ptsd Corrected Award Letter

[Berta]

The VA made clearly erroneous statements in my May 2009 award letter and I asked for correction on that basis.

I just got the 'correction'-it is worse than the one I wanted corrected. The director's office (of course I called them immediately) had a VSO call me yesterday but he didn't have a clue- another call to the director's office promised someone else would call me back on Monday-I asked for someone to call me this time who actually knows VA regs and case law.

Since I dont expect them to find anyone who actually has that ability at the Buffalo VARO - I am also preparing letter to someone at VA in DC who offered to help on this matter-but I wanted to make sure I took as many steps I could first to get this straightened out meself.

I also got with this letter another SSOC-this is the fourth one on my CUE claims.I have responded to them all and now they want me to respond again.

If any of you read my testimony to the Sub Committee Investigations/Oversight- the 53 submissions I made that VARO had ignored are building up into well over 60 submissions that have been ignored.SOme are read and acted on but other submissions are ignored.

These are stall tactics.

They have given the wrong date of the CUed decision and are consistently using the date I filed the CUE claim as the date of the CUE.The CUE occurred in 1996 and 1997 decisions.

The issue was re characterized as completely different from the original CUE claim.

What gets me- since this is the 4th SSOC- exactly like the prior ones and I responded fully with VA legal citations-referring them back to the actual CUE claims-

is that they failed to comprehend my last response to this same SSOC.

My CUEs are based on lack of any SMC consideration in prior VA decision that determined the veteran was 100% Sec 1151 and 100% PTSD SC.

When I got my direct SC death award-I wrote to them and stated ( as well as on prior SSOC response) that these issues have been rendered moot because the VA now has to make a SMC determination as to direct SC conditions my husband had at death- 100% SC PTSD, 100% Sec 1151 stroke, and 60 % or greater, for 1151 heart disease, as well as a proper DMII rating because the award makes the CVA 100% direct SC, the CAD direct SC and the DMII as direct SC.This stuff all has to be rated.

Under the Nehmer court Order I also stated I am eligible for ALL accrued benefits due the veteran in his lifetime ( as he obviously had these conditions in his lifetime as proven by medical evidence) and SMC is an inferred issue when the medical evidence warrants SMC.The point of my CUE claims in the first place.

Question-I used to get many SSOCS, and my responses eventually awarded those claims.

Is anyone else here getting duplicate SSOCs like this?

Oddly enough they keep extending my time limits by sending these SSOcs-I respond and they dont mention the response or evidence but send another SSOC (same wording) with another time limit.

Not a single piece of my evidence has ever been read on this.

I wrote as part of response on the last response form that they cannot send this case to the BVA because they have made so many legal errors in the processing of these 2 CUE claims.

Maybe that is why I got another SSOC-

any thoughts?

This crap will take up my time next week-and of course maybe time to write to the Sub Committee H VAC again-

The response I get from the Director's office next week will determine the form that letter takes.

The letter I received on my award is written in very poor English and makes a statement regarding VA DIC case law that simply isn't a fact at all and has no legal basis.The actual question I asked that generated this new award letter was not even mentioned at all.

Sorry for this rant-I am angry that the VA employees illiterates and something has to be done about it.

[tssnave]

Berta,

Thanks for the clarification, I understand your situation better now. Any chance you could ask the District Council to call the head of the VARO to spell it out for the VARO what needs to be done? With all the bad press lately, you'd think the VA would have more sense of self preservation than to piss off an educated widow with the court, regs and politicians on her side (you're welcome to quote me on that to the District Council!).

I got a rueful laugh out of your comment that you missed where it said that Rod Simmons was the only one the M21-1MR didn't apply to. Hang in there, Berta.

I do have to respectfully disagree with something you wrote: "....this is my problem...." Like Larry, I owe a lot of my understanding of the VA claims process to your posts, especially when I was working my claim. Please do not tell us you're with us in our claims and then turn around and tell us that your claims are your problem alone.

