Steppenwolf

Berta and everyone who suggested an attorney. Thanks. i spoke with one today who wants to meet with me next week. To answer your question about the NJ VARO. My 60 days to reply was down to 3 days. i called the 1-800-827-1000 that person suggested bring the evidence in and getting it time stamped so there is no question as to when the evidence arrived. i told that person that my RO is 4 hours each way to get there and back. That person then suggested that I submit the evidence and get it time stamped at ANY RO as long as it was before the 60 days expired. Since i had an appointment at the NYC med center it was suggested that i dope off the evidence in NYC or at the Newark NJ Varo. It took me ten minutes to drive to Newark from where i was staying so i dropped it off there. In reality i could have flown to NJ, taken a cab to the VARO and back to the airport, back to NC and home in less time that it would have taken me to drive to Winston Salem and back. i guess the bottom line is this: if my evidence was submitted in time but was not considered how does this effect the case? Shouldn't the new evidence generate an SSOC? There's another question that i want to ask you Berta since you are our resident law guru. After i post this message i'll write again. Thanks

At my hearing? Judge remanded to BVA. BVA remanded to VARO in CT. CT sent it to FL Congressman in CT demanded it back from FL. FL would not send it back until they "looked at it" and it had to wait it's turn. Years later it went back to CT. CT sent it to NC NC awarded one of three. In award letter VARO mistakenly states the the ruling is yes on one and no on two. DAV argues with me that the two issues are closed and waiting for me to sign off on the one award. The DAV will not submit new evidence on all three issues. Senator gets involved. VARO write to the senator and admit mistake: all issues still open. DAV still will not speak with me or return phone calls. No other VSO will represent me because of " unwritten law not to steal another organizations work ". VARO notifies me that I did not submit new evidence in the proper time and ruled against me. VARO sends records back to BVA BVA sends to judge. Judge rules against me on two issues that have been in appeal since 1971. Before the judge ruled I sent several pieces of vital evidence to VARO NJ ( a matter of convenience ) and got the issues time stamped hoping to generate a new SSOC. That never happened. She ruled without new evidence. I have no idea if submitting this new evidence before the extended 60 day expiration date deems it old evidence which was my fear from the the moment that DAV refused to submit it for me. I have letters and emails from the DAV in CT and NC telling me to do nothing to expedite my NOD on the first award for mistake of % is pending a request for a hearing. Hope you could follow that.

Turned down again. DAV tells me that i have 120 days to ask for reconsideration. i don't see anything in the envelope that says that. Too many points to rehash but key missing VAMC files are mentioned as found. I have not seen them in 40 years. Who do I ask for copies?

Do you know about these fact Pete: Most of the time i was seen and accessed by a medic. Can't go back and change THAT fact but it applies well to the subject of my post. Does a medics assessment negate the fact that my injury was more than " a complaint of back pain "? Or is the fact that i did not insist that i get a doctor to make the assement the truth that i have to live with? Does the fact that i was RX'd lithium without a DX but merely " a complaint ", aerovaced to a facility with " a real shrink ", hosptialized for a week and left the hospital without a DX for bipolar mean that i was not and or am not BP? And i've always wondered how important the fact is that back when i was serving there wasn't a DX for BP it was called manic depression and as best as i can recall it was considred a major mental illness; one that used to require institutionalization most of the time and once again as best that i can tell was cause for immediate medical discharge. Only now does it occure to me that "truth" may be a little like "beauty" "in the eye of the beholder". So maybe i can claim that i suffer badly from "beholders eye" which clouds the truth and my vision; easily proven by the fact that i disagree with most of the crap that gets written into my records. Thanks for chiming in; sometimes i think i died: unseen and unheard.

After writing i got a call from NC who works at the VA and has been working to get the most accurate information. She told me that the information that i was told about going to the bottom of the pile was not true; the date of my claim meant that i would be seen as soon as possible. My case was now being scheduled for a C&P, i may even get a call today and after the C&P a rating should be forthcoming with-in a few weeks. i told her that i wanted to believe everything that she told me and hoped that something in the hopper didn't derail things. Now i wonder if the letter from the congressman will get to them before the C&P gets scheduled and everything gets sent back to CT. Since it's Friday maybe i should do nothing and hope that Monday an appointment has been made. It's amazing that no news seems to bring me out of this funk.

