broncovet

If I may ask, will you tell me the name of the attorney? I need one and would like to know a good one..from a Vet who has been there..thanks.

May I inquire as to which VARO this was being investigated? Reason: I have a 4 year old NOD that has never been acted on by the VARO. Thanks

I highly doubt there is male/female discrimination going on there. One reason is that paper pushers are largely female, as there is a very high percentage of clerical positions going to female military personnel. I really dont see how they could get away with that, even if they tried, in an office consisting of many females.

IRIS inquiries are inconsistent. Sometimes I get a response back in 24 hours. One time, I sent a message in April, and sent a second one in July. In July, they said my claim would be processed in "4 to 6 Weeks, barring no unforseen circumstances". That was almost 6 months ago, so you certainly can not count on what they say on IRIS. They have also given me inaccurate/inconsistent information when you call. At least with IRIS I keep them, have a record, and can "call them" on their inaccuracies.

There are AT LEAST 3 ways to get to 100% 1. 100% 2. 60/70 IU see 38 CFR 3.321 3. Extra Schedular that does not meet any of the above. Some people think there are Only 2..that unless you meet the 60/70 or 100%, you cant be IU. The third circumstance, extra schedular, is the one often overlooked..and the one VA does not like to talk about. and many VARO's do not like to grant. The law, however, says they must consider you for it. I find some VARO's love to "duck" the EXTRA SCHEDULAR and grant NSC Pension instead, hoping you wont notice that your check is "short" the difference between 100% and pension, which is about $1800 per month. If the veteran does not meet the requirements of 38 CFR 4.16(a) but there is evidence of unemployability due to a service-connected disability, then the case should be submitted to the Director of Compensation and Pension Service for a determination of eligibility, as provided at 38 CFR 3.321( and 4.16( B) .

It is non taxable. However, Any money you earn is an offset to it, including social security. NSC Pension is about $10,000 per year, more if you have dependendents. That doesnt mean you get $10,000 from the VA it means you get a total from all sources of $10,000 per year. For example if you have a part time job in which you earned $4000 then you will get $6000. (plus applicable dependents). There are also rules on how much your dependents can earn. I recommend go ahead and get Social Security for several reasons: 1. Your Social Security could be more than your VA pension. 2. If you have service connected conditions, it would revert to that. In other words, say you are at 40% (which is about $600 depending on dependents) Service connected. Right now, they pay you the greater of the 2 benefits, NSC Pension of about $900. However, if you get social Security your VA would go down to the $600 but if you got $1000 in social security your total would be $1600 versus the the $900 for VA pension alone. 3. You will never get less with both VA pension and Social Security (then one of them alone) but you could well get more with both. So there is no risk for you to apply for Social Security.

Jerry My recommendation is that you "quietly" ask for a copy of your c-file. You have to do this in writing. When I got mine, some 6 months later, low and behold their was my NOD! You know..the NOD they claimed NOT to have received..yet there it was, in my file stamped with their time stamp. Even tho they NEVER filed a SOC on my NOD, at least NOW they cant claim they never got it, as I have documentation that they did. I filed a writ of Mandamus demanding, among other things, the VARO respond appropriately to my NOD (it was almost 4 years ago that I filed the NOD that they ignored). I dont know what will happen to the Writ yet, however, the CVAC court sent me a letter today where the judge ruled that the VARO was required to respond to my complaint within 30 days! 30 days, if you didnt know this, is like 5 minutes to the VARO who works in geologic time frames when it comes to claims. My claim is a "fresh" claim, only 5 and a half years..some Vets have claims, I have heard, that are 20 years old.

As far as the 88% accuracy rate, it is bound to be fluff like a bunch of the other numbers the VA fed us that were determined to be bogus. I read that only 81% of rating specialists know that when a Veteran is filing a claim he is seeking the Maximum benefit.(This is required by at least one court case) The other 19% assume the Veteran is filing a claim to try to get the lowest dollar amount possible. I wonder what percentage of the VA employees go up to their payroll department and tell them, "Is there any way you can pay me less than the minimum wage? I am making far too much money and I just dont have time to spend it all. Could you please lower my salary to the minimum?" Dont laff..19% of rating specialists assume we Vets have that in mind. Only 81% are smart enough to figure out we are applying for the maximum benefit.

