Army Times: Officers get more, higher disability ratings

[babylonsister]

Does this not suck? Are their injuries 'more valuable'? :grr:

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/TNSreedstats070308/


Officers get more, higher disability ratings

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 9, 2007 12:53:19 EST

The Army and Marine Corps, which are bearing the brunt of the burden in Iraq and Afghanistan, tend to give their wounded troops lower disability ratings than the Navy and Air Force, according to Defense Department data.

The result: soldiers and Marines receive an average of several hundred dollars per month less in disability retired pay than sailors and airmen.

Break those numbers down a different way, and the system shows another inequity: All services tend to grant officers disability ratings of 50 percent or higher at a significantly greater rate than enlisted members.

Critics say those figures support their contention that the Army, in particular, purposely tries to hold down costs by giving low ratings to enlisted soldiers who far outnumber officers going through the lengthy, convoluted system. See related story.

As of March 9, service officials did not have immediate answers for the discrepancies in the numbers, although Army officials suggested one factor may be that more young soldiers with less time in service, and lower basic pay, are entering the disability system.

more...

[babylonsister]

1. Fresh link:

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/TNSreedstats070308/