Yes this is a C&P question, however: i no longer know what to believe about anything VA related or how or who to ask for the best correct answer. This much i can tell you just about posting this question/comment: My hands are shaking so much that it is difficult to type. My head is spinning. I feel like throwing up. I don't know how much or how little to say. What came before the C&P letter? i think some of the history is important but i am not longer sure if it is or isn't or what part is or isn't relative. The fact that i can't tell you "the truth" to me is an indication that underlying this whole mess the truth is obscured on purpose. Let me try to give you the sequence of events of what i think i know which i will start at my request for a travel board hearing in 2004 after a DRO review and denial. The best VSO i have ever met and worked with suggested and helped me file for a travel board hearing after the case that we put together was denied by a DRO at the VARO in St Pete ( or Bay Pines i think it is called ) before i got a reply from the VA concerning the hearing my VSO disappeared. No one including his assistant knew where he was or what happened to him. Long story short he had a nervous break down from the stress of the job and eventually resigned. My VSO organization DAV in Bay Pines tells me that their best guess is that my hearing will take place in Oct 2008 ( 4 years! ). While in CT where my home was i spoke to a DAV rep there who suggests that i have my records sent to CT and let him help me. He told me that it definettly would not take 4 years for my hearing. My records arrive in CT in March 06 i have a hearing in Jun 06. At the end of the hearing we all got the sense that the hearing went well. VSO said i would hear back quickly. He speculated that i would be rated 60-80%, we would immdiately appeal for 100%, my evidence would support 100%, and about 75days after the hearing i got her decision: REMAND. At this point i am not sure about very much except that the VSO still thought that the case was solid and that it would be rated quickly. 24 months later my records have been sent back to Bay Pines a short time after receiving a notice to submit any new evidence within 60 days. VSO does not beleive me that the records were sent back to FL and my address changed back to my old address and i get a notice for a C&P in FL. Once he finds out he says he felt betrayed by the rateing person at regional who didn't contact him before deciding to send my records away. i have to contact my state rep, he makes me get a letter from my town saying that i am a resident of CT ( the former Mayor of my town ran the congressman campaign, knows me by name, actually spoke to me when i called the his office, but i need to get a letter from the town clerk non-the-less ) the congressman contacts "The VA" ( no idea who, where or how ) and orders my records back to CT in Sept 08. In Dec 08 i call my VSO at Bay Pines to ask about the records but have to wait for the person assigned to my claims number to call me back because no one else will answer any questions but he's on holiday and calls me back 10 days later only to tell me he has to find out why my records are still there. Calls back tells me that yes they got a letter from the congreeman but he can't tell them what to do, they need to review the case before returning it to CT and there were many cases that were "in the hoper" longer than mine, no i can't talk to his suporvisor, i plead with him to understand how this has delayed things and that Bay Pines is no longer my regional, he checks electronic records and wants to know why i still have a FL address ( snowbird ) claims he got thye supervisor to commit to a quick review, early Jan i'm told the records are sent back to CT. For a month no one knows where they are ( not in FL not in CT ) Feb 09 they show up in CT, mid feb i get a letter informing me that a C&P will be scheduled in CT 23 Feb i get a call to scedule a C&P the person tells me she can't tell me when the C&P will be but that there will be 2 on different days, i ask her if i can have a C&P in NC where i'm living in transition planning on being back in CT in mid April, she tells me that i can check to see if the will schedule me, i spend most of the day calling around and it looks like it will be trouble so i call her back to tell her to just schedule the appointment. Leave her a voice mail on the same day 23 Feb ask her to call me back, call her number everyday that week at least twice a day and ask her to call me back and that i want her to schedule the C&P and i will make it work, Friday the 27 i call the CT patient advocate, she call's C&P C&P calls me back but it's a different person and she tells me that my records were sent back and i had to call regional to have my case reopened and a new C&P scheudlued, i call my VSO who said she was wrong i just had to call to rechedule the C&P, forgetting that the 800 number goes to wherever it goes they will not connect me to CT, i call DAV in DC who tells me to call back and demand that i be connected to regional in CT. Once again they refuse BTW Friday the 27th i stayed in my PJ's all day calling everywhere i was either told to call or i thought might help me from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM. The last call once again to the 800 number gets me a guy who tells me that anyone who answers the 800 number can do whatever i want. He asks, i tell him i want a C&P in CT, he says ok, i can hear him typing away for 5 mins or so, he says: okay, i scheuduled you for an examin in NC. My BP went through the roof and i got sick like i am now trying to type this and figure out what info is important. i told him that the is not what i wanted and he told me it didn't matter what i wanted the last place i got VA meds and service was NC so there is where i needed to get my C&P ( i tell you this and my head is punding just thinking about it again ) Since that time i have made hundreds of calls and been told different things by everyone i speak with...on Monday March 2 i spoke with the head of regional in CT he assured me that my records were there infront of him and would call "those idiots" at the VAMC and order them to schedule a C&P. On March 11th i call him again and tell him i've been told that my records are in NC. He tells me that the same three folders of my who file are right in front of him, he will call them and get back with me by the end of the day. The same day i got to the CT VA where the C&P would happen but can't see or speak with anyone in the dept. The VA guy never calls me back. On Mar 11th before the end of the day i call the congressman who wrote the first letter, he tells me to call him back on Friday, Friday he take my info and tell me to call him on Tuesday, Tuesday i call him from the car on my way back to NC, he tells me to call him back on Friday, Friday before i call him back i call the regional in CT and speak with the person who never returned my call and ask why he never called me back. He tells me because my case was already rated! WHAT??? But he is not in the office so i need to call him on Monday, Monday i call my DAV VSO in CT at 8:30 and tell him what the VA guy told me. He is puzzled to but says maybe that did happen sice he no longer has access to my records, i get the VA regional guy at 11 AM and he tells me he can't find my records. i can go on like this for hours with calls to CT, DC, NC and everyone i speak with tells me something else. As of right now i'm told that my records have been ordered back to CT that NC doesn't have them, then that they do have them and have sceduled a C&P i am in direct contact with the C&P person in NC who was asked by the director to help me and at this point in time i have no idea who to call what to ask, who's in charge, if all of this will put me at the bottom of the pile, if the date determines anything or when the records get received and until one hadit member PM'd me about veterans service pension i had no idea that such a thng existed and that i clearly qualified for it going back to the day i got out of the service. Even if we don't go back that far it's been 31 months since my travel board hearing and 5 years since my DRO hearing and i haven't earned more than 6800 dollars in any one year and some years i "earned" zero. Who can i call to get things straight? Who can i call to complain to about the run around? How do i get a truthful answer about my case and all of these mistakes that many want to blame on me for moving around? The one last peice of info that i think is important is that my VSO told me to pull out all stops to remain a CT resident until a rating or decision is made. i can't tell you how many VA people ask me: "Why did he tell you that"? Geeez, i think you should ask him but it seems to be clear to me: Don't confuse a bunch of incompetent idots. HELP!!!!

