On here and out in the general population I see military guys retired and doing very well. Then you see ads, and various other places taking collections, guys setting on road curves, saying to help veterans. Are these ads and stuff crooks or are all military people not treated the same?

Difference between being a Veteran and retired Military.

Retired military have a pension. Very few Veterans make the military a career and earn a pension

most retired military folks i know still work. it ain't like a 20 or even 30 year pension is lucrative. by any means. better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Most retired 20 or 30 year vets do so from the upper ranks due to the move up or get out policy so the pension is decent if not great. Couple that with the fact that most will have enlisted right out of high school or college in the case of officers and retirees retire at a relatively young enough age to work another twenty or so years for another pension/IRA/etc. Add to that the work ethic and discipline that comes from career military its no wonder most are comfortable in retirement.

None of that applies to just plain veterans. The only ones getting any sort of a pension are the medically retired. Most of us did our time and were only given a handshake and good luck when handed our go home papers.

This is true. Retired military pensions are decent but the real plus is the health care benefit once one retires.Those 20+ years are usually not so easy on the body so the health care comes in handy later in life. Once you reach Medicare age the government health benefit becomes your Part B Insurance. Still not enough to live off of when you’re younger and supporting a family - back when I retired I took a month off and went right back to work.

Vets that serve a few years and then get out don’t really receive anything in benefits generally unless there is a service related disability. Lot of guys need help out there.

Is there any good way of knowing if a guy asking for a hand out is ligetiment military?

Not really Nate. Lot of stolen honor clowns around sadly.

Ask them what they did while in the military.. If they say sniper, seal, or special forces they are probably lying.

Ol dad

My Dad retired from the Navy after 20+ years then went to work at our local MCLB and retired from there after another 20+ years. So...he’s a double dipper and set for life with retirement and benefits.

IED’s have changed the lives of recent vets. Suicide rates are up and it effects officers as well as enlisted. Some sights and events just can’t be forgotten. I believe there are some that truly need help, then there are posers. As also stated, if they were Spec Ops or SF then don’t fall for it. Those guys are trained to the utmost to deal with these types of situations. I’ll also state that most military that I know go on to lead great successful lives after their time.

I got lucky I'm a vet and retired with 20 years, pension is good but also my wife has a good job. There a lots of vets and retirees not in the same boat

One "red flag" is : Ask them what they did in the Military / Service. If they answer "it's classified, or secret" . . . walk away. Another flag is if they're wearing or displaying military ribbons / medals. Ask them what those are for. This is hard unless you know which branch of the military, they were issued and what "combat theater", if any, they served. Also the arrangement of how they are displayed. There's a lot of "fake vets" and cons out there unfortunately.

Here's a guy wearing these that was supposedly a Navy LTCDR. Knew he was a fake as soon as I saw him.

Ask to see his dd214.

I understand that the military doesn't use DD-214's anymore. Different type of discharge papers now?

I just ignore most organizations and just help when i can to guys i know.

Ask him where he went to boot camp and ask him what was the name of his drill instructor.
If he pauses or stutters, he ain't legit. No one forgets those two items.

Ain't that the truth!!

We have about 70,000 Special Operations Forces at any given time lately, if you count both active and reserve members across all the branches. Not everyone who says they were in Special Forces is a liar.

Keith

I actually don't recall my drill instructor's name. Boot camp is easy - Amarillo, TX - 53 years ago.

There’s one guy, sign says he’s a vet, I always see on the same corner, almost daily. He has to have walked there as there’s no sign of him living there, no wheelchair, nothing like that. Sorry but if you can walk to the corner and hang out there all day askin for money, you can do a job.

I know another vet, a good friend of mine. He served in Afghanistan. His Hummer got blown up by an IED, and messed him up pretty good. The VA says he’s physically and mentally disabled. He’s in constant pain because there’s a piece of shrapnel in his back pushing up against his spinal column, the doctors didn’t want to take it out because it’s 50/50 it either fixes the problem or he loses the use of his legs. He has been going back and forth with the VA trying to get his blown out knee fixed, I think he is close to getting it done. Anyways, that guy worked right alongside me, just as hard as anyone, doing heavy oilfield labor. He truly does have disabilities but chooses to work anyways. A pressure relief valve opened up near us once and it terrified him, he hit the deck with true fear in his eyes, thought it was another IED.

If my friend can work even through all his issues, I think there are a lot of vets who could but just don’t want to. Yeah, there are some that truly can’t work, or to ask them to would be cruel, but not as many as some would have you believe.