Military Service Records, Awards, and Unit

This guide provides information on locating

military unit histories and individual service

records of discharged, retired, and deceased

military personnel. It also provides information

on locating and replacing military awards and medals. Included is contact information for

military history centers, websites for additional sources of research, and a bibliography of other publications, including related CRS reports.

Contact VAWatchdog

Email Jim Strickland

<jim912@gmail.com>

Appeals of Denied Claims

You have the right to appeal any benefits decision made by the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). The VA appeals process is set in law and is different from other judicial appeals processes.

The Board of Veterans Appeals

The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

How To Appeal A Denied Claim

Read Me

Who's Running This Show?

Aljazeera
British Broadcasting Corporation
Business Insider

BENEFITS

Disability, Survivors, SSDI,

Dependents, Pension

Breitbart

Central Intelligence Agency
Electronic Reading Room

Benefits.gov

CHAMPVA

Chicago Tribune

Christian Science Monitor

Choice Program

Billing Issues
1-877-881-7618 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET

The Code of Federal Regulations Title 38

CNN

Courthouse News
Ann Coulter
CNN Sources

"Contact Your Representative!!!"
Who are my representatives?

C & P Exams

Everything You Need To Survive

Contact Your Representative
Discharges & Military Records

Daily Caller

Daily Beast

DENIED!!! How To Appeal

DIC CHAMPVA

Education For Dependents

(DTRA)
Defense Threat Reduction Agency

Drudge

DIVORCE

Child Support Alimony

Benefits Garnishment

My HealtheVet Website
ebenefits

GUNS Weapons Concealed Carry

NICS Veterans 2nd Amendment Rights

Gallup

Gulf News

The Guardian

Home Based Primary Care (HBPC)

The Hill

HufPo

IMO IME DBQs Nexus Letters

India Times

Infowars

Independent Expert Medical Opinions

The Jerusalem Post

Limbaugh

Medical Records Review

Marijuana & VA DRUG TESTING & VA

Moscow Times

M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual
National Personnel Records Center

New York Times
Mother Jones

National Enquirer

Patient Record Flags

New Outreach for Vets Regarding
Discharges & Military Records.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Pravda

Politico

Project-Syndicate
Records of the Veterans Administration [VA]

Smoking Gun

Truthdig

U.S. Medicine
Veterans Benefits Administration
Fact Sheets

The VA App Store

VA urges veterans to be
screened for hepatitis C

VA’s Airborne Hazards and Open Burn
Pit Registry for Veterans and Servicemembers
VA Payment for Emergency Care

The Veterans Law Library

Ventusky Weather Wind Map

Veterans Benefits Administration
Benefit Brochures

Veterans injured by service wait
years for compensation hearings

Vietnam War Resources

vets.gov
va.gov

VillageVoice

Washington Post
Washington Times

Welcome to Military Disney Tips!

Weekly World News

World Net Daily
World Public Opinion

Xinhua

Mental health resources for veterans, families

Many state and local organizations help

veterans and their families.

Here are some resources for mental

health and suicide prevention.

FOLLOW

The VAWatchdog

Want prompt private notice when

we update the VAWatchdog?

We recommend using

Represent
See what your representatives

in Congress say and do.

VA Form 21-526EZ

Disability Service Connection
Secondary Service Connection

IncreasedDisability Compensation

Temporary Total Disability Rating
Individual Unemployability
Compensation under

38 U.S.C. 1151
Special Monthly Compensation
Specially Adapted Housing

Special Home Adaptation

Automobile Allowance

/Adaptive Equipment
Benefits Based on a Veteran's
Seriously Disabled Child

VA Form 21-0958 - NOD
Notice of Disagreement
VA Form 21-534 EZ
Application for DIC,

Death Pension
Change of Address

Add Your Dependents

Declaration of Status of Dependents

TDIU Annual

VA Form 4140

I am a Veteran

Veterans of the United States Uniformed Services may be

eligible for a broad range of

programs and services

provided by the

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Benefits from Other Federal Agencies

A general list of other Federal agencies that

offer benefit programs and resources for

Service members, Veterans, and their families.

Veterans Legal Help Navigator
Welcome to the Veterans Legal Help Navigator. This online tool helps veterans' caseworkers and advocates across the country find the right fit legal help for veterans.

