Stew Peters Show - When Service Isn’t Enough: Defending Veterans Against Fraud Narratives

Nov. 16, 2025 - Stew Peters Show

01:08:08

When Service Isn’t Enough: Defending Veterans Against Fraud Narratives

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	It wasn't all that long ago, maybe a month or so, that the Washington Post put out a series of investigative stories.
	Stories that claim, as it says here, that the VA is guilty of widespread fraud and abuse in the disability benefit system.
	Now, there was some pretty egregious claims made against the VA and against veterans of this country and how they go about getting disability compensation.
	And not just money, not just a monthly payment, but also medical care, education benefits, adaptive housing, clothes, all of these benefits that come along with being service connected with the VA.
	And of course, as you probably can imagine, there are people pushing back.
	Veteran service organizations are coming out and talking about this and making a case for veterans and the VA that this isn't really widespread fraud.
	But there's other things at play here.
	So today we're going to talk about that.
	We'll get into it here very shortly.
	So stick with us.
	Don't go away.
	We start now.
	Hey everybody and welcome here to the next installment of the Richard Leonard Show.
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	Okay, housekeeping is over.
	So let's dive in here.
	According to the Washington Post, not long ago, veterans of this country and the VA are guilty of widespread fraud.
	And I should probably use the word alleged, alleged widespread fraud.
	The fact of the matter is that the bill that the government pays to take care of veterans is hefty.
	It's large.
	But is there a ton of widespread fraud going on?
	Is there all kinds of waste and abuse and all of these things happening as it relates to the VBA, the Veterans Benefits Administration?
	And so, for those of you who don't know, if you've been a watcher of the show, you probably have a grasp on it.
	But if you don't know, what happens is for people when they get out of the military, if they have any conditions or injuries, anything like that, they are eligible to put in a claim with the VA that says, during the course of my service, I got this illness.
	I was injured in this way.
	These are the things that happened to me.
	And this is how it affects my ability to work, to reintegrate, to coincide with my neighbors, my community.
	And if the VA finds through a pretty staunch, a pretty robust adjudication process, if you ask me, it's pretty robust.
	Could it be modernized a little bit?
	Yeah, it could.
	But for the most part, in my experience, getting through this process, it's pretty thorough.
	And this idea that veterans in this country are just trying to rip off the government to get free money, to me on its face, it seems pretty egregious.
	It's quite an accusation to make.
	And just because the bill every year is extremely large, it's expensive, doesn't always mean that there's all kinds of treachery afoot.
	Is it possible?
	And does it happen?
	Yeah, it does happen.
	There are people in the system that make false claims, go in and pretending, or whatever it is, to get granted these benefits.
	And I'll be quite honest, for the most part, until you get to the top tiers, the top percentage tiers, it's not like this money is paying bills and providing veterans the ability to not have to work,
	to not have to get up every day and find a mission to keep themselves and their families fed, roofs over their heads, that kind of thing.
	Does it help?
	Yes.
	Yes, it is a great benefit.
	The VA does provide great benefits to the men and women who have made the decision to serve this country.
	But why automatically do we look for fraud and then make accusations that these people are scamming the system with no integrity?
	And the truth of the matter is, is that, yes, I believe it does happen.
	But is it a percentage of the population that really makes everyone else look like a shitbag?
	No, of course not.
	But does it happen?
	Yes.
	Yes, it does.
	And I think that throughout the course of time, we have seen examples of that.
	There was a dude in Colorado that I recall, maybe it was last year or even the year before that, that They had figured out the government or the VA or whoever had figured out that this guy had gotten about $400,000 in VA disability benefit payments.
	But all the conditions that he was service connected for weren't real.
	He wasn't injured.
	He wasn't suffering from whatever it was he claimed.
	And so does it happen?
	Yeah, yes, it does.
	But let's go through.
	I put together myself a list of talking points here to talk about things that I have an opinion about.
	And so to start off, as I said, the Washington Post recently put out these articles in this big long story about how the VA and veterans are defrauding our government and stealing taxpayer money.
	Which, if I may put in my own two cents, I don't know that this is, is it wrong?
	Yes.
	But in the grand scheme of things, when we're talking about government budgets and government money, I would say that the amount of people that they can prove have defrauded the system is relatively small.
	I would venture to say it's in the $100 million range.
	And that could be completely false, could be a wrong figure.
