Got An Update On My Claim

[Berta]

Within about 4 days after sending my complaint to Chairman Craig- Senate Committe on Vets Affairs-

regarding what I consider to be a scam( but I called it a growing two fold practice in ROs to deny vets their basic rights as claimants)-

and I laid out my claim situation as evidence to support my charge-

the VARO has gotten notice of this as a Congressional Inquiry and the temp folder has been with either the RO Congressional liason or the Director since July 25th.

This was a very strong letter. I am fed up. Those VCAA remands at the BVA web site are getting me very angry-they mean -in many cases- that fed employees at GS 12 or higher do not do their jobs.

Sure they (59 %)told the IG they are under pressure and dont have time to make proper decisions-(IG Report March 2005) yeah right- vets are under pressure -I dont care about the RO employee problems at all.

What gets me is that why does any claimant have to take these steps-when all the RO has to do is their job?

One of my Buffalo vets recently sure took them on very strongly too- and he is getting his claim worked on finally after years.He got an award but it was only part of what they owe,but they still actively are resolving it.

This will be very interesting.If the same VA liason to Congress who lied to my last Congressman tries some BS in a response- I will whip out all that past crap- that I have documented and saved- and maybe get in touch with Knight Ridder (Washington Post)

[Done wit this]

Good maybe they will do something with everyones claim.Instead of sending us them sorry for the wait letters I get every month. They the VARO thinks they have it bad >they ought to try it on this side of the road. I,ll trade.They spend more time thinking of ways to put us off then it would cost to just do whats right. Whats Chairmen Craigs address Let me Give him my situation and my Thoughts on Ms Susan E. Kloc. She's breathing good air someone usefull could have.

Macool

[Berta]

Chairman Larry Craig

U. S. Senate Committe on Veterans Affairs

412 Russell Ave

Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dont tell your POA-if you write to the Chairman-(we have the same POA entity) they (not Pete) sort of tried to shut me up a few times- I wont stand for it as a tax paying American Citizen.

I recently went way over their heads too-someone there is not doing their job.

POAs do not subsume our rights as Americans.

And Rick- realise this-

I was able to briefly document my past problems with this VARO -to the Chairman.it was the same thing then as now-

I waited 3 years then and was willing to wait three years on this newer claim-

after the 3 and 1/2 years went by-that altered my war plan. War of words.

I guess what I am saying is that -dont know the basis of what your complaint to Craig will be, but

I made some strong points supported by personal evidence as to how I believe I am part of the backlog scam-

and I made some VERY strong points on how that show in Buffalo is being run-

with evidence for that too.

I forgot to put before - I just read this letter over again- I asked for an investigation of VAROs like Buffalo to see why 57% of all RO raters and DROs told the IG they cannot do their jobs.

If you complain about this RO make sure you have some hard copy to back it up-

I just edited this- sure -tell your POA if you want to-it will probably get back to them anyhow-

you have the right to send anyone at all a letter about a VA complaint.

[Tower_Rat]

Within about 4 days after sending my complaint to Chairman Craig- Senate Committe on Vets Affairs-

regarding what I consider to be a scam( but I called it a growing two fold practice in ROs to deny vets their basic rights as claimants)-

and I laid out my claim situation as evidence to support my charge-

the VARO has gotten notice of this as a Congressional Inquiry and the temp folder has been with either the RO Congressional liason or the Director since July 25th.

This was a very strong letter. I am fed up. Those VCAA remands at the BVA web site are getting me very angry-they mean -in many cases- that fed employees at GS 12 or higher do not do their jobs.

Sure they (59 %)told the IG they are under pressure and dont have time to make proper decisions-(IG Report March 2005) yeah right- vets are under pressure -I dont care about the RO employee problems at all.

What gets me is that why does any claimant have to take these steps-when all the RO has to do is their job?

One of my Buffalo vets recently sure took them on very strongly too- and he is getting his claim worked on finally after years.He got an award but it was only part of what they owe,but they still actively are resolving it.

This will be very interesting.If the same VA liason to Congress who lied to my last Congressman tries some BS in a response- I will whip out all that past crap- that I have documented and saved- and maybe get in touch with Knight Ridder (Washington Post)

COOL, VERY COOL

[Guest anfrnkie]

COOL, VERY COOL

toewr rat what is your claim for

[vet2vet]

COOL, VERY COOL

I just had a veteran send me a copy of a letter that he received from his POA (AMVETS) and they told him that they were revoking the POA because the veteran contacted his congressman about his claim. This is not right. Why would they be so concerned if they are doing their job?

[Done wit this]

Good maybe they will do something with everyones claim.Instead of sending us them sorry for the wait letters I get every month. They the VARO thinks they have it bad >they ought to try it on this side of the road. I,ll trade.They spend more time thinking of ways to put us off then it would cost to just do whats right. Whats Chairmen Craigs address Let me Give him my situation and my Thoughts on Ms Susan E. Kloc. She's breathing good air someone usefull could have.

