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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026

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Military disability pay. My gut says like 90% of it is fraud

What in the world do you mean by this? Military disability by definition only goes to those who were in the military, and who have documented injuries/disabilities related to that service. Where do you imagine fraud comes in to it?

Maybe I am online too much but most people who follow the data collection on military disability pay realize it’s a lot of healthy people getting disability who spent a couple years in the military. To begin to educate you on the issue look at Graham Platner who ran for Senate and runs a farm while getting a 100% military disability rating.

https://www.pressherald.com/2026/05/11/how-can-graham-platner-run-for-senate-with-a-100-va-disability-rating/

If you are serious curious spend a half hour with Google and AI to see why policy wonks consider military disability as semi-legal fraud now.

I'm neither 'curious' nor need to 'begin to educate' myself, I'm in the military and know many people on VA disability. A friend of mine had to fight for years to get 100% disability, he hasn't been able to work since he got out. Another one got blown up and it affects his ability to think - is that fraudulent because it's mental health?

If you want to argue that military servicemembers don't deserve disability payments, or that they should be less, or that standards for medical evidence are too low, then make that case. But calling it 'fraud', even '90% fraud', is simply offensive.

So if someone doesn’t have an actual injury that prevents them from working but gets disability that’s not fraud?

I 100% agree there are real cases of military disability but that in no way contradicts my point that many cases of military disability appear to be essentially fraud.

We currently have 1.85 million Americans with 100% disability rankings in 2026. In 2015 we had 493k veterans with 100% disability ratings. The US withdrew from Iraq in 2011. Afghanistan we only had like max 20k troops since 2014. So where did 1.3 million fully disabled veterans come from? These are massive numbers. Since 9/11 we have 2.7 million Americans who have deployed.

So yes a 50% rate of “fully” disabled is insane. And most people in the military do not serve in combat roles.

Just because a group has a “sympathetic core” does not mean that there aren’t a huge amount of people adjacent to the core abusing the system.

And yes if you are fully capable of running a Senate Campaign then you are not 100% disabled so we even have very high profile cases of obvious fraud.

My 90% fraud might be too high. The 2014 disability numbers are likely mostly true cases.

Not sure where your numbers come from, but the data I found has less than 30% of disabled veterans at 100% disability. Additionally, many of them are older veterans whose percentage rose after a second or third claim.

So if someone doesn’t have an actual injury that prevents them from working but gets disability that’s not fraud?

You may be misunderstanding what 100% disability means. The answer to your question is yes. From benefits.com:

A 100% VA disability rating reflects the total severity of service-connected conditions, but it doesn’t mean a veteran cannot function in daily life. This rating acknowledges that service-related injuries or illnesses may significantly impact a veteran’s ability to work and maintain quality of life.

The VA recognizes two pathways to 100% compensation. Schedular 100% is achieved when a veteran’s combined service-connected conditions meet the criteria for a 100% rating based on the VA’s rating schedule. Total Disability Individual Unemployability (TDIU) allows veterans with lower schedular ratings to receive 100% compensation when their service-connected conditions may prevent them from maintaining substantially gainful employment.

For instance, you can have one big injury like an amputation, or multiple smaller ones that add up according to the VA's formula, or you can have a specific set of injuries that you have documented prevent you from, say, holding a particular job (which could be otherwise minor things like insomnia). All of these require pretty extensive medical documentation, and then it is the job of the VA to make those determinations.

'Fraud' implies that the person getting the benefit has lied to get something they don't deserve, but that is simply not the case here. The input to the system is medical documentation of conditions. It seems to me that you are objecting not because you think 90% of veterans are forging a bevy of false doctor's notes, but rather because you think that specific conditions don't deserve to get as much disability pay as they do. This is not a question of fraud, it's a question of policy.

I'm curious, is your thinking on this down-stream from the Platner controversy? I saw a tweet on one thread claiming the same '90% of VA Disability claims are fraud' - maybe that's where you set your baseline.

“ 'Fraud' implies that the person getting the benefit has lied to get something they don't deserve, but that is simply not the case here.”

  • this is a third world definition of fraud and not a definition of an Anglo country. We should create military disability programs that are light on verification in an Anglo society to make sure that no one who really needs it doesn’t get it. But a person capable of holding a job should get a job. It should be easy to get but Americans should be too proud to apply for it. When Americans vote for politicians to support military veterans they assume it’s for people with real injuries.

I would be shocked if we’ve even had 1.35 million actual combat personal since Vietnam.

I find your view abhorrent disgusting and I would strip you of citizenship if I could.

And I won’t just call this fraud. It’s also fraud when 13% of Americans are on food stamps and my local convenience store pays $20 an hour. 13% of Americans do not lack the ability to feed themselves.

My mom cared for my uncle who was basically in bed for 2 decades from Vietnam. That’s a disability. It’s entirely disgusting that people are abusing the programs that were meant for him.

So yes go get a fucking job and get off welfare.

this is a third world definition of fraud and not a definition of an Anglo country.

Words have meanings. You can't get mad because your made up redefinition is called out.

I find your view abhorrent disgusting and I would strip you of citizenship if I could.

K thanks for the conversation. Glad you got to explain your totally reasonable position.

I’m assuming you are American. It’s not some made up definition. It’s what Anglos mean by fraud. Using Anglo definition in an Anglo country is fine. So Yes it is in fact fraud.

It’s what Anglos mean by fraud.

Bullshit. Give me ANY evidence. And to be clear, "I say so" isn't evidence.

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