Bomb "hunter" with PTSD waiting 3 years for benefits

Collateral Damage: Benefit delays frustrating for ex-soldier with PTSD

By Greg Barnes
Staff writer

Ron Smith worked as a bomb hunter in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous jobs in the military.

Smith said the experience, which included three deployments between 2006 and 2008, left him mad at the world. He began drinking a lot, he said, and became detached from everyone around him.

In 2009, after leaving the Army and Fort Hood, Smith came to Fayetteville to see a girlfriend who became pregnant with his child.

He also went to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and told he was entitled to VA disability benefits.

Three years after applying for those benefits, Smith said, he is still waiting for them. He makes concessions for the delay, acknowledging that the paperwork initially was filed improperly.

Now he is frustrated. He said he has called, emailed and written letters to the VA numerous times, only to be ignored or turned away each time.

He is far from alone.

At the beginning of this year, the Fayetteville VA had a medical exam backlog for nearly 6,000 veterans who had filed for disability benefits, said Ed Drohan, a hospital spokesman.
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