Macool

Here you go Berta I'm sending the chairman a little evidence to. hope it makes Ms Kloc as happy as she has made my family and I.

July 27, 2006

Chairman Larry Craig

U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs

412 Russell Ave

Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Dear Chairman Craig,

I am writing to you out of pure frustration with a system that I have been trying to deal with now for over 10 years. I am a veteran of Desert Storm. I have been attempting to get benefits that I feel are long overdue my family and me.

During my service in the gulf I injured my shoulder. I knew at the time and was told by medical personnel there that I was going to need further attention when I returned home. Even though I damaged my shoulder in July of 1991, I continued to work as hard as I could over seas even though it often landed my shoulder in a sling, until I returned home in November.

Upon returning home I returned to my civilian job in construction and within 6 months of my homecoming, I couldn’t even lift my arm to open the door. Surgery was performed to repair serious damage to my right shoulder; in fact, I even had to have some of the bone removed in order to repair the damage. I knew then that the damage had first occurred overseas and was encouraged by everyone, including my doctors to contact the VA for help as it was recommended to me at that time that I discontinue working in construction. Construction was all I had ever known, this was very difficult for me to accept, however, I did contact the VA, with initial hope that the VA could at least train me to do something else.

When I opened my initial claim, the VA was unable to locate my medical files from my time in service during Desert Storm and so after several years of waiting for help, my claim was denied in 1997 due to lack of medical evidence.

During this entire time I continued to work in construction, however, because of my injury, no one in New Jersey, where I was originally from would hire me any more due to fear of workman’s comp injuries. Because of this I relocated my wife and 2 children to North Carolina, where again I worked in construction. The problem being that because of the damage to my shoulder I could only work for about 4 to 6 months at a time before I had to take time off to heal. In addition to that, I have ruined my left shoulder from overcompensating for the weakness in my right shoulder and have since had to have surgery on my left shoulder. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any other employment that would pay enough to support my family and I sure didn’t have the extra money to further my education, so construction has been my only choice.

I have continued to search for my medical records. I knew that eventually the day would come that I would not be able to continue this cycle of working and healing and I feared what would lie ahead for my family if I could no longer work in construction. This past February I finally found my medical records and had them sent to me. Upon receiving them I immediately re-opened my initial claim. Please understand, this to me was like finding a lost treasure, finally, I would be able to get the help I had sought for so long. I filled out all the necessary paper work after researching online what would be necessary to reopen the claim. I checked, double checked, triple checked and copied everything before sending it off to my local VARO in Buffalo.

The first reply I got from the VARO was a letter stating that they needed me to send a signature page. I had sent it in the original package, I had copies of it, but they claimed they didn’t get it, so I resent it.

Then I received a letter notifying me that the decision was being delayed because they were waiting on medical records to arrive from a unit I had never even been attached to. I had to research this myself and submit proof to them that I had never been with the unit they were waiting for records from. I thought for sure this would be all they would need from me. I was wrong.

Next I was told that a decision could not be made until they had my DD214 for service dates in the mid 1980’s. They had the exact dates listed that they needed the DD214 for, yet claimed not to have it. This is when I really began to get aggravated. The initial claim was denied due to lack of medical evidence that they now had. They also had all the information from that initial claim. Why were they holding up a decision based on the lack of DD214 for service dates that weren’t even relevant to the claim? So again, I sent certified mail with the information they requested, still I wait.

I re-opened this claim on March 6, 2006. I have done massive amounts of research on this subject online, believe me, I have the time since I can no longer work at all to support my wife and 5 children. Everything I read said that the President has vowed to have all VA Disability claims decided within 120 days, yet I still wait. I have given them everything necessary to make this decision, I truly feel as though they are deliberately delaying this decision for no good reason. This feeling has been reinforced by communication with other Vets in my area who are dealing or have dealt with Ms. Susan Kloc at the Buffalo VARO. Even though my first decision was denied, I also felt as though the VA was doing their best to help me back then, I do not feel that way at all about the service I am receiving from Ms. Kloc’s office. It seems as though that office is working harder to find reasons to delay my claim then they are at getting a decision made.

I voluntarily served my country when I was asked. I didn’t ask or expect to be injured and trust me; it was a big step for me to initially ask for help in this matter, all I wanted initially was help in being retrained.

I am sending along some copies of the original decision made in 1997 that states that the claim was denied due to lack of medical evidence, I am also sending copies of the medical files. It seems simple to me, but maybe I am wrong.

I may be naive or maybe I’m just stupid, but I always believed that the VA was supposed to help veterans. It just seems that my local VARO has left me hanging in limbo while they try to find some other stupid reason to delay this claim, and I don’t think that it is just me dealing with issues with these people. I am hoping that perhaps your office could investigate this and help the veterans in this area get the help and respect they deserve.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Richard P Macool

United States Army Veteran