Letters To Leadership in E-Benefits/IRIS/1-800/Claim Timelines Forum

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Letters To Leadership

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Calvin

Letters To Leadership

Lead

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Posts: 78

Jun 13 12 7:52 PM

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Hello,

A simple project that made me feel better about my claim. Something anyone can do.

Last weekend I wrote my first letter to our government leaders. I found most of them at this website: http://www.govtrack.us. To get their mailing address, you click on the link of the person’s official government website link, and then click on their offices. I chose the Washington D.C. address because all I had to do was change the name on the label for most of the letters.

The letter was the same to all of them and I had 12 signatures from vets and wives on each letter. I simply asked what they were doing to fix the problem, I gave an analogy to how I saw the problem, and I included a print out of the claims status spreadsheet.

Each letter cost me 80 cents to mail and I sent a total of 39 letters to: 32 reps (Texas), 2 senators (Texas), 1 governor (Texas), 1 president, 1 Secretary of Defense, 1 Secretary of the VA (I used to work for him when he was a COL, maybe he remembers me?), and 1 Secretary of State.

If I do not get a response, I will compose another letter, and try to get more signatures, and if I can afford it, address more representatives from other states.

I did not state anything about my own pending claim nor did I get emotional in my letter. I just wrote about the facts and requested that the leadership try to fix the problem as soon as possible. It was easy to do. You can do it also.

Perhaps if the hundreds of thousands of personnel/veterans with pending claims did the same, then this can become the next squeaky wheel that will get some much-needed grease!

Cheers,

Calvin

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sunbird3

#1

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Posts: 107

Jun 13 12 7:55 PM

You should post the letter. It might help inspire some others

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Calvin

#2

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Posts: 78

Jun 13 12 8:44 PM

This is what I wrote:
Mr. /Mrs. (title) (name),

We are writing you today about a problem that is affecting hundreds of thousands of U.S. Citizens. These citizens are the ones who served in the military to protect you and the other 300 million citizens of this great nation. We call these citizens Veterans.

This problem is in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Claims area. I have included a spreadsheet of the VA Claims status for you to evaluate. This is a serious problem; many Veterans are in a holding pattern for years waiting for their claim to be processed.

The money received from a claim award is needed for basic subsistence to live. These military men and women served our nation, and our nation said they would take care of them in appreciation for their service. For the most part, these are humble people, who ask for little from others, but have given much for all Americans. Many lives have been lost and ruined because of the amount of time a claim takes to process.

We see the problem similar to the U.S. Government having hired one man to dig an Olympic size swimming pool with a shovel. By the time the pool is finished; the people intended to benefit from the pool, will no longer be around.

People are losing everything including their lives (suicide). After evaluating the included spreadsheet, you will see there are hundreds of thousands of outstanding claims that are older than a year, and thousands that are over 2 years.

We do not understand why the claims are taking so long. We would like you to find a solution. If you have looked into the VA claims problem, we, as well as hundreds of thousands of other veterans (along with, their families, friends, and interested people), would like to know:

1. Why are the claims taking so long to complete?
2. What are you doing to fix the problem?

This problem is making you very unpopular among the veterans, veteran’s families, and veteran’s friends. To include those who are not veterans but are aware of the long delays in taking care of the people, the patriots, who are in need of their nation’s assistance because of their military service.

Please, we really need to know what you are doing to fix this problem.

Sincerely,

[The Undersigned]

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carl1124

#3

[-]

Posts: 5

Jun 14 12 5:21 PM

Nice latter, but the fact is our leader do not care one bit about the Vets. It is just like SS. They would like us all to die so they don't have to spend any money on us Vets. We have served and no longer any use to them.

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RichardMM1SS

#4

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Posts: 347

Jun 14 12 7:01 PM

You've written a very well-reasoned letter, I believe, and hope that your effort can have a positive impact.

Might I suggest that you also send it via email, and fax if you have access to a fax machine? Hard copy letters can take a long time to reach an elected representative in Washington, because the letters are all screened.

