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Veterans Talk -Veterans Against Veterans The Fight Over VA Disability & The Major Richard Star Act · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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The station where our veterans voices are heard MBR talk.
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Hey, thanks for supporting our channel by watching and
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listening find. Us on the web at MB radio dot.
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Welcome to Veteran Talk with Magic Mike, where what's
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important to you is important to us.
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Let's talk. I'm your host, Magic Mike, and
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today we're diving deep into something close to my heart, how
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sharing your story and getting behind the mic can be a powerful
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form of rehabilitation. Whether you're fresh out of
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service, years into civilian life, or somewhere in between,
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We've got a space for you here because everyone has a story,
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and broadcasting is how we tell it.
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You got to do this sound buddy. I'm sitting here talking the
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whole 15 minutes and I was muted.
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Y'all couldn't tell me that I got three things.
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Hey Mike, how you let's see here on the phone on TikTok.
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Hey Mike, good to see you. Hey, welcome back and
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everything. I'm sitting here talking for
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like 20 minutes and none of you could have wrote me a text
5:24
message saying hey, we can't hear you.
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Shame on all y'all. Welcome to the show.
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Sorry about that. We'll try this one more time.
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It's me magic. I am back after a radio day that
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I took last week. So just to let you guys know
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last week, I, both my parents died in 2004, 2006 and they were
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cremated and their remains were with my brother.
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While my brother has sensed moved a little bit around and
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stuff like that. And we all came to the
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conclusion that it'd be the best if we would have a rest or final
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resting place for my parents. So I reached out to the Veterans
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Cemetery, which is in Northern Kentucky, which is phenomenal.
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The curator or the manager there actually served with me in the
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Army about the same time and was very friendly.
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It didn't cost anything for us and our family.
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It was free of charge. My dad was a Vietnam veteran.
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The headstone is absolutely beautiful.
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They took care of everything and the funeral was within a week.
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They called me and said, Hey, we can get you, you know, in the
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in, in a week. So H train if you're out there
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real quick, Thank you so much for always having my back.
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This is proof that you're my only true battle.
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And I appreciate you and love you too, brother.
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So so I was gone last week. I took a radio day and, you
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know, I apologize to everybody about that.
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But yeah, it was, it was ceremonial.
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They had a 21 gun Molly, not salute because somebody
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challenged me on that. It's not a salute.
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Salute. It's only for dignitary.
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Doesn't matter. It's a 21 gun salute, period.
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End of story. The flag was, you know, given to
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to my family with the shells in there and stuff.
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And within 20 minutes they have my parents in the ground with a
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temporary marker and me and my brother and my sister, who
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actually I haven't seen in 15 years or so, was kind of 15
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years, spent 15 years since I've seen my sister, my young, her
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sister. So it was kind of cool.
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She came up from Tennessee and, and we had a great time and
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stuff. It was great seeing her.
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She looks great. And you know, it's, it's pretty
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cool. It is pretty cool.
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So very emotional and I appreciate it.
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I, I really appreciate her being there.
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That meant the world to me so. I got a couple emails.
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And a couple text messages from some followers that follow me on
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TikTok and stuff. So I know everybody wants to
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know about health and what's going on and stuff like that.
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So I am on two different medicines right now for the.
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Treatment. It makes my voice a little
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scratchy so I don't have that cool voice like H Train has.
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So I'm I'm going to have a scratchy voice for a little
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while while I'm on this medicine, but it's doing its
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job. Good news is I had a 2 CT scans
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and Amri and my heart doesn't look like it's going to fail me
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anytime soon. So I'm good on that.
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Funny story though, went to the CT scan and while I'm in there,
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everybody knows Eva, my service dog and the gentleman who does
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my CT scans there at the the cancer treatment center said,
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hey, you know, can I take Eva back here?
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I really don't want her get, you know, too much radiation or
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whatever, whatever, whatever. And I said yeah, sure, no
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problem. And he went to go take her in
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the back, which he always does, he always has a treat.
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And she jumps up on the table, the CT table and lays on my
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chest. The whole body lays on my chest
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and start crying like she didn't want to leave.
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Me, I'm like I'm. Not going anywhere, they're just
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doing a scan. So that was, it was funny that
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everybody laughed and and they thought it was funny, but true.
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A true player there and a true true to her, her Master, I
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guess. But yeah, other than that, I'm
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doing OK. I'm a little tired at night,
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little bit here and there, but other than that, I'm doing good.
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And thank you for all your support.
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Thank you into the weeds. I mean, I, I have so many great
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supporters here on MBR and, and listen before I start the show,
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really get into it. If you are a veteran and you are
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looking for a way to work through things, therapy, whether
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it's PTSD, anxiety, or just trying to find your way in
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society, I highly recommend military broadcast radio in the
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H train. What he's done for me is
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phenomenal. And everybody in the team.
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It's, it's, there is no such thing as the veterans talk show,
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period. It's the veterans talk show with
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all these people around me that are supporting me and helping
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me. I am not Canva or savvy or
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anything like that, but these people day in and day out show
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up to my show, give me a thumbs up or a heart and everything.
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So I love each and everyone of you and you are my family.