It's a slippery slope once you try to pigeonhole all of the *isms that in reality take a much more serious examination than we're willing to give them. If you haven't examined the ones that get bantered around here like we're either completely one or completely another spend a few minutes and look them up. A few suggestions with this caveat: wiki is by far not the only answer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism This is not a political postion or commentary it's just a suggestion to consider that trying to TAG someone or something as this or that leads down that slippery slope

Pete, i can understand why T-Bird doesn't want political commentary. It seems to digress quickly to the Spy vs Spy analogy that i mention below.

Alan i thought that maybe somehow the link i posted was different than what i thought it was. But when i clicked on it it took me to the one i thought it was from the 1976 movie Network Network- I'm Mad as Hell speech....it's strangely poignant to what;s going in now. If for whatever reason it still brings you to the wrong place then just go to youtube and type in I'm Mas as Hell

People are talking and getting mad...what next sectarian wars in the street? This is MAD MAGIZINE SPYvsSPY in realtime. If those of us that really believe that the VA needs house cleaning don't get behind those who are calling for it then once again nothing will change except this time we will have been swiftboated. People are talking and getting mad...what next sectarian wars in the street? This is MAD MAGIZINE SPYvsSPY in realtime. If those of us that really believe that the VA needs house cleaning don't get behind those who are calling for it then once again nothing will change except this time we will have been swiftboated.

Berta, Since your PM's are turned off i'm not sure how or where to address a post about the legal actions that have been taken in the past and the ones that are happening now. That these issues exist at all is hard to swallow. That nothing has worked so far to change things QUICKLY seems to me to be a crime. Do you know law well enough to explain how and why this has been so for so long?

That morphine just doesn't cut it for pain. It made me itchy, constipated, and didn't touch the pain. Maybe it's the form that it's in now. i had it once before back in the 70's and it was blue in color and it was great for the pain...still made me itchy. For the longest time i was getting percocet which worked better than the same amount of oxycodone without the tylenol. But mixing tylenol and oxycodone at the same time just doesn't pack the same effect. That's why they took percocet out of the VA pharmacy. My PCP told me that they don't know why but percocets give people a buzz that straight oxy doesn't. The methadone was the best and the worst for me. After a year i couldn't just miss a day without going into withdrawls. The other narcotics didn't have the same effect. Now i'm back on stright oxy. If i don't need it i don't take it but if you read the fine print of the contract it's a violation to take less than RX'd and can be contrued as drug abuse. Go figure.

Welcome to hadit. There's a lot of experience here and willingness to help navigate the rats nest. Hope you find a few answer here that gets you on the right track.