One other suggestion: send a copy to Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jeff Miller (Chairs of the Veterans Committees in the Senate and House, respectively).

"'The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." ~~ Bob Marley

Edited 1 time by RichardMM1SS Jun 14 12 9:36 PM.

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tristonsnonna

we appreciate you

#5

[-]

Posts: 168

Jun 14 12 9:01 PM

thank you very much for what you are doing. the only thing i could add is to show that a copy is being sent to all the tv stations, like fox etc.

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lewbsam

#6

[-]

Posts: 4

Jun 15 12 11:16 AM

Calvin wrote:
Hello,

A simple project that made me feel better about my claim. Something anyone can do.

Last weekend I wrote my first letter to our government leaders. I found most of them at this website: http://www.govtrack.us. To get their mailing address, you click on the link of the person’s official government website link, and then click on their offices. I chose the Washington D.C. address because all I had to do was change the name on the label for most of the letters.

The letter was the same to all of them and I had 12 signatures from vets and wives on each letter. I simply asked what they were doing to fix the problem, I gave an analogy to how I saw the problem, and I included a print out of the claims status spreadsheet.

Each letter cost me 80 cents to mail and I sent a total of 39 letters to: 32 reps (Texas), 2 senators (Texas), 1 governor (Texas), 1 president, 1 Secretary of Defense, 1 Secretary of the VA (I used to work for him when he was a COL, maybe he remembers me?), and 1 Secretary of State.

If I do not get a response, I will compose another letter, and try to get more signatures, and if I can afford it, address more representatives from other states.

I did not state anything about my own pending claim nor did I get emotional in my letter. I just wrote about the facts and requested that the leadership try to fix the problem as soon as possible. It was easy to do. You can do it also.

Perhaps if the hundreds of thousands of personnel/veterans with pending claims did the same, then this can become the next squeaky wheel that will get some much-needed grease!

Cheers,

Calvin

Calvin first of all thank you for your service

I too would like to get the Reps attention as to why it takes so long for claims to be addressed. I thought about writing them however I figured my letter would end up in the trash. I was wondering how we Vets could organize a March on D.C. President Obama and Sec Shinseki are just blowing smoke and not walking the walk. If we all got together in a united effort to make our voices heard this would serve notice this procrastination of claims is old.

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Calvin

#7

[-]

Posts: 78

Jun 24 12 4:07 PM

I have mailed a lot of letters now. I am waiting for responses.

I personally do not think marching is a productive solution. Eventually the sound of your neighbors dog will go away or it will blend in with all the other noises.

Gathering evidence and applying principles of manipulation in our legal system are the only means to effect change.

Feel free to copy my letter and send it out to as many people as you can afford.

Gather signatures that support your request and acknowledgement.
The goal is to get heard in the political process and convince the those effected by the political process that you have the necessary means to "influence" them.

But a letter is better heard and read if there are echos of its message. Thus why I sent it to as many people as I could afford.
How well do you remember a story after reading or hearing it only one time? How about 20 times? A thousand times?

4 easy steps to be heard:
1. Copy and paste into your word processor.
2. Print out the copies you need. Or print once and make copies.
3. You know where to get the claims daily status.
(if not: http://www.vba.va.gov/REPORTS/mmwr/index.asp)
4. Label your envelops
5. Take to the post office on a Tuesday or Wednesday around 10 am (to avoid congestion). Pay for what you can afford to mail, come back and mail the rest when you can afford to.

Be appreciative! Be respectful! Be Brilliant!

Edited 1 time by Calvin Jun 24 12 5:38 PM.

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shelley7

#8

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Posts: 731

Jun 24 12 6:49 PM

Why are the claims taking so long to complete?
2. What are you doing to fix the problem?

I would be interested in their response. It is an election year and there is a lot of posturing going on right now. Just look CA congress threw a fit and now Oakland is shut down for a whole month for training while things just get older. House member Filner took USB Hickey apart the other day at hearings but he really acted like a 12 year old.