	But it's millions of dollars.
	The actual number, I'm not 100% sure of.
	And that is a lot of money when you think about it.
	$100 million, $200,000, $300 million is a lot of money.
	But comparative to what we as a country spend money on outside of the VA system, it's peanuts.
	It's not billions and trillions of dollars.
	Now, the bill, the bill that the government pays every month for veterans to receive their health care and disability benefits and whatever else entitlements that they are allowed based on their conditions and their service connection, the bill is high.
	The bill, I would venture to say it's in the billions of dollars because we have a lot of people.
	We have a lot of veterans in communities today.
	And so all these claims were made in these articles.
	Well, now VSOs, veteran service organizations, such as the Legion and the VFW, DAV, AMVETS, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and other organizations are all pushing back on this narrative, right?
	And they say things like this: veteran advocacy groups, former officials, and also independent experts.
	So when they say independent experts, there's all kinds of, you can call them firms out there in our communities that claim to do a lot to help veterans that aren't affiliated with the government.
	There's some nonprofits.
	There are some other for-profit programs that will tell veterans, were you denied by the VA?
	If so, come let us help you.
	Let's fix your claim.
	And with the idea that veterans are going to get a back paycheck, right?
	Because so if I Monday morning put in a claim for hammer toe or whatever, insert condition there, and it takes them six months to get me through the evaluation process, and then they have to write their report.
	And some board of doctors or whoever, they review all these as a group.
	Everyone gives their recommendation.
	If they find that, yes, this was service connected, they attach a percentage to that, and then they put it in this formula, and each individual condition is rated individually and then put into a formula with those individual percentages.
	And however that works, that formula spits out an overall disability rating.
	And depending on the rating that you receive, dictates your monthly payment.
	It also dictates what other benefits you may qualify for.
	Of course, the higher the rating, usually the more benefits you get.
	For example, here in Minnesota, if you are 100% service connected through the VA, the state of Minnesota allows you a property tax exemption.
	And so if your home is valued at $350,000 and you've been rated at 100%, you will only pay property tax on your property for $50,000.
	The exemption is $300,000.
	So you only pay taxes on $50,000 of your property's value.
	And so there are many different benefits in every state, and they all can be different.
	Some of them are very similar.
	But just to give you an idea, that's kind of how the system works.
	But these VSOs are saying that these aren't necessarily fraud cases, but more, the issue is more that we have more veterans out in the community.
	After all, we recently just got out of or finished with our despicable drawdown in Afghanistan, but we finished the longest war in our country's history.
	And men and women who serve in our armed forces, some of them did six, seven, eight, nine deployments over all these years.
	Some people only did one.
	Some people did none.
	But the fact of the matter is that when we are sending our soldiers, or we're sending our troops into combat, into a forward area, and many of them multiple times, there's going to be issues.
	There's going to be conditions.
	There's going to be exposure.
	There's going to be mental health struggles.
	Of course, there's going to be physical struggles.
	War is hell.
	We've talked about it multiple times on this show.
	And for many veterans, the things that they had to experience, see, the things that they had to do, it takes a toll.
	After all, as we know, this wasn't really a war that we just dominated in a short amount of time, got in, got out, much like Desert Storm in the early 90s.
	If I remember right, I mean, I was probably, what, 12, 9, something like that in 1991.
	I was nine years old.
	I was born in 1982.
	So I was nine years old.
	If I remember right, once the United States forces cleared that berm from Kuwait into Iraq, the war didn't last very long.
	A couple weeks, maybe, maybe a month at the most.
	Got in, got out, did our shit, and we left.
	This time around, it was what, 22, 23 years, something like that.
	It's a long time.
	In fact, many people who served at the end of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan may have still been in pull-ups when it started.
	May have been even younger, shitting in their diapers when the war started.
	And so just to give you an idea, almost one whole generation, if not for sure, one whole generation of Americans, they don't know, or until recently, what it's like to be an American and live in America during peacetime.
	Many of these people grew up watching the war on television.
	They grew up watching veterans come home maimed or homeless or sick or whatever it is.
	They grew up with it.
	And so, of course, of course, this is going to be new to them, right?
	There's no way around that.
	But also, these veterans who were little children when this started, or maybe not even born, never seen an America, not at war, until a couple years ago.