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And with without that being said and that being said and going on
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and going forth and trying not to tear up, I got a comment from
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one of my viewers and said, hey, I like your show, but you're
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always talking about yourself. So let me stop doing that.
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Get right to the meat and the potatoes.
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I know before I had my radio day last week, I had talked about
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the Major Richest Star Act and the Taking Care of Veterans Act.
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And a lot of people were. Confused and I've got, trust me,
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I've got some stuff on here on my cell phone where text
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messages and TikTok and Instagram where they said, we
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don't agree with you. And that's fine.
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It's, it's, it's OK to, to agree to disagree.
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That's I, I think that's perfectly fine.
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I just didn't want to be those one of those podcasters who
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talks all about it and, and and doesn't give a different
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variation or a a brighter and broader view of what's going on.
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So a couple cool things though, is that the major riches star
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act as a stand alone bill. I had bipartisan support across
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the board. It was really.
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Awesome. The problem is that they
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couldn't find funding for it. They couldn't find out where
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they're going to get that money. So when the Take Care of
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Veterans Act, which everybody had bipartisan support for, the
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Take Care. Of veterans act came came on the
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table they're like, hey, can we put that in there and kind of
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slide it across the finish line because that bill has certain
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things in it that are going to require money as well.
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So like DIC, which is death and whatever is dependent, whatever
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it's from the VA and it's for those who have lost a loved one,
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right. So the spouses of a loved one or
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or the kids or whatever, be it of a loved one who they lost on
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either active duty or, or through the VA, you know, that
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were 100% through the VA and DIC has never really been changed.
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It's always been. So it's not like the cost of
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living allows for us goes up. They don't really have that for
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DIC. So they were going to Jack that
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up more money in there. And then there were other great
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things in there, like the love lives on act, which right now I
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don't think it's personally fair.
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But if you are a widow of a military member who died on
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active duty, you cannot get married before your 57th
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birthday. If you do, you lose those
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benefits and pay, which I think that's kind of weird because
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you're, you're, you're telling somebody, hey, you can never
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love again, you know, and you have 20 year olds that lose
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their loved ones, you know, 29 years old.
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Chad Michael Post one of our, one of our friends, mine, the H
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Trace friends who served with us in the Army, unfortunately took
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his own life and he he was married at the time.
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His wife can never get remarried again.
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She was 27. So those are things that, that
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were in the bill that were really, really good.
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Now, why was the bill pulled? The bill was pulled because it
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literally started. And even today, if you go on
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TikTok, I'm, I'm, I'm on TikTok and Instagram and all the other
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social medias, there's, there's a bunch of people on there that
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are against it. And it's literally pitting
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veteran against veterans. So you've got veterans that are,
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you know, 100% or 50% or 70% or 80% or whatever that are
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disabled right now, veterans that are out now who are not
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combat veterans. And you have the people who are
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yet to be veterans. OK, So let me back up here and
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give you a definition of veteran.
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A veteran is somebody who served in the military during active
13:10
status. That's National Guard, Reserves
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or active duty, right? Active status.
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And who was? Honorably discharged.
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Let me keyword here, honorably discharged.
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So if you're still serving in the military right now, you are
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not a veteran. You might be a veteran of a war
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or of a deployment or a veteran of Fort Hood, but you're not a
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veteran. Look it up.
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It's not my definition. It is Webster's definition, OK,
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Doesn't mean you're not going to be a veteran.
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I mean, let's let's hope that you're going to be a veteran one
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day and have an honorable discharge.
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Right? But the criteria on Webster's
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dictionary says someone who served actively in the military
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is the United States version of it.
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Not the Canadian version, not the the the the UK version.
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This is the American version. If you served in the United
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States military on an active status, National Guard,
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Reserves, or active duty and have an honorable discharge, you
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are, by that definition a veteran.
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So those of you who are still in the military, stop.
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Press pause. You guys are over here.
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Pause. Stop the people who are actually
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veterans today. And combat veterans, these are
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the veterans we're talking about.
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So you have veterans that were injured in combat and were
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forced to retire from the military under or chapter 61.
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I think it was. Don't quote me on that.
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I have to relook that up. I have so many chapters going
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through my head right now. But if you were medically
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discharged due to a combat related injury, H train some
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others that I know on here, right?
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If you were retired due to a combat related injury before
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your 20th year, you do not get your retirement, you don't get
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it. If you were 50% or more from the
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military due to a combat related injury, you do not get, you do
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not get both, both the retirement or the retirement and
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the VA benefits. And, and the reason behind that
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is they call an offset so you can choose to get one.
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So I got, I got you don't. So I, I'm trying to look at my,
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at my comments at the same time. So if, if you don't, if you
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don't have retirement pay at 100%, that's OK.
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It's fine. This the, the, the broader
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perspective of it is 50% or more.
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That's the keyword. You, if you were medically
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retired from the military at 50% or more, you get all your
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benefits across the board. Across the board, you get your
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benefits, your medical, your dental, your Tricare for for
15:48
life and etcetera, etcetera. I, I'm telling you, I worked for
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the Department of Health in the United States government in
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Health and Human Services. And I had to go to OPM school
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for all this crud and, and learn it all.
