to lawfully perform the standardized C&P exam, the member’s military health record must contain documentation that indicates the member was diagnosed with a qualifying condition. So the pilot that 20 years with nothing more than an annual flight physical with no discrepancies in their health record is weeded out. ETA: the results of the exam are used to determine how much the veteran will get paid for being returned to civilian life in a worse condition than they joined in because of a service caused injury or degradation from the ‘known good’ condition.
Detailed information on the process and assignment of ratings is in 38CFR Book C.
VA.gov | Veterans Affairs
Apply for and manage the VA benefits and services you’ve earned as a Veteran, Servicemember, or family member—like health care, disability, education, and more.
www.benefits.va.gov
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You’re pretty spot on. Three conditions of 50% 30% 20% does not total 100% it adds up to 72% or rounded down to 70%. Anything above 5% rounds up to the next percentage so 75% would round up 80% and 74% would round down to 70%.
You would need 26 10% conditions to equal 100% unless some of those were bilateral as you get a small percentage increase if you have say constant pain in both the right and left ankle. If you get to a certain percent you can apply for TDIU which means they might recommend you be 100% and deemed not able to work, not exactly sure what it is however.
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Velocity173
The system allows for a million and one things to be claimed on your VA physical. You can easily run up a rating over 50 % and receive a check for life. Worked with a pilot who parked in a disabled spot at work, bragged about working out at the gym is his spare time and was getting 100 % disability. Makes almost as much in disability as I get for retirement. Said his dad received 100 % VA disability as well. Many vets have no integrity lie to increase their rating. Very few get caught.
Office of the Inspector General
The Office of the Inspector General is directly responsible for meeting the statutory mission of promoting economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of Social Security Administration programs and operations and to prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in...
oig.ssa.gov
Ed Haywood
En-Route
I have mixed emotions about it. My Dad spent the last 15 years of his life in a wheel chair with Parkinson's, most likely caused by Agent Orange exposure as an Infantryman in Vietnam. The VA took great care of him, met all his medical and prescription meds expenses, and helped him with accommodations like a van with a wheelchair lift, etc.
I also know many guys from my own career in Special Operations who came out with broken bodies, and the VA has been there for them. I'm probably the only guy I know from my former background without major surgery for hip replacement, knee replacement, spinal fusion, or similar.
OTOH if you create a system to give money away, people will find a way to scam that system. The VA is scammed on a regular basis. Those getting out compare notes and get advice on how to work the system. There is a playbook of vague syndromes that everyone knows to claim because they can't really be refuted, such as tinnitus, insomnia, acid reflux, anxiety, and indigestion. Funny that the OP ticked all those boxes. This is especially common among younger troops who get out after a few years and think they have won the lottery with a lifetime check.
It seems like every time I meet someone with 100% rating, they were a logistics clerk, personnel specialist, or intel analyst who did 99% of their service sitting in a chair behind a computer. That goes double for PTSD.
dbahn
Pattern Altitude
Disability and impairment are different, and the FAA is concerned with impairment, i.e. what activities you can and can not do. Disability is occupation dependent and has to do with employment rather than activities of daily living, which determine impairment ratings. Many conditions have elements of disability and of impairment A concert pianist may be completely disabled from performing in concerts with a hand injury that has no impairment in activities of daily living. Similarly, almost every one of those disability listings are common among pilots with little or no impact on their ability to operate an aircraft. Many of those refer to temporary conditions, such as "strains", which refer to muscle injuries which typically resolve on their own.
Judging by the ease at which that list was created and the time frame involved, I suspect that the anxiety disorder will just take some time and money but will be certifiable.
Judging by the ease at which that list was created and the time frame involved, I suspect that the anxiety disorder will just take some time and money but will be certifiable.