	And so when we think about that and how many times people have deployed and the rate at which people get out of the military every year, which are thousands of people, all of those people are instructed when they leave, make sure you enroll in VA healthcare.
	If you have any conditions, make sure this is the process.
	This is where you need to go.
	This is who you need to talk to.
	And I'll say that it doesn't always seem like the information is very clear and it's very easy to navigate.
	But there is still this instruction.
	Hey, man, if you got any issues, this is where you need to go.
	You need to find somebody, talk to them, have them help you fill out the claim, paperwork, submit it properly, and all of those things.
	So the VSAs or the VSOs, those veteran service organizations, are saying things like the fraud cases that have been found equate for less than 1% of what the government pays out every month in disability benefits.
	And I would venture to say that these numbers that I found are annual numbers.
	So less than 1% of the annual payments, the annual budget for veterans' disability benefits are going to people that have committed fraud, who are lying about their conditions, or maybe not even veterans.
	And the lengths that some people go to try to get these benefits is pretty astounding.
	Like it makes you think that if these folks would put as much effort into getting a job or going to school and getting trained to get a better job or whatever the case may be, they'd be wildly successful.
	But instead, they choose to spend their time making up stories and trying to defraud the government that way.
	And not only defrauding the government, but in my opinion, it's massively disrespectful to the military and veteran community.
	And so because of that, there are a lot of people saying, well, you know, maybe we got to do away with VA disability.
	Maybe we have to do away with allowing every veteran to apply for VA benefits in health care.
	And so a little side note: what I believe that this may be leading to is a narrative in our country that may even come from the government itself that says, well, if you served in the military, thank you for your service.
	If you didn't serve in combat, these are the VA benefits you're not qualified for.
	These are reserved for veterans who served in combat.
	Which I believe is massively disrespectful to veterans, number one.
	And number two, a ridiculous, a ridiculous way to look at it.
	If our government makes the decision to try to separate combat versus non-combat veterans, it would be a massive tragedy.
	I don't believe that anybody who has made the decision to serve this country and then ends their service with some kind of condition, some kind of injury, some kind of anything that they didn't have when they got there, they should be eligible.
	Now, I served in combat.
	I got a Purple Heart, unfortunately.
	The Enemy Marksmanship Award is what I like to call it.
	And I don't believe that I deserve more benefits or more opportunity than any other veteran who served this country and maybe never deployed, or maybe did deploy, but never got injured.
	I don't believe that that's right.
	I don't believe that that's fair.
	Because once you enter, you really don't have a whole lot of choice.
	You have the ability to make the decision to, number one, join the military.
	You are allowed the option of jobs, of MOSs, but that doesn't always pan out for people.
	Sometimes there is no slots available.
	If you want to be a turret mechanic and learn how to fix turrets and tanks, hydraulic systems, robust mechanical systems, a lot of electronics and computer systems in these tanks and other vehicles with turrets.
	But all the slots across the United States Army, for example, are full.
	But you want to join the, you're going to have to pick something else.
	You can always choose to try to reclass later and learn a different job and change units and all that stuff.
	It is possible.
	But once you get in, you pick your job, and whether you get it or not is irrelevant in this case, you don't have a decision whether or not you go to combat.
	If you're in the military and it's your unit's turn to be called up, go to training, check the boxes, get on a plane or whatever, and go to your area of duty, whatever theater that is, whatever mission or operation it is, that's what you do.
	So why would a person who served during peacetime and never had the ability or the option or the opportunity to deploy to a forward area, why would they automatically be less qualified for benefits than I am?
	I don't believe that that's true.
	And furthermore, that's not the promise that our government made to these men and women when they decided to raise their hand and join the military.
	And so if it needs to change, well, maybe that can be up for discussion.
	But going away, I don't believe is an option.
	And if that's the case, then we need to stop advertising to the young people in this country that we talk to about joining, that our recruiters hunt down in high school cafeterias and in community events and all that other stuff to try to get people to join and be recruited.
	We got to stop telling folks.
	Don't worry, the VA will take care of you if something happens.
	Because this is a precedent, in my opinion, for the government and the powers that be to try to separate our community, to try to separate our culture.
	And I just don't think that it's right.
	It's right.
	Let's go on.
	The rise in disability claims and payouts went from, in 2001, it was about two and a half conditions per veteran is what they got service connected for.
	It went up to, it went up to over seven.
	It went up to over seven conditions per veteran.