1. The answer to number one is easy and any Congress person should be able to tell you. A/ A war that lasted a lot longer than they thought with more Veterans filing with more issues than ever before, in prior wars veterans filed for maybe 1-3 issues now it is routinely 11-15 issues, B. Only 2500 raters to rate more than a million claims and half of them are trainees,C. 3 new presumptives that brought in a quarter of million new claims and took almost 50 percent of the rating workforce a year to do by court mandate putting everything else on the back burner, D. the loosening of the PTSD stressor requirements again bringing in more than 150,000 new claims, E. The IDES program, where the VA is rating active duty members going through MEB's, this year alone they expect up to 100, 000 claims from that program.

Don't forget the VA did rate more than a million claims each of the last two years but they just cannot keep up.

2. They should tell you about transformation, segmented lanes, new computer systems etc etc that they hope will ease some of the backlog. Remember though not until 2015 should we see any difference and only then if we don't see a major draw down of forces, we don't lose experienced raters to retirement or just plain quitting, the computer systems actually work the way they say they will, the courts don't impose any more strict timelines on certain claims, we don't get more presumptives etc etc As you can tell there are a lot of things in the works but it is dollars, people, process and technology that all need to come together to get it done.

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Dbltap1

#9

[-]

Posts: 52

Jun 24 12 7:53 PM

Congratulations to you for taking a proactive posture!

After reading the various posts regarding contacting our senators and congress folks I recently decided to do so. Here is what I wrote to both my senetor and congressman after getting a letter from showing interest in looking into it:

Dear XXXXXX,
Thank you for taking the time to look into this.
While preparing for my retirement after 21 years of service, I was directed to file my claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). I joined the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization for guidance through this process and started the claims process on September 27th, 2011. The DAV suggested a Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) claim as I am still on active duty. The BDD is used for service members that are still on active duty that anticipate leaving the service within 180 days. This is to ensure that the service member still has access to service records before they are archived and to work together with medical out processing.
With the BDD service members are taken through the VA processing while still on active duty while going the out processing so that the VA claims can be adjudicated and finalized when the service member retires.
My orders end on June 3rd, 2012. June 4th is the first day of retirement, yet I cannot get any confirmation of the VA having received neither any of the claims forms nor any of my medical records. By this time I should have been through a number of VA medical appointments and should have finalization documents in hand. Being new to the VA system I look to myself for errors first however, I have been assured that I have completed everything on my part. Www.eBenefits.va.gov is a web portal that allows veterans to look at the status of their claims and receive correspondence and instruction from the VA. Neither eBenefits nor the VA’s national 800 telephone service is able to provide any answers as to the status of my filing. eBenefits has not changed since November, 2011. The operators at the national number state that they are unable to look into the status at any of the regional offices to include Los Angeles where my claim would be.
It appears that my package has slipped through the cracks. As I understand, the VA and the military medical out processing are now to be working hand-in-hand. I should be done at this point, not trying to find out if it has even started.
Again, thank you for your time. I have exhausted all avenues. You are my last hope. Without you I really have nowhere to turn to look out for the interests of my wife and three boys.

After filling out their forms needed for their office to "officially" assist me and them sending me a letter letting me know that they would indeed pursue, I followed up with a "Thank you letter" as follows. Notice that I front loaded the expected VA BS that they would try to push to both the senators office and the congressmans office.