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And trust me, I've got 10 to 15 books right here in front of me
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that I still kept that in case anybody ever wanted to challenge
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me on the law. It came out during the Obama
16:12
administration. So if you were 50% or more
16:16
retired from the military, right, you get those benefits
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and you get a portion of your retirement.
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The problem is, is that there's an offset and that offset is if
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you receive compensation or VA compensation, pension and
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compensation. A lot of people, as a matter of
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fact, I'm looking at at my TikTok right now and somebody
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saying, but I get my medical, right.
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So two different things. Medical and compensation are two
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different things. You can have full medical and no
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compensation. You can go to the hospital for
16:49
the VA, use it all you want as a veteran and be 0% rated.
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That's perfectly fine. We're talking about compensation
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only. We're talking about money.
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That's all we're talking about right now.
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So if you're 50% or more through the military and you're
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medically retired, you have to choose between your VA
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disability money, your compensation, or you have to
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choose your retirement. Now I'm going to say 99.9%
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because there's going to be that 1% out there.
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But 99.9%, you're going to choose your VA disability.
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Why #1 because it's tax free, it's untouchable. ex-wife can't
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touch it, ex-husband can't touch it, kids can't touch it, IRS
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can't touch it, bankruptcy can't touch it.
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Nobody can touch VA disability. That is the law.
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The law says that it can't be sued, it can't be leveraged, it
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can't be taken, it can't be split.
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It is yours 100%. Now if you receive in retirement
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pay that can be child support, spousal support, alimony
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support, IRSDPD, keep everybody can touch that mess around.
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Don't pay your Capital One card, they will take it.
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That's retirement. We're not talking about VA
18:04
disability. OK, So now back to what I was
18:08
saying. If you were a combat veteran,
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oh, let me back up a little bit here.
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If you did 20 years in the military and you are medically
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retired, if you are medically retired, OK, say this one more
18:23
time. If you are medically retired
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from the VA or excuse me, from the military with 20, it, well,
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I'm all over the map. If you are non military retired,
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if you're 20 years retired from the military, 20 years, you did
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your 20 years and then you go to the VA and you go, hey man, you
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know, I, I, I hurt my arm when I was a paratrooper.
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I got C17CC5 fractures and all that.
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And you're 100% through the VA, you can get both your retirement
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and your VA disability. There is no offset there.
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OK, but if you were injured in the military, especially in
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combat, in combat because because see, nobody told, nobody
19:10
told them. I'm trying to not to take this
19:13
personal. Nobody told you that when you go
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to combat, if you're injured, that you're not going to get
19:18
any, anything special. We're going to kick you out of
19:20
the military. We're not going to try to find
19:22
you a new job. We're not going to try to, you
19:24
know, listen, you're a triple amputee.
19:27
Sorry about that. You survived your most
19:29
devastating thing that could happen to anybody at war, but
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you only get your VA disability. That's it, $4000.
19:37
See you later with special compensation, which homebound
19:41
they call it maybe another 405 hundred, 600 bucks, right?
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And then you can apply for a combat related specialty
19:48
compensation, which is probably another 4 or 500 bucks, right?
19:51
So there's a little bit of money there, but it's still not your
19:54
retirement. Now let's say just take for
19:57
number's sake. Let's say you had 14 years in
19:59
the United States military and you are medically retired due to
20:05
a combat related injury. They, they, they, they won't let
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you stay another six years. There's no way you can stay six
20:12
years. And you are medically.
20:14
Retired due to a combat related compensation, you are eligible
20:22
for retirement. Let's just say you were E5,
20:26
right? If you're a Sergeant E5 in the
20:28
United States military and you are medically retired above the
20:36
50% line, right? Medically retired due to combat
20:38
related and you apply for and receive, currently receive
20:42
combat related specialty compensation, which is like 626
20:45
bucks. If you were to get your
20:50
retirement, your retirement would be $2625.
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Now that is taxable in most States and most cases it's a
20:58
taxable income, right? So if you live in Alabama,
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Tennessee, Tennessee doesn't have one, Alabama, North
21:05
Carolina, some of those states still have taxable on your
21:08
retirement. That will be taxed, not a whole
21:11
lot, but it's still going to be taxed and you will federally be
21:15
taxed on that retirement, right? You are supposed to be entitled
21:21
to that, but they have what they call the combat tax or the
21:25
offset. So you don't get that.
21:28
So this Major Richard Starr Act, because somebody asked me again
21:32
to explain that the Major Richard Starr Act, which is
21:36
named after a major in the United States Army who was an
21:39
engineer who died of cancer. Ironically, his wife died as
21:42
well, but he died of cancer due to related burn pit exposure and
21:50
other chemicals. He was medically retired,
21:54
combat, medically retired from the military that would
21:59
reinstate that offset or that combat tax.
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That they have. I know it's, it's, it's not as
22:05
confused as it sounds, trust me. But the problem is, is that even
22:09
though everybody agrees that it's not fair, they just don't
22:14
know where the money is going to come from.
22:17
Yeah, magic. Let's stop bombing people.
22:21
One missile costs $185 million. I'm just saying that could
22:25
probably be a lot of veterans right there.
22:28
But again, I'm not trying to get into politics.
22:29
I'm just saying that that that is what the problem is.
