Injured vets await disability appeal process

December 11, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — There was nothing dramatic about how Spc. Cristapher Zuetlau’s career in the Army came to an end: He stepped in a hole. But the damage to the tank crewman’s wrenched back was so brutal he can barely walk.

The Army agreed he was no longer fit to serve, but in doing so determined his disability was not severe enough to warrant long-term care by the military. That turned his health care over to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which left him with no retirement benefits and cut off his family from government health care.

Thousands of similar stories caused veterans advocates to protest that the military was manipulating disability ratings to save money, and Congress last year ordered the Pentagon to accept appeals from wounded and injured troops.

So far, officials have yet to examine a single case.

“Congress finally took action to give those troops a fair hearing, and now the Department of Defense is dragging its feet,” said Vanessa Williamson, the policy director at New York-based Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a veterans’ advocacy group.

In the Army alone, thousands of soldiers hurt since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — including many hurt in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan — are eligible for a review of the numerical disability rating issued by the Army’s Physical Evaluation Board.

That rating is critical.

A number is assigned to the disability based on its severity and long-term impact. Those rated below 30 percent disabled receive a severance payment that is taxed instead of a monthly retirement check. The veteran continues to get health care, but from the VA rather than the military. And his family, once covered by military health insurance, no longer receives government provided health care.