With my experience the answer is "probably not". These are but some of the reasons the VA has a financial incentive to delay claims as long as possible. Another financial incentive the Va has for delaying claims is that there is never any interest paid on money owed the Veteran. For example, say you were owed money for claims put in by the VA 5 years ago, while gas was still $1.50 per gallon. They delay your claim until now, and you finally get your money. You dont get the rates in effect for 2007. You get the lower rate paid in 2002..even tho you dont get the money until 2007. By delaying the claim as long as possible, there are at least 3 financial incentives for the VA. 1. You may die or abandon the claim, such as if you win the lottery. 2. In the interim period, they pay NO Ch. 35 benefits, NO other benefits either..that relate to P&T such as the benefits you mentioned. That saves em money. 3. Inflation. They pay you at the lower rate with todays inflated dollars. Had you had those dollars 5 years ago, you could have earned interest on them to keep up with inflation. The VA keeps your interest money. Naturally, to save money, VA delays the claim as long as possible...requiring proof..requiring appeals (they hope you will give up or die) because their is significant financial incentive for them to do so.

I dont know where there is such a check list, guy, but I for one promise to do what ever I can do to help her if you dont survive surgery. Show her this website, and give her your username/password. If you have time, introduce her to your favorite VSO, and tell her to call him. Good luch with surgery, and thanks for serviing our country. I enjoy a lot of freedoms, thanks to guys like you.

Yes, happy vets day to all Vets, and thank you for your service to our country. I enjoy freedoms, in no small part, because of the sacrafices that myself and other Veterans have made. Many thousands have given the ultimate sacrafice, their lives. Others have suffered injuries that have resulted in about 195,000 homeless Veterans. Maybe EVERY homeless Veteran does not have a disability, but many try to "drown" their disabilities with alcohol or drugs. Even tho Veterans represent about 10% of the population, HOMELESS Veterans are about 25% of the homeless population. That is, Veterans are over twice as likely to become homeless as non Vets. Remember that these Vets, when they entered the military, were in great physical and mental health, and the military only took "the cream of the crop" as people with serious problems were not allowed into the military. Considering their excellent health, and the assistance the VA offers, Vets should be less than 10% of the homeless. Why does that happen? Unfortuantely, many Vets are either unaware of their benefits, or have applied for them and been turned down. Some Veterans are much more articulate and aggressive at demanding their benefits. Considering the appeal system, it is clear that there is evidence that the "squeaky wheel gets the grease", when it comes to VA benefits. If you know a Vet deserving of benefits, take them to a VA and introduce them to your VSO. I am taking a Veteran friend of mine tommorrow to apply for benefits that he richly deserves. I sure hope he isnt turned down anyway.

Unfortunately, the VA's "fuzzy math" applies to this and just about everything. It could be anywhere from you get your money tommorrow, to you never get it because the 800 number people do NOT always give you information you can take to the bank. That being said, it took me about 2 and a half weeks from the time I received my decision until I got the money. Some people have said they got the money deposited to their account before they received the decision. There is an unbelievable inconsistency at the VA that spans with Regional Offices, decisions, ratings, time, everything.

Well, thank YOU for your service to our country. Yours is a good example of why these cases need approved quickly. They really could approve it in the doctors office and you could get a check in two weeks...ok, now back to reality. If it is any consolation to you, I lost my home waiting for VA benefits in 2004. Unable to work since 2002, I am still waiting for a decision on TDIU. Last week I filed a "writ of mandamus" because of a 5 year 4 month delay, and other VARO violations of the their own regulations. I dont know if the writ of mandamus will be successful or not, but I have reason to believe they are at least considering the claim. I dont know if a writ of mandamus will help you or not, but if you email me, I will send you my writ to see if it would maybe help you.

Sending the VCAA notice in will not guarntee you a quick decision. I sent in a VCAA notice in April, 07, and still do not have a decision 7 months later. Part will depend on your Regional Office, some are much quicker and much more generous at rating than others. I did not have a "seperate" C and P Tinnitus exam, it was conducted at the same time as the hearing loss exam, tho yours may be different. If your audiologist said something in the C and P report to the effect that your tinnitus is "most likely related to military service", then it is likely to be EVENTUALLY approved, even tho you may have to appeal it.

Well lets start with your old data. Hopefully, you did not throw your old hard drive away. Go to http://www.slax.org/download.php and download slax on your new computer. Burn a CD/dvd of slax. It is an operating system which will run "live" on your old computer and allow you to recover the old data. You will need a jump drive to copy your old data onto, unless your old computer has a CD/dvd burner. Another operating system, which is also free, Knoppix, also is excellent with data recovery. In the mean time, I will try to find your old Ch. 38 link for you.

