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Not On A Desert Trail
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Hadit dot Com
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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.
Photo Credit: Reddit dot Com & Imgur dot Com
The V.A.’s Shameful Betrayal
I have close friends who could no longer drive because of their lingering fears of roadside bombs. Others had gone to the V.A. because they had suicidal thoughts, only to receive a preliminary screening, a pat on the back, a prescription for antidepressants — and a follow-up appointment for several months later.
Almost half of new vets seek disability
America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
New veterans seek disability benefits at record rates
A staggering 45% of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now are seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related.
A memory and an obligation
A Disservice to Disabled Troops
The processing of disability cases is getting slower, not faster.
Backlogged VA Means a Million Forgotten Vets
There is more than one way to forget a vet.
It Can Be Done: Suing The Veterans Administration
Jeffrey A. Milman, Esq. Founding Partner at Hodes-Milman-Lieback
Are new vets seeking benefits at record rates? If so, why?
The headlines are damning. To read the news each day would convince you VA is badly broken, even corrupt.
Never fear, the VA propaganda machine is on it.
Allison Hickey, the VA's undersecretary for benefits, says that the problem lies with the veterans themselves: It's the "sheer volume" of claims causing the problems. Disability claims from all veterans soared from 888,000 in 2008 to 1.3 million in 2011 and there are a high number of ailments per claim. She also blames the outmoded systems the VA is forced to work with.
Officials are, as usual, mystified as to the reasons behind the crush of claims and the gridlock at VA.
The claim that this is the "most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen" is nonsense. This generation of warriors is little different than the last. The Vietnam veteran was also sent into an illegitimate war that was based on false premises. During the Vietnam era it was the evil of Communism and for the last decade it's WMD's. In each war the soldier learned the futility of what he was doing and that his effort wasn't supported by most Americans. He was dying for a cause nobody understood.
Once returned to civilian status, the Vietnam era veteran and more recent veterans each ran into a common enemy at home. The VA of the 1970's and the VA of today are remarkably alike; Inefficient and uncaring entities that see every veteran only as an annoyance, an increase to their workload.
Why is the VA is losing the public relations battle? Are the young veterans today really sicker, weaker, more mentally troubled than the Vietnam era vet? Why are they filing so many claims and why are they winning awards that pay them up to $2000.00 or $3000.00 or more every month?
The Internet.
The veteran returning today has an advantage over every other veteran in history...there are no more closely guarded secrets. The the soft underbelly of how VA works has been exposed. VAWatchdog is only one of many high quality web sites that detail how to file veterans disability claims and win.
When we returned to life in "the world" in the 1960's and beyond, filing a claim was a daunting task. Many veterans wanted nothing to do with any government agency and never saw a VA hospital. We didn't know about benefits. If we did apply, much like today, we were denied. Many of our applications were never processed because VA deemed them inappropriate...they weren't "well grounded" and VA wasn't required to investigate. We gave up and went on with our lives.
About the same time that the Global War On Terror began, the Internet flourished. Bulletin boards, forums, blogs and any number of web sites started popping up. Many were incomprehensible rants, others provided veterans with news they could use. These on-line neighborhoods also created a sense of camaraderie. We learned we weren't in this fight alone. A site called <hadit dot com> suddenly saw tens of thousands of visitors, each exchanging tips and tricks about how to file and how to win. In 2005 the VAWatchdog site started telling veterans how they could prevail and why they should demand the benefits they earned.
As vets learned more, they became angrier. The chant, "Delay, deny, until I die" became a mantra of how veterans felt about VA. Once the veteran learned how the VA had denied them the benefits they earned, they started filing, appealing, writing letters to elected officials and communicating from one vet to the next.
In 2006 a battle was won. Veterans had been denied the use of attorneys to help with their most basic cases. It seemed so incongruous that most Americans couldn't believe that the veteran who had fought for equal rights to due process was denied that due process. In 2006, that changed. Even though many of our "Veterans Service Organizations" lobbied against it, suddenly every veteran who was not treated fairly by VA had the right to retain an expert attorney at a fixed, reasonable cost with no out of pocket expenses.
