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The people pictured above are a few of the executives
responsible for the daily operations of your VA.
"This country is capable of drafting you, putting you in
boot camp, teaching you to kill someone,
and then putting you in a war zone within six months.
So, why can't they process a claim that fast?"
responsible for the daily operations of your VA.
"This country is capable of drafting you, putting you in
boot camp, teaching you to kill someone,
and then putting you in a war zone within six months.
So, why can't they process a claim that fast?"
VAWatchdog Today
About VAWatchdog; How to use the site.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Samuel Johnson
Strange Bedfellows
Today’s report from Las Vegas: Combat vets rally against splitting disability pay with ex-spouses
The report says 8 combat veterans are protesting the way divorce courts (and one particular divorce lawyer) penalize these heroic men who have spilled blood for their country in a time of war. They are members of the 5301 Club.
Their leaders and supporters often write to me such things as; “Congress long ago gave VA disability a higher priority in law than (child) support payments.” This came from a Mr. Mark Beres. Once I corresponded to Mr. Beres with questions about why he was court martialed for a “myriad of crimes” in his brief Air Force career, he ceased communications with me.
Strange bedfellows, indeed. These are the sort of heroes that claim to represent the rest of us and who represent the tiny 5301 Club.
The reference 5301 is to an obscure federal law that says that a veterans disability compensation benefits can’t be garnished in order to force the vet to pay a debt. The federal rule goes on to say that those benefits can’t be garnished except as authorized by law...but the 5301 Club doesn’t want you to hear that part.
Once the issue of how 5301 may affect divorced or divorcing veterans is closely examined, it becomes apparent it isn't much of an problem at all. These 8 angry older fellows seem to be about all there is to the issue.
The American landscape holds some 23,000,000 veterans as of 9/30/2011. There were 8 at the Las Vegas “rally”.
So why all the fuss about 5301? Now that you mention it, there isn't any. This little boy’s club of angry veterans doesn't represent all veterans. It doesn't represent most veterans. This is a small handful of pissed off old fellows who are as angry at their ex-wives as anyone you'll ever see.
They talk as if they were combat veterans, heroes who sacrificed mightily. Most vets don't collect retirement benefits nor do they receive any sort of disability compensation. Most veterans who receive VA disability benefits never saw combat. They may have gotten sick in basic training or had an injury delivering company mail in Hawaii.
VA doesn’t differentiate combat from any other disabling condition. Stolen valor is a commonplace trait amongst the louder of our breed.
Military members & veterans are divorcing. They're splitting up at about the same rate as civilians. Divorces are shuffling along at a rate of about 3.6%. There were about 30,000 service members divorcing in fiscal 2011. While there aren't any accurate stats about how many veterans are divorcing, we can trust that the rate of divorce is about equal to all the other groups. We’re pretty normal, most of us.
The great majority of us who do receive VA disability compensation and also end up in divorce court just pay what the court orders and life marches on. Divorce is never fair. Neither party in a divorce will walk away happy.
Most of us get over it. Most of us confess that we could have done things better and we wish that it had all gone a bit differently. Most vets who are divorced are taking care of the kids. Most vets pay their bills on time. Most vets try a little harder to get a little extra for their kids. Most vets see the kids often, don't make threats, and they don't hurl threatening language at anyone who disagrees with them.
Stars & Stripes recently reported that military marriages are doing well. It seems that the relatively good pay and benefits...particularly good benefits for the kids...provide an incentive to make the marriage work. Sure, active military and veterans have unique issues to face in a marriage but they also have a unique support structure that civilians can't begin to understand.
In years past, I’ve interviewed some of the ex-wives of the 5301 Club leaders. They’ve described to me the hellish sort of existence they had with their abusive husbands. They didn’t describe them so much as brave war heroes as men who had serious problems with women.
The 5301 Club and the rag-tag supporters who sling barbs at Attorney Willick may now have to answer for their misplaced accusations. Public slander of an attorney can be a dangerous toy to play with. Mr. Willick is a highly respected advocate for his clients. His clients include women who have been abused, physically and mentally, by their veteran spouses. These 5301 fans, these veterans, want to continue the abuse of the ex wives by defying the courts and the law of the land.
These self made heroes may have picked the wrong one to abuse and threaten this time. This is not a cowering military wife, this is a professional who has a hard earned good reputation that he can't allow to be sullied. Unlike their more fragile ex-spouse, the attorney can fight back.
And I believe he will.
The VA Tells the Truth About Guns
The NRA Can't Handle It
The Hidden Costs of War: Veterans and Dementia
Veterans Exposed to Explosions at Risk for Dementia
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease found in recent years among deceased professional football players who had suffered multiple concussions, is showing up in combat service members exposed to explosions. What researchers said was particularly alarming was evidence that the disorder could result from exposure to a single blast.
It Can Be Done: Suing The Veterans Administration
Jeffrey A. Milman, Esq. Founding Partner at Hodes-Milman-Lieback
VA effort fights heart disease in women
The Veterans Affairs Department is stepping up efforts to diagnose and treat heart disease in women as part of a cooperative effort with the American Heart Association.
Learning How to Say: “We Regret to Inform You That…”
Veterans for Obama
Why is Romney struggling with veterans? It's pretty simple. Just take a look at his record. As Governor he proposed eliminating hiring preferences for veterans applying for civil service and tried to cut veterans' programs by 11 percent in his first budget proposal. Just last year, Romney proposed turning the VA healthcare system into a voucher program, which was met with loud opposition by military families across the country. And let's not forget that Romney was one of the loudest critics of President Obama's leadership in ending the Iraq War.
