WASHINGTON , Illinois ( CNN ) -- Ty Ziegel peers from beneath his Marine Corps baseball cap , his once boyish face burned beyond recognition by a suicide bomber 's attack in Iraq just three days before Christmas 2004 . Ty Ziegel , a Marine , was badly wounded in Iraq . He battled the VA over disability benefits when he returned . He lost part of his skull in the blast and part of his brain was damaged . Half of his left arm was amputated and some of the fingers were blown off his right hand . Ziegel , a 25-year-old Marine sergeant , knew the dangers of war when he was deployed for his second tour in Iraq . But he did n't expect a new battle when he returned home as a wounded warrior : a fight with the Department of Veterans Affairs . `` Sometimes , you get lost in the system , '' he told CNN . `` I feel like a Social Security number . I do n't feel like Tyler Ziegel . '' His story is one example of how medical advances in the battlefield have outpaced the home front . Many wounded veterans return home feeling that the VA system , specifically its 62-year-old disability ratings system , has failed them . Watch Ziegel display his model skull » . `` The VA system is not ready , and they simply do n't have time to catch up , '' Tammy Duckworth -- herself a wounded veteran who heads up the Illinois Department of Veteran Affairs -- told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in March . VA Acting Secretary Gordon Mansfield said cases like Ziegel 's are rare -- that the majority of veterans are moving through the process and `` being taken care of . '' He also said most veterans are fairly compensated . `` Any veteran with the same issue , if it 's a medical disability , ... it is going to get the same exact result anywhere in our system , '' he said . More than 28,500 troops have been wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom , including about 8,500 that have needed air transport , according to the U.S. military . See photos of these Iraq war heroes » . A recent Harvard study found that the cost of caring for those wounded over the course of their lifetime could ultimately cost more than $ 660 billion . In Ziegel 's case , he spent nearly two years recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas . Once he got out of the hospital , he was unable to hold a job . He anticipated receiving a monthly VA disability check sufficient to cover his small-town lifestyle in Washington , Illinois . Instead , he got a check for far less than expected . After pressing for answers , Ziegel finally received a letter from the VA that rated his injuries : 80 percent for facial disfigurement , 60 percent for left arm amputation , a mere 10 percent for head trauma and nothing for his left lobe brain injury , right eye blindness and jaw fracture . `` I do n't get too mad about too many things , '' he said . `` But once we 've been getting into this , I 'm ready to beat down the White House door if I need to . '' `` I 'm not expecting to live in the lap of luxury , '' he added . `` But I am asking them to make it comfortable to raise a family and not have to struggle . '' Within 48 hours of telling his story to CNN this summer , the Office of then-VA Secretary Jim Nicholson acted on Ziegel 's case . The VA changed his head trauma injury , once rated at 10 percent , to traumatic brain injury rated at 100 percent , substantially increasing his monthly disability check . Duckworth , the Illinois VA chief , knows exactly what Ziegel and other severely wounded vets are going through . She lost both her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade struck her Blackhawk helicopter on November 12 , 2004 . Her right arm was also shattered . Watch how Duckworth 's wounds changed her life » . She told CNN she received `` incredible care '' at Walter Reed for 13 months , but soon realized the transition to the VA would n't be as smooth . `` I started worrying about the fact that maybe this country wo n't remember in five years that there are these war wounded , '' Duckworth said . Garrett Anderson with the Illinois National Guard , for example , has been fighting the VA since October 15 , 2005 . Shrapnel tore through his head and body after a roadside bomb blew up the truck he was driving . He lost his right arm . The VA initially rejected his claim , saying his severe shrapnel wounds were `` not service connected . '' Watch Anderson describe `` my arm was hanging there '' » . `` Who would want to tell an Iraqi or Afghanistan soldier who was blown up by an IED that his wounds were not caused by his service over there ? '' said Anderson 's wife , Sam . After pressure from Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois , the VA acted on Anderson 's case . He has since been awarded compensation for a traumatic brain injury . `` It upsets me that the VA system operates in a way that it takes people of power -- and who you know and what you know -- to get what you want , '' said Anderson , who is now retired . When asked about Anderson 's case specifically , the VA 's Mansfield said such cases make him `` more dedicated '' to fixing the system . In July , President Bush and a commission appointed to review the care of veterans returning from war announced the need for a complete overhaul of the disability ratings system , which dates back to World War II . The VA is now considering action on the commission 's recommendations . Ziegel eventually won his battle . Still he feels for so many others he believes are getting cheated by the system . `` We 're feeding the war machine , but you never think of the war machine that comes home and needs , you know , feeding back home , '' he said . His family hopes they do n't have to fight the VA again . In August , Ty Ziegel 's brother , 22-year-old Zach Ziegel , was deployed to Iraq . `` I want to make the VA system better because if he has to go through anything I went through , that 's really going to upset me . That 'll make my fuse real short and hot , '' Ty Ziegel said . E-mail to a friend .
Ty Ziegel lost an eye , part of his brain when he was deployed in Afghanistan . VA initially rated his brain injury at 0 % , meaning he got no compensation for it . Another vet : VA rejected his claim , saying his injuries were ` ` not service connected '' Ty : ` ` I want to make the VA system better ''