Phony Pow's

[gdsnide]

AP: More POW claimants than actual POWs

[Rockhound]

This goes to show you that when the VA makes a mistake, it's always a doozy and in a big way. I hope they do an investigation to make sure these Veteran con men/women are found out. If these Veterans lied to get the POW benefits, then I hope they make them pay every cent back.

I got more to say but I can't use the language I would want to use. *&^%&&$^%#

Rockhound Rider B)

[broncovet]

Any Veteran or civilian claiming to be a Veteran that "fakes" being a POW should be prosecuted. However, Veterans were "not guilty" in making up the numbers that resulted in this discrepancy...action needs to be taken on who is doing the counting..not on the Veteran waiting to be counted.

It sounds like an "inside job" to me. VA employees send in "fake" paperwork on "fake POWS", collect the money, and divide it. Clearly, if the VA matched up the POW's to how many have been approved for it, their lie would be exposed, and they dont want that, so they make sure they dont count them.

It is still another example of the wolf guarding the hen house and then saying, "All the chickens are here".

The end result is always the same. Legitimate Veterans get shafted, Vets have a high suicide and homeless rate, and VA management gets bonuses and promotions and illegal kickbacks for a "job well done".

Edited April 12, 2009 by broncovet

[Pete53]

Well who knows the way VA keeps up with numbers it could be anything. Let the VA sort it out after all that is their job.

Anyone lying about being a POW should be jailed and fined.

[Quint7]

I saw this too and had to ask myself a few questions:

Don't all branches award the POW medal to anyone declared a POW?

Doesn't anyone awarded the POW medal automatically rate a Purple Heart?

Doesn't anyone awarded the Purple Heart automatically get 10% from VA?

Other than someone who had their records destroyed in the St. Louis fire, all you need to do is look at the awards section of the DD214 and if there is no POW medal, there is no award.

If I'm wrong about the awarding of the medals than I'm sorry, but I swear I read that somewhere. Was along the lines of how Medal of Honor holders get a special award from the VA no matter what other disabilaties they have.

[sharon]

(y) Former prisoner of war. The term former prisoner of war means a person who, while serving in the active military, naval or air service, was forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by an enemy or foreign government, the agents of either, or a hostile force.

(1) Decisions based on service department findings. The Department of Veterans Affairs shall accept the findings of the appropriate service department that a person was a prisoner of war during a period of war unless a reasonable basis exists for questioning it. Such findings shall be accepted only when detention or internment is by an enemy government or its agents.

(2) Other decisions. In all other situations, including those in which the Department of Veterans Affairs cannot accept the service department findings, the following factors shall be used to determine prisoner of war status: (i) Circumstances of detention or internment. To be considered a former prisoner of war, a serviceperson must have been forcibly detained or interned under circumstances comparable to those under which persons generally have been forcibly detained or interned by enemy governments during periods of war. Such circumstances include, but are not limited to, physical hardships or abuse, psychological hardships or abuse, malnutrition, and unsanitary conditions. Each individual member of a particular group of detainees or internees shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be considered to have experienced the same circumstances as those experienced by the group.

(ii) Reason for detainment or internment. The reason for which a serviceperson was detained or interned is immaterial in determining POW status, except that a serviceperson who is detained or interned by a foreign government for an alleged violation of its laws is not entitled to be considered a former POW on the basis of that period of detention or internment, unless the charges are a sham intended to legitimize the period of detention or internment.

(3) Central Office approval. The Director of the Compensation and Pension Service, VA Central Office, shall approve all VA regional office determinations establishing or denying POW status, with the exception of those service department determinations accepted under paragraph (y)(1) of this section.

(4) In line of duty. The Department of Veterans Affairs shall consider that a serviceperson was forcibly detained or interned in line of duty unless the evidence of record discloses that forcible detainment or internment was the proximate result of the serviceperson's own willful misconduct.

(5) Hostile force. The term hostile force means any entity other than an enemy or foreign government or the agents of either whose actions are taken to further or enhance anti-American military, political or economic objectives or views, or to attempt to embarrass the United States. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101(32)) (z) Nursing home means (1) Any extended care facility which is licensed by a State to provide skilled or intermediate-level nursing care, (2) A nursing home care unit in a State veterans' home which is approved for payment under 38 U.S.C. 1742, or (3) A Department of Veterans Affairs Nursing Home Care Unit.

(aa) Fraud: (1) As used in 38 U.S.C. 103 and implementing regulations, fraud means an intentional misrepresentation of fact, or the intentional failure to disclose pertinent facts, for the purpose of obtaining, or assisting an individual to obtain an annulment or divorce, with knowledge that the misrepresentation or failure to disclose may result in the erroneous granting of an annulment or divorce; and (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501) (2) As used in 38 U.S.C. 110 and 1159 and implementing regulations, fraud means an intentional misrepresentation of fact, or the intentional failure to disclose pertinent facts, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining, or assisting an individual to obtain or retain, eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits, with knowledge that the misrepresentation or failure to disclose may result in the erroneous award or retention of such benefits.

[timetowinarace]

All fraud cases should punished.

But, the disparity in VA and DoD numbers makes me wonder. The DoD seems to have a knack for downplaying statistics that may hurt public opinion of a military action. The question posed in the article about the number disparity assumes the VA numbers are wrong. I'm inclined to believe the opposite is more likely. POW numbers is one of those statistical nightmares for a government that is trying to to keep it's citizens support of a military conflict.

Hmmm.