From the bottom of this post: So for clarity: Case started in FL, transfered to CT, i moved to NC a year ago. Still resident of CT. It is not easy to explain, yet at least some of it is probably important. My first application for disability was in FL back in 1970. Where iv'e been from then til now probably does not need full disclosure. What might help is the information that i had dropped out of the VA system from about 1976 to 1991 when i had my own health insurance and stayed away from the VA except to appeal my claim a thousand times. In 91 i was living in CT. i got chest pains while shoveling snow and was taken to an urgent care center in an ambulance. Found out that the health care program that i was paying $300.00 plus a month for didn't cover any of the costs of that episode. That led me back to the VAMC and reopened my relationship with that part of the VA. Meanwhile in the winters i went to FL and stayed with my parents from Nov til May and would use if needed the VA in West Palm which was a brand new facility. One of the VSO in the hospital suggested that i switched my home base VA to FL which I did. My disability case was once again opened, denied, appealed, denied etc. i tried different VSO with the same results. They always were optomistic about taking my claim ( i am not sure about this but i think maybe there is so reward associated with taking a case but not winning it ) Finally in 02 or 03 i met the best VSO i ever met. He examined my case and saw immediately what had been wrong. This guy was really on it in about every way possible. He had me get a few letters from doctors, one or two right there in the VA. He's read the letter and red pencil all of the areas he wanted redone. That meant that i had to get the doctors to rewrite their letters. Amazzingly they did. He scripted every move as if it was a story board for a movie. It was brilliant! He had me request a hearing from a DRO. That happened in May of 04 in St Pete. She denied it again. My VSO was spitting mad! He took the decision and red penciled it too. Had me once again go back to the doctors to address her words. He also had me request a travel board hearing. Before i got word about that my SVO disappeared...he was gone a long time and no one could answer why or when he would be back. He had given me his cell phone number which i respected and never used. He answered the phone when i called and said he was burned out...the meat of my case was there and at the hearing someone from DAV would be with me....i was sorry to see him leave and never used that number again. Word finally came down that i'd have a travel board hearing but their best guess was that it wouldn't be until Oct 08. 4 years! When i was back in CT i stopped in to see the DAV VSO there. Told him the story. He assured me that if i had my files sent back to CT it wouldn't take 4 years for a hearing. i requested that they be transfered and in 4 months i had a hearing. That same DAV VSO came to the hearing with me along with a trainee. We all came out of the hearing feeling positive. The VSO guessed that i'd have a descison in a month or so, i did; a remand. VSO still thought that the facts were there, the judge saw it and admitted it in the room, even apologized for some errors including the comments by the DRO. But soon the excuses started coming in: The person there in CT who reviewed the case had to go one the road to train new people, he was sick, on vaction, was working on it but trying to get more information, every so often i would get something from the VA in CT to my CT address telling me something....my house burned down for instance and the VSO asked the same judge to expidite the case do to hardship. She denied. My VSO insisted that i do everything possible to keep my home state as CT. i have a car reged there, pay house and car insurance there, taxes, have a phone, address, and voted there in Nov. For about two years i was camped out on an air mattress in a friends NJ home and went to the VA there in NJ. The DAV VSO there would try to keep me posted on what was going on with my case since i could never get a hold of the CT VSO and the NJ guy would tell me that my case was in FL. i would call the VARO in FL which as you might know is not easy with this brilliantly thought out 800 827 1000 only going to the state you're in and no one either knowing how or admiting that they know how to transfer you there. They would insist that they could do everything from where they are and insist that you give them