Some Veterans Fall Through Huge Cracks

The VA is faster than the DOD? This is an example of what is going on. The Army wanted this disabled veteran to redeploy. That screams no one was ready to take care of the wounded before they were sent. He was wounded in 2005 but two years later the Army wanted him to go back!

Some Veterans Fall Through Huge Cracks
One St. Louis veteran, badly injured in 2005, has yet to get benefits.

By PHILIP O'CONNOR
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Published: Friday, October 8, 2010 at 6:46 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, October 8, 2010 at 6:46 p.m.
ST. LOUIS | Army Reserve Spc. Michael Pyatt mounted a machine gun on the turret of his Humvee in August 2005 for another mission into the volatile city of Hillah, Iraq. As he stepped off the bumper, he landed awkwardly, injuring his hip and back, and leaving him crippled.


Back home, he asked for a medical discharge.

In July 2007, his unit tried to deploy him a second time, even though he wore a knee brace and used a cane.

Just months later, the Department of Veterans Affairs declared Pyatt permanently and totally disabled. Yet today, more than five years after he was hurt, the Army still has not declared Pyatt unfit for duty, which would make him eligible for disability retirement pay and medical insurance for his wife and daughter.

Pyatt, 38, struggles to get by. He is deep in debt and must make frequent trips from his home in Bonne Terre for free treatment at VA facilities in St. Louis.

"I've fallen through the cracks," he said. "I've been abandoned."

Pyatt's story is an example of a military disability system that Congress and others contend is woefully unprepared to deal with the hundreds of thousands of troops injured while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Some Veterans Fall Through Huge Cracks