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For more than 20 years, Army Veteran Rob Muncy talked himself out of pursuing VA disability benefits. Rob’s brother, a Navy Veteran, repeatedly encouraged him to go to the VA.
Rob said no every time.
“I thought if I could walk and I could talk, I didn’t need a rating.”
It would be more than two decades before Rob finally filed a VA disability claim and received a 10% rating for tinnitus.
That first rating opened the door to pursuing additional claims. But when Rob tried navigating the process on his own, he spent another five years making what he calls “zero progress.”
In 2023, Rob joined the VA Claims Insider Elite Program. With guidance from his Veteran Coach, his combined VA rating increased from 10% to 60%, and then to 80%.
But Rob’s success story is about more than his rating. It’s about the decades he spent convincing himself that VA disability benefits were for other Veterans, and what happened when he finally got the guidance he needed to move forward.
Table of Contents
An Army Career That Started With a Teletypewriter
Rob joined the US Army out of Ohio in 1982. When he met with his recruiter, he told him he was interested in computer repair.
“Yeah, we got the next best thing right here,” the recruiter told him.
That “next best thing” was becoming a teletypewriter repairman.
Rob spent the next six months learning how to repair more than a dozen different kinds of teletypewriters, an early communications technology he describes as a precursor to fax machines and computers.
When he arrived at his first unit, he discovered they didn’t even use them.
His Army experience quickly expanded beyond the job he had originally trained for. While stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, Rob trained with Army Rangers in land navigation, rope bridges, rappelling, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing.
When he was later stationed in Germany, Rob ran into the same problem: that unit didn’t use teletypewriters either. So the Army found him a different role.
Rob became an electronic shop foreman, managing schedules, personnel, rosters, and workflows for other Soldiers.
In 1986, Rob took an early separation from the Army and began the transition back to civilian life.
Rob had a plan for life after the Army.
He and his best friend had enlisted together through the buddy system. After Rob got out, they planned to drive across the country to California, see the country, and start the next chapter of their lives.
But two weeks before Rob separated from the Army, his friend died.
With his plans suddenly changed, Rob spent the months after leaving the Army trying to find his footing in civilian life, moving between California and South Carolina and taking whatever work he could find.
VA disability benefits weren’t really on Rob’s radar at the time. He left the Army largely uninformed about them and didn’t believe they were something he needed to pursue.
So he didn’t.
“I Told Him No for 20 Years”
Rob’s brother, a Navy Veteran who had received a 100% P&T rating, repeatedly encouraged him to go to the VA.
For years, Rob wasn’t interested.
But Veterans remained an important part of Rob’s life. He eventually became a pastor in Kentucky, where many of the people in his church are fellow Veterans. Wanting to connect with and minister to that community, Rob joined the American Legion.
At the American Legion, Rob found the Veteran community he was looking for.
“That’s where my vets are,” he says.
One day, while talking with another Veteran there, the conversation turned to ringing in the ears. As the Veteran described what he was experiencing, Rob realized he was dealing with the same thing.
A VSO at the Legion helped Rob get a hearing evaluation and file his first claim. The VA ultimately awarded him a 10% rating for tinnitus, his first VA rating more than 20 years after leaving the Army.
That first rating also introduced Rob to VA health care. Rob says he began receiving his health care through the VA and decided to stop paying roughly $150 a month for private health insurance.
Trying on His Own
After receiving his 10% rating for tinnitus, Rob learned he could pursue additional claims. He took what he describes as “the shotgun approach,” writing letters, filing claims, and trying to navigate the process himself.
For the next five years, he kept at it without getting the results he was hoping for.
Eventually, Rob saw an ad for VA Claims Insider and decided it was worth a try.
In 2023, he joined the VA Claims Insider Elite Program and was paired with a Veteran Coach.
Finally Having a Clear Path Forward
One of the biggest differences for Rob after joining Elite was having a Veteran Coach help him navigate the parts of the claims process he hadn’t understood on his own.
His coach helped him understand the terminology, the options in front of him, and what applied to the claims he was pursuing.
For Rob, the claims process finally began to make sense.
“All the stuff that would have stopped me, that did stop me in the past, didn’t stop me anymore.”
From 10% to 80%
Rob says his first major increase took his combined VA disability rating from 10% to 60%.
When that decision came through, Rob says he was doing “mental back flips.” His Veteran Coach congratulated him, then calmly turned the conversation toward what came next.
Rob joked with his coach, “Aren’t you going to yell or anything?”
Then he kept going. Additional claims later brought Rob’s combined VA disability rating to 80%.
It was a long way from the 10% rating Rob once thought was enough.
“If I hadn’t joined, I’d still be at 10%. Thinking I was doing great.”
After spending decades talking himself out of pursuing VA disability benefits, Rob is grateful he finally did.
“I’m amazed. I mean, I’m just so thankful. So grateful.”
What He Wants Other Veterans to Know
Today, Rob encourages other Veterans, including those in his own church, to pursue the benefits they deserve.
“Don’t talk yourself out of it like I did for 20, 30 years.”
Rob knows exactly what that kind of self-talk sounds like because he spent years doing it himself.
“I’m not taking any money from a guy that needs it worse than me,” he remembers thinking.
But that belief was based on a common misconception. One Veteran receiving VA disability compensation does not take benefits away from another Veteran. The VA evaluates each Veteran’s claim based on their own disabilities, military service, and supporting evidence.
For Rob, that mindset was similar to something deeply ingrained during military service: if something was wrong, you pushed through it instead of asking for help.
After spending decades convincing himself not to pursue VA benefits, Rob hopes sharing his experience can help another Veteran avoid doing the same.
His reason for telling his story is simple:
“I hope this helps somebody.”
YOU SERVED. YOU DESERVE.
If you’ve been denied, discouraged, or told your case isn’t worth filing, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Schedule a Discovery Call with our team and get a clear plan for your next steps.
About the Author
Eric Webb
Eric has written and worked in the field of Veterans Disability since 2020 and enjoys writing educational content for the veteran population. His prior work has been published in the Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). He holds a Degree in Health and Exercise Science.