Dear XXXXXX,
I want to thank you for having agreed to look into this matter as it is truly a very difficult time for my family and I. Certainly you will eventually hear back from the Veterans Administration however, my concern is that their response will be less than informative. Without a doubt they will tell you that my claim is currently being adjudicated as they work on it full speed.
While this type of response can be warming to hear, it does not close the door on problem areas such as them not having all medical records needed from the military or civilian doctors nor does it make clear that nothing further is needed from me. This is where the concern is as after eight months of calling and emailing we do not know anything more than they have received “my claim” from us.
One of our major concerns of our VA claim being processed on time is that I am rated as 70% disabled by the U. S. Army and I am in need of some of the veterans’ rehabilitation services such as the Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Program (VR&E) and physical rehabilitation. The VR&E assists veterans with combat related disabilities prepare for, find and keep jobs by matching training to the disabilities of the veteran. They made me leave the military and they are supposed to provide rehabilitation however, these programs require that the VA claim be completed before I am eligible. They are three months late by their own guidelines. I am sure you agree that to wait nine months just to get rehabilitation is unacceptable.
We wish for a detailed status of adjudication, a list of items that we need to provide if any, a timeline of steps to come, and a timeline to completion. We hope that they honor and respect your office and do not waste your time with anything less than this type of response.
Again, we cannot express our appreciation enough.

This was less than one month ago so I would not expect anything to come soon. I'll try to keep you posted on the outcome... if I remember.
I need to see how this plays out before I look into how to get them to take a broader view and see all of the veteran issues with claims processing. I really hope that door opens.

Edited 1 time by Dbltap1 Jun 24 12 8:01 PM.

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Calvin

#10

[-]

Posts: 78

Jun 24 12 9:27 PM

@ Dbltap1 - WOOT! Excellent. Good! Get motivated. If your spirits were raised, write more letters.

Go outside and yell at the top of your lungs: "I am going to fight for my life! And I am going to WIN!"

We've got to get tough with ourselves about getting disability funds from the VA.
The truth is; VA disability funds are going to take a very long time to come.

I have changed my thought process on this.
As much as I could use the money, I am not going to 'NEED' the money anymore!
I will find a way.

Iron Mike is the way! Lean foward!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Mike

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jcain36332

#11

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Posts: 38

Jun 26 12 6:44 AM

The only way we can get them to fix the problem is to embarrass or shame them into doing what should be the right thing. If we had 100s of 1000s of vets contacting the press and we could get them to air stories about the many veterans that are not getting the care they need, or the subsistence to get by on, I can almost bet they would do something. Maybe we need to hold a media sit in day and try to get vets from across the nation to contact their local TV stations and tell their stories; I bet that would get them involved. After all this is an election year!

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Medic1sg

#12

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Posts: 90

Jun 26 12 9:25 AM

Letter writing is a great way to vent in a tactful and factual way. I do this often to relieve stress. I just hope that other Veterans are doing the same thing. Even though you think you are not making a difference you really truly are helping push this broken system into the limelight. Even if you don’t get a response someone somewhere has read your letter and eventually it will get to someone who just like me actually cares. After retiring from the Army and taking a break for about 4 months I decided to see if I could go and work for the VA to hopefully make a difference. I was hired last year and work for the VHA. I was overwhelmed in two totally different ways – 1. How many people that work here actually do care about Veterans and 2. How many Supervisors and Leaders say they care and don’t. 10% of employees in any organization either private or public have challenges but it is the leaders that need to facilitate change and either bring those 10% on board or fire them. I know that is a big statement because it takes a lot to fire someone in the government, but it can be done. After being frustrated with this system for the first six months I worked here, I finally said enough is enough and I started working to improve the organization one Veteran at a time. I come to work every day and spend my time working to assist Veterans get the assistance they need. I will continue to do this every day because it is very important to me. I will hopefully continue to move up in the organization so I can affect more and more, or at least that is my goal. I will make positive change and I will continue to fight for my brother and sister Veterans, one Veteran at a time! So each letter you write, be tactful, state the facts and let your voice be heard! Never give up and help those that can’t help themselves is how I live every day. Two years ago this September I was still in the Army, I was a First Sergeant who had been selected for Sergeant Major, I was on track to be that top 5% in my career field. The only problem was that I was drinking almost a fifth and a half of alcohol a day to stop the nightmares, flashbacks and the pain from 21 years of being a medic with multiple combat and operational deployments. I was making sure my Soldiers where getting the help they needed but I wasn’t taking care of myself and my leaders didn’t care enough about me to see I was struggling. So in late September 2010 I drank a fifth, put a pistol under my chin and pulled the trigger. I thank GOD for the small gifts he gives us because I guess I forgot to put a bullet in the chamber and passed out. I woke up a few hours later in the ER and spent a few days as an inpatient on a psyc ward, then came counseling and medication and more outpatient treatment which I still continue to this day. I had become that person that couldn’t help themselves and none of my leaders wanted to help me so I gave it all up and retired. I made a pact with myself that I would never (hopefully) get that low in life again, to stay in treatment and to help myself and others who are or have been in my shoes. It has been and will continue to be a long hard journey but I won’t give up or give in, and I will continue to help my fellow Veterans one day at a time. What I have learned over the last couple of years is that the pain never really goes away, but it does become less and less (most of the time). I have had to learn to adapt to the “New” me because that is who I am now, shaped by life experiences both good and bad. Continue the good fight, contact your elected officials, give them the facts and never give up even when you think they are not listening or that no one cares. I care and there are others out there in and outside our government that do care. Take care and God bless.

