Dusty,
As I pointed out there is a difference between being “injured while on AD(the drunk kid waterskiing)” and being “injured in the line of duty”.
Again if your knees were a result of line of duty injuries then you a certainly due med care from the VA, but as I also pointed out there may be others with more serious (and recent?) injuries who will take priority.
I suffered non combat injuries in VN which due to circumstances were not documented and I can't receive disability for them now; my nephew had a melanoma while on duty, after it had been removed and he was cleared of cancer (and against my advice) he took a settlement and got out. In effect he released the Government of responsibility (for a few $) if the cancer came back . Several years later it did come back and he died of it. Until almost the end (and much, much too late) he refused to seek VA help, my sister (his mother) and my mother still blame the Army and the VA and I don't see why.
There is no doubt the VA has many problems, as an example when I moved from AR to TX I found that the VA computers (between these states) couldn’t communicate (or so I was told and I am incredulous about that) so I had to start the enrollment process almost from scratch.
But in all the facilities I’ve visited the staff goes out of their way to be respectful and courteous - and that is difficult with some patients and their families - especially those from this last 50 year era of entitlement. I know the VA has problems getting and keeping Dr.’s, I don’t know about the other staff.
After my retirement (1991) I went back to school with the idea of becoming a RN and going back in with a commission (Dr.’s and Nurses, that I know of, have much higher age limits than other service members), so I know something of Med. Procedures and I’ve not had any great problems in this area.
I still believe the VA’s greatest problem is the top heavy (and maybe political) administrative staff. The are very well paid and, like most Government Jobs, are not held accountable for their failures.
Some of the media reporting deals with people having signs of trauma and VA clinics are not set up or staffed to do triage. Every time I call the VA there is a recording telling you to go to a hospital is you are experiencing an emergency and I’ve never heard of a VA hospital turning anyone with an emergency away - I have heard of private hospitals that do.
My pet peeve is that if you served a short time in the military 10, 20, 30, or more years ago doesn’t automatically entitle you to priority VA care.
After an enlistment you enter into civilian life, if you are a responsible individual you provide for medical care for yourself and your family. If you don’t - that is your choice and it is not the Government’s duty to provide for you.
Before being drafted I worked (while in HS and for a while after) for a company that printed several small town newspapers. Do they, after nearly 50 years, owe me the benefits I had while I worked there?
Of course not, yet many ex-service men/women think the VA owes them immediate care, and they are wrong.