	So in less than 20 years, veterans who are applying for VA disability benefits are applying now for seven or more conditions.
	So toxic exposure, we all know and have heard about the burn pits.
	There are things such as electronic warfare, right?
	A lot of these vehicles now have electronic warfare devices mounted to them that will intercept cell phone signals and remote switch signals for IEDs and other types of things that they like to put out to try to get soldiers.
	And, you know, I mean, it's war.
	In Vietnam, we saw things like pungy sticks and tunnel systems and all this other stuff, ways to ambush the enemy.
	That's what happens in war.
	But we went from veterans who were claiming two to two and a half conditions when they left the service to now up over seven.
	And so the other thing to add to this is that the process is super cumbersome.
	Not only do you need to keep copious documentation and notes about the things that happened to you, any documentation you got from seeking out medical care while you're in the service, all of those things are super important to keep.
	And furthermore, I will say that while you're in leadership in all these different units and other people talking to their battle buddies, I mean, you're told as a soldier, whenever you're given a piece of paper, don't get rid of it.
	Don't throw it away.
	Don't shred it.
	Don't lose it.
	Don't leave it out on the kitchen table.
	None of that.
	You take all this paperwork and you put it in a file somewhere, in a safe, in a fireproof box, anything like that.
	Because when you leave, if you have any issues, this is the paperwork that you're going to need to provide the VA to help substantiate your claim for benefits.
	Now, as we know, especially if you served, soldiers, especially young soldiers, they don't give a shit, right?
	You're 20 years old, you're 22 years old, you're invincible, you're at your top peak physical condition, you're a warrior.
	And most people don't think about what they're going to have to deal with when they're 40.
	They don't think about what they're going to have to deal with when they're in their 50s and their 60s.
	And so people don't do a good job at keeping track of all this stuff.
	Some do, some keep everything like they were told.
	And if you don't, it becomes a pretty cumbersome process.
	And I will say that back in 2007, 2008, when I first started going to the VA, I was one of those people.
	I had to find people I served with to have them write statements.
	I had to scour my bags.
	I had to go back to my unit and go through online systems for record keeping.
	And so, you know, people think, well, you know, we have things like iPERMS, which is like a database for all of your records.
	Everything is supposed to be scanned into the system.
	And it might be different now.
	It's been, I got out in 2021.
	So it's been over five years.
	But when you get out and they say, hey, you have 30 days to access your online portal, your iPerms account, which is where all of your records for your whole career should have been scanned in.
	Most people will find that a lot of them are not in there.
	Maybe I didn't submit all of my doctor slips.
	Maybe I didn't submit all of my sick call slips to the unit clerk for them to be scanned into my iPerms account.
	So now, if I don't have that stuff and I go to claim conditions and I don't have any paperwork, tough shit.
	You were told.
	You were told to keep that stuff.
	So, as I said, two and a half conditions per veteran in 2001, to now we're up over seven.
	And this is closely tied to multiple deployments, newer wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, of course.
	And along with that, increased incidence of TBI is a huge one.
	Roadside bombs and mortars and rockets and all these things were very prevalent during the Iraq and Afghanistan war.
	Our enemies killed a lot of soldiers by using improvised explosive devices.
	That's what got me more than once.
	And so we have we're thrusting more men and women into combat and they're getting blown up.
	They're you know, they got trigger time.
	So there's, I mean, there's all kinds of things.
	I don't think we have to dive into each and every thing that happens.
	And so some of these things, toxic exposure also is a huge one nowadays.
	We'll get into that a little bit later.
	But just because the bill is so high, just because there are some instances of fraud and people lying to get benefits, if the data shows that the amount of money that is being paid out every year that is fraudulent is less than half a percent, it's 0.005% of the annual bill for veteran disability benefits.
	Does that cause for alarm?
	I don't know if it's cause for alarm.
	It's definitely cause for an investigation to try to find those people and get them out of the system.
	So we're not paying them their money.
	I mean, 20 bucks is 20 bucks.
	400,000 bucks is $400,000.
	But when you're talking about a budget that's in the trillions, a few hundred thousand dollars doesn't seem all that important.
	A few hundred thousand dollars is pretty important to me.
	I would love to have a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank, but I don't know that this is cause for all this, all this, all these deflammatory news articles and these accusations that say that veterans are a problem for America.
	I don't agree with that.
