Court decision approves more benefits for soldiers with PTSD

2/7/2012

For years, veterans who left service between 2003 and 2008 with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were not able to take advantage of a new policy that gave them a 50 percent retirement rating. However, a recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims changed all that, Military.com reports.

Earlier in the decade, some soldiers who were medically discharged with PTSD were only given a 10 percent retirement rating, which limited the benefits they received. According to the website, that changed in 2008 when the Department of Defense said retirees with PTSD should be bumped up to 50 percent - meaning lifetime TRICARE coverage. Unfortunately, it did not apply to veterans who retired before that year.

The decision, issued by judge George Miller, will provide more than 2,000 veterans with payment for missed retirement benefits, as well as compensation for any medical costs they may have accrued. For vets like Aimee Sherrod, the ruling was a big one.

"All along I hoped we would win, but I knew we would because too many veterans had gotten hurt and I knew the judge would have seen that," she told the website.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, some experts believe that anywhere from 11 to 20 percent of soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD.