Wounded Vets also Suffer Financial Woes

By JEFF DONN and KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press writers Sep. 29, 2007 - 2:18 PM

TEMECULA, Calif. - He was one of America's first defenders on Sept. 11, 2001, a Marine who pulled burned bodies from the ruins of the Pentagon. He saw more horrors in Kuwait and Iraq.

Today, he can't keep a job, pay his bills, or chase thoughts of suicide from his tortured brain. In a few weeks, he may lose his house, too.

Well, after reading this story I thought “Wow, this guy is making $4,330 a month for disability (the average annual payment for a totally disabled veteran is around $44k a year), that’s way more than I make”. As I thought that I thanked God that – I do not suffer from PTSD, I was not one of the first responders that sifted through the rubble searching for bodies at Ground Zero, I do not have flashbacks, I did not see the horrors of war, I was not deployed to Kuwait or Iraq.

If you read the rest of the article you will see that the government has severely underestimated the cost of caring for veterans.