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Calvin

#13

[-]

Posts: 78

Jul 29 12 9:27 PM

Just a quick update. No replies yet. I am thinking of running for representative in my area. I missed the window for this year to get my name on the ballot. Unless I could get everyone in my district to 'write my name in' ... I don't see this happening.

I am completely out of money. I am at the stage of selling my things... and not paying creditors. I have been applying for jobs but, not getting any feed back. One interview and hoping I am the one of the two they are considering for the position. This will be my third job in less than a year. I quit my first one because I was not interested in living like an E-1 on a ship working 14 plus hours a day... at age 45, the old back-a-vator just can not keep up. The second one, I was let go because of my illness (combat related) took me out for 3 weeks (hospitalized for 5 days, bed ridden for another 5...) and they were justified in saying they needed someone they could rely on. You can not qualify for unemployment in Texas if you have an illness that prevents you from being hired or maintaining employment... I was denied for this reason.

I hate that my family are the ones that are suffering the most. I gave up drinking because too often I found myself at THAT point too (@Medic1SG) often. Life is better with out the booze. The depression sure does put a damper on things. I really had a much different vision of the future 23 years ago.

I do not qualify for 'AFFORDABLE' life insurance... could not pay for it if I could. Soon the cell phones will get turned off. Then the phone... which I will not have internet access... which means I will not be able to communicate with the VA. I sold one car of two cars. Wife works but being an excellent Army Wife Stay Home Mom has not qualified her for anything more than working in the kitchen at the local school -minimum wage. I am just about there myself. ... working for minimum wage to pay for a house that has lost 50k of its value (which I am upside down on). Amazing how my retirement check is wisked away by everyday bills... I can imagine how much harder life must be for a veteran who has zero income and is unable to maintain employment must have it... please God help these people first!

So here I am, struggling to work and struggling to pay the bills, all the while hoping everyday that this will not be the day I die, because I want my wife to get the DIC... because the day my illness finally takes me is coming. So I can not take my life because I love my wife and kids too much to abandon them with nothing. They are the only thing that is keeping me on this planet. As like so many, lying in bed, eyes open, with a snorkel on my face feels that feels like a gas mask. Taking deep breaths to turn my mind off waiting for exhaustion to turn me off for a few hours.

Going to school kind of keeps me above water when I can get the entire BAH, but Obummer caused the BAH to be pro-rated so there are months where the BAH is only $100 or none that month. The BAH has become unreliable, and is now an appreciated bonus. The entire purpose of the BAH has been destroyed.

What really bothers my moral code is my severely injured neighbors who are waiting for over a year ... or my very senior neighbors who can not keep up with the digital age and are abandoned by the VA ... and the people I have known that have been successful with the pistol under their chin or at their temple... because the process for getting help either belittles them or forsakes them. This was their sentiment in their suicide notes. I think 7 friends since 2004 is too many for one person to know.