Veterans United For Truth - The Current Newsletter
We have learned—and proven—that the VA cannot be trusted to tell us or Congress the truth. At a time when the VA was publicly reporting only 790 veteran suicide attempts in all of 2007, this lawsuit revealed for the first time an internal email from VA’s head of mental health that quietly cautioned, “Shh!...Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month…Is this something we should (carefully) address...before someone stumbles on it?”
Pentagon: We Don’t Call Them POWs Anymore
The POW designation was changed several years ago to `Missing-Captured,’” Commander William Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman, says. “The `POW’ designation has gone away completely.”
Bowe Bergdahl: Born in Idaho, a Prisoner of War in Afghanistan
“Bergdahl’s not a POW because we don’t qualify Afghanistan as an international armed conflict,” he says. “We see it as an internal conflict with an international presence, which makes him a person detained in the context of a non-international armed conflict.”
Veterans appreciate benefits, but need help
Veteran housing plan stirs debate
North Carolina Veterans...
I'm seeking veterans in the Charlotte area who may have experienced a delay in getting mental health care. For that matter, I'd like to hear from any vet in that neighborhood who has a problem with scheduling any care, whether for mental or physical health appointments. If you've had a problem, we want to talk to you about it. Email me at <TheVAWatchdog@Gmail.com>
Divorce In Military Families – How It’s Different & What You Need To Know
TRICARE - Health Care for Service Members and Others
What Do I Need to Know about the Federal Electronic Benefits Rules?
A Servicemembers Guide to Student Loan Interest Rates
Jim's Mailbag
Interactive Form and Letter Generators
Obama targeting veterans for votes
Military Looks To Redefine PTSD, Without Stigma
Georgia veterans concerned over fees for staying in state homes
Veterans for Obama
Your Questions; Asked & Answered
VAWatchdog answers the most often asked questions and solves the most common perplexing VA rules
Brain Ailments in Veterans Likened to Those in Athletes
Scientists who have studied a degenerative brain disease in athletes have found the same condition in combat veterans exposed to roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, concluding that such explosions injure the brain in ways strikingly similar to punishing tackles and knockout punches.
Mr. Strickland,
Thank you so much for keeping us so well informed about the latest information regarding the signature wound of these Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Traumatic Brain Injury. (TBI)
Posting a link to Mr. James Dao's recent New York Times article about the similarities of brain destruction noted by our athletes and our young heroes from these wars, was a great service. Mr. Dao deserves recognition for all his informative articles for our nearly 400,000 returning heroes with TBI.
Mr. Dao educates not only the wounded warrior, but family and community leaders as well as health care provides. Currently, only about 10% of physicians in the US treat TBI. I'd like to thank him for his dedicated service to our veterans and their families.
As a rehab physician advocating for better diagnosis and treatment of TBI within our military and Veterans, I have been fortunate to attend a presentation by Dr. Ann McGee in early 2011. She and I discussed these similarities in behavior of our heroes and our athletes, and it is not a surprise to me that research is showing CTE - Cumulative Traumatic Encephalopathy in our returning military personnel, especially those who have sustained multiple tours of duty and multiple brain injuries.
Mr. Dao, with his reporting, is encouraging the solution to the health care difficulties our brain battered Veterans face - by advocating the cooperation between military, Veterans Administration, and civilian specialists trained to diagnose and treat TBI. It is the focus of my upcoming documentary, OPERATION RESURRECTION: The Warrior Returns. As a nation, we must correctly diagnose and treat our heroes on the battlefield as well as we treat our heroes on the playing field. Both Veterans and Athletes deserve timely and accurate diagnostics and treatment. That is far superior to obtaining the correct diagnosis on the autopsy table.
THANK you, Mr. Dao, and Mr. Strickland, for keeping our heroes and their families informed.
Sincerely,
Chrisanne Gordon, MD
WHOLE, Ltd.
Board Certified by the Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
President, Resurrecting Lives Foundation
www.resurrectinglives.org
Women Veterans Task Force Draft Plan Released
Miami-Dade County creates board to take care of military veterans
Veterans Swelling Ranks of NY's New Homeless
VA Director Dave Fletcher resigns
US veterans to return war medals in protest
"What Have We Been Doing?": Decorated Veteran Aaron Hughes to Return War Medals at Anti-NATO Protest
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to return their medals to protest war on terror at Chicago NATO summit this weekend
Women veterans tell their stories
Veteran men’s stories are well recorded, yet women's roles in the armed forces have been largely overlooked.
Task force offers plan to make VA more female friendly
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ task force on women veterans this month offered its plans for making the health and benefits system more female friendly.
Effort to honor Vietnam veterans is sputtering
Most veterans have not even heard about the effort. 50th anniversary has few events set
Veterans wait too long on disability claims
Those who have served know the military rules: Be on time, do it now. Once they file disability claims with the Department of Veteran Affairs, however, veterans wait, and wait longer. This is an injustice to our veterans and ill serves our communities.
State's DC delegation demands answers from VA concerning disability claims
California's senators and representatives are demanding answers and accountability regarding the state's three Veterans Affairs regional offices -- all of which received scathing reviews last week for their slow and inaccurate handling of vets' disability claims.
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