broncovet

Purple.. Your suggestion about which media to use is duly noted. Belle has already suggested that we use CNN video instead, I am for anything that will help Veterans. Tbird has already approved this videos reference to hadit, in her post, and, altho a video may not be approved by all hadit members, if I get more "thumbs down" than "thumbs up", then I will "back off" as well. As of now, the only issue is of content of the video..I am aware of your position that the RO has given you great service, however, if most Veterans felt the way you do, it is unlikely that the VA would be mired in the controversy and lack of trust the way it is today, as in this CBS news video: http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfmar09/nf030509-8.htm I do not "begrudge" you for the good service you recieved, and I am sure that your organization/administrative skills played a big role in your quick approval. Rather, I am disappointed that other Veterans did not get your level of service, or better. Unfortunately, many sick Veterans lack your skills and are in dire need of Veterans benefits only to find their claims mired in red tape. Far too many Veterans are homeless. As far as I am concerned ONE homeless Veteran is too many. So far, the feedback in reference to a CNN/Youtube video about Veterans rights has been overwhelmingly positive, and Steppenwolf, who advocated something similar, hasnt even been available to contribute as of yet.

I think the "Claim Approved" rubber stamp was "accidently" shredded, to prevent its indiscriminate use by new employees unfamiliar with the which is REQUIRED to be put on the "Claim Denied" rubber stamp, according to USC 38 Sec. 1.(non public laws), which states: "After the RO has delayed the claim for as long as possible, the rating service representative supervisor will demonstrate how the "Claim Denied" rubber stamp is to be utilized for new employees who are unable to read. A 1.5 inch yellow smiley face is to be attached to each "Claim Denied" rubber stamp to keep it from being confused with the "Claim is at the rating board" rubber stamp. Or, was it the other way around, I forget which. All employees are strictly required to adhere to this policy, except in cases of family and friends of management with large retros."

Yes, Tbird, hadit has made all this possible, and thank you for supporting this. If I have anything to say about it, then I will mention that anyone who is a Veteran or has a friend/family member who is a Vetran should visit www.hadit.com to get the "rest of the story".

Carlie You are right. However, if we think our information is not already online, we are kidding ourselves. All of the credit card companies and banks are online with our private information. All our medical records are already online within the VA. Most of us file our taxes online. We need internet security, however, failing to convert the VBA from paper to online will not prevent any of our private information from being hacked, as a skilled hacker can already get our information online from other sources, such as our tax returns, bank accounts, VA medical records etc. Vonapp (Voc Rehab) is already online, and is much, much faster than VA C&P. The way it is now is that Vetrans have all the risk exposure of being online by hackers, but none of the benefits such as fast claim service. We might as well get the benefits of fast claim service since we are already exposed to the risks associated with identity theft and hacking.

Its ok meddac..we thank you for your great insight..keep it up. Back on topic: PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR VA STORY: Here is mine Hello I am Southern belle and I would like to give you a warm southern welcome to my you tube video. I am from Georgia, but we are going to have some Veterans from (list states...) So, grab your chair while I tell you a few things about how our government, (The VA) is treating our Nation's soldiers, sailors, and Marines who have risked their lives for our country. I am pleased to tell you that I also am a Veteran! Unfortunately, I need to tell you that the VA deserves an “F” in its “service” to Veterans. I am going to tell you about a few Veterans, around the country, and how the VA has treated them. Then, I am going to ask you to share this video with your friends, and then get a pen and paper and write to your congressman telling him that our nations Veterans deserve their benefits in a timely manner! A Veteran from Colorado writes: “ I served in the U.S. Navy in the Vietnam Era. Our barracks was located just under the San Diego Airport, and we constantly had jet engines roaring just a few feet above our head when the planes took off. This jet engine noise took its toll and I have a severe hearing loss, which developed over many years and now, I am unable to even watch a movie without “close captioning”. I lived with the hearing loss for many years, but it gets progressively worse every year. Finally, in 2002, I got fired from my job, in no small part because I failed the company physical due to my hearing loss. I applied for benefits with the VA in 2002, explaining to them in a letter how my hearing loss lead to my unemployment. The VA didnt listen to my letter at all, and put me in for just hearing loss and denied it in Nov. 2002 even tho my audiologist offered the opinion that my hearing loss was most likely due to military service. I appealed, and the Board of Veterans appeals agreed with me awarding me a complete grant of benefit sought, in January 2004. I thought that they were going to compensate me and I would be able to keep my home, which was in foreclosure because people just dont want to hire an extremely hard of hearing person, tho I tried with all my might to get a job. In February, 2004, the VA “decided” that, since the BVA awarded me benefits, they would “award” me a zero percent rating for hearing loss. Thats right..the VA interpreted a complete grant of benefits to mean that I got NOTHING. My home was foreclosed, my pickup truck was repossessed, and I was just days from being just another homeless Veteran. It has been 7 years since I applied, and the VA has still given me only the very minimum of benefits, expecting me to live on about $600 per month. My VA paperwork has been shredded by the Cleveland Regional Office and they “cant find” major parts of my claim. Even tho it is too late for me, I am asking for your help for my kids. If I get my VA benefits soon enough, they will still be young enough to go to college. ///Thank you..A Loyal Veteran

