Inspection Of The Va Regional Office, Huntington, Wv

[WVSERVER]

Here is a recent july 2011 IG inspection of the Huntington, WV VARO. Its an interesting read and can be found here

http://www.va.gov/oig/52/reports/2011/VAOIG-11-00522-231.pdf

VAOIG-11-00522-231.pdf

[Chuck75]

One of many things that bother me is that the VA has established a "policy" of not paying retro when "competency" is "in question".

A veteran, or anyone else, for that matter, is assumed to be, and generally by law, is competent until a formally recognized process determines

incompetency. The fact that a veteran was likely competent during the period covered in part or in whole by the retro pay is not taken into account.

Advice I was given in past years was to make any and all claims other than those that might involve "competency", wait until awards including retro were satisfactory, then get into those claims that might involve a competency determination. The VA's current policy of withholding retro pay certainly vindicates the advice!

Edited May 27, 2012 by Chuck75

[WVSERVER]

I agree whole heartedly.