UPDATE: first of all, yes Philip, my wife and I would love to have coffee with a fellow paratrooper! :) and now for the great news, We spent a couple hours at the Manchester VARO today, we got an awesome gentleman we only managed to get his firt name "Bernie" but he was incredibly helpful and sympathetic. He closed the new claim they had opened and told us we should see the direct deposit in a couple days! So again THANKS TO ALL.
Thanks Aletta, you are correct, We were able to see my award in the VA letters portion of eBenefits and how much and when it was sent out before we ever received the award packet from the VA. all in all, we are very grateful this was resolved!