22:32
They can't find the money anywhere.
22:34
They don't know where the money is.
22:36
Right. So with that being said, they
22:40
said, hey, we have this great idea.
22:41
We have this big bill. Remember they had the big
22:44
beautiful bill. Now they have the big bill.
22:46
It's called Taking Care of Veterans Act, right?
22:48
Unofficially Taking Care of Veterans Act there.
22:51
We have the DIC in there. We have the Love Lives On.
22:55
We have the DOLE Act, We have the oh goodness gracious, there
23:01
was a plethora of stuff in there, right?
23:04
But everybody, and I say everybody, a lot of the
23:08
organization's DAVVFW, IVA, I don't know if WWP was on board
23:17
with that, but a lot of the big organizations like DAV and the
23:22
ice maker just put off on the refrigerator.
23:24
Scared the crap out of me, possibly breaking through the
23:26
door. Anyways, apologize.
23:28
So all these big organizations and stuff like that were against
23:31
it. They said no because of article
23:34
one O 8 in this bill, there's a little paragraph one O 8 and it
23:39
says that they will make it harder.
23:42
These are, these are just terms that I'm using to help you
23:44
understand. They're going to make it harder
23:46
for future veterans, right? These are people who are still
23:49
in the military. They're going to make it harder
23:54
or more challenging. I want to say harder.
23:55
They're going to make it more challenging for them to have
23:58
tinnitus. And I'll explain that in a
24:01
minute and. Sleep apnea, they're.
24:05
Going to make it harder, more challenging, if you will.
24:10
So I read through that whole entire bill I took and I
24:12
digested that whole entire section.
24:14
I read it detail for detail. I put it in ChatGPT.
24:17
I put in another AII went through.
24:19
I I reread it. I looked up different codes and
24:22
bills and and da da, da, da. And here is what the deal is.
24:27
It says on there that if you have sleep apnea and you get AC
24:34
PAP machine or a PAP machine and you're able to sleep well and it
24:39
helps you, then you're gonna be rated at the 10%.
24:47
I, I, I'm sorry, I personally don't see a problem with that at
24:50
all. I don't if there is a pill right
24:53
now that they could give me to make cancer disappear, or a pill
24:56
to give me to make PTSD disappear or a pill right now to
25:00
give me that would make all my my things that I have from
25:04
combat disappear, I'll give them back their money.
25:08
Matter of fact, I will recomp you the money that you've
25:11
already given me. Gladly.
25:15
Gladly. You're telling me that I won't
25:17
have PTSD, that I won't have cancer, burn pit, exposure,
25:26
damage of my lungs. I mean, all this stuff that
25:29
everybody's going through, right?
25:31
I, I want you to ask, I want you to ask Jed Morgan and say, Jed,
25:34
if I give you a pill right now and you would grow back your,
25:38
both your legs and your arm would be straight again and
25:41
everything would be perfect, right?
25:43
Would you be OK with that? And would you stop accepting
25:47
compensation? I guarantee you 199.9% Jed was
25:51
saying give me that pill. Give me the pill.
25:53
I want it now. Congratulations, by the way, on
25:56
the birth of your, your new baby there, Jed.
25:58
Jed just had a baby boy so his his family is always growing.
26:02
So the, the moral, the story, what I'm trying to get at here
26:07
is that these organizations like the DAV and like, which is the
26:18
Disabled American Veterans and I've Iraq and Afghanistan
26:22
Veterans of America and the VFW were against the Take Care of
26:28
Veterans Act because they were going to make it more
26:31
challenging for veterans to claim tinnitus and sleep apnea.
26:35
And let's talk about tinnitus. Tinnitus and sleep apnea are the
26:38
largest, the largest contributors of disability
26:48
compensation through the VA right next to PTSD, whether
26:54
sexually trauma, sexually sexual MSTPTSD, military sexual trauma
26:59
or combat related special combat PTSD.
27:03
Now I have some numbers I'm going to share with you guys
27:05
that are watching it is going to blow your mind.
27:08
It is it is going to be a game changer for you guys.
27:11
It really will. Here's where I have a difficult
27:15
time. When H Train was getting out of
27:17
the army and some of the other other people that are watching
27:20
this, when you guys were getting out of the military, were you
27:23
already 100% before you got out of the military?
27:26
Because I wasn't, I was handed AVAVAVA sheet.
27:29
I had to fill it out and I submitted it and I was declined
27:32
denied right away. Right off the bat. 14 years it
27:36
took me to get to 100%. One of the biggest challenges
27:39
was they said there's no proof that you were in direct combat.
27:44
My ID card says right here service connected per part.
27:47
I'm sorry. Say that one more time.
27:50
So 14 years, it took me, the military members that are
27:55
getting ready to ETS, right ETS out of the military to leave the
28:00
military right now. They know what percentage
28:03
they're going to be before they even step out of the uniform.
28:11
That's that's crazy. We all see it on social media.
28:15
There's a company out there called AI Claims.
28:18
We guarantee you we'll get you 100% VA compensation is not, and
28:27
this is what it's happening. It is turning into a social
28:31
welfare program for the veterans.
