#10 DAV

[VETOVET]

Please, welcome new VET2VET podcast episode:

https://youtu.be/waV5t0HPtbM

Today we are joined by Thomas Wendel, DAV National area supervisor for West Cost Region.
Thomas E. Wendel served in the U. S. Marine Corps from 1983 until 1997.
Since 1999, Tom has worked assisting veterans in processing various entitlement claims on the local, state and federal levels; first in Clare County as a county service officer and then when he came to work for the Disabled American Veterans in 2000. In 2008 he was promoted to the position of supervisor of the DAV Service Office in Detroit and later he was promoted to the position of supervisor of the DAV National area for West Cost Region.
DAV is America’s largest, most effective veterans service organizations dedicated to the needs of those injured, ill or wounded in service. We have more than 1,300 Chapters in communities nationwide to help make sure veterans from all generations and their families get the benefits and support they deserve. Today, nearly 1.3 million veterans belong to DAV, and we encourage you to add your voice to the cause. Our programs and free services help all veterans get the health, disability and financial benefits they earned. Take advantage of our benefits claims assistance, medical transportation and employment resources. Your local DAV Chapter is a great way to connect with fellow veterans in your area.

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Edited June 17, 2016 by VETOVET

[OldJoe]

Victor Ray, your are like many of us who at least one point in time feel like the buggering bas#$%%^^^&ds went and got a running start before they kicked us to the curb.

You aren't alone...

Just don't let the pessimism cloud you and pull you under like it has many others.  When it pulls you under it is very hard for the rest of us to pull you back if we can at all.

I trust and firmly hope you will become a valued font of wisdom in the years to come.

True, the reality of the situation may be bleak and similarly so for many with similar conditions.  But remember it is not hopeless.

Get yourself a good stance, it doesn't have to be perfect the rest of us will help hold you up and when possible even take some of your load when we can, no matter what the distance or time of day.

Share your experiences, your battles, whimsical sayings your father and grandfather shared with you, your successes and your failures. We will be here (though time zones do apply).

And remember:

"rage, rage against the dying of the light"

 

[Andyman73]

You would think that they would want the Vets to give them good word of mouth advertising, instead of what we do give them.

 

[Victor Ray]

On 6/7/2016 at 2:04 PM, OldJoe said:

Victor Ray, your are like many of us who at least one point in time feel like the buggering bas#$%%^^^&ds went and got a running start before they kicked us to the curb.

You aren't alone...

Just don't let the pessimism cloud you and pull you under like it has many others.  When it pulls you under it is very hard for the rest of us to pull you back if we can at all.

I trust and firmly hope you will become a valued font of wisdom in the years to come.

True, the reality of the situation may be bleak and similarly so for many with similar conditions.  But remember it is not hopeless.

Get yourself a good stance, it doesn't have to be perfect the rest of us will help hold you up and when possible even take some of your load when we can, no matter what the distance or time of day.

Share your experiences, your battles, whimsical sayings your father and grandfather shared with you, your successes and your failures. We will be here (though time zones do apply).

And remember:

"rage, rage against the dying of the light"

 

Thanks OldJoe.

I needed that. I needed some lifting up because the VA and its crafty ways is enough to depress anybody. They make it all so hard, and frustrate you and lie to you so much, that many of us just give up. I did after being denied service connection in 1983, and then the VA refused to treat me in the 1980s and 90s. I had my own insurance, but the VA was still covering up. All the way til May 4, 2016. The lies and deaths it is responsible for is disgusting because they are corrupt, still.

I thought that was getting straightened out, but 4 and 1/2 decades later, I am still trying to get service connected for a number of presumptive conditions I developed in Vietnam, and they have the proof. Of course they can say it was not incurred in or aggravated by military service, leaving a recourse of the National Media pleading for representation from a good attorney. Maybe advertise for an accredited attorney.

I know this, that the raters can be held accountable to a degree, and those that gave the orders to hide my treatment records can too. 

I go to the doctors back in the 70s because there wasn't a VA hospital close (within 100 miles), and I complain of severe itching skin, whelps and hives and abdomen cramps. They asked how long it has been going on and I say since Vietnam in 1971, then they ask "well, what did they say you had and what caused it?" I had "urticaria" but they don't know what caused it. They would  say something like, Well, you probably have a food allergy. It was always something like that.

They didn't know where to really begin, and I couldn't help them much, which is pretty pathetic. My allergy to chloroquine only happened some of the time, but it does cause occlusions, and I am 100% blocked in the left carotid artery, and my calcium score is 1000 or more, with IHD, atherosclerosis, to name just a few. 

The sad part is that they knew all this time, and hid it from me, when I could have gotten help to really slow the process. I won't be around years, but I hope to be for a little while anyways. I probably could have been, but being lied to and kept in the dark for 45 years didn't help. 45 years ago today I arrived at Yokota Airbase hospital for more testing. I was headed for a long recovery that never happened.

No, it's not completely hopeless, but it is very very late. Thanks Joe!

Victor

[Victor Ray]

13 hours ago, Andyman73 said:

You would think that they would want the Vets to give them good word of mouth advertising, instead of what we do give them.

 

Yes you would think so, but no one is accountable, so nothing matters. You can't get fired, and it seems the raters are not as educated as we would think. I don't know that there is any knowledge testing at all, because from what I have seen and had happen, they really are ill trained, or are very smart but immune to reprimands. If anything did matter to them, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this. None of us would.

So, we wait, we get screwed, we disagree, we wait more, we die. 

[Andyman73]

Victor,

Even if the raters weren't trained, but told to apply the regs to the best of their ability, we'd all be in so much better shape SCD % wise.  At least the raters could read the evidence, the examiner's opinion, and the CFR regs, and more often than not, make the right decision.  But...that's not the case, they are trained, and told to deny most claims, at least the first time around.

And if that's not the case, then how do you explain why we're even here, on Hadit, in the first place? Much less why Hadit even exists?

As for being kept in the dark, if I didn't know better, Victor, I'd say you have got to be the single oldest living mushroom!  All those years being fed bs and kept in the dark!  Makes you quite the fun guy!!! But hey, I love mushrooms!  Lol!

Semper Fi

[smoothc100]

The DAV is Great in Dayton, OH and at Lackland AFB, TX these individuals helped me above and beyond, which caused me to become a member and use them in Baltimore, MD.  I must say it's truly like night and day. The DAV in Baltimore is horrible they insult vets who have waited hours to see them, they tell you to do A and you do it then they say do B or totally forgot, they act like a$$es when you get an IMO/IME, and lastly the same thing they do (scan your documents) you can do yourself and do it way better. I have so many appeals because of these guys no other VSO will take me until my cases are finalized. Thanks to this site and the advise of the individuals here I have successfully won one of my claims that was denied due to following the DAV rep's direction, plus missed out on the deadline to file for presumptive after my medical retirement following their advise. If I only knew then what I know now.