Who Lobbied Against The Right To Have A Attorney

[Pete53]

Wednesday I ran into an old friend. My VSO who helped me win my claim. If you are in Dallas area

John Cook

214 372 8821

He has Office hours M W F

He is VSO for Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 137

[jonmacintosh]

VSOs were all designed to be VA advocates, not veterans' advocates. I devote a full chapter in my book about VSOs, but most vets will not wanna hear about this intel. It is no secret that the VA openly supports Veterans Service Organizations (VSO):

• The VA allows VSOs to have cushy offices and suites on VA grounds, while not allowing attorneys or law firms the same privilege
• The VA openly advertises in print and video that veterans should use a VSO over an attorney or other agent

The sad fact remains that the VA provides open support for VSOs at the expense of veterans, and this practice is by design. While the VA will never admit this behavior, there are many clues out there that prove my point without doubt. One is a recently released video on YouTube, Step-by-Step Filing of an Electronic FDC on eBenefits, which is so blatant in its support for VSOs that one might conclude it was produced directly on behalf of all government-chartered VSOs.

The VA has always had behind-the-scenes control over all VSOs, which it allows to aid veterans to a certain degree. It knows all too well that VSOs are not at all well trained like VA-accredited attorneys (who actually know and understand and implement the law) and, therefore, are not any real threat to the VA when they “oppose” each other in disability claims and appeals cases, whether on paper or at the Board of Veterans Appeals or US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

So the VA keeps its pet VSOs close so it can monitor their activities and give them proper marching orders. The VA does not have to do so with attorneys who represent veterans in cases, because the VA simply treats those attorneys and their clients with just enough contempt and disrespect to make their lives and work on claims and appeals cases quite difficult. The VA does not, however, treat the other “adversaries” (the VSOs) in the same disrespectful and sometimes unlawful manner as it does attorneys and law firms.