Write letters. Use my letter. Let the elected officials know that 915,000 claims pending is TOO many. That is 915,000 P.O.'ed people, add their P.O.'ed families, the P.O.'ed friends, and the P.O.'ed concerned patriotic citizens ... this number equals MILLIONS of people who will not re-elect the losers who are not acting on this problem. Use these numbers in your letters. Use my letter if you can not write well or are unable. Download the latest numbers spreadsheet and include it in your letter. If you have the money, use a little of it to support the cause. There is no one that can defend 915,000 pending claims... the process is 100% broken... can you imagine if the gov't with held 915,000 tax return checks... indefinitely?... with out reason... other than "We are back logged". and responded to inquiries with: "Oh, please be patient, we will process your tax return when we get to it... thank you for paying your taxes."

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IGotBack

#14

[-]

Posts: 145

Jul 30 12 10:52 AM

I got this info a few months ago from a friend who works with the media. Maybe this could help out to get our voices out.

Media Organization:

CNN

Section/ Program/ Bureau Name:

Anderson Cooper 360

Contact Name:

David Doss

Job Title:

Senior Executive Producer

Preferred Method of Communication:

E-mail

Pitching Tips:

Staff Phone:

Staff Fax:

212-275-9520

Staff Email:

david.doss@turner.com

Staff Address:

Staff City/State/ZIP:

Media Phone:

404-827-1500

Media Fax:

404-827-5007

Media Email:

cnnfutures@cnn.com

Media Web Page:

http://www.cnn.com

Media Address:

1 CNN Center

North West

7th Floor

South Tower

Media City/State/ZIP:

Atlanta GA 30303-2762

Coverage:

National and international newsworthy events with in-depth political commentary. Includes TV, radio, online, multimedia and print services. Regular issues covered include breaking news, AIDS, the economy, environment, lifestyle, successes, crime trends, e

Media Organization:

CNN

Section/ Program/ Bureau Name:

Nancy Grace Show

Contact Name:

Rosie Kasica

Job Title:

Senior Producer

Preferred Method of Communication:

E-mail

Pitching Tips:

Produces the "Nancy Grace" show.

Staff Phone:

Staff Fax:

Staff Email:

rosie.kasica@turner.com

Staff Address:

Staff City/State/ZIP:

Media Phone:

404-827-1500

Media Fax:

404-827-5007

Media Email:

cnnfutures@cnn.com

Media Web Page:

http://www.cnn.com

Media Address:

1 CNN Center

North West

7th Floor

South Tower

Media City/State/ZIP:

Atlanta GA 30303-2762

Coverage:

National and international newsworthy events with in-depth political commentary. Includes TV, radio, online, multimedia and print services. Regular issues covered include breaking news, AIDS, the economy, environment, lifestyle, successes, crime trends, e

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Medic1sg

#15

[-]

Posts: 90

Aug 1 12 2:33 PM

August 1, 2012

Senator Jim Webb
248 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Webb,

I am writing you today about a problem that is affecting close to one million U.S. Citizens. These citizens are the ones who served in the military to protect us and the other 300 million citizens of this great nation. We call these citizens, Veterans; and being a Veteran yourself I know you understand the importance of caring for our nations heroes.

As of Monday, July 30, 2012 the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has 906,899 pending Compensation and Pension Entitlement claims with 601,523 of these claims pending for over 125 days. This is a serious problem as many Veterans are in a holding pattern for years waiting for their claim to be processed. For a majority of these Veterans the money they would receive from a claim award is needed for basic subsistence to live and provide support for their families.

These military men and women served our nation, and our nation said they would take care of them in appreciation for their service. For the most part, these are humble people, who ask for little from others, but have given much for all Americans. Many lives have been lost and ruined because of the amount of time a claim takes to process.