Thanks Tbird and Pete, your suggestions are appreciated. I probably will wait a while before posting the writ, as Tbird suggested. However, if anyone out there is so, so, frustrated, and thinks a writ may work for them, they may email me and I will try to send it to them personally.ASAP, before I know whether or not it worked. I did talk to the clerk at the CAVC yesterday. (You file a writ through the Court of Veterans Claims, not the Regional Office) He said that the filing fee for a writ is $50 BUT he says it is waived for pretty much anyone who asks that it be waived. That is, if you think you can afford the $50, pay it, but if you think you cant, ask that it be waived. AS was already mentioned, if you are considering a writ, the VERY First thing you do is order a copy of your Cfile if you dont already have it. (It may take some time, it took over 6 months for me to get my Cfile) You ask for a copy of your Cfile, in writing at your VARO. It may help to cite the freedom of Information act, even tho I did not. Then, if you are filing the writ yourself (that is, without an attorney), as about 70% of the Writs, you need to do your homework: Research similar cases as yours at the CAVC. Especially important are Precedent cases. Hadit has great stuff on important cases. Precedent Opinions, issued by the General Counsel, are good too, but make sure that they havent been superseeded..that is, a newer Precedent opinion has been issued that pretty much nullifies superseded precedent opinions. It will say, on the opinion, if it was superseded or not. Now, on the WHEN to file a writ. IMHO , you should consider a Writ when everything else failed and you can document that your Regional Office (or BVA) violated policies and regulations. Remember, you may have to really LOOK for those Regulations they violated in delaying/denying your claim. If you are considering a CUE claim, or an appeal, file those first, instead of the Writ. And, as was already suggested, write the VARO and send them notice of impending writ, as I did. I will update you with some "juicy" case law that is often helpfull to Veterans. I think a lot of times the Regional Office develops the Veterans claim to a MINIMUM, so they can pay less. They can not do that, according to the following case: VA is ˜to fully and sympathetically develop the veterans claim to its optimum before deciding it on its merits." Roberson, 251 F.3d at 1384 (quoting Hodge v. West, 155 F.3d 1356, 1362 (Fed. Cir. 1998))

B) Is anyone interested in a Writ of Mandamus that I wrote? If I get enough people interested, I am considering posting it even tho I do not know if it is "successful" or not because I just filed it last week. I am not a lawyer, but this is my take on the writ: It is for "extrordinary measures", not just your plain garden variety claims. I filed a writ, in part, because the VARO in Cleveland took absolutely NO action on my NOD filed in March, 2004. No Statement of Case, no nothing. In the Writ, I am seeking to Compel the VARO to make a decision on an informal claim filed in July, 2002. The Writ is when nothing else works. If you are unhappy with the Regional Office decision, file a NOD, not a writ. If it has been more than a year since your RO decision, then you need to try to prove CUE, as an appeal on a claim where the decision was more than a year ago will fail, unless you can prove CUE. If you are unhappy with a BVA decision, file an appeal with the Court of Veterans Claims. In my particular case, I received a very favorable decision from the BVA but the Cleveland RO simply failed to implement it. It makes no sense to appeal a decision favorable to the Veteran. However, when the Regional Office takes it upon themself to attempt to circumvent the law by just "blowing off" the BVA, I feel the writ was justified. The courts have ruled that the "VA is not free to ignore its own regulations". :P In my writ, I am suggesting it is the Court of Veterans Claims that is the "police" for the VARO to compel them to follow their own laws. By the way, I have had a difference of opinion with some people on here, which turned into some rather heated posts. If these individuals elect to use these posts as a way to further cut me down, all of you :D will pay, as I simply will not post the writ which may well do a lot of you some good, especially if nothing else has worked with your claim. I am here to try to help other Veterans, and I am not all that interested in defending myself from people who wish to attack me. Yes, I think there are definately some changes to the status quo that need to be made, and I have expressed opinions on some of these changes that have ruffled a few feathers.

I agree that IRIS is totally unreliable, but also add that telephone inquiries are also often inadequate or even false, usually because they are not up to date. Most of the time the Veteran knows more about the case than either the IRIS or the telephone person. Just about the only thing that IRIS is good for is to document something. (No they dont accept medical exams or the like over IRIS. However, when the VA looses something in your file, you can document that it was lost with IRIS. Notice I said WHEN, not IF, as the VAROs are very good at "loosing" documents critical to your case.) It just goes to show what a broken system this is. If it is any consolation, the IRS telephone line is no better. On the IRS phone line, they can give you information that is false with no repercussions with that, either. Gee, what happened when people told the truth.