Berta Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Recent VA News Releases http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel VA Tightens Protections for Veterans Paperwork Peake: Lapses "Unacceptable," Procedures and Accountability Tightened WASHINGTON (Oct. 16, 2008) -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake vowed swift action after a handful of documents related to veterans' applications for financial benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were found among documents identified for shredding. The documents, which were not duplicated in government files, could have affected veterans' eligibility for benefits. "I insist on the highest possible standards for processing and safeguarding information in VA's custody," Peake said. "It is unacceptable that documents important to a veteran's claim for benefits should be misplaced or destroyed." Peake said VA's Office of the Inspector General (IG) is investigating the misplaced documents, and anyone who violated Department policy on protecting documents will be held accountable. The documents were discovered by employees of VA's IG office during an audit at three of VA's 56 regional benefits offices, which process applications for disability pay, VA pensions, educational assistance, home loans and similar financial benefits. IG auditors found a handful of documents waiting to be shredded, which might have affected the fate of veterans' applications. The documents were returned to the proper offices for processing. Retired Rear Adm. Patrick W. Dunne, VA's Under Secretary for Benefits, immediately directed all of VA's regional offices to suspend all document shredding while IG and VA officials determine whether the problem is more widespread. Directors of the regional offices will have to certify in writing that no original copies of key documents or records from veterans' cases under consideration are being destroyed. VA has procedures for determining the disposition of paperwork. Original copies of discharge papers, marriage certificates and death certificates are returned to veterans or families when no longer needed. Duplicate copies of paperwork no longer needed are appropriately destroyed to protect the privacy of veterans and their families." A "handful" my butt) GRADUATE ! Nov 2nd 2007 American Military University ! When thousands of Americans faced annihilation in the 1800s Chief Osceola's response to his people, the Seminoles, was simply "They(the US Army)have guns, but so do we." Sameo to us -They (VA) have 38 CFR ,38 USC, and M21-1- but so do we. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadIt.com Elder Wings Posted October 17, 2008 HadIt.com Elder Share Posted October 17, 2008 Greetings all: Lets put this "handful" into perspective. I deal with Federal grants everyday. They audit on a sample. If during your audit 5% of your sample has invalid expenses they take back 5% of the total funding your institution received for that same period. Now a handfull is hard to quantify, Ricky's, Josephine's or Jbasser's files are probably safe since clearly they could not be one handed (handfull) even by Wilt Chamberlain! For arguments sake lets say a handfull was 5, if five peoples files hit the shredder bin in detroit every day we would destroy 1,825 files a year or 10.7% of the current total C&P pending (17,037) at Detroit VARO. Lets say Detroit is twice as bad as any other VARO except New York. I think somone mentioned New York was caught doing this in 1987. So that gives us an approximate twenty one year practice. Claims destroyed per year (1,825*2)+(912*54) = 52,898 Clearly a 21 year practicer 21*52,898 = 1,110,858 Clearly these numbers have some statistical flaws (VA doesn't work 365 a year)! However, It does demostrate even a handful is serious evidence of the injustice that veterans have been facing for years. People need to go to jail and someone in the major media should call Peake on the carpet for "a handful", he knows how many veterans were affected and how many pages of documents were in those bins. Disclosing that number does not violate any veterans confidentiality or privacy. Best regards, Tyler PS I have written both senators, and my Representative. I have asked for a meeting with my representative (wont happen). Great Post! Chilling reality!! ~Wings USAF 1980-1986, 70% SC PTSD, 100% TDIU (P&T) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadIt.com Elder jbasser Posted October 17, 2008 HadIt.com Elder Share Posted October 17, 2008 I guess that is their way of reducing the backlog. It also saves postage. why even send a denial letter when it can be gone. I wonder how many of those poor folks claims were awaiting processing and the Vet passes away. Tyler, Great post. Keep up the good work. J A Veteran is a person who served this country. Treat them with respect. A Disabled Veteran is a person who served this country and bears the scars of that service regardless of when or where they served. Treat them with the upmost respect. I do. Rejection is not a sign of failure. Failure is not an option, Medical opinions and evidence wins claims. Trust in others is a virtue but you take the T out of Trust and you are left with Rust so be wise about who you are dealing with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmo Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Now that VARO's have put all shredding on hold, this would be a good time to do preventative maintenance on the shredding machines. This would help prevent future break downs of the shredding machines. We wouldn't want the VA to miss any original military medical records or claims. I would hate to see them fall behind in the shredding. This could also give them more time to haggle over some cut and dried presumptive Agent Orange cancer they could possibly cheat some dying vet or widow out of. I used to believe the fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis was an accident...Naaaah! They wouldn't do that, would they?