Here is something I would imagine few civilians know... I cant - TopicsExpress

Here is something I would imagine few civilians know... I cant count the number of times every year a veteran and family I know (including our own twice) suddenly owes money to the VA, DoD, or other government entity. Now, Im not arguing / fussing about logically owed bills. Im fussing about things like Veteran Doe attends drill through the reserves 7 days in a year (and receives $500-$800) for those days but then owes the VA $3000 for those days (by law, you cant receive pay from the DoD and benefits from the VA at the same time) because the VA counts every 1actually day of attending drill as 2 days, and then figures the amount that is owed for those doubled days based on an insane formula. And, the $3000 is often taken all at once (the letters families receive dont outline the process of how to set up a payment plan, most dont know its possible, most VA employees on the hotline dont know its possible) so that family ends up with $0 money for a month and then sometimes partial loss for the next. (And thats when the amount is small ... Ive seen situations where families have no income for 3 or 4 months) Its hard to buy food and ... Oh, I dont know.... Have somewhere to live, with $0 Thats just one example of owing (most of which are drastically skewed amounts according to formulas that dont make sense IMHO and heavily weight the who comes out ahead in favor of the VA, DoD, etc) IMHO... $700 received should (since it is the law... Though I dont know that I agree with it) equal $700 owed. Or better yet, they could make the process to waive drill pay (so you never receive it, therefor never owe it back) easier and actually possible to accomplish in the average scenario. People always wonder why - often even after a hero and family have fought for and finally gotten benefits squared away - that often they still end up in financial trouble, homeless, bankrupt, etc... Well. I would challenge any normal household to go 1-4 months with no income. At all. Holy moly stuff like this makes me maaaaaad. (And its soooo not the only example of heroes and families owing the government in unfair ways)