I perplexed as to why claims are taking so long. I am respectfully requesting that you look into this issue and hopefully find a solution to streamline the current system so that Veterans can have their claims adjudicated accurately, fairly and quickly. If you need some ideas on how to fix this please let me know as I have come up with a handful of them already. As a quick comparison is amazes me how the Social Security Administration can on average adjudicate a claim for disability in 3 months; or the Internal Revenue Service is able to process millions of tax returns a year and yet it takes on average 1 to 2 years for the Veterans Benefits Administration to adjudicate an initial claim for a smaller number of American Veterans. On top of this, if a Veteran has to appeal a claim decision it can take anywhere from 2 to 10 years which is absolutely intolerable!

There are a few questions I would like you to ask the Veterans Affairs Leadership for me if you would –
1. Why is the claims process taking so long? (Of course they will tell you they are working on it and it will be fixed by 2015. Your response to this should be – Then why has the amount of claims pending more than 125 days continued to climb in the last 3 years?)
2. Why is the Benefits Delivery on Discharge Program taking on average 12 to 18 months to complete a claim when it should be faster because all medical exams are completed, medical documentation is copied and everything is sent to the VBA before the Veteran separates and or retires?
3. Why is it, when a claim is completed for military retirees it is taking 12 to 18 months and sometimes longer for the Veteran to receive their retroactive payment from the VBA when the Defense Finance Accounting Service is able to do it in 30 to 60 days?

I understand that you may have a lot of issues you are dealing with in today’s America, but I hope that you take some time to assist those Veterans that are less fortunate than you or I by insisting the Department of Veterans Affairs fix this issue now, and, I ask for you to hold the administration accountable if they do not fix it quickly. This issue will only compound itself in the next 5 to 10 years as we separate or retire this generation’s heroes.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance in regards to this very pressing issue.

Sincerely,

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KiaBear

White House Petition?

#16

[-]

Posts: 1

Aug 1 12 7:00 PM

Vet Wife here.

This post really resonated with me, so much that I finally signed up to comment. What would everyone think of a White House Petition? If we can get 25,000 signatures in 30 days, we can get a response. 25,000 is a lot I know, but I think if we can put the word out, it can be done. This site receives much traffic as does Reddit, a internet community which frequently makes big movements for good causes.

It upsets me that no one cares about veterans, esp after everything they have given. I agree that something needs to be done. Thought I'd offer a suggestion.

Thank you all for a wonderful site, and support. You're amazing.

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LouF

#17

[-]

Posts: 12984

Aug 1 12 11:48 PM

10,000 plus post...

Everybody is aware of the problem, we have discussed many times the causes of the problem and they do not have a short term remedy. Now as to short term relief, thebVA just released 1300 raters from Agent Orange duty. That is going to help a tremendous amount since because of the Agent Orange problems they were some of the most experiencd raters and DRO's

Lou SSG
Santa Fe NM
4/21 11LIB Americal
1/69-8/70
50% PTSD
60% IHD
100% IU P&T

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Calvin

#18

[-]

Posts: 78

Aug 3 12 11:24 PM

LouF,

I was at Scott & White today requesting medical records, and I mentioned (in a room of about 20 seperate individuals,) to the counter person that the VA was backlogged to nearlly 1,000,000 claims. Her response was: "Whhaaaattt?" And I assured her, (as was on the news on 1 AUG 2012) TV and Newspapers are talking about the VA claims backlog.

Her husband had just retired (I plugged her into the VBN) and she was completely unaware there was a massive backlog ... and I asked the other people in the room if they had heard anything? There was a resounding 'no'... [I wanted to ask if they 'cared'... but that would have been a waste of time]

I think that a large majority of people that hear this news, do not pay attention to backlogged claims. If anything, the population at large is probably asking why we even get disability money. I would imagine that 99% of the people on this website don't even know why the VA was started, when it was created, and by who. This would mean actually taking the time to look this information up. Perhaps a YouTube video about the history and the W.W.W.W.W 's of the Veterans Administration would give the masses a reason to be angry about the nearly 1,000,000 claims out there.