your claim number etc. Then they would tell you: " Your case is in FL and you'll have to contact them " Isn't that what i called to ask them to do...transfere me to FL. This was and still is a horror show that IMHO results in veterans being blammed for what the VA has created in this FU system that they have. When i finally figured out a way to call FL with a none 800 number ( not easy to do or find ) i was told that my case and records were not there but in CT. If by chance i manged to get through to my VSO in CT he would admonish me and baby talk me: " How many times do I have to tell you to stop worrying. I do not care what the system says I KNOW where your records are they are here and we will be getting an answer soon".....months go by. Everyone wants to help but they look and tell me that my records are in FL and i tell them no my VSO says they are in CT. The NJ guy tried to call the CT guy a dozen or more times to find out why the system still points to FL but the CT VSO would never return the call of the NJ VSO. In the summer of 08 i get a letter in CT saying that i have 60 days if i want to add anything new to my case. My CT guy tells me that i do not want to add anything and not to respond. Late fall of 08 I call to see what's going on and once again i'm told that my case is in FL. This time it was. MY CT SVO only returned my call when my congressman in CT and the regional boss of the DAV called him and told him to call me. Of course CT guy was not happy that his boss called him or that the congressman called him. i tell CT guy THIS TIME YOUR WRONG! IF YOU WOULD HAVE CHANGED THAT INFO IN THE SYSTEM THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED! He said he would find out and call me back. He did. He said he felt betrayed by the guy in CT who supposidly was aware of my case and who my service officer was and sent it to FL without checking with him first. The letter from the congressman had no effect on FL now not wanting to release my files until they reviewed them. THIS IS A VERY SCARRY THOUGHT. Why would or should they want to or have to review them when it was suppose to be CT. It wasn't until Jan 09 that they were sent back and for a while they were missing. No one knew where they were before mysteriously appearing in CT at the end of Jan. Then a letter informing me that a C&P was going to be scheduled came to CT. Then a phone call comes to me this week from someone in comp in CT. She couldn't tell me dates until she told the system to generate them. She did tell me that there would be two and they would not be on the same day. I asked her if it was possible to have the C&P elsewhere. She said yes. i said let me look into it. By the next day this started to look like it could be trouble so i called her back to make the appointments. She never reutned my call and when i finally got in yesterday i was told that it was "sent back" and that i had to call VARO CT and ask to reopen my claim! OMG NO!!!! CT SVO said she was wrong that i did not need to ask for my case to be opened just to reschdule the C&P. Back to 827 1000. Locals wouldn't transfere me. Same old story of giving them C # and them tell me what i told them at the start. Called local inside person, they gave me a DC number, DC number said I needed to talk with CT and that the 800 number should transfere me and if not they were just being an a-hole. i call CT even though the VA is in the same building as the hospital the operator tells me she can't transfere me that i have to use the 800 number. i do that again and the person this time insists that he can schedule my C&P. He takes all the info again and when all is done he tells me that he scheduled it in NC. i was freaking out. "ARE THEY GOING TO TRANSERE MR CASE TO NC???" He said no but what does that mean that he said no. It should not be a liability to move where you want and not have to explain why. That local VSO don't want to help unless all of your records are transfered to their state is wrong too and not every state behaves this same way. It's easy to blame me for every mistake but the bottom line here goes back to wanting to get a message out to the prez before he stops listening to the people' this VA system is so screwed up that we lost support amongst each other and we have vets blaming vets for problems that are clearly administrative. There is only one bad guy in the room and it's not us it's the VA. period. So for clarity: Case started in FL, transfered to CT, i moved to NC a year ago. Still resident of CT.