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadIt.com Elder Josephine Posted October 18, 2008 HadIt.com Elder Share Posted October 18, 2008 This is the most sickening thing I have ever heard of. How much lower can the VA stoop???? I used to, many years ago, think they were my friend, but it didn't take me long to find I was in for the fight of my life. I know now why I had to repeatedly turn papers in and turn them in again. I sent my Personnel Records three times to the AMC and when they received word from the ST. Louis Archives, they were lost, they were ready to accept that answer. Boy, did I let them know real fast, I had the originals of the three copies that I had sent them myself, mailed to me from the Archives. I had to jump through hurdles to keep my records in my claims file. I have triple copies of everything in my file, just to be safe. Always, Betty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Tbird Posted October 18, 2008 Founder Share Posted October 18, 2008 here's a link to the news stories on this, it just pmo - like it's not hard enough already, these chuckleheads can't even do some quality assurance :P http://news.google.com/news?ie=UTF-8&o...hreds+documents Tbird Founder HadIt.com Veteran To Veteran LLC - Founded Jan 20, 1997 HadIt.com Veteran To Veteran | Community Forum | RallyPoint | FaceBook | LinkedIn | About Me Time Dedicated to HadIt.com Veterans and my brothers and sisters: 65,700 - 109,500 Hours Over Thirty Years I am writing my memoirs and would love it if you could help a shipmate out and look at it. I've had a few challenges, perhaps the same as you. I relate them here to demonstrate that we can learn, overcome, and find purpose in life. The stories can be harrowing to read; they were challenging to live. Remember that each story taught me something I would need once I found my purpose, and my purpose was and is HadIt.com Veterans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Question
Berta
Recent VA News Releases
http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel
VA Tightens Protections for Veterans Paperwork
Peake: Lapses "Unacceptable," Procedures and Accountability Tightened
WASHINGTON (Oct. 16, 2008) -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B.
Peake vowed swift action after a handful of documents related to
veterans' applications for financial benefits from the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) were found among documents identified for
shredding. The documents, which were not duplicated in government
files, could have affected veterans' eligibility for benefits.
"I insist on the highest possible standards for processing and
safeguarding information in VA's custody," Peake said. "It is
unacceptable that documents important to a veteran's claim for benefits
should be misplaced or destroyed."
Peake said VA's Office of the Inspector General (IG) is investigating
the misplaced documents, and anyone who violated Department policy on
protecting documents will be held accountable.
The documents were discovered by employees of VA's IG office during an
audit at three of VA's 56 regional benefits offices, which process
applications for disability pay, VA pensions, educational assistance,
home loans and similar financial benefits.
IG auditors found a handful of documents waiting to be shredded, which
might have affected the fate of veterans' applications. The documents
were returned to the proper offices for processing.
Retired Rear Adm. Patrick W. Dunne, VA's Under Secretary for Benefits,
immediately directed all of VA's regional offices to suspend all
document shredding while IG and VA officials determine whether the
problem is more widespread. Directors of the regional offices will have
to certify in writing that no original copies of key documents or
records from veterans' cases under consideration are being destroyed.
VA has procedures for determining the disposition of paperwork.
Original copies of discharge papers, marriage certificates and death
certificates are returned to veterans or families when no longer needed.
Duplicate copies of paperwork no longer needed are appropriately
destroyed to protect the privacy of veterans and their families."
A "handful" my butt)
GRADUATE ! Nov 2nd 2007 American Military University !
When thousands of Americans faced annihilation in the 1800s Chief
Osceola's response to his people, the Seminoles, was
simply "They(the US Army)have guns, but so do we."
Sameo to us -They (VA) have 38 CFR ,38 USC, and M21-1- but so do we.
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