540 Days' Wait for a Disability Claim!

So, you've served in Iraq or Afghanistan, lost a limb and want to get some disability compensation, right?

Well, according to the narrative in the 2012 budget request of the Veterans Benefits Administration, be prepared for a long wait.

The Defense Department and the VBA currently operate separate and often redundant disability evaluation systems. That means it takes an average of 540 days from time of referral to a medical evaluation board to receipt of a VA benefit check while waiting in the limbo of a Warrior Transition Unit.

But wait, there's good news. Defense and VBA have created the Integrated Disability Evaluation System now used by 48 percent of all service members and will be installed at all military hospitals by this October.

Now here's the bad news: Even under the new and improved system, it still takes 299 days to finish the claims process.

That's one day more than the entire first Gulf War.