The military used a gun to vaccinate that was later found to spread blood borne diseases, especially Hepatitis C. The gun was banned because it spread disease, but the military denied that it caused Veterans to get sick. If you are a Veteran, MY VA medical center does not test for Hep. C unless I ask for it. What happens is, the hep eventually goes to the liver and eats it away, killing you. Often, the VA tries to blame the Veteran and/or alcohol/ tatoos for the disease. In short you need to do two things: 1. Get tested for Hep C. The VA does not test unless you ask for this specific test. 2. Go to this website: http://hcvets.com/AskNOD/index.html

I am a Vietnam Era Vet. I recently gave blood. However, Vietnam Vets are at High risk for Hepatitis C because of the military using the "guns" to vaccinate. WE would get in a line, and a corpsman would come by and "shoot" the vaccine in our arm, and he would move right on to the next guy..no cleaning, no alcohol, no nothing. Often a drop of blood remained in the gun from the previous guy, if you are next..poof, you are blood brothers and have the same diseases. The military, of course, "banned" this type of gun after they found out it spread blood borne diseases, and then denied that the gun caused Veterans any problems. Hep C is a bad disease, that can eventually destroy a Veterans liver, killing him. However, it often takes 30 years to manifest itself in liver disease, so the VA works hard on blaming the Veteran and then deny SC for hepatitis. Personally, I recommend Vietnam Vets get tested for Hep C, and seek treatment before your liver is ate up. For more info on Veterans with Hep C, see this site: http://hcvets.com/AskNOD/index.html

Carlie.. Precisely. When a Veterans hat...er claim...did get deleted, there would be a very short list of possible suspects, and there would be an electronic record of the deletion. E-claims would reduce lost documents by 1000%, however, Larry's hat is still fair game to hackers. Larry vould u consider donating de hat to Veteran's caz? Ve could auction de hat en donate de money to Veterans caz en maybe raise sum money fer udder Vets needing zee hair implants. I don need ze hare implants, I need zee brain implants ona counta mina ish kinda akting shtupid now.

Congratulations.. Someone on hadit told me that if you do get P&T, then your kids can get Ch. 35 effective either your effective date, or later, at a date of your choice.

Great idea CVSP! If the VA can deny us based on "non receipt of evidence," then we should likewise be able to virtually extend our 1 year deadline indefinitely, based on "non receipt" of denial letter! If they can loose our evidence with no consequences, then we should be able to loose their denial letter! I would just love to get back at em, with a letter something like: "The Veteran has no record of your alleged "denial letter". Please resubmit. Failure to resubmit the denial letter in a timely manner will result in VA employees pay being "docked" the way Veterans benefits are "docked" when the VA looses our claim information.

See, Carlie, that's why hadit members need each other. I never thought of that! And you are right, of course. My suggestion is that we carefully review what Belle is going to say..so that it is organized, concise, accurate, and it reflects "our" position. Of course, Belle can speak for herself and does not have to have anyone's permission, but, I think it would be much better if she could say that her position has been approved by _(enter number) Veterans. Personally, I think we need a "tear jerker" story..about a real Veteran who has lost his home waiting for 4 years on VA benefits, etc. I know there are lots of them out here! "Tear Jerker's" will have emotional appeal and probably get lots of people to watch it. So post your "tear jerker" and we can tune and fine tune it..and make it a great video!

The VA does not need to watch the video! Frankly, my guess is that if enough other people watch it, the VA is going to be pressured into responding, by the public and by politicians. We all know there is no requirement to be able to read to be a rating specialist, you need only know which rubber stamp is "Claim Denied" to qualify as a rating specialist.

