{"id":37944,"date":"2026-08-25T09:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=37944"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:35:21","slug":"guest-contributor-ed-brault-25aug2026-bureaucracy-of-the-military-flavor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/guest-contributor-ed-brault-25aug2026-bureaucracy-of-the-military-flavor\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Contributor &#8211; Ed Brault &#8211; 25AUG2026 &#8211; Bureaucracy of the Military Flavor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had a similar situation with my Disability pay when I retired from the Army. Due to a snafu about a separation check when I was RIFed in 1986, I could not get my retirement pay until it was paid back. Basically 2 years\u2019 retirement pay. Meanwhile, I was approved for a 70% VA Disability. I figured that would cover most of the delayed retirement. However, the checks did not show up. When I enquired, I was told that the Disability would be withheld until the separation pay was repaid. After careful examination of the paperwork they sent me, and finding that both checks were being put towards the settlement, the math said that the repayment had been completed six months earlier. When I contacted the VA I got the bureaucratic run around until I demanded to talk to a supervisor. You can\u2019t, the drone said. Why not? I asked. \u201cIts POLICY!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, I let them have their policy, and filed a Congressional complaint. Neither Bernie nor Lehey did any good, but amazingly, then-Congressman Welch lit a fire under someone\u2019s ass and six weeks later I got not only my retirement and disability, but\u00a0$36,000 in\u00a0Disability\u00a0backpay!<br \/>\nKeep fighting,<br \/>\n<strong><em>Illegitimi non carborundum!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had a similar situation with my Disability pay when I retired from the Army. Due to a snafu about a separation check when I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3776,1489],"tags":[714,1596,636],"class_list":["post-37944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-ed-brault","category-guest-contributors","tag-bureaucracy","tag-guest-contributors","tag-military"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Guest Contributor - Ed Brault - 25AUG2026 - Bureaucracy of the Military Flavor - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/guest-contributor-ed-brault-25aug2026-bureaucracy-of-the-military-flavor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Contributor - Ed Brault - 25AUG2026 - Bureaucracy of the Military Flavor - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had a similar situation with my Disability pay when I retired from the Army. 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