Wait....how the f'n hell are you getting $860 a month on less than 60% disability?! I'm at almost 40% disability and get a bit over $400 a month? What was your rank when you got out? Maybe you were smart and joined a bit earlier than I did at 21 and obtained a higher rank? As for the working online: unless you have some moderate coding or exceptional writing skills you probably won't have much luck getting work online. If you possessed a security clearance (and have been out of the military for less than 2 years) I would highly suggest you go to Security Clearance Jobs - ClearanceJobs and upload your resume and look for work over seas. You can make anywhere from $100k-400k per year contracting, depending on your skill set of course. (Avoid security positions as they generally only pay around $50k-75k per year.) I've been contacting on and off since 2008 (since I was 25) and have done very well for myself. On average I work 1 year and take one year off....but I'm in good with my company and they allow me this freedom. If your experience in the military involved air defense, radios, crypto, intel or C-IED stuff I can point you in the right direction. (I work on radio/cell phone jammers for a C-IED program with Lockheed Martin. These programs have not seen much of pay cut like a lot of other programs have. After the first year you would be looking at an effective pay of around $200k, after the $105k tax free benefit of working overseas.) Being smart with your money and you could have around $1M saved up after 5-6 years or so. Then your $860/month would allow you to stretch that money out, if smart, for the rest of your life.
Ah, forgot one, more immediate, option for you. If you use your Post 9/11 GI Bill you can go to school in the Philippines. They give you a living allowance of around $1300-1400 per month for going to school overseas. That's give you around 4 years living in the Philippines plus a degree. You could do very well for yourself on $2300 per month.
Rank has nothing to do with VA Disability Compensation. Here is the new (Dec 2017) schedule for single with no dependents: 10% $136.24 20% $269.30 30% $417.15 40% $600.90 50% $855.41 60% $1,083.52 70% $1,365.48 80% $1,587.25 90% $1,783.68 100% $2,973.86 or see the full schedule at Veterans Compensation Benefits Rate Tables - Effective 12/1/17 - Compensation
Maybe I missed something somewhere with the 860$, did you get injured in combat or just on the job? For you not doing a full 20 years in the service to get retirement at anytime you could loose your benefits!!! You were put out for being medically unable to do your job? Yes? So that puts you in a very bad spot! You need to realize that you need to be in a place where you can get treatment on a regular schedule, the VA put you under 100% because they feel you can and with treatment get better whitch in turn will change your rating to 0%!!! There is a part in your separation paperwork that tells you all this in a language not many understand without a lawyer, I have seen it happen time and time again! It says that if you are not getting regular treatment for your SC condition then as far as the VA is concerned you are OK therefore you can work and live a normal life. Now I live in Angeles City and prices here for everything are higher than they are in th states but I am married (22 years) and have rental properties and a 10 hectare fruit farm, with that I am wheelchair bound due to a training accident but I was already over my 20 year mark, so I also pull a full retirement!!! I am P&T Rated for 5 SC conditions, so once you get a P&T (permanent & total) you don’t really have much to worry about, but which ever service that put you out for whatever reason you need to understand that they are expecting to see regular doctors appointments either through the FMP program or the VA, as far as the Philipppines goes, if they don’t see you doing anything about your conditions they will in time get you for failure to get treatment and they can backdate that up to your last doctors appointment or further and then you will be in even more sh*t than you could ever imagine!!! You will be disqualified from SSA, food stamps, and could face jail time!!! So here is my suggestion to you from my standpoint, while you are in the U.S. work on getting your SC to 100%, if there is no VA facilities within ?? Miles of you you have to call the one that manages your care and either go see them every month or if they are to far away then you are able to request to see a Dr. In your area. If it is a specialized doc you need to see and you have one in your area then request to see him and go every month and make sure he documents your ups and downs with what ever your problem is! It would help a lot to know what you are disabled for that way I could help you a little more, and if it is a combined rating then that is another ball game all together... So for you to come here and go way down south you are still required to come to either Manila or Guam every year for a check-up, so you are looking at transportation cost and lodging if you don’t have your own transpo! And the VA here is not paying for that anymore!!! Although we are trying to fight it, you never know!!! The people that run the VA here in the Philippines are doing their best to get it closed down, because we get paid more than them and either they don’t want to be here, or whatever reason. We have already filled a number a cases with them for all kinds of things, so we will see where all that goes. Sorry for babbling on but I just see so many young kids getting screwed for things they are not aware of and they are not coming to the right people to get the answers or even know what questions to ask.... Good luck to you, Goose out
I use one of the sites .. know some nice girls in Duma with it.. ones with jobs checkable Facebook pages... real ones. The scammers are easy to pick after a few conversations if you know what tosay and questions to ask.
My experience is that they come to the Philippines to sit around a cafe drinking Red Horse and complain about the Philippines. I think that may be part of the reason for the "trailer trash" comments earlier in the thread.
There is certainly a group of them like that any country you go to, but that is not all there is. I meet with a dozen expats a week that for the most part don't drink at all.
Yeah, I guess you're right. The complainers are just the most visible, i.e. loudest. Most expats are living fairly quiet, happy lives.
Ain't that the truth in every aspect of life... complainers from expats to religion to politics to.... ALWAYS have big mouths and only occasionally have a valid point.