I just PM'd Belle, and she has agreed to do a video on Veterans rights and post in on You tube. I asked her to be a spokesman for us because she is passionate about Veterans rights and because guys will want to watch the video just to see her! If you have any ideas on what you would like to tell the world about Veterans rights, then this is a good time to post your story. Goodness..we can even vote on who's Veterans "story" is the best, or we could uses bits and pieces from multiple people. I think there is a fairly good chance that if we work on this together, it could be a VERY popular Youtube or CNN video, possibly even seen by a million people. I just dont think the politicians (or the VA) can ignore a million people watching a video! If you have any good ideas for the video..as well as "your experience with the VA" please post them!

Belle.. I sent you a PM. I think you would be perfect to do a video on the VA. Not only are you passionate about Veterans rights, but, if your picture says anything, you are gorgeous, and people would watch the video just to see you. Carlie Yes, and I certainly appreciate Tbird and other advocates of Veterans rights, and I thank you all for doing this for us. I am just guessing that if we got a great video done on Veterans rights posted, on Youtube or CNN (as Belle pointed out), that if enough people saw it, then the politicians and VA would have no choice but to listen to us due to media pressure. CVSP Yes, good companies and even good governments listen to their "customers", and make changes to please them. The VA has resisted positive changes, and insisted on doing things using their old, broken method. The idea is that if the you tube was popular enough and enough people saw it, our government can ignore one or two mad Veterans, but how about one or two million mad people? Politicians know they cant ignore a million people and stay in office.

Allan.. Isnt it true that the issue of whether or not a claim is "well grounded" no longer applies due to more recent court cases?

Whether your documents were shredded or mishandled nets the Veteran the same result. I think Berta is right. The VA is in cahoots with the post office. The VA shreds Veterans evidence and the VA/Post Office know that the Veteran will spend more money on post office/ certified mail to try to keep it from happening again. It generates revenue for the Post Office. I liked your "double standard" idea. The VA looses Veterans paperwork, then denies the claim for lack of evidence, blaming the Veteran for the VA's inefficiency/fraud. Did you ever notice that the VA charges interest whenever we owe them money? If I owe $48 for co pays on drugs, I get charged interest until I pay it. Why then, do they not pay us interest on money they owed us, sometimes for years?

I thought I would give an example of how employees would be unable to delete Veterans claims. I would like to see if ANYONE can Delete Larry's Hat (other than TBird, moderators, or Larry). Everyone knows that would be in Veterans best interest. Anyone who can do this please post Larry's picture without the hat.

I would agree with both Sharon and Purple..it should mean that your stressor has been verified and they are looking to "rate" your PTSD, BUT dont assume anything with the VA. C and P exams are really Traps set up by the RO to deny you. You need to go to the C and P with things written down as to what you will say to him. No, dont lie about anything..it will make things worse, but dont volunteer information that will be used against you either. For example, if you have had problems with a kid in school, and had a depression episode..dont use those phrases in the same sentence. Or, the C&P doc will say, "Veterans depression is due to family issues and not related to PTSD" If he says that, it will take you a minimum of ten years and ten regular doctors to refute that statement. They will use that statement to deny you for at least 5 more years. We know that the "family issues" is because of your PTSD..your daughter is afraid you will have a flashback and think she is a Viet Cong. However, the VA will use this as a trap to deny you. When you tell the doctor your depression level, and you have felt good on Tues, Wed, and Saturday, but had 2 panic attacks on Monday, and punched through the wall on Friday, Tell him only about Monday and Friday, and dont tell him you felt fine on the other days. Do you think a potential future employer is gonna want you to work on only your "good" days? No, he is gonna fire you because you punched through the wall on a "bad" day. JMHO

I recommend the "spaghetti" method. Throw em at the wall and see which ones stick. That is, I recommend you do both, file for an increase and file a NOD. Since the VA attacks us on multiple fronts, we need to counter attack on multiple fronts. In answer to the question, "will this delay your claim", yes it will. But remember EVERYTHING delays your claim. Sending in evidence delays your claim. Other Veterans sending in evidence delays your claim. Iraq Veterans delay your claim. The October incident delays your claim. The new secretary, and his new rules will probably make claim processing time get worse before it gets better, at a minimum. Many, many, secretaries have promised faster claim times, while claim times have gotten progressively worse, with a slight temporary "blip" when they improved for a couple years about in 2002. EVERYTHING delays your claim..stuff you have no control over delays your claim. If they cant think of any other excuse, they deny your claim because they cant think of how to delay it. IMHO if you file a NOD, the Va is going to tell you that you should have filed an increase. If you file an increase, you will find out you should have filed a NOD. This is the way it works at the VA. The VA's number one rule is: "When in doubt, blame the Veteran"