	And so, we'll dig into the rest of this when we come back.
	We got to take a break.
	We'll be right back.
	Don't go away.
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	Hey, folks, welcome back here.
	Let's continue going down the path here on the topic.
	So, veterans' disability system, the accusations of fraud by men and women who serve this country, all put out by the Washington Post, is what we're discussing.
	And so, let's continue.
	The articles that the Post put out, as it says here, they do cite examples of how the VA claims process is cumbersome.
	It's cumbersome for people.
	Like we talked about before the break, when you apply, you need medical proof.
	You need to be able to talk intelligently and show that your current conditions are part of your service through this medical proof that you should have had saved and all this other stuff.
	The service connection is all part of this.
	You know, the medical records and then being able to talk about your conditions is what helps them to identify whether or not these conditions or injuries or whatever are connected to your time in the military.
	Often, there are folks who put in disability claims for many things.
	And as we discussed, now it's seven or more on average.
	And the VA will say at times, you know, you do have condition C, and we believe that that wasn't due to your service.
	Maybe you were an athlete in high school and had injuries or car accidents or whatever it is.
	Anything that did not happen to you while you were serving in a uniform.
	And so the reason why this is important is because the Washington Post had outlined that the veterans, the VA disability claims process is an honor system type of process.
	And that's not true at all.
	In fact, if you do go in with all these claims and you have no documentation, you have no ability to talk about how these things happen to you as a result of your service, you will get denied.
	And as I said, the system, the process is pretty robust, which in my opinion is probably a large part and a huge reason why these things are super expensive.
	Let's just say for conversation's sake that in the month of December coming up, that 10,000 veterans submit claims for disability, whether they're newly out of the military or you have veterans who have been out for a while, such as myself, who are applying for an increase.
	Maybe conditions got worse.
	Maybe there's new things happening, new things popping up, which are unexplainable.
	They don't make a whole lot of sense.
	And then you put in a claim because this may have happened to you as a result of your service.
	And then the VA evaluates each and every condition that you claim.
	They make you appointments.
	Go to these facilities and you get poked and prodded and questions asked and all of these things sometimes for for hours, almost like they're doing an investigation.
	And so what I will say about the process is, sometimes it does seem pretty intrusive and sometimes it makes veterans think well, why the hell are they doing all this stuff?
	already told them what happened i told them how i got here i told them i told them everything and yet they're still putting me through all of this stuff as if they don't believe what i'm saying and so i can understand how somebody might have that opinion of the process but also keep in mind that the bill every month for veterans disability benefits is extremely large in in the billions of dollars
	And so you have to kind of bite the bullet.
	And if you want to go through this process, if you want to have the VA provide you care and benefits, you got to play the game.
	Like, I don't know that we can make the process so easy that you don't have to be evaluated and you don't have to provide proof.
	But also understand that these things are expensive because not only are we talking about disability payments to veterans every month.
	but all of these doctors are being paid, all of the people that process and adjudicate your claims and do the paperwork and and and spend time evaluating and discussing and assigning uh ratings on.
	I mean, all these people are doing it on the clock.
	They're all federal employees, so all of this money comes out of that budget, and so it is a large bill and I I don't know if I need to say it again, but clearly, if we just spent 20 plus years at war, we're going to have 20 plus years of war shown in the veterans that that are, that are exiting the military,
	and when they joined they were promised.
	If anything happens to you, this is the process, don't worry, we'll evaluate you and if if, if it, if it's true that these are service connected disabilities or conditions or injuries or whatever, you will be duly compensated.
	All of it takes money, and so what I will say on top of all of it is that these these are probably dollars, as long as it's legit that that need to be spent.
	In my opinion, it's just as important as providing enough funding to the current military so that they can be effective and deadly and and do the things that they need to do to defend this country now.
	Not everybody agrees with what the military does around the world.
	Quite frankly, full disclosure there are.
	There are things that that go on, that I don't agree with that the military does, but those things are not up to us, they're not up to you, they're not up to me, but it's necessary.
	And so then, taking care of the people who are doing this necessary work also to me seems necessary, not only because less than one percent of our population wears a uniform every day, but it was promised.
	It was promised to them.
	And so, just because it's a large bill doesn't mean that it's fraud, doesn't mean that the 100% of the problem are shitbags who are trying to defraud the system.
	It happens, but that doesn't mean that the whole community or majority of the community is corrupt and lying and stealing from the taxpayers.