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Yeah, I’ve always said, those that have legitimate issues that would create lifelong struggles mentally, physically and financially, should be reaping the benefits. Unfortunately, I’ve just seen too many that work the system and claim a crap ton of minor ailments and rack up their rating. They’re always the ones that get defensive too and say “these are benefits that I earned!” As if they were the ones storming the beaches of Normandy or something. My grandfather fought on Tarawa and Guadalcanal, got 20 % for a bullet wound to the wrist and one to the thigh. I’ve got friends in aviation who were never injured and spent their 20 years sitting on their butts and get 90 %. There’s something wrong with that system.
Does 100 % disabled mean unemployable? Nope but it sure should be. If it isn’t, then change the rating to reflect their actual disabilities. Nothing will change though. We’re heroes in the public’s eye so they just look the other way. Plus, the majority of Americans would do the same if they were in our shoes anyway.
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I don’t think he / she is a troll. Those look like legit claims on a VA physical and a lot of vets are getting out with disabilities and still want to become a pilot. Once DoD upgraded the GI Bill (Post 9/11) everyone wants to be a pilot now. Fueling that is the pilot shortage that the airlines have been reporting for years now. Same with the RW side. Bunch of enlisted used the GI Bill to get their ratings and are now employed flying helicopters.
What they don’t cover in detail in the VA class, is how those disabilities could prevent you from getting a job. I think most vets call BS though because most careers, ADA will apply. On the pilot side, you roll the dice and either expect the FAA to issue an SI, or you do what a lot of guys do. You lie on medexpress and hope the FAA doesn’t review your military medical records.
Ed Haywood
En-Route
I guarantee the OP is not a troll, though he probably is long gone.
All those BS syndromes are exactly how the game is played, and how the system is gamed.
Maybe because -- no matter how super-human we think that pilots like us are -- the level of physical ability required to effectively fight in combat is different than the level required to drive a winged bus?
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I’ve got about 800 combat hours over both Irag and Afghanistan (all of which were from 2001 to June of 2003), survived cancer while on active duty, have a VA disability rating because of that, was 100% honest with the FAA on my last Class 3 in 2019 and now fly on BasicMed.
Does that make me a grifter?
Because honestly, I’d rather have not had cancer in my 30s.
Ed Haywood
En-Route
Combat does not really have much to do with it. Most of the guys I know with broken bodies got it in training. Nothing glorious like in the movies, usually mundane stuff like torn up ankles and knees from moving through rough terrain at night with a load. And sports injuries.
Bizarrely, I am a "disabled veteran", but my rating is zero percent. Figure that one out. My friends from my old unit all laugh at me.
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Ed Haywood
En-Route
I've known a lot of military pilots with that, especially fast movers. Enough to wonder whether there is some kind of causal relationship.
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Me, too. I rode a fat kid with a 3MW microwave rotating 12’ above my head for a total of 2600hrs. The percentage of people doing that with cancers is higher than the rate in the general population.
Someone did a radiation exposure study on TACPs… you know how close the antenna on a manpack’d PRC-117 is to the cranium. Even though it’s relatively low power, every time the mike is keyed that’s 10-20W being radiated into the head/neck/torso. Weird things happen after a decade of exposure.
Things like thyroid tumors seem to be common. As long as there’s pigs around, there’ll be Synthroid, so getting the thyroid cut out is survivable. The dudes that go hyperthyroidal end up looking like concentration camp survivors if left untreated.
idk. seems like you would be especially angry at someone who sat at a desk for their whole career, got 100 pct disability and now wants a second career flying. my point is that those people are grifters as opposed to the people that actually took risks and incurred injuries.
Tarheelpilot
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Tarheelpilot
I’ve been in the aviation industry for twenty-five years now.
I’ve flown with a lot of former and current mil service members.
There are some that will never be the recipient of enough compensation for their sacrifices. There are some that should get nothing.
There seems to be no causal relationship between those two groups and how much benefit they qualified for at separation.
I’ve met guys that could have been 100% but didn’t seek out ratings and retired with a very low rating. Others probably shouldn’t have any rating but were 100%.
Like any benefit program there will always be those that take advantage of the system.
This is not unique to veterans.
I’ve flown with a lot of former and current mil service members.
There are some that will never be the recipient of enough compensation for their sacrifices. There are some that should get nothing.