28:35
It is, I'm sorry, but it is. And I'm going to prove that
28:39
right after this break when I come back with these numbers
28:41
that I have that are federally federal numbers.
28:45
This is a federal number that I got after the research I did on
28:52
what the status is with different claims and stuff like
28:54
that over the years, and it is going to blow your mind.
28:56
We're going to take a really quick break.
28:58
I want to take a sip of water, try to clear my throat a little
29:01
bit. We get back.
29:02
You're not going to want to miss it.
29:04
I'm going to take a very, very short break.
29:06
I have the numbers for every year for VA filings and
29:11
compensation and the money that was paid out.
29:14
It is going to blow your mind. Seriously.
29:17
We'll be right back here on military broadcast radio.
29:21
As always, Veterans talk, the radio station that gives our
29:24
veterans a voice. We'll be right back.
29:26
Hey, my name is Andrew Wiscombe and this is my submission for
29:28
the Gems in the Rough 2021 contest.
33:35
And when I lay me down to sleep, will he take my soul to keep?
33:42
Will he cast me out into the deep,
34:20
And we're back on Veterans talk with yours truly, DJ Magic Mike.
34:24
And just a quick update before we went on the break.
34:29
Yes, I am on TikTok. I was reading some of my
34:30
comments. Somebody asked if I was on
34:31
TikTok live. Yes I am on veterans talk on on
34:34
TikTok. So I was off live.
34:38
I don't know why I think my battery was going low on my
34:40
phone so I apologize. So before we took.
34:44
After the, the break, I was talking about how much
34:46
disability is and the numbers. So I just wanted to let you guys
34:50
know I, I rechecked tinnitus is the number one claim for DVA
34:57
disability. Now tinnitus is ringing in the
35:01
ears, which can be caused by extreme exposure to being a
35:06
truck driver, machine gunfire, combat time, whatever, right?
35:10
Everybody's like what, you didn't wear earplugs?
35:13
Also, what happened with the earplug case, right?
35:15
Three M they were fake, but yeah, in combat we don't have
35:19
earplugs that we throw and wait, stop shooting, put my earplugs
35:22
in. OK, we're good.
35:23
Nobody does that, right? So yeah, it is pretty difficult.
35:27
One of the things that I think is is pretty important, try to
35:31
get this light ready. One of the, one of the things
35:34
that I think is pretty important this stuff is that the, the
35:43
tinnitus can be claimed for no reason whatsoever, right?
35:47
Whether you want it or, or, or whether they can diagnose it or,
35:51
or prove it or not. It's, it's really, really hard
35:54
to prove or disapprove tinnitus. So that's why it's a really
35:58
popular claim, right? And, and it's a claim that's,
36:01
you know, can cause anxiety. So there's another thing that
36:03
you add on there and so on and so forth.
36:05
So tinnitus is the number one. So what the VA wanted to do was
36:08
they wanted to say OK, we're only going to make tinnitus
36:12
second to something else or pre emptive second to something
36:15
else. So tinnitus, tinnitus itself is
36:18
not going to be a claim is what they were saying right?
36:20
I have anxiety because of my tinnitus.
36:22
Is what they were is what they were going.
36:24
After. Well, DAVVFW and all these
36:27
people did not like that. They were kind of like really
36:29
ticked off about it. So they said no, absolutely not.
36:31
So we're going to go ahead and screw every veteran across the
36:34
board and fight about it. So this is literally putting
36:38
veteran against veteran. You have all the active duty
36:40
people who have who are not even veterans yet who are getting
36:43
ready to get out or soon to get out or maybe gonna get out one
36:46
day are saying, well, that's not fair to us because I couldn't
36:48
wait to claim tinnitus and sleep apnea.
36:51
So, so DAVVFW and IVA, which don't even get me started on
36:57
IVA. They're irrelevant if you ask
36:58
me. They, they've always been
37:00
irrelevant. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
37:01
And Paul, I don't care if you're mad at me or not.
37:03
I, I really don't care. Come, come on, bring it, buddy.
37:06
I've met you in person quite a few times.
37:07
You can't even remember my first name.
37:09
So you know, they went against it and said no.
37:14
This is taking food off the table, money off the table for
37:17
future veterans. Let me go over some notes real
37:21
quick. What you guys, this is going to
37:22
blow your mind. So if you stay with me through
37:24
the thing, this is going to blow your mind.
37:25
You ready? We are treating, we are treating
37:28
the VA compensation in pension like a veteran welfare and I'll
37:34
tell you why. World War 2 veterans, 1.5
37:38
million a year is what the VA spent on compensation.
37:42
Korean War Veterans Korean War Veterans 37 I'm sorry
37:49
$471,000,000 World War 2 veterans $1.5 million in
37:55
compensation Korean War Veterans $741 million Vietnam Veterans.
38:03
We all know Vietnam, those of you who are old like me and, and
38:06
remember Vietnam, you know, was so much a part of our, our, you
38:13
know, movie scenes with Rambo and, and you know, Platoon and
38:17
all those things and stuff like that because it was still fresh,
38:19
right? We're only 1015 years after
38:20
Vietnam and we were, they were still making movies, right?
38:24
So Vietnam, what was the number one thing for Vietnam?