The battle escalated. Vets learned that when they filed a claim that they should file every little complaint they had while in service. If they didn't list everything from dandruff to an ingrown toenail, VA would short them on what they did file. The attitude quickly became "We don't trust VA to treat us fairly, we won't treat VA with respect in turn." It was war.
Veterans learned in 2008 that VA had a campaign to quietly shred vital documents. Many VA regional Offices were dumping benefits applications and evidence into industrial shredders to lighten their own workload. Vets learned that VA decision makers were paid bonuses to process set volumes of claims. There was no check point to ensure that the decision was correct and that the vet got what he or she deserved. It was quantity over quality. That policy continues into 2012. The majority of VA claim decisions are wrong and must be appealed. Most appeals are won but add to the delay of the final settlement to the veteran.
These are facts. VA operates in total chaos. Nobody is in charge. Every VA Regional Office is an independent entity with its own rules and hierarchy. There is no trust from the field to centralized management. Managers are pariahs, regarded with disdain by workers.
The health care system that was the pride of the VA is so badly clogged today that many of us are avoiding it. The backlog has grown to a point that nobody really knows just how large it is. That it is well over one million claims delayed a year or more and growing seems indisputable. The GI Bill payment system is leaving students without their payments for weeks and months at a time. Mental health patients aren't getting timely appointments, they're getting handshakes and pills. Homelessness among veterans is at an all time high. Suicides are rampant. The issue of military sexual assault has lost much of its stigma and both women and men are stepping up to state their case and file that claim. The VA fiduciary program borders on being an officially sanctioned criminal enterprise that would make any Mafia family proud.
There is no good news for vets. Nor is there any hope for the taxpayer who funds all this inefficiency. None of this should be a surprise to VA leaders. The VA-OIG, the GAO and veterans have been warning VA for decades of the current disaster.
VA hasn't changed its tactics. It's ll about the PR. The first response they have for any Congressional inquiry is to blame the problem on those pesky veterans. There are too many of them filing too many questionable claims.
The latest statements that veterans are filing claims because of the economy and the veterans financial need is as insulting as anything that they could say. The numbers of deserving vets who suffer through interminable delays far outweigh any of the few who may be trying to game the system. Most vets will tell you it isn't about the dollars, it's about the respect.
We paid dearly for these benefits and to be told we don't deserve them is the worst sort of slap across our faces.
It's time for VA...and Congress...to stop the empty promises. Congress is where the real work needs to occur. The system should be redesigned from the ground up. Congress must do this...or our country will face the next 3 decades of the veteran population becoming angrier and more deeply disillusioned than ever before.
No more excuses. If America can't take care of her veterans, she should stop creating them.
Never fear, the VA propaganda machine is on it.
Allison Hickey, the VA's undersecretary for benefits, says that the problem lies with the veterans themselves: It's the "sheer volume" of claims causing the problems. Disability claims from all veterans soared from 888,000 in 2008 to 1.3 million in 2011 and there are a high number of ailments per claim. She also blames the outmoded systems the VA is forced to work with.
Officials are, as usual, mystified as to the reasons behind the crush of claims and the gridlock at VA.
The claim that this is the "most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen" is nonsense. This generation of warriors is little different than the last. The Vietnam veteran was also sent into an illegitimate war that was based on false premises. During the Vietnam era it was the evil of Communism and for the last decade it's WMD's. In each war the soldier learned the futility of what he was doing and that his effort wasn't supported by most Americans. He was dying for a cause nobody understood.
Once returned to civilian status, the Vietnam era veteran and more recent veterans each ran into a common enemy at home. The VA of the 1970's and the VA of today are remarkably alike; Inefficient and uncaring entities that see every veteran only as an annoyance, an increase to their workload.
Why is the VA is losing the public relations battle? Are the young veterans today really sicker, weaker, more mentally troubled than the Vietnam era vet? Why are they filing so many claims and why are they winning awards that pay them up to $2000.00 or $3000.00 or more every month?
The Internet.
