prophetmom

Thanks, @R3dneck! I will do it tonight :) .

SUCCESS!! The money - all six digits and change ;D - posted in the account today...along with the newly-increased monthly amount! We got what we were owed :D ! I wanted to thank everyone here who helped and encouraged us. I do so appreciate it. I don't know if this qualifies as one of the stories you all have in the Success forum, but, if so, I would be willing to post over there, too. Oh, and thanks, @demeat, for the tip about writing your DRO; I followed suit, and sent an email to the Assistant DRO as well. Being a writer really pays off sometimes :D . I was polite but direct. Not sure if that really helped to move the process along or not, but I did it :) . Thanks and God bless!

Thanks, @broncovet! I checked the mail after this, and the unofficial letter from the DAV came today. The official letter and money should be coming soon.

Hi to All! I wanted to report back in to keep an accurate timeline for others who may follow this thread now and in the future. To recap, my husband won an appeal and his benefits will be increased from 30% to 70%. Waco is our RO. I got the packet (no award letter) on May 16. I still do not have an award letter. However, thanks to everybody on the board, I learned to keep checking eBenefits. I did, and today (July 27)I saw this (below). I assume the award letter will be coming soon (audit). I will review it and have some of you all review it with me. @Berta

Wow, @Berta! You are a wealth of information. Thanks so much!!!

Hi, @demeat! Can you please tell me how you got your RO Director's email address? I have researched and found the name of ours in Waco (John S. Limpose), but I don't know how to find the email address. Thanks!

Hope you feel better! Thanks!

Thank you so much! I am an English professor; math is not my strongest suit :D . I will work on this over the weekend.

I will definitely do this...you definitely have a point!

Hey, @broncovet! I don't know if you saw it or not, but I posted the entire packet for you to read. I was in error about the date; Berta and Paul (and the DAV office, actually) said that it looks like 2008 was the better date (again, I don't know what I am looking at :D ). Yes, based on what you told me before, I estimated @$994 per month. If you want, please look at the attachment. Thanks for all of your help!

Thanks, again, Wonderful @Berta! Whenever (I hope it doesn't take too much longer; our DAV person said it could be six months [November], but I hope not) we get the audit letter, I will scan and post it right here for the experts to review and advise us on :D .

This is true! Yes, my husband had no idea, I don't think, that he could get anything from the VA after he left. He felt so cast down and "unworthy" because of having to leave due to mental illness.I am glad that someone found your service records!

Thank you, @Berta! I was writing a response to paulcorain when yours came through. Please read it; I respect you personally greatly (I have been admiring you from afar via your posts :D ). Please let me know anything I can do to help other vets. As for the separation payments, my husband said he got somewhere betwee $16,000 and $20,000 in 1992 or so (I think; we were not married then and he blocked all of it out). He would not even go to the VA or have anything to do with them until 2008 when we were in dire straights and, quite frankly, I was at my wits end with him and gave him an ultimatum (sorry, but this is true). As luck would have it, the VA was still "giving him" ( civilian here; don't know the proper verbiage) 10%, but they never sent any check because they were recouping the separation payments. Literally, when we filed, the recoupment had been "met." Being a worrier (I am following your advice, @broncovet, but old habits die hard :D ), I called the DAV the other day to see what would happen if they "forgot" he paid all of this off by 2008. His DAV office said the file shows no balance due.

@paulcolrain, thank you so much! I am not a legal gal :D , but I am an English professor...and a journalist...and an author....and I have to say...these VA documents are some of the most weirdly-written documents I have ever seen! It seems to me that they leave out big chunks of information (which, in one part, they do quote law that states that they only have to list the "important stuff" [I am paraphrasing]). However, speaking as a person who has also been a technical writer ("Point here, click there" for software, etc.), I can say that their writing for understanding leaves much to be desired. You know, this entire episode has really opened my eyes to how many veterans there are who need help getting their just due from the VA. Truthfully, after about a year's waiting following the 30% appeal, our lives got so busy and tumultuous until we really forgot about it. In hindsight, I think that worked best for us....otherwise, I don't know if we would had peace knowing/remembering that there was money owed to my husband but held up by bureaucracy. Ever since we got this packet, I have begun to pray every night for us and other vets whose benefits are being denied or held up. I also want to see what else I can do to help. I am going back to school for a Masters and eventually a Ph.D. (both in English; I was going before we got the packet...this money will make it much easier). I want to see how I can use any of my writing skills (and advocate skills) to help.

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