38:29
PTSD, right? That's when, whenever you think
38:30
of somebody from Vietnam, you think of post traumatic stress
38:32
disorder, because that was the big thing for them coming home,
38:35
everything that they lived through, right?
38:37
The, the longevity was really short for Vietnam Veterans and
38:41
so on and so forth. So, So what is it?
38:44
So let's see, let's check it out, $174 billion.
38:53
I'm sorry, I take them back, my bad, $37 billion for Vietnam
38:57
Veterans. So we have World War 2 veterans,
38:59
$1.5 million were paid in compensation and pension.
39:03
Korean War Veterans of $741 million and Vietnam Veterans $37
39:08
billion. Now we're going to go to the
39:14
Gulf War era, which is Iraq, Afghanistan and Desert Storm.
39:20
Gulf War era that again is Desert Storm, Iraq and
39:25
Afghanistan. I hope you guys are sitting down
39:28
for this. 174 billion with AB dollars a year is what they are
39:37
paying out for veterans of the Gulf War era.
39:40
It is expected to reach this year alone $190 billion in
39:45
compensation and pension money by the VA by the year 20.
39:52
I hope you guys are listening this.
39:53
By the year 2035 it is expected that the VA will be paying
39:57
somewhere around $1.13 trillion in compensation for veterans at
40:07
AT. At what point do we not look at
40:09
this? As veterans and say this is
40:13
being treated like a social welfare because you see when you
40:17
get VA disability, right, you can still work full time.
40:20
So you retire from the Army after 20 years, you get a
40:23
pension, your VA disability, let's just say you're 100%, you
40:28
get $4000 a month and then you go to work for Lockheed Martin
40:32
or the government or whatever making 130 grand a year.
40:36
At what point are our morals coming into play here?
40:40
Like seriously, like it's, it's just it, it's overwhelming for
40:45
me to, to understand how these people can be this, this greedy.
40:52
And I say these people, my fellow veterans, but when it
40:55
comes to combat veterans, amputees, missing limbs,
40:59
blindness, complete, complete and utter caretaking, cancer,
41:04
you name it, combat, war related, combat war related
41:09
veterans, everybody's like, Oh no, no, that's now because our
41:14
future for tinnitus and stuff like that.
41:18
Talk about a blue Falcon. I, I see this all over the
41:20
website right now, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, they're
41:23
talking about blue Falcons, right?
41:25
We all know what a blue Falcon is, buddy, Fuckers, right?
41:27
We always in the military, buddy.
41:28
Oh, this guy's BF, he's a blue Falcon, right?
41:31
You guys want to talk about Blue Falcons.
41:34
The Blue Falcons are the ones who sat here and argued that oh,
41:37
future veterans are going to be affected by tinnitus and sleep
41:40
apnea. I'm sorry, but that's a Blue
41:42
Falcon. When you have combat veterans
41:44
who were seriously injured in combat that their caretakers are
41:48
currently taking care of them and they get 100% disability
41:51
from the V or 100% permanent permanent disability from the
41:57
VA, 100% permanent total and they don't get their retirement
42:03
because there's an offset, right?
42:06
So you don't. So the people like John Awfrey,
42:11
who was injured in a roadside bomb and is in a wheelchair and
42:14
has to have a caretaker, is non mobile, non speech and has a
42:19
feeding tube, right? So I don't want to use the word
42:24
vegetable because that's horrible, but he is
42:26
incapacitated. We'll just say that he has his
42:28
parents who are caring for him around the clock, showering him,
42:33
getting them ready and stuff like that.
42:34
They get caretaker money absolutely from from there.
42:37
But do you think it's fair that people that have 20 years in the
42:40
military who are 100% total and permanent and people who are
42:48
currently in the military fought this bill and said no, it's not
42:51
good because tinnitus and sleep apnea is going to be in there
42:53
for future veterans? Oh, OK, OK, so screw the combat
43:02
people that got that got hurt, right, because Iran, right?
43:05
What do we have 600 people killed right since the Iran war
43:10
so or severely injured or whatever it is.
43:13
So, so 600 people can't get their combat related, especially
43:17
they can't get their combat, can't get their retirement
43:20
because they have an offset from the VA.
43:23
I'm just I'm taking back on this.
43:25
So, so all of those, you know, a lot of them, I'm sorry, but a
43:29
lot of them are Marines out there that I see.
43:31
Oh yeah, you got a BF Blue Falcons because you guys want
43:35
this bill to pass because of the Major Richard Starr Act.
43:39
It's a lot more than that. It's a lot more than that.
43:43
We want it to pass because of a plethora of different things and
43:46
the Blue Falcon I think is really you all out there that
43:49
are saying well tinnitus is sleep apnea.
43:52
Just those two things. And by the way, just a news
43:55
alert for you guys. If you read the fine print,
43:58
sleep apnea and tinnitus has been looked at since the Clinton
44:02
administration for being re evaluated.
44:06
Everything else has knees, shoulders, back, neck, eyes,
44:11
hearing, speech. Everything you can think of has
44:16
been realigned and re evaluated since Vietnam except for
44:20
tinnitus and sleep apnea. Those were the last couple
44:22
things that were not evaluated since Clinton era.
