supply46 wrote:

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Anybody out there watch C-Span last week when congress had the Sec. of Defense and the VA Sec in front of them at the same time?  If you did and if you listened closely you would have heard the sounds of the large thuds as the ceiling came crashing down of the VA Secretary. The members of the house wanted to know why it was that during the past 10 years, everytime the VA was asked about the medical records automation (after congress ad approved additional millians of dollars each year for the project) the project was not close to be accomplished and wanted to know why each year the question was asked the VA response was "in another 10 years?  Congress also asked about the average length of claims processing. When the VA Secretary stated that even though there is a back log of over 800K claims, they have brought the completion time down to an average of under 180 days. I also had another heart attack. This man is so full of s--t that it is mind bogeling. I, along with over 2 dozen very close friends have been waiting over 2 years for each of our claims to be settled. My claim finally went into Preperation for Decision in NYC in eartly March 2012 (after waiting almost 16 months). When I spoke to my regional office, they told me at that time that "I should be happy because there was light at the end of the tunnel. They said it should be completed within 114 days.". Well, in earlyJuly. I discovered that they had moved my IU claim from NYC to Roanoke, Va. The regional office told me that "I should be happy (again) because Roanoke has a habit of processing the claims "real fast" and that I should hear the end of this at least by Aug or Sep.". Well, I just received an email response from IRIS today. They stated that even though NYC had my claim in the Preperation for Decision for amost 90 days, Roanoke had received the claim from NY in June and placed it into the Preperation for Decision phase effective 28 July 2012. They also told me that it was probably placed at the bottom of the pile and that the average completion time for Roanoke is about 180 days. The said that the clock started on the 28th of July, not the original date in early March. This means that instead of the claim being completed by the original projected date in late September, it MAY be completed sometime in Febuary 2013. If that be the truth (LOL) then it will have taken almost 26-27 months from start to finish. Lets see, that is about 810 days. A far cry from the 180 days as claimed by the Secretary. Everyone that participates in this amazing blog should send a letter to the Chairman of the VA House Committee with documentation of the length of time it is taking to process your claim. Maybe this will wake somebody up. (He also got beat up for the ineffectiveness of Ebenefits.)

LIKEYOUREADABOUT wrote:

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 Every year,year in year out,its the same Dog&Pony show that congress and VA display to the American

 veteran. Congress wants to know why,and the VA promises to delivier in the near future. And thry all

 go out and have a few after hour drinks, and wink-wink,nod-nod and we sounded tough didnt we!.

GatorNavy wrote:

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It's like pounding your head against a brick wall. Unless you have powerful organization to go against the corporate wealth, you are just breaking wind in a blizzard. The corporate lobby wants the government to spend money on wearing out tank treads, burning up gun powder, launching Tomahawks. They could give a rat's ass about supporting disabled Veterans. Now we have NSOs that are supposed to be the "Great, wonderful and powerful OZ". They rehearse their speech, give a little jab to Congress, and then go back to the legion hall and pop another tab. Get those POAs and sell lots of life insurance...And Congress is worried about Veterans gaming the system?  

GatorNavy wrote:

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Who to vote for, does it really make a difference? Look at how long Miller and Filner were there and here we are seeing them up on their soap-box again just months before a major election. There was a Senate hearing back in 2005 about TDIU. President Obama (then Senator Obama) spoke well in favor of Veterans seeking IU. My Senator (Republican) basically stated like: "Here I am talking at a Senate Hearing, Ha Ha!" Four years of Presidency and we have a VA Secretary who has done nothing more than put on a "glitzy" dog and pony show while needy Veterans continue to be delayed and denied....Good luck with the vote! Come back in four years and we'll see just how much of a difference it made.  

supply46 wrote:

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DocFMF wrote:

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The Camp Lejune bill may seem to a lot of you to just be a little grandstanding by congress. But to many of us that were exposed to the toxic water, it's a major accomplishment and has been a long time in coming. It was a an amazing undertaking that started in 1997 and was kept alive by many members of congress as well as a retired Marine named Jerry Ensminger Fighting the Navy and Marine Corps who were trying to cover the whole thing up. Please do not belittle something that can prove to help close to 1,000,000 servicemen & women, when many of us had given up hope of ever being service connected for debilitations and diseases caused by our service to the Navy & Marine Corps. I think it's very selfish and very unfair to say "Congress tossed in a few blurbs to address the backlog in the Camp Lejuene Act is all that it amounted to." in my humble opinion.

Off my soap box now.

Semper Fi

 I would never "be little" anything that would help the vets. But, listen to what you said, Doc". "It was a an amazing undertaking that started in 1997". That was 15 years ago. It took over 35 years for them to consider Agent Orange Bills. It took them decades to realize that the offset to retired pay was wrong. Come on Doc, it does not take a rocket scientist to realize the political weight that one receives (especially when they are re-running for office in difficult times) when they throw a small bone to the different types of voting blocks out there. We aren't the only ones they did this to. This president put a temp. fix to the immigration proglem recently. Do you really think that once he is re-elected, this patch will remain. Hell no. He was just pandering for votes within the hispanic voting block, just as he and his cohorts were doing with the veterans voting block when the passed the Camp Lejune bill. There is political ryme and reason each time someone does anything in Washington and usually it is done to place an advantage for that particuliar person or party at election time. Never done to actually benefit the constituant.