The veteran returning today has an advantage over every other veteran in history...there are no more closely guarded secrets. The the soft underbelly of how VA works has been exposed. VAWatchdog is only one of many high quality web sites that detail how to file veterans disability claims and win.
When we returned to life in "the world" in the 1960's and beyond, filing a claim was a daunting task. Many veterans wanted nothing to do with any government agency and never saw a VA hospital. We didn't know about benefits. If we did apply, much like today, we were denied. Many of our applications were never processed because VA deemed them inappropriate...they weren't "well grounded" and VA wasn't required to investigate. We gave up and went on with our lives.
About the same time that the Global War On Terror began, the Internet flourished. Bulletin boards, forums, blogs and any number of web sites started popping up. Many were incomprehensible rants, others provided veterans with news they could use. These on-line neighborhoods also created a sense of camaraderie. We learned we weren't in this fight alone. A site called <hadit dot com> suddenly saw tens of thousands of visitors, each exchanging tips and tricks about how to file and how to win. In 2005 the VAWatchdog site started telling veterans how they could prevail and why they should demand the benefits they earned.
As vets learned more, they became angrier. The chant, "Delay, deny, until I die" became a mantra of how veterans felt about VA. Once the veteran learned how the VA had denied them the benefits they earned, they started filing, appealing, writing letters to elected officials and communicating from one vet to the next.
In 2006 a battle was won. Veterans had been denied the use of attorneys to help with their most basic cases. It seemed so incongruous that most Americans couldn't believe that the veteran who had fought for equal rights to due process was denied that due process. In 2006, that changed. Even though many of our "Veterans Service Organizations" lobbied against it, suddenly every veteran who was not treated fairly by VA had the right to retain an expert attorney at a fixed, reasonable cost with no out of pocket expenses.
The battle escalated. Vets learned that when they filed a claim that they should file every little complaint they had while in service. If they didn't list everything from dandruff to an ingrown toenail, VA would short them on what they did file. The attitude quickly became "We don't trust VA to treat us fairly, we won't treat VA with respect in turn." It was war.
Veterans learned in 2008 that VA had a campaign to quietly shred vital documents. Many VA regional Offices were dumping benefits applications and evidence into industrial shredders to lighten their own workload. Vets learned that VA decision makers were paid bonuses to process set volumes of claims. There was no check point to ensure that the decision was correct and that the vet got what he or she deserved. It was quantity over quality. That policy continues into 2012. The majority of VA claim decisions are wrong and must be appealed. Most appeals are won but add to the delay of the final settlement to the veteran.
These are facts. VA operates in total chaos. Nobody is in charge. Every VA Regional Office is an independent entity with its own rules and hierarchy. There is no trust from the field to centralized management. Managers are pariahs, regarded with disdain by workers.
The health care system that was the pride of the VA is so badly clogged today that many of us are avoiding it. The backlog has grown to a point that nobody really knows just how large it is. That it is well over one million claims delayed a year or more and growing seems indisputable. The GI Bill payment system is leaving students without their payments for weeks and months at a time. Mental health patients aren't getting timely appointments, they're getting handshakes and pills. Homelessness among veterans is at an all time high. Suicides are rampant. The issue of military sexual assault has lost much of its stigma and both women and men are stepping up to state their case and file that claim. The VA fiduciary program borders on being an officially sanctioned criminal enterprise that would make any Mafia family proud.
There is no good news for vets. Nor is there any hope for the taxpayer who funds all this inefficiency. None of this should be a surprise to VA leaders. The VA-OIG, the GAO and veterans have been warning VA for decades of the current disaster.
VA hasn't changed its tactics. It's ll about the PR. The first response they have for any Congressional inquiry is to blame the problem on those pesky veterans. There are too many of them filing too many questionable claims.
The latest statements that veterans are filing claims because of the economy and the veterans financial need is as insulting as anything that they could say. The numbers of deserving vets who suffer through interminable delays far outweigh any of the few who may be trying to game the system. Most vets will tell you it isn't about the dollars, it's about the respect.
We paid dearly for these benefits and to be told we don't deserve them is the worst sort of slap across our faces.
