When I first ambled in to this Westside Residence Hall we homeless vets lovingly call “Backside”, I saw a balding, well-groomed vet sitting on the outside benches and he looked different from the usual raggedy-pants, disheveled, scruffy vets I was seeing everywhere else at the dorm, so I decided he might be a good person to give me the straight scoop on this new place that I was trying to fit in to.
I asked him a few simple questions and he growled, “Whaddya, writing a fuckin’ book?”
Okay, I thought as I slunk away, must be one of those PTSD guys I’ve been hearing about.
Over the next few months, the only information I could gather on him was that he was “The Corvette Guy.” He owned an immaculate Corvette with a spotless engine. You could eat breakfast off his manifolds. I mean spotless.
It wasn’t until I moved up to G.P. that Wayne would finally talk to me. He has a point. Most V.I.P.s aren’t worth the effort of getting to know, not in the V.I.P. larvae stage anyway.
Wayne is a Vietnam vet who stepped on a land mine and lost his leg. I never knew he was missing a leg until I overheard a conversation he was having with another old timer here, Uncle Miltie. Wayne’s prosthetic leg must fit well. It’s seamless.
Wayne was a private investigator for 20 years after his service and then used his ten point preference to get an F.B.I. job, even though he only has a nineth grade education.
Wayne’s heart attack ended his F.B.I. career and now Wayne is an 80% veteran, soon to be 100%. If he gets bumped up to a 100% disability rating, that’ll be worth about $150,000.00 in back pay and about $2500.00 a month.
It’s WAY past time for me to get up off my duff and hire an attorney to sue the V.A. I need my 10% bumped up to 50%. Wayne is clueing me in on where to get the attorney.
Damn! I’ll STILL have to work another 16 years til retirement. I don’t know if I can make it. I’m tired of working. Sixteen more years of guarding couches. Lord, Lord, lift this burden from me.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, veterans shelter, homeless veterans, homeless, Corvette, PTSD, Veterans In Progress program, V.I.P., ten point preference, Vietnam vet, land mine, prosthetic leg, private investigator, FBI, 100 percent disability rating, guarding couches, jarvis, factotum, bum, tramp, vagabond, transient
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