22 May 2010

To what are we entitled?!

Entitled ... seems like such a horrible word to use.

We aren't entitled persay ... husband did earn the benefits we are given by doing his enlistment time [and 5 months extra] fighting for his country. He saw the sands of the Middle East, even if it was only a single mission, and not a year-long deployment. He stood on the yellow footprints of Parris Island, and remembers those days all too well.

We attended the VA portion of the Separation class on Thursday. Husband had been through it all once before, when they originally started his Med-Board [in late 2008/early 2009] but wanted a refresher. He also wanted me to attend.

I guess so someone would remember the things they told us. His memory -- it's not so great. Nor is his attention-span. Neither of which are side effects of his time in the Corps!

We learned a lot!

Even though he is considered permanently retired by the Marine Corps [who rated him at 60%], and the VA [who rated him at 80%], he is still allowed to work anywhere and for any length of time. Unlike Social Security, there is no stipulation on how many hours he can work, or how much he can make in a year.

If he applies for a federal job, whether he has the training for it or not, he is automatically given the job over someone with training up the butt who has never served. And with a federal job, for him, there is NO overtime! If the schedule says 9 to 5, it means he walks in and clocks in no earlier than 9am, and leaves at 5pm no matter what he's in the middle of. No boss can MAKE him stay late.

That was nice to hear!

We  can keep our Tricare for the family. And he can utilize the VA hospitals and clinics around us [probably Fayetteville because its the closest to us]. We can keep dental for a small fee per month.

If the condition gets worse over time, he can get it documented and submit it to ammend his claim. If the VA feels that its significantly worse, they can increase his disability rating, meaning more money each month. And he gets paid more for each of his dependants. If we go on to have 18 more kids [and become another Duggar-esque family] we can claim every single one of the children.

Dont worry -- that wont be happening. Four is my limit. Three is husband's. There's no way we can meet in the middle, so three it is.

If he ever reaches 100% from the VA, he can use his GI Bill, and I, as well as the kids, will each get our own free education. He wouldn't have to choose who to transfer his to because we're all recipients. This was the exciting part for me! And we did learn that there may be a chance that right now he can still transfer his to me and I can use it, even though he's not 100%. If thats the case, I'll be going back to school for sure!

Things are looking up. VA Home Loans. Education. Health Care. Access to any and all military installations. Check, check, check, and check. This all lightens the load of returning to civilian life just a little bit.

1 comments:

  1. My husband just went through the VA brief this week (although he is Army, med board generally is the same across the board from what I see on your posts) and is signing his packet to go out on monday.

    I didn't know that the VA would give a separate amount of disability until he came home from the brief, but from my time in I knew all about the home stuff, education benefits, etc. I did have the GI bill to use, but never was able to find out if getting a pregnancy discharge took it away, so as of now we have my husbands, and we can transfer that to me. You should be able to transfer your husbands to you (might be a time to wait before he can, but still should be able to at some point)

    If you have any other good things learned from your husbands stuff, I would love to know about it. financiallyfitmommy@yahoo.com

    My husband is like yours and has no attention or retention for things told to him. So I have to learn all I can around him as I possibly can.

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