Bva...3 Years, 4 Months Behind.

[broncovet]

I just called to check on my Board of Veterans Appeals claim and to ask the docket date. Ebenefits was confusing. At any rate, they told me my "docket date" was April, 2009, and they are working April 09 docket dates, and I should have an answer in 30 days. So, if you are interested, the BVA is 3 years, 4 months behind currently. This is not from the date of the RO decision, but rather from the docketed date at the BVA. The RO decision was much earlier, 2008. I have heard a 4.4 year estimate from Veterans for Common sense for a BVA appeal, and this sounds consistent with what I have experienced.

The worst part is if it is remanded to the AMC. The AMC is a black hole where Vets claims go to die, or, more specifically to wait for the Veteran to die.

[Berta]

"I think what your saying about the VCAA is that it did not help Vets"

Not at all Broncovet-

I think the VCAA was the best thing since the invention of weed wackers! Ha Ha

What I meant was, if a vet or widow gets a proper VCAA letter ( Regarding Pelegrino, etc and Hupp for widows etc ) something I have NEVER gotten from VA since filing my 2003 claim (my evidence overcame that VCAA legal error as per the decision I got)

and if the veteran or widow understands fully what the letter requests and then takes the steps to obtain the info VA needs ( which might involve an IMO,Buddy statements,private records, etc etc, then that,in itself, could even eliminate the need for vet reps!

I have been involved with the VA since 1981.I had lost one of my prior husbands to a brain tumor-US Army 2 HDS.

I also was one of the first associate members of the VVA when Jan Scruggs started out. The VIetnam Veterans of America talked me into filing my first claim.I didnt have a clue on VA claims.

VA denied the SC claim but awarded me a wartime widow's pension but since I made too much money, they couldn't send me any cash.

The VVA Rep never suggested an IMO and I realized years after the fact that this past husband's neuro surgeon would have given me an IMO that would have helped the claim.

When I filed an AO claim in 2003, the rep never mentioned getting an IMO.

When my USMC husband was alive the DAV never mentioned that he get an IMO or that I should ,when DAV was my POA ,after he died.

The suggestions of many vet reps have almost always been limited but these days I think they suggest the potential need for IMos more than they used to.

V"et claims do not need to be "filtered" through a VSO, to determine if it is "well grounded" enough to send it on to the VARO! Vets have enough sabatours for their claim once it gets to the RO and dont need still another gatekeeper VSO."

SO true,in some cases, and the VCAA fully destroyed the absurd "not well grounded" theory that used to allow VA to deny many many claims in the past.

So,in essense, every claim has a potential.

A former BVA lawyer who I knew from the Prodigy BBS in the 1990s said he believed 98% of all VA claims could succeed.

That is a rather high estimate but it all boils down to evidence and the internet since those days has given us a powerful weapon-the ability to search and find a lot of the evidence we need as well as help us find IMO docs and vet lawyers, buddys, etc and a wealth of medical information as well as all the regulations that control us as well as control the VA.

Edited August 18, 2012 by Berta

[broncovet]

I think you are right on, in my experience, that 98% of Vets claims should eventually succeed. Professor Linda Bilmes said the same thing...that most Vets claims eventually succeed, that is, of course, assuming the Vet does not die or give up first.

Of course, the Vet has to have a "current diagnosis". The VA will never pay you for an in service illness/injury if it causes no problems now.

I kind of do know why Vets claim 6 or 8, 10, or even 14 conditions. We assume the VA is like a car dealer, who puts a $24,000 price on that car knowing he will be lucky to get $8000 for it. The the car dealer can give someone $6000 for their old jalopy that does not run and he can brag that he got 6 grand for a car that had to be towed away, luring people in because they got a "good deal".

In a similar way, Vets know "the hatchet man" is going to start whacking away at our conditions, and pull bs like making us appeal for 3 years and then "awarding" us 0%. So, like the car dealer, we ask for more than we would, in our wildest dreams, ever expect to get.

At least part of this "huckster" mentality is the VA leader ship fault. Shinseki promised to "break the back" of the backlog in 2010, and you see how that promise turned out. He sold us an $800 car, for $14,000 and then "gave" us free gas worth $500. I feel "hornswaggled" by Shinseki.

While I do not ever recommend applying for "frivilous" benefits.. Vets dont really know what to ask for many times. So, you ask for the whole pie, thinking you may get a slice or two. The VA has turned Vets benefits into a low class huckster negotiation, like a poor reputation car shark, by doing things like shredding evidence and breaking promises.

You are right, I wasnt "here" pre-VCAA. I have had issues, especially hearing loss, for at least 10 years prior to applying. I wouldnt apply. Why should I do that? I can "suck it up". Man, how dumb was I?

I am "nailing" the VA on their VCAA letter from 2002. The VA shredded 500 plus pages of my c file, then said I did not apply for anything but hearing loss in 2002. Since that was 0 percent, no retro. I have to try to prove I applied for other benefits in 2002, not JUST hearing loss..from documents that are gone.

Their 02 VCAA letter says I should send in evidence of "a physical or mental disability". It does not ask for audiological reports only..or at all.

So, a month later I make an appointment for a VA psychiatrist to give them their "evidence of a mental disability". The doc did exactly that.

Later the VA says, well we thought you were applying for only hearing loss.

So I told the BVA judge if the VA just wanted evidence limited to hearing loss, why are they asking for evidence of mental disabilities, too?

This VCAA letter is at least a portion of my evidence for an eed. They even shredded the VCAA letter, and I sent them a copy of mine!

I told them how can their own letter be asking me for evidence of mental disability, if they are only considering me for hearing loss?

The VA is supposed to consider that the Veteran is seeking the max benefit. (I wish I could find the reg on that one). Instead, the VA contends I was seeking a 0% evaluation for hearing loss...and went to the Board of Appeals, so that I could get a letter from the VA that says I am 0% SC.

The VSO's went, "Oh yea...zero percent is great. Dont appeal it. Ask for an increase instead. You have your foot in the door with SC".

[mags1023]

I know Berta has provided it before, but if someone has the number to the BVA handy could you please post it? I know the DAV rep I had at St Petersburg was terrible! He sounded put out because I wanted him to actually do something. He seemed to feel I should have been content with 60% at that time. I dropped him in a heart beat. I got to 90% without a rep, but with the help of the great people on this site!