The RAMP black hole...

[25th Infantry for Life]

BVA decision July 2, 2018. 2 granted and 1 remand. Nothing but crickets so opted into RAMP in January 2019. C&P on remand in March. Prep for decision since April 3. Had a finish for April 2019 then May 2019 then June of 2020 and as of today August 2020. Absolute travesty. Seriously have to wait over 2 years for granted issues. Have no idea how to feel just blood boiling and if it was in the real world the whole lot would get fired. Nothing can be said to make me get my patience back. This is a huge kick in the groin and giant middle finger if I ever saw one. Anybody else having similar issues?

Edited July 17, 2019 by 25th Infantry for Life

[GBArmy]

It is what it is. VA delay and delay. Not a lot you can do. You could call the White House, but unfortunately, I doubt if it would help. But if you need to do something...855-948-2311. Good luck

[vetquest]

25th Infantry, I would ask if you had a lawyer for your appeal?  If you did request them to file a writ of mandamus.  My remand was cleared in about three months after my lawyer filed a writ.  If you did not use a lawyer I would ask your congressman to intercede, sometimes that makes them move faster.  I once wrote a letter to the secretary of the VA, that might work.  Yes, I agree that it is a travesty and you should be mad, I would put the whole lot on notice if I was in charge.

[Oceanbound]

Unfortunately this isnt the real business world per sa but the government the complete opposite.  There's even a song written back in 1984, a song, not the book. 

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said "son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "son, don't you understand"  

I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go.

Not sure what your percentage is (didn't look into your prior posts) but there is a mile long wait in every aspect of this process.

You filed you wait

you got denied by the RO you wait

you appeal you wait

bva decided on your case you waitttttt

you wait you wait you wait, isnt this a Alanis Morissette song too?

You're in RAMP which is phased out. Not sure if you have a VA representative that isn't one of the free ones.

Don't check daily, find a hobby, because it will make you worst.

[Wayne TX]

Yep.........just noticed today my RAMP HLR was pushed back again on estimated date now to August 2020.  Before yesterday it was April 2020.  My first set of estimated completion dates came and went  May 2019 so twice now they've reset my estimated completion dates further back.  I read where those dates really don't mean much so hoping that's right. 

[stumpy579]

Any time VA speeds up one part of the process several other parts take much longer than they previously did. Its like stepping on a rug that is sticking up and looking behind you to find it sticking up in two or three new places. Any step of the process that has become faster is simply a robbing Peter to pay Paul scenario. Legacy appeals,remands and grant processing increase in wait time in exchange for faster decisions under the new system.

[USAF]

RAMP was sold on the 125 day song that VA often sings to Congress, the National Work Queue, etc.   It is just words.  I'm RAMP from April, 2018; got sold the false promise.  My extended date is June, 2021.  Look up National Work Queue; enjoy the laugh; nice graphics.  RAMP goes around the Queue horn, like in baseball after a batter is out on an infield grounder.  Everybody is working on it and no one is working on it.  One office can toss it to the next by a click of the keyboard.  The BVA knows how this works.  Everyone in VA management knows how this works. The BVA has no enforcement power.  Observe your facts.  One option: get a lawyer who handles this stuff.  That lawyer has to be a member of that bar at the BVA and CAVC.  Another comment suggested a mandamus. Look up the CAVC cases about mandamus; not easy to get as the VA whines about overwork, they are trying, etc.  But look at it this way, the fact that you fell for RAMP, like me, does not mean you are in any worse condition than if you did not do RAMP.   Look up the OIG reports about Roanoke, Phoenix VAMC, etc.  Look up the OIG report about effective use of manpower from 2018.  The VBA is about VBA employment.  Took me a few years to realize that.  After you have read the OIG about Roanoke look to see if anyone was fired.  My original claim is over 5 years old and I am waiting to get to the BVA so I can go to the CAVC.  Be patient.  I'm an old man with a worsened issue. Stay healthy. I have you beat on extended RAMP by a year.  Next week I might have you beat by two years when they trace this.  As I see it the contest is to keep you away from the CAVC. By election time, based on VA's widespread processing  delays in spite of Congress' blank check, I expect to see the Secretary in front of Congress, hear the 125 song, and then watch the Secretary get fired. Chill.  Time is on your side.  The CAVC recently decided that delayed case class actions are OK and a big one is shaping up based on a 2 year standard.   The Secretary has to explain delays to the CAVC and the 125 opera won't fly.  Make sure they don't just close your case as you will see in the Roanoke report.  Enjoy life.  The VA is not your friend, but so what?  There are probably many RAMP cases over a year old by now.  Write to your congress people.  Elections are getting tighter. Every vote counts. Tell your reps to get a new Secretary as step one. You outrank everyone in the VA because you vote. But no matter what, relax. Stay off the VA web and write to your reps about step one.  One thousand letters will do more than 10,000 individual cases that are in the Queue forever.  Cost of a letter is one stamp.  Be nice to your rep. Describe the problem. Give them the step one solution.  The Secretary works for you. Congress is always looking for sensational hearings; makes good evening news.  It's a tool. Use it. Create that rising tide. One stamp for each fed rep. You have three. Write; don't call. Facts, dates, solutions.  One page. No exclamation points. Congress fired the last Secretary and they really did try to fix the VA - but with money. Same culture survived.

     Go fishing and hiking. Life is about more than the VA's treadmill. See, I think management enjoy your anguish (schadenfreude power trip) and despise my 3 stamp recommendation. The stamp will not get your case resolved, but it will possibly make a hearing happen. Suggest hearings against the Secretary.  TV time for Congress. Then go fishing.  My time extension will now go for 3 years and that will support mandamus.  Have some fun.