When my wife was riffed in August 1994 (13 years, 3 months and 4 days after commissioning), the transition assistance person did help her with going over her medical records. A year later, VA gave her a 30%. A few years later, a review upped that to 70%. She was out of work from August 1997 - August 2012 due to PTSD and other effects of her service connected disabilities. She received no stipend for several years as federal law allows the VA to consider the $50,000 separation "bonus" she got when riffed as a lump sum disability payment, which must be paid back. Inquired to the IRS about getting a refund of the taxes. They said, yes the VA can do that, but the money was taxable at the time, so no refund.
She was a field test engineer, usually remote locations stateside. However, she was in Kuwait in August 1990 when Iraq attacked. They got out not far ahead of the assault on the Kuwaiti base. She was in Saudi, was at a base that got hit by SCUDs. She had other injuries from when in the field.
One might see that August is not really our favorite month.
She drives my 2009 Pontiac Vibe, as her knee trouble has worsened and she can no longer drive her 2015 Ford Focus with the manual transmission.
She's been at NAVAIR 10 1/2 years and likes the job.