A letter was sent to me informing me that a C&P was going to be scheduled. A person calls me to schedule but can't tell me when, what month, what year, nothing except that there will be two and not on the same day. Will it be the same week? month? anything, can you tell me anything? Can i request the C&P where i live now? Yes you can but you need to call the regional office there. Knowing that Florida told me that my travel board hearing would take 4 years and when i had it transerfered to CT it took 4 months i'm worried about requestion it elesewhere but if it's in CT i will have to say with a friend, motel, or sleep in my car on my property and shower at the Y. i call her back with-in 24 hours, less actually to tell her i'll probably stay with CT. She doesn't answer the phone and never returns my call. Each day that i call i also place a call to the PA who never calls back. Today i place the same two calls again with the video tape running and the speak on, then call the operator who puts me through to a different PA. She calls the comp dept and tells me that i need to call the regional office to ask that my case be reopened?????? WHAT????? And then to reschedule my C&P. Miraculously i reach my SO who tells me that she is wrong and my case does not have to be reopened just ask for reschude. But the 800 number goes to the state that i'm in and the SO i speak with has no clue abut anything. Can i request a private C&P? That no one can tell me anything about how long a C&P will take do i want to risk being delayed another 3 or 4 years? i also asked my SO why he never suggested pension? By the questions he asked he doesn't know me at all. Wasn't sure when i served, if i had an honorable discharge, if i worked or had assests. The he says: Don't know why I never suggested it sounds like your a perfect canidate. i sometime get the feeling that everytime i go to one of the people or agencies that are suppose to be helping me that i'm going before a firing squad. So this will be yet another who day this week that i do nothing but make phone calls or trips to the VA and come back dumber than when i left. Someone tell me something that makes sense.

From a few posts elsewhere one might think that there were just a few of us malcontents. Come on you disgruntled grunts admit it: you figured out a way to vote "very dis satisfied" more than once didn't cha? Didn't cha! ROTFLMAO

Well Bronco, Personally i don't think that the face matters much either. The judge i went before really seemed compassionate and to have understood. i felt it, my SO felt it, the other SO in the room felt it, but in the end she remanded it back to one of the axmen who already p'd on it so much that between the age of the paper and the p it is yellow like the cowards who work for the VA and take money to deny deny deny. Wouldn't we all like to have a blanket party for THEM?

It's always easy to do things when you can hide behind anonymity. Imagine if all of the dirty hands that touch your case had to have their picture and name attached to it. Makes me wonder if that reality might not change the way they rule? i say this because of a study that was done with people who were told that it was their job to give an invisible subject an electric shock if they answered a question incorrectly. The people with the electiric shock button could decide the level of shock in intensity and time. They couldn't see the subjects and the subjects couldn't see them. But the shockee's could be heard at some point yelling for mercy. It was found that the shockers after a while would feel obligated to "teach them" and after getting too many questions wrong they decided that the shock level and period of time needed to be more to the point of maximum shock in both severity and time. The only part that the shockers didn't know was that the subjects were only reacting to a meter telling them how sever the shock and lenght of time was. When the test was over the shockers did not want to meet the people they were shocking. Different countries responded differently. Some wouldn't partisipate at all. After writing this i found the experiment....we'll see if i remembered it correctly from psych 101 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

How is it that any citizen can be subjected to a set of laws that other citizens are not also subject to? To take a poke at my own question i think that only criminals are not entitled to the same rights that all other Americans are entitled to. Oh, and there is one more condition which IMHO is a free pass to break the law with immunity and that's diplomatic status. And last but not least are those in the military who are protect on one hand and screwed on the other under the code of military justice. Justice? Why isn't there are real law firm like: Crane, Poole & Schmidt of Boston Legal fame especially an attorney like Alan Shore? Maybe then we'd have a chance to change the crimes committed against those who served.

