If you apply for a commissioning program, when you get your medical exam you will have to fill out a form detailing your medical history. When I was doing reserve officer recruiting, the form used was the SF-93. NavyOffRec should be able to tell you if there is a newer or different form in use now. Take a look at the SF-93; as a corpsman, you may be familiar with it. On the back/second page, question 20 specifically asks about disability compensation received, pending or applied for. Any form used in place of the SF-93 likely asks the same kind of question. You do not want to complete these forms with anything but straight, honest answers. (And since you "actually believe in honesty," I guess that won't be a problem.)
You seem to want to have things both ways: you want to continue to receive disability compensation, and yet you don’t want the Navy to consider you disabled. I understand that having a disability rating does not necessarily preclude you from getting picked up for a commissioning program, as long as you meet the required physical standards or get a waiver for standards that you don’t meet. However, in an earlier post you wrote that you are “perfectly fine,” which caused me to wonder why you are receiving VA disability compensation. You make it sound like applying for VA disability compensation is an automatic thing upon separation from active duty, and it is not. You have to decide to file a claim and then file it. You have to explain in your claim what kind of service connected disability you have. A separating service member who is not disabled but claims that they became disabled through their military service, for the purpose of receiving disability compensation, commits fraud. I would think that VA disability compensation is only given for a condition that is considered permanent, or if the disability is not permanent, the disability compensation stops when the disability goes away. I’m sure that someone who knows better will let me know if I am wrong.
I understand that the disability compensation that you get is nice because it helps you get groceries and gas up your car. But it is not payback for the service you provided while on submarines, or for providing medical support during the initial push into Baghdad, only to be sent straight to the Marines for your next command. For that, you received pay and allowances, just like everyone else, and hopefully a measure of job satisfaction. Trying to spin it the way you are is just rationalizing.
If you truly have a service connected disability, than belay my last. But from what I’ve read so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve heard of too many cases of people trying to cheat the system for me to be complacent. It’s no better than welfare fraud, and it’s stealing from the vets who are actually disabled and who really do need the VA’s resources.
On top time, the only real guidance I have received from your post is one that came from me. Thank you and to myself, I will be honest and fill out the forms with uttermost integrity, because that is what the Navy deserves...
