Berry berry good to me

Wow, I gotta love the VA. After I got the letter last week saying they were going to pay me for my complete though short-lived total disability, I got a check the next day. I didn’t expect to see any actual cash for a very long time, if ever. Since I tried to withdraw the claim a couple of times, in writing, I half expect them to catch up to me and ask for the money back. More likely, they have other things to do and this case is closed. For now, everything is going into savings.

I won’t mention an exact amount except to say it is a modest but tidy sum. With Mary retiring in June and us planning to travel about in our truck and trailer, it will make for a somewhat more upscale vacation. No more camping in Wal-Mart parking lots. (Actually, we never camp at Wal-Mart and never shop there either, for all the usual reasons.)

All of this got me thinking about what wonderful benefits I’ve received from the VA over the years. After I got out of the army in 1970, VA paid me student benefits for three years until I finished my B.A. I always worked part-time as well, but my modest monthly total meant I could get by rather well if I was frugal, and I never had to take out any student loans. When I first me Mary, I wowed her by taking her out for a steak dinner. She ended up briefly in the hospital shortly after, and I wooed her not with flowers but a carton of cigarettes. We've been together ever since. She married me for my money.

A few years later, I learned I had one year left of student benefits, which pushed me to follow up on my plans to get a master’s degree and try for a teaching job in a community college. I had my first teaching experience as a new grad student when they handed me the book they used for freshman comp and told me what room I was in. Between the stipend for teaching and the VA checks, I was able to finish my master’s, again without borrowing any money. I ended up as an adjunct in the Oregon University System, and then paid staff rates to get my Ph.D. from U of O. Essentially, the Ph.D. was free.

It’s certainly possible that none of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for the financial encouragement.

We never bought a house using a VA loan, but we’ve refinanced this one a couple of times for lower interest rates, and one of those loans was VA. And now they’ve paid me handsomely for my used prostate.

So although I had a shotgun-enlistment in the army with the draft board only a few weeks behind me, and although I hated the military, I have to say the VA has been berry, berry good to me. I know that benefits aren’t nearly as good for GIs now, and of course there are horror stories about wounded troops getting lost by the system and living without any follow-up medical care. A whole new generation of vets is heading for a life of official neglect and bureaucratic obstacles. It's not only sad, it's stupid.

I hope the Obama administration will actually walk the talk of supporting our troops. For me, things have gone the way they should have gone in a nation that says it honors veterans.