	This country took the youth, took a toll on mental health of all of these people.
	The military and this country took all of that from the people that volunteered to wear a uniform, that knew the cost of service when they joined.
	And so, I can see how there are conversations around the water cooler and in different corners of our communities that, well, you know, I mean, they knew what they were signing up for and they did it anyway.
	Why do we have to pay the bill?
	Well, I think our country has to pay the bill because without those people making the decision to, of their own free will, join the military, we probably wouldn't be speaking English.
	Just my opinion.
	So, the next one says some critics are concerned that the articles that the Washington Post put out could be used as a justification for cutting benefits as a whole and changing the disability rating rules and then also instituting a whole lot more restrictive policies.
	And to be clear, I don't know if that's a horrible idea.
	At the end of the day, I don't know that being more restrictive means that it has to be harder.
	Maybe the process can be refined, it can be updated, it can be modernized.
	I mean, how many other things in our lives have been made a whole lot easier, a whole lot easier due to technology, due to AI, due to lessons learned from the past.
	And again, that's maybe for some people a slippery slope.
	Also, I don't think it's a secret that AI and modernization is going to put people out of work and take over jobs that humans are doing.
	But if we're going to have a system and we're going to have a military force that is thrusting people in and out of combat, which right now we're not at war, but who knows what will happen tomorrow or the day after that.
	If we're going to be a country that is standing at the ready with the ability to respond promptly with sheer force, speed and violence of action, we need to have a robust system.
	We need to have a robust military.
	We need to have updated equipment.
	We need to have people trained to be able to use that equipment and use it effectively to destroy our enemies.
	But we also need to be able to count on, as veterans, as members of the military, count on the things that were promised to us.
	So that when we are in the service and we do get called to go to combat, That we don't have soldiers that are pussyfooting around because they don't want to get injured because they won't be taken care of.
	And it would be a sheer lie if people told you, well, you know, I don't necessarily think about what I'm going to do after the military.
	I don't know where this career is going to take me.
	Maybe I don't even get out of the military.
	Maybe I die in combat.
	And so people, they don't think about it.
	At least not right away.
	But as you get closer to the end of your time, whether you were in for four years, six years, eight years, 15, 30 years, once you in your head have made the decision that I'm not going to re-enlist, or you've made the decision, all right, well, at the end of 2028, I'm going to retire.
	If you haven't thought about what it is you're going to do next and how you're going to get there and how your military career and experience is going to coincide with your life out of the military, I think either you're a piss poor planner or you're lying.
	I think that we all get to that point where we're thinking about what we're going to do next.
	And if in the back of my mind I don't believe that my country is going to take care of me when I volunteered to take care of it, I'm not going to do an amazing professional bang up job because I don't want to get injured.
	Because when I take off this uniform, I got to be able to go to work.
	I got kids to feed.
	I got bills to pay, mortgages, car payments, childcare, food.
	All these things that everybody has to worry about.
	Everybody who's an adult that's not a trust fund baby has to worry about it.
	And so having that in the back of your mind as a soldier, as a member of the military, I believe has helped people keep their eye on the prize.
	Stay mission focused.
	Balls to the wall.
	We're not going to lose.
	We're going to fucking kill everybody if that's what your mission is.
	And so redoing the system and making it more restrictive for veterans, I don't know, is a good thing.
	Making it a little more streamlined would maybe help the cost of this system so that we don't have veterans who are waiting four or five months to see a doctor.
	And to be quite honest, I don't have a good idea of how to revamp the system.
	I'm not an organizational guru like that.
	But I believe that there is something that can be done without having to, number one, separate combat and non-combat veterans and divide our community that's already small enough.
	And in some respects, is already divided.
	I think we've seen it.
	As polarized as our country is today, I think we've seen it.
	We've seen groups of veterans that hate Donald Trump, for example.
	We've seen groups of veterans that are protesting ICE.
	We've seen groups of veterans who are doing all kinds of weird, crazy shit.
	But that's not the majority.
	Not in this community.
	I don't believe so anyway.
	Let's talk about the cost, right?
	We've.
	We've mentioned cost a few times.
	What I got written here is the cost projections.
	Some analysis have estimated that the long-term cost of VA disability, mainly for Iraq and Afghanistan era veterans, could reach up to $1.5 trillion a year by 2050.