I may not be able to help in an administrative sense but I do want to offer encouragement and support. Call me the water boy, if you like, let me sit the bench, but don't tell me I can't be on your team after you have contributed so much to mine.

You have to remember, I joined the Army to be all I could be - not the Army of one (no offense to the young troopers, I just hate that slogan). You may be willing and able to fight but you don't have to go it alone.

Keep us posted on your claim so we can all rejoice with you when and get the retro!

Thanks,

TS

PS to John - yep, I agree, lots of us just don't know enough to understand how to work our claims, I certainly didn't until I found hadit and vawatchdog.org.

Edited November 2, 2009 by tssnave

[mrsvet28]

I, like many other veterans on the board, have Berta to thank. If she had not welcomed me so graciously after my very first post on here, I'd probably still be in the dark and still seeking help.

Yes, her posts are sometimes lengthy, but, sometimes you can't get a legal education by watching Sesame Street.

When my claim was denied, denied, etc., etc., and I got to looking at it, it was simply amazing. When I kept telling the VA that I was awarded SSDI for the VERY same thing that I was claiming and they kept sending me SOC's and SSOC's, listing every damn little old doctor's statements, every visit I had to the VAMC, EVERYTHING EXCEPT the SSDI AWARD and the SSA's doctors' reports, EVERYTHING THAT WOULD HAVE BACKED UP MY VA CLAIM, LETTER PER LETTER.........then, THEN, I realized what I was REALLY dealing with. Up until then, I actually BELIEVED what my government was telling me.......................but, I digress:

Anywho, Thanks Berta!

Mr vets claim is the same pattern he also has been on SSdi for PTSD since 03 and they still overlooked that over and over .......and I kept sending that over and over..they didnt list it in the evidence the first time at all..same thing here all these years

[Stretch]

Pete, I was talking about a Supplemental Statement of Case (SSOC). SOC, is very important. The SSOC, is just a fragmented version of the SOC.

I was talking about things that happened years ago, when I was younger, not now. I have won the majority of my claims now, and I expect I will win the rest if I live long enough.

[Pete53]

Stretch:

Yes you have and I hope that you are with us for a long time. Your determination and the vigor of your fight is an inspiration.

I hope for the best

[Berta]

TS -I just felt like I was being selfish and that I was whining-

but of course you are right-

my problems are like what many many widows and vets go through year after year and it has got to stop.

I have the district counsel assistant attorney's response in a recent letter and we had a lengthy phone call as well.He knows full well that VA case law and regulations support the refund of my offset.(I had sent him the exact regs

because he was wrong in our June conversation.(He rattled off a reg that does apply to me at all and we straightened that out)

In 2003 the same VA district counsel's office corrected a 40,000 dollar error in my DIC due to the same situation-the offset-

but this assistant attorney writes to me that (although he knows I am right on this) it is up to the VARO to send the money.

I am getting a second opinion today from OGC in DC.

This stuff takes time and I await another call from the director's office too-

It will take time away from hadit-

I have plenty of other letters to write too-

John said:

"What I think about Berta's sitution is that if the VA can delay Berta's claim for benefits given all she knows, and given the evidence she has submitted what do they do with claims from vets who are fairly ignorant of the process? No wonder vets give up!"

You are so right John-

I know of no other employer in the USA except for VA-that employees and retains people who do NOT do their jobs properly.

+

[tssnave]

Berta/John,

I wish the VA employees were actually held accountable for the QUALITY of their work product not the quantity. I liked a lot of what the guy on VA Watchdog.org said in his multiple article overview of tearing the VA down brick by brick. Some of it, like the government accounting and funding of the VA were out of my understanding, but the concept of holding VA employees accountable for their work product as well as holding criminally liable the ones who get into shredding our documents, was a great idea that is past due.

I think the lawyer who knows you're right and won't contact the VARO for you has forgotten the mission of the VA to take care of widows. Hang in there and keep us posted.

Thanks,

TS Snave

PS - I got a kick out of the idea of you being selfish! You're very generous with your time and talents with others so IMHO it'd take a whole lot more "whining" for you to be selfish!