Jump to content
VA Disability Community via Hadit.com

VA Disability Claims Articles

Ask Your VA Claims Question | Current Forum Posts Search | Rules | View All Forums
VA Disability Articles | Chats and Other Events | Donate | Blogs | New Users

  • hohomepage-banner-2024-2.png

  • 27-year-anniversary-leaderboard.png

    advice-disclaimer.jpg

  • donate-be-a-hero.png

  • 0

Voiceless Veterans

Rate this question


Rich p

Question

Voiceless Veterans 

We arrive, angry, confused, hurt, untrusting, extremely defensive, with a strong tendency for coming off "rudely direct" and somewhat scatter brained. By the time, we finish speaking, we've likely already "pissed off" our intended receivers. Then, we receive our threat of VA police intervention, unless we comply, and speak with respect. Who are we?

We are the "voiceless members" of the "highest VA risk group" known as "mentally challenged veterans". We perhaps impact the high rate of suicide, more than any other group, found among veterans, past and present. Everyone is concerned for our well fair and rightfully so. Yet.....

We all witnessed a veteran act out and take the lives of five Dallas police officers. We all read about the veteran taking his life the day before thanksgivings in Tennessee. We watched again as a veteran drove his car into a crowd in New Jersey. These were all members of my group. They each acted out in horrible ways. They acted with purpose. Each were previously rejected help, by the VA!

Replace the acronym "PTSD" with "HULK" and everyone will understand us better. PTSD, as in my case, has not diminished intelligence, it clouds my use of it. The CCVA, addressed the plight of the mentally challenged veteran in Clemons v Shinseki, 2009, emphasizing the inability of a mentally challenged veteran, to narrow their own claims, before a more knowledgeable and experienced VA employee.

We would have hoped a ruling from the highest VA court, would have produced a wide range of assistance and protections for us mentally challenged veterans. The court declared it to be enough that a veteran apply with a mental health claim to trigger the special attention required under Clemens. What good are CCVA decisions when VBA directors have no responsibility to follow them, at least that's the way the Tennessee region applies it. 

Rulings are muted, as veterans in my group have no way to address them. We are threatened with police action, by the VA, defenseless before the DOJ, ignored by politicians, called crazy by caretakers, and all is well, once again, in the life of a stressed out government employee. Our lives are ripped apart, stress increased beyond belief, we end up living in a shed for years, waiting on the VA to respond.

We once believed ourselves more than just a veteran, we thought we answered the call for something, more than that. We stood the ground assigned and completed our small part in the defense of our Nation. We stood for all of our nations people. We stood for our own constitutionally protected rights and believed ourselves protecting them. 

From one Generation to the next, less than 3% of Americans have served their country and even less during time of war, is it to much to ask for a voice? Is it to much to ask that we not be required to sacrifice everything we had worked so hard and so long for. The wars we fight are not in your neighborhood. If you let the 2% keep getting treated this way, the next one will be. I'm a Vet, too, has become an excuse, not the badge of honor it was intended to be. We stood up when you called and we came home different. Will you not stand up for what our families are loosing, because we chose to defend you?

To quote the late Paul Harvey " Now you have, the rest of the story."

 

Stand on Clemons and force the VA to address all of the material facts. Now read Bevins and six unknown narcotics agents and the new VA accountability law. This will force the VA to address the whole disability picture the first time they touch the record or they fail Clemons. Do not pursue the adjudicator, pursue the signing authority as they have a written obligation to ensure the law has been followed. The new accountability law is specifically positioned to tag these individuals for failing their signing obligation, therefore failing Clemons. My claim went from 50% to 100% based on the same medical evidence. No new exams, no bull, claim Clemons and point to your Disagreement, then let them assume liability for failing Clemons. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

As a footnote: I will be considering the new VA accountability to pursue the Management Team in Nashville for systematic intentional indifference with Patern against mentally challenged veterans under Clemons and will assert discrimination by class, as we have no viable means for redress. We are silenced by the act of a well check. No communication rises beyond this step. This act discriminates against mentally challenged veterans and denies our right to advocate under ADA. Let's see what the Nashville VBA Director does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
  • Moderator

Good for YOU!  PTSD VETS should be treated with the highest degree of respect, yet they are treated as the scum.  These survivors of the war are heroes.  Thank you for informing us about Clemons.  Vets with PTSD did not do anything to deserve having their rights taken away.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Guidelines and Terms of Use