	Now that takes into account aging, veterans dying off, but also takes into account that veterans are claiming multiple conditions, which leads into higher ratings, which also leads into more care, more time at the doctor, and also higher disability benefit payments.
	And so $1.5 trillion a year.
	Now, that's 25 years from now.
	But I think that we could say if it's $1.5 trillion in 25 years, we're in the billions of dollars a year now, hundreds of billions of dollars.
	The difference, if you haven't looked, side note, if you haven't looked at the difference between $1 million, $1 billion, and $1 trillion, you should do that.
	You should look it up.
	It's a lot bigger difference than I thought it was until I actually saw it for myself.
	That's a lot of money.
	And so then just think about if it's that expensive, does that trigger thoughts in people's minds about what these men and women may have gone through in order to get these disability payments and get the free medical care for the rest of their lives?
	And I don't know that this is something that we can villainize veterans about.
	Can't villainize them for that.
	I'll tell you, if I could rewind time, I would still serve in the military.
	I'd still do what I did.
	But I would gladly take the opportunity to avoid the very specific times and instances that led to my injuries and my ailments and tell the government you can keep your money.
	You can keep your health care.
	I'd rather be pain-free.
	I'd rather sleep normally.
	I'd rather be less irritated.
	I'd rather be less anxious.
	I would give back all the times that my family, my son, my wife, other people that are close to me, I would take all of those memories that aren't so good of things that I did to maybe cause some bad memories,
	outbursts I've had, suicide attempt, all of those things, I would give all of that back to the universe, including all the money I've ever been paid in disability benefits, including all the money that the government has paid the VA, the Mayo Clinic, anywhere else that I've had to go get care.
	I'd give all of it back to not have the ailments that I have.
	And so when people make the decision to put out new stories to villainize veterans, maybe they should stop and fucking think about that.
	Maybe you should stop and think about all the shit that these men and women had to go through.
	And maybe ask yourself, do you think that they would give all the money back?
	They would change those experiences just a little bit so they didn't have to deal with this shit for the rest of their lives.
	Maybe some would say no.
	Maybe some people would say, no, I'd never change.
	I wouldn't change a thing.
	But I'm willing to bet that a large number of people in the veteran community would give it all back to not have to deal with the things they have to deal with.
	And I also think that it's rare that we find veterans that are mad, that are pissed off that they had to go through all of that.
	And why?
	Because we know.
	We knew what we were signing up for.
	Especially if you joined at a time of war, which is a lot of people now because we were at war for so long.
	You knew there was a chance.
	And you did it anyway.
	So did I.
	But to villainize veterans for it, I think is distasteful.
	I don't know that enough research was done.
	I don't know that enough questions were asked or answered.
	I don't know that enough common sense was used.
	And I think that this is just the start.
	I think that there's a chance $1.5 trillion a year by 2050 could be on the low side.
	We haven't seen the effects of toxic exposure yet.
	Not, I mean, we have seen it.
	I mean, veterans are dying often from burn pits and other depleted uranium and other toxic exposure, groundwater, contamination, all that stuff.
	But I'll share with you a little personal story.
	Recently, I was at the VA for my annual checkup with the TBI doctor that I've been seeing since 2007.
	And just so you know, this guy is one of the only medical professionals that I trust, that I can sit down with.
	He can tell me what's happening with me.
	He can read all my records and tell me, well, I think that you should do A, B, and C.
	And if you don't, this is what you can expect.
	If you do, this is what you can expect.
	And if there is no good answer and there is possibly not a great outcome, he's not going to sugarcoat it for me.
	And so I appreciate that.
	And so recently when I was in his office, there wasn't a whole lot of pleasantries at the beginning of the appointment.
	The appointment started with, I'm concerned, which really threw me off.
	Which really threw me off.
	Earlier this year, I'm pretty sure I talked about it on the show at some point.
	I had a couple stents installed in my brain.
	And while they were in there, they found a blood clot or two.
	And so this doctor that I see all the time, I've been seeing since 07, well, not all the time, I see him once a year now, is concerned about why it was there, where it was at.
	Apparently, blood clots in your brain that are in different spots can tell different things.
	And then when he also followed it up with, I don't understand, I don't know why, I don't know how it started, I don't know how they got there, none of it seems to make sense.