There seems to be no causal relationship between those two groups and how much benefit they qualified for at separation.
I’ve met guys that could have been 100% but didn’t seek out ratings and retired with a very low rating. Others probably shouldn’t have any rating but were 100%.
Like any benefit program there will always be those that take advantage of the system.
This is not unique to veterans.
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Velocity173
It’s the burn pits that’ll get me. Two years of breathing that crap in. Thanks Halliburton.
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Does that mean you don’t know if I’m a grifter?
Why should I waste emotional energy on someone or something I can’t control? The only thing I know about any veteran is they raised their hand to serve. That’s a selfless act that 94% of Americans haven’t done. Should I be angry at that vast majority of Americans?
I don’t think you have an uninformed opinion of what a day in the life of an average military member is like. But I could be wrong; you may be among the 6%. Either way, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
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The problem isn’t the 10-30% guys like @TCABM. It’s the guys who are in the same shape as him but found a way to get 80-100%. Its the difference between getting a small tax free amount a month to pay for a phone bill vs getting a separate check ($3,700-$4,000) to pay your mortgage, utilities, vehicles, etc.
It’s a stark difference in personalities (integrity) and you know it when you see it. It’s not the Navy SEAL who put their bodies thru abuse for years at a time and deserve a good payout. It’s the pilot that walks into your office and brags “Dude, VA just told me my OSA is 50% alone!” Or when you ask a pilot if they claim their disabilities in medexpress and they give you a sly smile and say “oh the FAA doesn’t need to know about that.” They’re always the ones who claim to be patriots for serving in combat, but hardly any of them saw real combat.
Personally, if I had disabilities to warrant a handicapped license plate, I better be missing a leg or walking with a cane. Some of these guys should be embarrassed to apply for a handicapped plate but I imagine they don’t care. Don’t even get me started on the PTSD nonsense.
It’s a stark difference in personalities (integrity) and you know it when you see it. It’s not the Navy SEAL who put their bodies thru abuse for years at a time and deserve a good payout. It’s the pilot that walks into your office and brags “Dude, VA just told me my OSA is 50% alone!” Or when you ask a pilot if they claim their disabilities in medexpress and they give you a sly smile and say “oh the FAA doesn’t need to know about that.” They’re always the ones who claim to be patriots for serving in combat, but hardly any of them saw real combat.
Personally, if I had disabilities to warrant a handicapped license plate, I better be missing a leg or walking with a cane. Some of these guys should be embarrassed to apply for a handicapped plate but I imagine they don’t care. Don’t even get me started on the PTSD nonsense.
I'm confident that's a rigorously sourced statistic.
sometimes it’s a selfless act. sometimes it’s someone looking for a job or career
tsts4
Pattern Altitude
Are there folks gaming the system - yes. Does a given military job (AFSC/NEC/MOS) pre-determine what your VA disability rating will be - no. Does being in combat - no. I was a so-called chair flyer for most my 20-year USAF career, but I was on jump status for 2.5 years of those years (a rarity in the USAF, especially for an Officer Loggie). I ran probably an avg of 5 days a week for almost 20 years. I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and was exposed to enemy indirect fire a lot, the burn pits, etc, etc. It all takes a cumaltive mental and physical toll -- As Indiana Jones said, it's not the years but the mileage. Fraud, waste, and abuse occurs across the public and private sectors on a daily basis. Doesn't make it right that some Vets are scamming the system by any stretch, but IMO if you haven't served then methinks thou dost protest too much.
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Tarheelpilot
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Well. I think anyone that pays taxes can ***** all they want. Those that served can ignore them if they think the protest is invalid. Both are in righteous positions to feel how they feel.
I have definitely met and worked with grifters that I told were pieces of **** for their lack of ethical standards.
I have also worked with civilian pukes that lumped every vet in the same pile and had bias they were all grifters. They were **** bags as well.
Neither position is appropriate or reasonable.
If you think I can’t express my opinion as a tax paying civilian without military service…. welll that’s your opinion.
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