Yes, I emailed Dr. Phil, too. When he did his "Veterans" story, about 3 months ago, he promised more stuff on Veterans issues. After 3 months, no more Veterans issues? His credibility is getting very suspicious. I think maybe he has loyalty to any group that will get him higher ratings = more money for him. Right now, that doesnt include Veterans, because I think most Vets Dont watch Dr. Phil, I watched his "Veterans" show, but dont watch it anymore, because I think he "sold out" to women. Almost every Dr. Phil is some poor abused woman with an evil husband. It is no wonder why women seem to view most men as con artist wife beaters looking for their next victim because that is largely how Dr. Phil portrays most men. It gives him high ratings and a lot of money, but gives decent guys a bad name. Dr. Phil didnt bother to respond to my email..so his actions demonstrate how sincere he is about Veterans issues. I would like to go on his show, and show his lie..like he so famously does to others.

Purple..no offense intended. I think there are a fair number of people that insist that Veterans claims must be "visible". That is, you can see their legs or arms blown off, and that "invisible" claims should be denied. A good example is there is a nut case, writing into Yahoo, that all PTSD claims by Veterans are bogus, that Vets tell their shrink a good story and get big bucks. This nut case, who goes by many different names is an extreme example, but there is no doubt that attitude of "it must be a blown off limb that you can see or its a fake" permeates the regional offices. Some buy into that attitude, while others are sympathetic to PTSD, mental issues, and other issues which, tho very real, would not necessarily be detected by someone in a grocery store like someone with blown off legs in a wheel chair. I have an "invisible" claim also. You can look at me, even talk to me, and many people dont "see" it either. It is maddening to have an "invisible" disability, and I can attest that just because you cant see something does not make it go away. I cant see the Hepatitus C Virus either, but that does not mean that HCV can not kill people after it invades your liver and destroys it, for example. Like you, I especially hate it when people talk to me a few minutes and "diagnose" my hearing loss to be "normal", when they have no idea what it is like to go to the movies and then have to leave because you cant understand any of what is said. Oh sure..I can hear some, especially very loud people if they are 2 feet away from me, and I can see their lips, so they think I have normal hearing. They have no idea..and no audiology degree. Some of my own family has even accused me of this. I have had 5 different hearing tests, by 4 different audiologists, and all of them give similar results. It is not possible to fake a hearing test, VA audioligists are trained to catch fakes and can spot it a mile away. However, when I can converse with someone for two or three sentences, they think they can decide that my hearing is normal, when I am often guessing or reading their lips. By the way, lip reading is not a perfect science..have you ever tried to read a ventroliquists lips?

I am implying that rating specialists are people, and they all have different opinions about Veterans. Some of em like Veterans, and are sympathetic to our cause, and others think Veterans are all con artists trying to rip the VA off. I am guessing you got one of the former, and I got the latter.

I will offer my 2 cents worth. I would give the copies to your DAV representative and have him submit them. That way, WHEN the Regional Office looses or shreds them AGAIN, you can have your DAV rep "officially" resubmit them until an honest VA employee handles your claim. It will probably take at least 5 or 6 resubmissions. Since you passed the one year denial appeal deadline, you have no choice but to allege CUE. However, I think that shredded documents will eventually be a basis for CUE, if they are not already. IMHO Shredded Documents/lost documents = CUE.

I think purple's quick approval had more to do with either her drawing a rating specialist sympathetic to her cause, or her organization and writing skills than anything else. Most importantly, I think Purple's case was a rare exception, and I still maintain even Purple's "exceptionally fast approval" in a year, is second rate. One year delay should not be the fastest VA claim, it should be the slowest. IRS clients getting two week service while Veterans claims take a year under perfect conditions, (you know..complete evidence, all well organized, well documented, etc.) is not right. I have personally met Veterans whose claim processing time exceeds 30 years. Social Security claims pretty much have to be approved or denied in 90 days. And, tho appeals take a long time waiting..once you get a favorable SSD decision, its over and they pay you. I got a favorable decision from the BVA more than 5 years ago, and the RO still wont award benefits. PS. I wish it were so, but having good evidence did not help me. They still found other ways to delay/deny, including "doctor shopping" (finding a C&P doc who will give them evidence to deny, rather than just using my regular VA doc), shredding evidence, fake dates, overlooked claims, "misinterpreted" NOD's, and secret denials. Of course, since 10 year or longer delays are typical, these claims become extremely complex and are "watched" by the VA like a hawk as they involve large retro's. They would not be "large retro's" if they approved the claim ten years prior like they were supposed to.