John, Thanks for reconsidering pulling this post. i didn't know that it would somehow violate hadit policy. i don't think that a call to unite is anti-American, anarchy or subversive. It just seems to me that the real crime here is treating our brothers and sisters who served the way that they do. It seems to me that no one see's the the injustice of this lack of treatment and responsibility. As i said: if we were protesting outside the capitol now while the argument is about "bailing out" the crooks, it might bring better attention to our cause. If ten vets were out there now and got coverage perhaps in short order there would be 100 of us then 1000, and once other Americans could see and hear our stories maybe they would get on board and change would come about. Just a wish and a prayer that our destiny is on our own hands.

http://www.veteranslawyers.com/ From the above site. 9. Do I have to retain an attorney in Washington, D.C.? Answer: No, you may be represented by anyone who is admitted to practice before the Court, wherever they are located. However, having an attorney in Washington, D.C. has certain logistical advantages. For example, we do not need to wait for the VA to make a copy of your claims file and send it to us. We can access it directly since the VA is located in Washington, D.C. Also, we can hand deliver any filings to the Court or the VA and eliminate the risk of mail getting lost.

This is another bone of contention for me too. It may become part of my law suit.

i think i'm a little manic today so i didn't see the "remand" option on the last question and like purple i got an error message when trying to post. When i check remand it went through