44:25
They have been looking for a reason or a way to re evaluate
44:28
tinnitus and sleep apnea because those two are.
44:31
Used. The most and there's really no
44:33
find real good guidelines on it. So they sat there and said,
44:37
let's make some better guidelines on it, let's make
44:39
sleep apnea that. If you have a sleep apnea C PAP
44:43
machine, no longer 50%. That's all they said, 'cause
44:47
they would hand you a machine which was like, I don't know,
44:49
$1000 or whatever. And then these people would be
44:52
like, OK, there's my 50%, yay. But if you have a sleep apnea
44:56
machine, it helps you sleep at night and you no longer have the
45:00
other triggering effects, then I'm sorry, why?
45:06
Why? Why do you think you shouldn't
45:07
be knocked down? So, so and, and then here's the
45:10
other thing, sleep apnea and tinnitus, if you have it now,
45:14
they're not going to take it away from you.
45:15
They said moving forward in future claims, not claims that
45:19
are even pending. They didn't say, they didn't say
45:21
anything about touching the claims that are pending right
45:23
now. They just said moving forward,
45:26
which would probably next year or whatever, when people are
45:28
getting out of the military, if you have tinnitus or sleep
45:30
apnea, it would be re, It would be evaluated differently than it
45:34
is today. That's all they're saying.
45:38
But they killed this bill. They killed the Take Care of
45:40
American Veteran Act because of article one O 8 that talks
45:43
specifically about tinnitus and sleep apnea.
45:47
They go, this is not a good bill because it's taken away from
45:49
future veterans. Interesting, Interesting.
46:00
Wow. So yeah, I think our military is
46:08
doomed. I think it just doomed when
46:11
that's how we think in the military.
46:13
Oh, I can't wait to get out. Boy, oh boy.
46:16
I've been talking to my freaking TAPS counselor, man.
46:19
She's got me hooked up. I'll be a hundred 100% when I
46:22
get out. The military, that's never, that
46:25
was never any of us. In the military at all?
46:30
And it's just. It seems like it's getting to be
46:36
harder and harder, if you will. Yeah.
46:41
I, I, I don't, I just don't know what to say.
46:43
I really don't. And, and there was something
46:45
else that I saw on the news it was talking about.
46:48
There's a ship, a naval ship that's out in the in the out
46:52
there in the the Strait. If you will, in Iran, the Strait
46:57
of Hormuz out there and that they've been out there for nine
47:00
months. Nine months have been away from
47:03
home on this ship and they have no color TV.
47:08
They don't have. The living quarters are horrific
47:11
and horrible and really, y'all need to go back and watch Band
47:16
of Brothers. Them boys used to steal the
47:19
boots off of the Germans that they killed during World War 2
47:23
and put them on because they didn't have boots without socks.
47:28
Y'all need. Seriously, y'all need to go.
47:31
Y'all need definitely go out there and watch band of
47:33
brothers. Y'all are crying a sniveling
47:34
about that stuff. I swear to goodness.
47:36
It's crazy, absolutely crazy. So as of right now, the major
47:41
riches star Act has bipartisan support across the board.
47:44
It's still very strong on its own.
47:47
It would have made it across had everybody not crying about this
47:51
one O 8 and made that their their main gold, the American
47:55
Legion. Hats off to you guys and the
47:57
others who supported this bill. Unfortunately, there was so much
48:01
tenacity. By the way, she lasted one year.
48:04
She was out for the VFW, which I find it hard to believe that she
48:08
was a nurse in the military and didn't pick this bill apart and
48:12
cried about tinnitus and and everything else.
48:15
But yeah, that showed where it got her out of the VFW as
48:18
president or commander. But any hoot.
48:22
Anyway, that's my rant for the day.
48:25
I had to talk about those two things because again, I get sick
48:28
and tired of going on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and
48:32
seeing all these veterans talking about, you know, they,
48:36
they go as far as the screw veterans overact and you know,
48:40
everybody's, all of they put it veteran against veteran and
48:43
stuff like that. OK, first of all, I am a
48:45
veteran. If you're on active duty or
48:47
you're still in the military, you are not a veteran.
48:49
So we're not against each other. I'm not against you at all, at
48:54
all. I, I, I, I just think that the
48:59
VA pension and compensation has become a thing that is so easy
49:04
to get that the VA says, hey, we need to tighten this up a little
49:08
bit. We need to tighten this up a
49:11
little bit because it's costing us trillions of dollars very
49:14
soon to about 20-30 something right around the corner.
49:17
Trillion, 1 trillion a year in compensation for veterans, 1
49:22
trillion a year. I mean, I, I, I just, I can't
49:27
fathom. I, I just can't fathom it.
49:30
It's like free money. Free money we're getting out of
49:33
the military. Free money.
49:34
Nobody is saying that anybody that served our country deserves
49:37
everything that they get, right? We're not saying that.
49:43
But remember this, if there's a way to take advantage of it,
49:46
they're going to find a way to take advantage of it.
49:49
You don't believe me? Ask any E4 of the United States
49:51
military why they call it the E 4 mafia sham status, how to take
49:56
advantage. We learned that as AE4.
49:59
So they learned it they're going to do it.
