Army IG's report points to faulty rating of wounded soldiers

March 13, 2007
Army IG's report points to faulty rating of wounded soldiers

ARLINGTON, Va. — An Army Inspector General's report released Monday details shortcomings in the Army's system for rating how wounded soldiers are.

Among the findings: The Department of Veterans Affairs system for disability ratings needs to be updated to better represent how soldiers are injured, the report says.

The Army Times has reported that critics claim the Army is deliberately giving wounded soldiers less of a disability rating than they deserve to save money, but the Army has vehemently denied this.

Investigators say Bush effort to relieve backlog likely will be unsuccessfu

March 14, 2007
Investigators say Bush effort to relieve backlog likely will be unsuccessful

WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs' system for handling disability claims is strained to its limit, and the Bush administration's current efforts to relieve backlogs will not be enough to serve veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, investigators said Tuesday.

In testimony to a House panel, the Government Accountability Office and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes detailed their study into the VA's claims system in light of growing demands created by wars. They found a system on the verge of crisis because of backlogs, cumbersome paperwork and ballooning costs.

Army holding down disability ratings to save money

February 24, 2007
Army holding down disability ratings to save money

The Army is deliberately shortchanging troops on their disability retirement ratings to hold down costs, according to veterans' advocates, lawyers and service members.

"These people are being systematically underrated," said Ron Smith, deputy general counsel for Disabled American Veterans. "It's a bureaucratic game to preserve the budget, and it's having an adverse affect on service members."

But in the Army — in the midst of a war — the number of soldiers approved for permanent disability retirement has plunged by more than two-thirds, from 642 in 2001 to 209 in 2005, according to a Government Accountability Office report last year. That decline has come even as the war in Iraq has intensified and the total number of soldiers wounded or injured there has soared above 15,000.