As of right now, I feel that the majority of the people in the U.S.A. feel we don't deserve a disability check... my opinion... Perhaps another Civil War with millions of Americans killed and even more wounded, or another WWI with hundreds of thousands of American killed, or perhaps another WWII that gave Billions of People on this planet a chance to live and pro-create which came at the cost of 400,000 dead U.S. Solders and over a million wounded. I loathe those that do not remember the wars and the service members in their entirety (past, present, and future) that have given this stake a piece of themselves ... perhaps the 'nay sayers' to Veteran Benefits, would prefer that we had not done what was needed. The lack of knowledge of U.S. History in the United States of America's citizens is pathetic.

... [sigh] Often, if a problem does not affect a person directly, then they will not give the problem much attention. The only people that do pay attention are people who the problem touches in some way. A person has to be affected to be effected.

Thanks for the news about the 1300 additional eyes.

Here is an article on what Texas is doing... I wonder if my letters reached someone? I hope I had some kind of influence in making Texas take action:
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=68285

Also, there is already a thread on VBN started on the Texas action (for those interested):
http://vets.yuku.com/repl...elp-with-Tex-Vet-backlog

I am not too keen on a lot of the negativity and nay sayers. This IS an act in a positive direction. In the Army, I have seen people learn and overcome extremely difficult tasks and responsibilities. Often very quickly moving into the racing gates right next to people who have done the tasks for a much longer time. Human Beings are amazing. Criticizing them before they get a chance is WRONG. We should watch the Waco RO numbers to see if they show a significant decrease in a short amount of time. We should make judgements after, not before.

Here's hoping for the best and despite the mire, admire that at least one state IS DOING SOMETHING to help... This means Texas Leaders are showing they CARE! And I applaud this effort 100%[Cheers!]

Too bad my claim is in SLC...

keep writing your letters, I am working on my next one... I found a part time job that is helping out. So life is a little better.

Calvin

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em1

#19

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Posts: 308

Aug 4 12 2:17 PM

"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?"

I read this quote on another website and it's stayed with me to this day, it makes you wonder, if VA has been around for so long, why on Earth are they so inefficient? I remember one day, about 2 months after I started my new job as a warranty service/inside-sales rep, my boss overheard me talking to our retail center rep about a credit card transaction. Let me tell you, she flipped out. She said that I wasn't supposed to be taking any credit card orders, that all payments had to be paid via a check or money order no exceptions. (She was about 60 yrs old and her reason was because of privacy and security) she was really upset and if it wasn't for the retail sales rep and my co workers coming to my defense,(telling her that they've also taken cc payments in the past, that was the whole reason why the credit card machine was purchased) I probably would have been fired on the spot. I wonder if VA operates like my former boss, are they so used to their old ways that VA management refuses to change their procedures just because they've been doing them for such a long time? I bet this is one of the reasons that VA is so backlogged.....

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em1

#20

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Posts: 308

Aug 4 12 3:02 PM

Calvin,

I know exactly what you mean about using your GI Bill BAH money to stay afloat; we do it all the time. Have you applied for financial aid for possible pell grants?? If you haven't, I urge you to do so, it can be a huge help (hopefully your going to a community college so the money can go directly to you if you don't owe your school any $).

On the bright side, I read a story about US Rep Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo CA) who introduced a bill "that would bring nutritional assistance to veterans who still have disability claims pending. Under current law, these veterans must wait until their claims have been processed to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program."

Although this is far from congress fixing the backlog, I think it's a good step in helping veterans. The last time we applied for food stamps, we didn't qualify because our bank statements showed 2 consecutive month to month BAH deposits, it didn't matter that those deposits were 2 months old and that I currenlty wasn't attending college, this automatically disqualified me which wasn't fair. I think this would be a huge help to fellow veterans who are struggling to make ends meet.

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