Vietnam veterans' new battle: getting disability compensation

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-vietnam-benefits-20130512,0,6984834.story



Behind John Otte is a picture of him receiving his second Purple Heart. The Vietnam veteran gets $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes, and he has applied for full disability benefits; that filing has been pending since 2010.

Vietnam veterans' new battle: getting disability compensation
By Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times
May 11, 2013, 6:10 p.m.

Vietnam veteran John Otte did his best to forget the war.

~snip~

But as Otte neared retirement, memories of combat flooded back. Starting in 2005, he filed a series of claims with Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, contending that many of his health problems stemmed from the war.

The VA agreed, and now the 65-year-old with two Purple Hearts receives $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes — and for having shrapnel scars on his arms. His payments will rise to about $3,000 if the VA approves a petition to declare him completely disabled and unemployable.

~snip~

Otte is among hundreds of thousands of veterans from the Vietnam era filing for damages four decades after the war. They account for the largest share of the 865,000 veterans stuck in a growing and widely denounced backlog of compensation claims — some 37%. The post 9-11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq account for 20%. The remainder are from the 1991 Gulf War, Korea, World War II and times of peace.