[Illirmpipse]

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 18, 2011 8:37:21 EDT

WASHINGTON — Staff Sgt. Nicholas Lanier has entered what he calls the “vast unknown.” A combat veteran and father to four daughters, he can’t remain in the military because of a serious back injury earned in Iraq.

But he can’t yet accept a civilian job because he doesn’t know when the military will discharge him. He has no clue how much the government will pay him in disability compensation related to his injury, so he can’t make a future budget. He just waits.

“I don’t have any idea what the end stat is going to be on the other side. When you have a family and you are trying to plan for the future, that’s going to affect a lot of things,” said Lanier, a 37-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga., who walks with a limp because of related nerve damage. “The only known is that it takes time.”

Thousands of troops are like Lanier: not fully fit to serve but in limbo for about two years waiting to get discharged under a new system ... Read the rest of the story here.

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What do you think about the "vast unknown" facing troops waiting for military discharge and disability? What should be done about the issue?