It's time for VA...and Congress...to stop the empty promises. Congress is where the real work needs to occur. The system should be redesigned from the ground up. Congress must do this...or our country will face the next 3 decades of the veteran population becoming angrier and more deeply disillusioned than ever before.
No more excuses. If America can't take care of her veterans, she should stop creating them.
Jim Strickland
The Veterans Spouse...Resources For The Family...
Developing; VetsSpouse dot Com is in development. This site, designed by 2 veterans wives, will provide information about benefits for dependents, caregivers and advocates...all of you who support our veterans as they face the VA.
Have a look, leave a message for Melissa and Polly and suggest what you want to see.
The interactive forum will open the first week of June. We hope to see you there.
Developing; VetsSpouse dot Com is in development. This site, designed by 2 veterans wives, will provide information about benefits for dependents, caregivers and advocates...all of you who support our veterans as they face the VA.
Have a look, leave a message for Melissa and Polly and suggest what you want to see.
The interactive forum will open the first week of June. We hope to see you there.
Your Benefits Aid & Attendance, Improved Pension, Housebound
Military and Veterans Attorney Drew Early clears up some of the mystery that surrounds these often misunderstood benefits.
Is It CAVC v. BVA Now?
When the Court criticizes a BVA judge by name, the fight is on.
In a pissing contest between these two entities who should be focused on ensuring the rights of veterans, one thing is clear; No matter who wins, veterans are the losers.
For the reasons stated below, the Court will set aside the Board's decision and remand the matter for readjudication consistent with this decision.
The Board decision here on appeal represents the third occasion on which the administrative law judge John J. Crowley has considered Mr. McDonald's claim. Judge Crowley issued a decision for the Board in September 2007 that Mr. McDonald appealed to the Court.
The Board indeed went out of its way to clearly explain away each piece of evidence.
Therefore it appears that the Board inappropriately analyzed the evidence under § 3.304(f)(5). B. Credibility Findings
The Board's negative-credibility finding regarding the family members' lay statements is clear error, and remand is required.
This analysis reflects the Board's improper application of § 3.304(f)(5) and improper credibility determinations, as set forth above. Because they form the basis for the Board's determination that a VA medical examination was not warranted, that determination must be set aside and that matter must be readjudicated on remand.
However, the above-quoted portions of the decision here on appeal indicate that Judge Crowley is no longer able to view the matter objectively and to provide Mr. McDonald with the veteran-friendly review to which he is entitled.
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
Joe Biden tells of anguish after the death of wife and daughter
Vice-President Joe Biden said he "understood" the anguish that led people to suicide as he recounted the deaths of his wife and daughter in a moving speech to the families of fallen US troops.
To Cut Veteran Homelessness, Cut the Red Tape
Homelessness is among the most urgent problems facing our veterans. It is also among the most solvable. Simply put, veterans become homeless when various systems fail them.
Combat ‘Burn Pits’ Ruin Immune Systems, Study Shows
Thousands of soldiers have come home with symptoms and illnesses they suspect are linked to open-air "burn pits." Now, a new study has confirmed that particulate matter from the pits causes lung damage and immune system impairment.
Veterans express concerns with VA Director in Bakersfield
"The system has been very inefficient. My original claim was in 2001. I think it was awarded in 2004. I submitted appeal in 2009, and I've heard nothing about that," said Wayne Wright, U.S. Navy Veteran.
Veteran fights VA to keep PTSD diagnosis
Hibbard, who lives in Louisville, Ky., has been twice diagnosed at Veterans Affairs facilities with post-traumatic stress disorder since 2010. But something unexpected happened last month: Hibbard received a letter reversing his PTSD diagnosis. His new diagnosis, which was assigned without an in-person examination or assessment, is personality disorder.
"It makes me feel like I’m being called a fraud, a fake," Hibbard said of the diagnosis. "You might as well and go ahead and burn my record and say I was never in the military."
After A Year In Afghanistan, Memories That Stick
Military Children Act Out: Performing 'Deployment'
As Memorial Day Nears, a Single Image That Continues to Haunt
For some troops, returning home is the hardest part
Putting The Post-Deployment Family Back Together