50:02
It's just a fact of life and the VA says we got to do something
50:06
otherwise we're going to really screw ourselves.
50:08
And fiscal year 2031 when we sit there and we go we need a
50:12
trillion dollars right. You know, you wonder why the
50:17
Healthcare is, is not up to par or is lacking in certain ways.
50:21
Well, because you're robbing from Peter to pay Paul.
50:24
Would you rather have $4000 a month or would you rather have
50:27
excellent health care for the veterans?
50:30
Oh, we want both. Oh, you got to find the money
50:33
for that. Got to find the money for that.
50:35
So it is very, very difficult. It is very, very hard to talk
50:43
about these things. And again, this is only my
50:45
opinion. This is not the opinion of
50:46
military broadcast rate. This is only mine on Veterans
50:48
Talk, but it is something that I dug into and again, I watch on
50:53
Instagram and all these social media sites and they're wrong.
50:57
Get the facts. Get the facts.
50:59
I I welcome and I want anybody who wants to debate me and more
51:03
than welcome. Shoot me a text, shoot me an
51:05
e-mail. I'll give you my cell phone
51:06
number. I don't care.
51:08
Shoot me a text. We'll debate it live on air and
51:11
we'll pull the numbers and and make me a believer.
51:15
Make me a believer. Make me conform to what you are
51:18
seeing and I'll try and make you conform to what I'm seeing.
51:21
That's what a debate is, right? And maybe, maybe, just maybe one
51:26
of us will have a aha moment and go get it.
51:30
Because I still have a bad taste in my mouth when I see a veteran
51:33
that runs a company that's very successful in his company and
51:36
his company does. You guess the evaluations for
51:42
the VA he. Charges you, charges you money
51:47
to help you get your claim to 100%.
51:49
I think anybody who does that, whether it's a lawyer, whether
51:52
it's a, a veteran or whatever, who helps you to get 100% and
51:57
charges you for it should be illegal period across the board.
52:00
I don't care if they're a lawyer, doctor, I don't care who
52:03
they are. If they're charging you to help
52:05
you get to 100% through the VAI think it should be criminal.
52:10
I just do. I think it should be criminal.
52:12
They shouldn't be charging you now if I call you up and I go,
52:14
hey, John, I know you're at 90% for the last 20 years or 10
52:18
years or five years or whatever. What's going on?
52:20
I just don't know how to do this or whatever.
52:21
All right, let's put our heads together figuring out here's the
52:24
key right here, right? Because VA compensation is on a
52:31
pendulum, if you will, of how you word everything, right?
52:36
Because it could swing this way, or it could swing that way The.
52:39
Proof. Of burden is not on.
52:43
You the proof. Of burden is on them to find a
52:52
way it seems like of how they can discredit your claim in a
53:02
way. I guess that's kind of a bad
53:03
word and I'm not trying to get in trouble out there.
53:05
So if you want to talk to me about it, if you want to
53:10
challenge me on this, please, I feel free to give me a call.
53:12
Like I said, we'll we'll go toe to toe arrow forever arrow and
53:17
we'll figure it out. We're going to take a quick
53:18
break. When we come back, I'll talk
53:20
about some quick things up and coming and we'll get some of the
53:25
other shows out there and we'll be right back with yours truly
53:28
on. Hey, welcome back to Veterans
56:42
Talk with yours truly, Magic Michael on military broadcast
56:45
radio. The radio station gives our
56:46
veterans a voice. And as we're getting ready to
56:48
close this up for this week on Veterans.
56:50
Talk. I want to thank everybody who
56:52
chimed in, all my guests who came on, and I just want to let
56:57
each and everyone of you know that we have so many radio
56:59
stations or, or radio stations or.
57:04
Podcasts and TV shows here on military broadcast radio, not
57:07
just mine. We have tracer rounds into the
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sports shows. We have veteran talk.
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We have H train show. We have we have so many things
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out there. If you're a veteran again and
57:24
you're looking for something that is satisfied to you and
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want to get into podcasts or even television, trust me, this
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is where it's at. And if you are currently a
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member of NBR Radio, Military Broadcast Radio, currently a
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member or if you want to be a member or if you know somebody
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Broadcast Radio is A5O13C and is a fully amazing way to donate or
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live off of donations. It is really expensive to pay
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58:09
It's it's expensive. To rent the studio, it's, it's a
58:13
lot of different things, right, that we do here at military
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Broadcast Radio. So if you're thinking about
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donating somewhere, this is a great place.
58:21
It has helped so many veterans. As I say always at the end of my
58:26
show, I want each and everyone of you to take care of each
58:29
other, watch out for each other. If you see.
58:32
A veteran thank a veteran, you know a veteran appreciate them
58:37
even much more the way our world is in a.
58:40
Ever so uncertain circumstances that we're at Turn off the TV.
58:45
Turn off your phones. Look to your loved one next to
58:48
you, left or right. Or if you're like me and you
58:51
have this little black furry dog, remind yourself that you're
58:55
lucky. You're lucky here today.
58:57
Love your loved ones, take care of each other, take care of
59:01
yourselves. Happy birthday, I miss you
59:03
dearly. God bless each and everyone of
59:05
you. Hi, I'm Beaker with Military
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