Veterans Find Getting Vocational Training Sometimes Means Fighting a New Battle.
(CBS) Former Army medic Jeremy Smith was wounded and paralyzed in Afghanistan. Clearly qualified for both medical and pension benefits, Smith was surprised when a Veteran’s Affairs counselor told him he wasn’t disabled enough for vocational benefits.
“How can I not be disabled enough? How much more disabled do I need to be,” Smith asked. “Should I go throw myself under a bus real quick?”
Brandon Frazier has a similar story. A veteran of the 2004 Marine assault on Fallujah, Brandon suffered hearing loss and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD.
But as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, a VA counselor wrongly told him the VA would not help disabled vets study pre-law.
Notebook: Reporting on Disabled Vets
“It didn’t seem like he was in there to find a way to help me. He was there to tell me I couldn’t,” Frazier said.
“Looking for a way to turn you down,” Andrews asked?
“Right,” he replied.
Then there is Kenny Lyon. A Marine sergeant, whose miraculous battlefield rescue in Iraq – and 2 year fight to recover – was profiled on “60 Minutes.”
60 Minutes: A Fighting Chance
Lyon had to fight the VA for five months – but after being finally told he would get vocational benefits to study at Gettysburg College, the VA called to say stop.
“I was on my way to classes and I got a phone call saying it was not approved,” Lyon said.
“You weren’t getting the tuition,” Andrews asked.
“Yes,” Lyon replied.
The VA benefits these veterans requested are from a program called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, or Voc Rehab benefits. Separate from the GI Bill, Voc Rehab helps disabled vets get whatever training they need to live on their own or get a job. When it works, which is most of the time, Voc Rehab services range from sign language lessons to technical classes to Harvard Law School.
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