Editorial

EDITORIAL: GET WITH THE PROGRAM
From the Army Times

http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_editorial_program_092208
/
In January, Congress ordered the Pentagon to drop its disability ratings
rules and strictly follow the VA's criteria in assigning ratings to injured
and wounded service members.

In March, the Army said it would comply. All the other services were to
follow suit.
The change in law was among the most significant changes to emerge in the
wake of 2007's Walter Reed scandal. Veterans' groups hailed the change,
having complained for years that the military had shortchanged wounded
combat veterans on their disability ratings and compensation.

But seven months later, the Army still isn't living up to its promise, at
least not when it comes to assessing troops suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder.
The VA ratings schedule says PTSD sufferers should receive a minimum
50-percent disability rating from the rating agency and then be reassessed
within six months to determine if the initial evaluation should be changed
for the longer term.

But a number of soldiers suffering from PTSD have been given disability
ratings of just 10 percent, and then separated from service without the
required follow-up assessment.

Worse, the Pentagon seems to be gearing up for a broader policy change that
would take this approach to PTSD across all the armed services, according to
veterans' advocates.

This should hardly come as a surprise - it is just the latest in a string of
unconscionable decisions coming from the office of Pentagon personnel chief
David Chu.

This is the same executive who sought to cut combat pay for troops in the
war zones and once proposed shunting off the Defense Department's
obligations for military retirees onto the VA.

Over the past three years, he has advocated doubling and tripling some of
the health care fees paid by many military retirees.

And just a few weeks ago, Chu narrowed the definition of "combat related" to
reduce the number of disabled troops who might benefit under another
provision of the 2008 Defense Authorization Act, which says some disabled
troops do not have to return any severance pay they receive from the
military before they can draw disability payments from VA.

Chu's definition of combat related is significantly narrower than the one
already in use to determine eligibility for a separate program for disabled
retirees called Combat Related Special Compensation.

Lawmakers had assumed defense officials would use the definition already in
place and were stunned to find a new and narrower interpretation.
Indeed, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., already has drafted an amendment to the
pending 2009 defense authorization bill directing the Pentagon to use the
more generous definition of combat related for both programs.

A similar retroactive correction is needed to force the Pentagon to live up
to its legal responsibilities regarding the assignment of disability ratings
for all medical conditions - including PTSD.

A central theme coming out of the Walter Reed hearings was the need to get
the Defense Department and VA to share a single government standard in
assessing disabilities.

Congress' intent was to make the VA standard apply across the board. The
Pentagon needs to comply with that direction.

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