Since 2005 This Is The Site VA Reads

When They Want To Learn What They've Been Doing

Can medical marijuana users have firearms? Police say no

States That Allow Both A Medical Marijuana And Gun License
Ever wonder which are the states that allow both a medical marijuana

and gun license? Us too. Take a look at what we found.

Got a medical marijuana card? You can’t own a gun
Federal law prohibits selling firearms to marijuana users

Lawsuit: SC VA hospital flubs urine sample; tells sick man he’s cocaine addict

Help Needed to Prevent Veterans’ Suicides
22 veterans commit suicide every day in U.S. Proposed state program addresses issue.

Drug Screening & Your VA
Have You Been "Drug Screened" By Your VA Clinic?

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA)has a little known (and apparently unenforced)
policy that requires practitioners who are authorized to order laboratory tests to give you informed
consent prior to a drug screen. VHA HANDBOOK 1004.01 Page 7; "(b) Information about certain
tests must be considered “information that a patient in similar circumstances would reasonably
want to know” because these tests are particularly sensitive and may have consequences
that the patient might reasonably want to avoid.
These tests include, but are not limited to, specific tests to identify illicit drug use..."
In April 2017 VAWatchdog asked the Secretary to explain the VHA policy for screening
veterans for illicit drug use. Read the reply as a web page here. Note that the VHA
Handbook has been updated for distribution after we inquired.
Bottom line: You have a right to be fully informed before any drug screen. The ordering
practitioner must document that you were given informed consent for a drug screen.
If you have been drug screened and not fully informed as to the reasons for the drug
screen, you can have that removed from your medical record.
Read all of this as a full web page.

Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Washington, DC 20420
VHA DIRECTIVE 1315 Transmittal Sheet December 8, 2017
ACCESS TO VHA CLINICAL PROGRAMS FOR VETERANS PARTICIPATING IN STATE-APPROVED MARIJUANA PROGRAMS

Jim Strickland is a nationally known

advocate for veterans and a member of the

Stateside Legal Advisory Board.

Medical marijuana and gun ownership an illegal combination, Florida representative says

Hello - Thanks for visiting the VAWatchdog dot Org

If you arrived here looking for something specific, we may be able to help. We've built and

installed a custom search engine for veterans to use. It's fast, safe and secure. Please

type in a key word or a phrase in the search field below and click the search icon.

You can also email Jim Strickland and ask a question at <jim912@gmail.com>

Guns 'n Weed - Can you own guns & smoke medical marijuana?

January 2018

Probably not. At the time this is being written, it's becoming apparent that the current

administration plans to vigorously police federal marijuana laws. This means that

if you apply for a medical marijuana license, your data will be shared with NICS.

NICS is the FBI database for gun ownership/registration. Smoking weed is against

federal law. Even if you have a state issued medical marijuana license, the

FBI will have you entered into their database. You get to choose, guns or medicine?

Can Medical Marijuana Patients Legally Own Guns?

Women and men military veterans, childhood adversity and alcohol and drug use

VA Doctors Are Now Cleared To Talk About Medical Marijuana With Patients

Do You Take Opoid Pain Medicine?
Listen up!
Have you had prescriptions for Codeine, Fentanyl, Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone,
Meperidine, Morphine, Oxycodone or Tramadol to treat your pain? Have you been
notified that your doctor isn't going to refill your prescription?
We are being inundated with emails and messages from you about how VA won't refill your
pain medicine prescriptions. Most of you are very angry. Some of you have already started
calling your Congressperson or a local VSO for help getting a refill on your Vicodin. Quite
a few want me to tell you who you can complain to at VA to ensure that your refills of narcotics
continue uninterrupted, just like always. You all blame this on the damned VA.
The facts aren't all that elusive. This is happening to you because the law has changed. The VA
didn't change the law, the push for the change happened at the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
The DEA decided the potential for abuse and risks required tighter restrictions than in the past.
This affects every doctor across America, not only VA doctors. When you tell me that your
civilian doctor always refills your narcotic prescriptions, that lets us know you haven't been to
a civilian doctor lately. The DEA controls their license to prescribe. If the doctor doesn't
follow the new rules, he or she may quickly lose that privilege. Many doctors have decided
they will no longer write any narcotic prescriptions. The narcotics prescriptions of the future
will be written mostly by surgeons for short term treatment of pain caused by operative
procedures. Chronic and long term pain relief won't generally be treated with narcotics.
One problem you're confronting is that the more you ask for your narcotic prescription to be
refilled, the more you appear to fit the profile of "drug seeking behavior". Once you display
anger because you ran out of Vicodin, you get that label and you're even more unlikely to
get any sympathy. Our advice? Talk with your primary care doctor. Be open about it if you
may be dependent on narcotics and you need some help to leave them behind. Don't get angry.
The VA isn't putting up with your anger these days. Before you raise your voice, look around. The VA
police are serious in their work and will have you on the ground before you can say much.
If you want to complain, give the DEA a call. Tell them that you have the right to get narcotics free
from VA. Get really pissed with the agent. They'll be happy to hear from you.