	And then follow it up with, we have been seeing increased instances of strange anomalies in people, such as blood clots, such as rare forms of cancer, such as all kinds of different rare conditions, some things doctors have never seen.
	And when they track symptoms and they track all of these things amongst all of these people and compare notes, it all leads back somehow to toxic exposure, to burn pits, to depleted uranium, to mustard gas, to all of these things, like electronic warfare devices.
	And so I don't know that we've really seen the real full huge ramp up of what toxic exposure to our troops really is going to do.
	I believe that this is going to be the agent orange of the Iraq and Afghanistan war.
	The difference is that the government didn't deny it for years.
	But I also don't know that they're doing a whole lot to make it a whole lot better.
	And probably part of that is because they just don't know what they don't know.
	Things are super random.
	But now all of a sudden I walk in to see the guy I see once a year.
	I'm pumped to see him because he always doesn't always have good news, but he always has a positive outlook on the progress I've made and what's going on in my life and both medically and otherwise.
	And then you get this information about, you know, early onset dementia and Parkinson's disease and all these other things that are super concerning to me.
	One of my biggest fears in my life, and I don't know that I have a ton of fears that are something that kind of drag me down from day to day.
	But one of the biggest fears in my life is that I will wake up one day and not recognize my kids, my parents, my siblings, my wife.
	I felt like things were going all right.
	And so if this is whatever's going on with me, I got a whole lot of testing, neurological testing and all this other stuff to do to narrow down what's actually, maybe it's nothing, who knows.
	But the point is, I've never seen the guy concerned like that.
	And everything he's ever told me is going to happen to me has happened.
	And usually in the way he says it'll happen.
	Well, you know, if you don't do this, this, this treatment, here's what you can expect.
	You don't have to do it, but just know that this may be the consequences of not.
	And he's never been wrong.
	In all the years I've been going to him.
	And so if it's true that these veterans and these people in these conditions are mysterious, but they're all linked back to this exposure, what's concerning.
	And so maybe we got off the track a little bit of the main point, but the point I'm trying to make is that $1.5 trillion by 2050, it may be a low estimate.
	And I believe that as a country, our government, the bureaucrats and politicians should be making a plan for this so that the men and women who serve this country don't have to go without.
	We know that it's going to get more expensive.
	They already know that.
	Will it be 1.5 trillion?
	Maybe not.
	Is it going to be more than that?
	Maybe, but maybe not.
	But if we, if we keep, it's just, it's so fucking frustrating.
	We can say that veterans' benefits is too expensive for our country, but then would turn around and send millions and billions of dollars all over this globe to do some other stupid shit.
	I don't know, man.
	I think that priorities, priorities as it relates to taxpayer dollars are all fucked up.
	And not just for the sake of veterans, but for the sake of everybody.
	I don't believe that we should stop doing all this foreign aid and all this other bullshit just to save the hide of the men and women that serve this country.
	But I believe that they should all be reined in for the betterment of everybody.
	Everybody who puts into the system.
	Everybody who pays taxes.
	And in my opinion, most taxpayers in this country are getting fucked.
	Excuse my language, but man, it's frustrating.
	Anyway, folks, we've run out of time for the show today.
	I want to, again, thank you for being here.
	We will be back next week.
	Have a great rest of your night.
	Good night.
	As Christians in a Christian country, we have a right to be at minimum agnostic about the leadership being all Jewishly occupied.
	We literally should be at war with fucking Israel a hundred times over and instead we're just sending them money and it's fucking craziness.
	Look at the side of Israel.
	Look at the side of Tel Aviv and look at the side of Philadelphia.
	You tell me where this money's going.
	You tell me who's benefiting from this.
	I am prepared to die in the battle fighting this monstrosity that would wish to enslave me and my family and steal away any rights to my property and to take away my God.
	Go fuck yourself.
	Will I submit to that?
	And if you've got a foreign study, you've got dual citizens in your government, who do you think they're supporting?
	God, right now, would you protect the nation of Israel and protect those of us, not just our church, but every church in the world and in this nation that's willing to put their neck on the line and say we stand with them.
	You go to Trump's cabinet.
	You've got Biden's cabinet.
	It's full of Jews.
	Black friend in school.
	I have nothing against blacks.
	She has nothing against me.
	She understands where I'm coming from.
	Excuse me, I'm a Jew, and I just like to say that, you know, in our Bible, it says that you're like animals.
	The Jews crucified our God.
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