Returning Troops Left Waiting for Months for Disability Pay

Returning troops left waiting for months for disability pay
by Dirk Perrefort 

DANBURY — Adam Sismour had to wait more than six months for his disability pay after returning home last year from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Sismour, a 25-year-old city resident, is receiving disability benefits because of a ringing in his ears that began while serving as a machine gunner. He also developed Compartment Syndrome in his legs during training exercises that required surgery to repair. Sismour applied for his benefits last fall. His first check came in the mail last week.

"Things would have been pretty tight for me if not for the GI Bill," said Sismour, who is taking business and criminal justice classes at Western Connecticut State University. "I signed up for that before I left the service. I applied for my disability benefits in October after getting a physical."

Backlogs of paperwork and staff shortages have caused many returning veterans like Sismour to wait months for their disability payments, officials said. Some are also finding access to the health care system difficult, although most agree it provides quality care once you get in…

The situation could get worse in coming months, said Linda Schwartz, commissioner of the state Veterans Affairs office. About 950 National Guard soldiers are expected to return to the state between now and September.  

"The concern is about a lot of soldiers coming home at once trying to access their benefits," she said. "But everyone is working hard to try and make the transition as easy as possible."

Pat Waldron, the director of Veterans Affairs for the city, said he has received numerous complaints from returning veterans who are still waiting for their benefits to kick in.

"The entire Veterans Administration system is more than 870,000 claims behind," he said. "It's because the regional offices are short staffed. They've been cutting the staff over the years as the workload has increased. The health care system isn't far behind with the backlog they've got. It's sad because the veterans who deserve these benefits are not getting them on a timely basis."

While Sismour said he is generally happy with the benefits and services he receives as a veteran, he was discouraged when his monthly check through the GI Bill was less than he should have received.

"The people answering the phones didn't seem very knowledge," he said. "They should train their employees better. Other than that I really don't have many complaints. I've heard that vets from Vietnam and Korea had it a lot tougher. It's because of their struggles that we get these benefits today."

Emileo Dumond, 71, who served with the U.S. Army in the early 1950s, sought Waldron's help last year after he was having problems accessing the health care system.

"The VA told me my paperwork was destroyed in a fire," he said. "I was so upset. I didn't know what to do."

With Waldron's help, Dumond was finally able to get accepted into the health care system — more than six years after he first sought access — although he has yet to receive his retirement benefits.

"I was told that it wouldn't be that much anyway," he said. "At this point I'm not going to even bother trying."

Dumond now gets his prescriptions filled at the VA clinic in Danbury, one of six regional clinics in the state. Dumond said his prescription for acid reflux disease costs him about $8 a month, which is much more affordable than the $180 a month he used to pay.

Peter Dimaria, a service officer with the state Veterans Affairs office, said veterans often don't know where to go for help when they encounter a roadblock such as those encountered by Dumond and others.

"If I help a returning vet with their paperwork, they can probably get into the health care system within a few weeks," Dimaria said. "But if it's not a returning vet with a disability, it could take a lot longer than that."

The average wait for disability benefits in Connecticut for a returning veteran is about 140 days, while the national average is more than 600 days, said Schwartz, the state Veterans Affairs commissioner.

"It's an old and complicated system that can often be confusing to navigate," she said. "People coming home with a service-related disability could easily get lost in the system. Veterans often can't navigate the system alone. That's where we come in."

An even bigger problem, Dimaria said, is that many retiring veterans who need the health care benefits are often ineligible because of their income. In Fairfield County, a veteran with one dependent who has more than $80,000 in assets and an annual income in excess of $55,000 can't receive the benefits.

"The care in the system is excellent but half of the people out there can't use it," he said. "I don't agree with that. Half of the people who come into my office aren't eligible."

Sismour said he has been making a positive transition into his life as a civilian, although he's worried that the military could still call him back for active duty if more troops are needed.

"If they call me then I have to go," he said. "That's my duty. But it would be wrong to put my mother through that again."

He said there are a lot of things that happened during his tours that he would rather forget, like picking up two dead Marines on Valentine's Day, less than a month before his unit was scheduled to leave, or suicide bombers who killed themselves while leaving little more than a dent in military vehicles.

"I thought nothing of it at the time," he said. "That's what we were trained for. I took lots of pictures to show my friends and family what we went through. Now I don't want to look at the pictures anymore. I don't want to be reminded of what happened over there."

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