At some point we must take the discussion to a different place, a new level. We might need to use unconventional means. Although i am not a doctor, or an attorney, i don't have a degree in anything to be honest; that doesn't mean that i don't know a better way to treat my cold or a belly ache. It doesn't mean that i can't see a better point to make to defend myself. My point being that when we buy into the belief that those who have the degree know more or know better than us is not a given. Most doctors and lawyers that i know are arrogant jerks who mostly know one way to do things; what they were taught. Most do not, will not, and can not think outside the box. So when we get a show like CSI or Warcus Welby ( dating myself ) or my favorite example Boston Legal, it's the writers, the artists, the producers who bring to us the possibilities of finding a way to fix that which is broken. It's been proved that if tell someone that they are worthless that after a while they start believing it. So is it hard to imagine that in many ways this is what's happen to US the veterans, the warriors, we are told that we need to wait, that we can't do this or that and like good soldiers we follow orders. One of the things that i have learned that has yielded great result for the most part over the years is to look at those things in life that work and work well and consider applying the same or similar methods. At times it's necessary to look at things metaphorically. Here's an example: I met an Israeli pilot who told me that their Air Force retro fitted rear view mirrors to their F-16 to help them see what is coming up behind them. He went on to tell me that the US Air Force can not do this because regulations don't allow them to. At some point after that i actually saw a PBS special about this same point. It doesn't matter that a $5.00 mirror may save a few plans and lives regulations do not allow our fliers to modify their equipment. How many times have you been told that " there is a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way "? It used to make me crazy when i'd hear that and see that rules can sometimes be the death of you. We need to change the focus of our fight. i don't know exactly how to do that but one thing i do know: the conversation has to start. Here's another good example of how change happens. Back in 1980 when the word AIDS was introduced into our language and it seemed that it was a gay disease. The gay community started protesting across the country to get the medical community to do something. It was not ok to to pay less attention to finding a cure because the sub-set was small or looked down upon by the righteous, moral majority. Whether or not you approve or disapprove of their life style you have to notice what their voices accomplished. When we found out that it was not just a gay disease we still only saw the gay community being activists, getting on the news, having spokes people bring the message to the public as well as anywhere and everywhere needed to make the changes necessary to find something to help those who were dieing. Those other groups who did nothing; have the gay community to thank for being diligent. In 10 years medication were found that not only surpressed the virus, the work to find a cure lead to many other diseases benefiting from the efforts. If veterans were as vocal and in your face as the gay community maybe something would change. They fought a war differently than we did and they helped the world for their efforts. We have the support of most Americans. We need to turn that support from passive to active. We need to be active. Bring attention to this subject everyday. EVERYDAY!!! We shoud be outside the capitol with signs, and numbers, we need to contrast what they are doing now, today, pushing this "package" through...we need to contrast that action with our plight! " Your priorities are screwed up Congessmen and Senators. You're bailing out the crooks while your veterans go homeless, commit suicide, and die waiting for their claims to get accepted. YOUR PRIORITIES ARE SCREWED UP!!! " We need to unite against this accepted blow off by our elected officals!!! At some point we must take the discussion to a different place, a new level. We might need to use unconventional means. Although i am not a doctor, or an attorney, i don't have a degree in anything to be honest; that doesn't mean that i don't know a better way to treat my cold or a belly ache. It doesn't mean that i can't see a better point to make to defend myself. My point being that when we buy into the belief that those who have the degree know more or know better than us is not a given. Most doctors and lawyers that i know are arrogant jerks who mostly know one way to do things; what they were taught. Most do not, will not, and can not think outside the box. So when we get a show like CSI or Warcus Welby ( dating myself ) or my favorite example Boston Legal, it's the writers, the artists, the producers who bring to us the possibilities of finding a way to fix that which is broken. It's been proved that if tell someone that they are worthless that after a while they start believing it. So is it hard to imagine that in many ways this is what's happen to US the veterans, the warriors, we are told that we need to wait, that we can't do this or that and like good soldiers we follow orders. One of the things that i have learned that has yielded great result for the most part over the years is to look at those things in life that work and work well and consider applying the same or similar methods. At times it's necessary to look at things metaphorically. Here's an example: I met an Israeli pilot who told me that their Air Force retro fitted rear view mirrors to their F-16 to help them see what is coming up behind them. He went on to tell me that the US Air Force can not do this because regulations don't allow them to. At some point after that i actually saw a PBS special about this same point. It doesn't matter that a $5.00 mirror may save a few plans and lives regulations do not allow our fliers to modify their equipment. How many times have you been told that " there is a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way "? It used to make me crazy when i'd hear that and see that rules can sometimes be the death of you. We need to change the focus of our fight. i don't know exactly how to do that but one thing i do know: the conversation has to start. Here's another good example of how change happens. Back in 1980 when the word AIDS was introduced into our language and it seemed that it was a gay disease. The gay community started protesting across the country to get the medical community to do something. It was not ok to to pay less attention to finding a cure because the sub-set was small or looked down upon by the righteous, moral majority. Whether or not you approve or disapprove of their life style you have to notice what their voices accomplished. When we found out that it was not just a gay disease we still only saw the gay community being activists, getting on the news, having spokes people bring the message to the public as well as anywhere and everywhere needed to make the changes necessary to find something to help those who were dieing. Those other groups who did nothing; have the gay community to thank for being diligent. In 10 years medication were found that not only surpressed the virus, the work to find a cure lead to many other diseases benefiting from the efforts. If veterans were as vocal and in your face as the gay community maybe something would change. They fought a war differently than we did and they helped the world for their efforts. We have the support of most Americans. We need to turn that support from passive to active. We need to be active. Bring attention to this subject everyday. EVERYDAY!!! We shoud be outside the capitol with signs, and numbers, we need to contrast what they are doing now, today, pushing this "package" through...we need to contrast that action with our plight! " Your priorities are screwed up Congessmen and Senators. You're bailing out the crooks while your veterans go homeless, commit suicide, and die waiting for their claims to get accepted. YOUR PRIORITIES ARE SCREWED UP!!! " We need to unite against this accepted blow off by our elected officals!!!

Check this out: http://www.hadit.com/forums/index.php?show...c=24721&hl= i'm working on a youtube of my own. It seems to me that if WE agreed to make a youtube video together so more people can see/hear our issues.... our audience could be one of the steps that WE take to show that WE are UNITED in our cause to change those things that keep us tied to our dis ease.