The Pain Contract
Your VA and many civilian providers today will insist that you sign a "Pain Contract" if you

are on any sort of pain medicines for more than a very brief period.
The reasoning behind this is controversial.
There is a common misconception that veterans who receive any sort of pain

medicine are likely to resell it at a very high profit. Like most of the rumors

that are published about the American "War On Drugs" there is little truth to this.
The majority of veterans who receive pain medicines from VA are just like you and

they have no reason to want to sell their medicines. The bulletins would have

you believe that every pill is worth an enormously inflated price

and that vets can get rich by selling their medicines.
The result of all this is that you are likely to be tested to ensure that you're taking

your medicines. Once you sign the pain contract you give VA the authority to test

you at any time. They are not required to tell you that you're being tested for drugs.
If you aren't taking your drugs at the time of the test, your provider may not

extend any more refills.
If other drugs (such as marijuana) are seen during the test, you may or may not be

counseled. That depends on the individual provider.

Pain contracts threaten the doctor-patient relationship
Pain contracts can undermine patient trust
The VHA Directive on Pain Management

Drug Tests

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_test

Much of the testing in both civilian and VA and military settings is done with a

standardized 4 drug detection kit. The test of your urine would show the presence

of narcotics (Vicodin, Oxycontin, morphine, etc.). marijuana, cocaine (or crack) and

amphetamines. In some tests benzodiazepines (Valium and similar) may be detected.

Therefore, if you are tested to ensure that you are taking your prescribed medication

and you have been smoking marijuana, you'll likely get a call from your doctor.

Some VA doctors won't tolerate your marijuana use at all. Others don't pay it any attention.

The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't

care much about you smoking marijuana.

You won't lose disability benefits if you're smoking marijuana.

The only people who are concerned are in the health care arena of the VA...your doctors.

Most enlightened physicians recognize that marijuana has some medicinal benefit

and that there is no evidence of harmful side effects other than the obvious...inhaling

hot smoke. Most agree that the single most devastating side effect of recreational

marijuana use is that it remains illegal and you may be arrested for it.

Having said that, your doctor may feel differently. If your doctor makes a decision

that you shouldn't be smoking, he or she has the right to ask you to stop. Few people

will try to help you with that sort of problem as the doctor is the

clinical authority and makes those decisions.

Most mental health providers will ask that you refrain from all recreational

substance use. If you are diagnosed with any mental health problems, your doctor

will want your head to be as clear as possible during treatment. You should comply.

Doctors who treat your chronic pain with narcotics may also tell you to lay off the

recreational marijuana. They want to be able to judge the effects of the

treatments they offer you without any other substances interfering.

Orthopedic doctors today are often refusing such surgery as hip and knee replacement

unless the patient gives up tobacco and marijuana. They believe that smoking

anything will displace vital oxygen and interfere with the critical healing process.

Doctors who do transplants like kidneys or other organs also frequently tell the

patient to quit smoking marijuana. This is as much a matter of discipline as anything else.

They know that if you refuse to follow their orders, you may not do as well with your

transplant and they can offer the organ to another patient who will be more compliant.

Although society is undergoing some positive changes in how we view

recreational substance use, marijuana remains an illegal drug. Federal laws

are strict and in some states, even a small amount can earn you jail time.

You do not have any "rights" to smoke pot. If you're smart, and you want to

keep your health care provider happy, you'll pay close attention to what the provider tells you.

Marijuana Use and the Department of Veterans Affairs

VA Benefit Identifier
National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) is pleased to present the first of its kind app for use by military veterans and their advocates, available

for download through the NVLSP website,

Apple App Store, or Google Play Store. This application helps veterans, with or without the assistance of a veteran’s advocate, determine specific VA benefits to which they are likely entitled.