Dear Honorable Members Of The Veterans Affairs Committee

[betrayed]

Dear Honorable Members of the Veterans Affairs Committee,

I voluntarily served 28 years of active duty in the United States Navy. My career was not without danger or armed conflicts. In doing so I committed myself to respond the many actions that U.S. Armed Forces responded to such as:

1982 Multinational Force in Lebanon , 1983 -- Grenada Operation Urgent Fury, 1986 Libya. Libyan Patrol Boats On March 26, 1986, US forces, while engaged in freedom of navigation exercises around the Gulf of Sidra, had been attacked by Libyan missiles, On April 16, 1986, U.S. air and naval forces had conducted bombing strikes on terrorist facilities and military installations in the Libyan capitol of Tripoli, 1987-88 After the Iran-Iraq War resulted in several military incidents in the Persian Gulf, the United States increased US joint military forces operations in the Persian Gulf and adopted a policy of re-flagging and escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Gulf, 1987 the U.S. military protection of Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iraqi and Iranian attacks in 1987 and 1988 during the Tanker War phase of the Iran-Iraq War, it was the largest naval convoy operation since World War II. January 4, 1989, two US Navy F-14 aircraft based on the USS John F. Kennedy shot down two Libyan jet fighters over the Mediterranean Sea about 70 miles north of Libya. On December 21, 1989, the U.S. invades the sovereign nation of Panama to "further safeguard the canal, US lives, property and interests in the area." 1991 Iraq. Persian Gulf War. 1992-2003 -- Iraq The U.S. together with the United Kingdom declares and enforces "no fly zones" over the majority of sovereign Iraqi airspace, prohibiting Iraqi flights in zones in southern Iraq and northern Iraq, and conducting aerial reconnaissance and bombings. 1992-95 -- Somalia. "Operation Restore Hope" President Bush reported that he had deployed US armed forces to Somalia. 1993-Present -- Bosnia/Yugoslavia/Kosovo. 1993-95 -- Haiti. Operation Uphold Democracy US ships had begun embargo against Haiti. 1998 -- Iraq. US-led bombing campaign against Iraq Operation Desert Fox. October 2000, in the wake of an attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, he had authorized deployment of military personnel to Aden. 2001 -- Afghanistan. US invasion of Afghanistan. The War on Terrorism begins with Operation Enduring Freedom. On October 7, 2001, US Armed Forces "began combat action in Afghanistan against Al Qaida terrorists and their Taliban supporters in support of the War against Terrorism. 2003 invasion of Iraq Second Persian Gulf War.

I retired in May of 2004 and certainly served during the time of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In those 28 years I was taught and I taught that we were all one team, all of the armed forces made up a team.

Now I find myself a disabled veteran and I find the segregation of veterans to be very disheartening. This started with the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) issuing Letter 20-03-11 on March 26, 2003 which directed how a Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Veterans were to have their claims handled differently than other veterans (expeditiously and hand to hand) i.e. 30 day limits while other veterans wait years, I myself am at the three year mark. Then DVA letter 20-03-36 dated September 23rd, 2003 was issued streamlining the process even more, and finally DVA letter 20-05-14, dated March 8, 2005 was issued.

On April 24th, 2007 Senator Larry Craig released a news story which starts

NEW REPORT CONTAINS BLUEPRINT TO HELP CUT THE RED TAPE FOR VETERANS, CRAIG SAYS. 25 recommendations made to improve the transition for new veterans”.

On the same day Secretary Nicholson released the following:

Task Force Aims at Improved Services for GWOT Veterans Nicholson - Vets "Shouldn't Fight For Benefits Earned" WASHINGTON (April 24, 2007) - Military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can look forward to more timely receipt of benefits, better information and more streamlined processes, thanks to streamlined federal procedures announced today by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, who chaired a presidential task force. To view and download VA news release, please visit the following

Internet address: http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel

Everything is for the “New Veteran”, what happened to the team? I am a severely disabled veteran 100% Permanent and Total. I applied for compensation and pension benefits, even though I am rated at 100% disabled, I am being paid at the 60% level which is roughly a difference of $2000.00 per month, I can only imagine one of the “new vets” Award Letter is being processed before mine. I have applied for vocational rehabilitation but was denied because:

"It does not appear feasible for you to obtain suitable employment through your Vocational Rehabilitation benefits at this point in time because of the severity of your disability."

"After carefully reviewing the evidence, I have determined that it is not reasonable to expect you to be able to train for or get a suitable job at this time."

"In reaching my decision, I considered the following evidence: Medical records from VAMC and private physicians, independent living evaluation; vocational and independent living interviews, rating decisions, personal documentation."

So because of the severity of my disability I have been placed in the Independent Living Program, which has not done one single thing for me. But you can bet all those “new veterans” are not having any problems obtaining their benefits, like Secretary Jim Nicholson said “Vets Shouldn't Fight For Benefits Earned"

Senator Larry Craig said "This one action to unify the disability rating process will help cut the red tape for injured service members and that should lead to an improved benefits delivery system. I believe this will be a major step forward for future generations of military personnel"

I say lets unify the veterans and treat them all the same, the most Ironic thing of all of this is the fact I served during OEF and OIF, but because I didn’t put my boots in the sand over there I don’t deserve the same benefits as the “New Vets”.

XXXXXX X XXXXXXXXX

MCPO, USN, Retired

Copy to Congressman: Mike Rogers

Edited April 26, 2007 by BETRAYED

[tssnave]

Betrayed,

Bravo! Great letter!!

Would you mind if other veterans used your letter as a boilerplate for their own letters to legislators something along these lines:

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Section 1:

Individual veteran's military history, current disability status, claims status, and how long you've been dealing with VA.

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Section 2: (copy of your text)

Now I find myself a disabled veteran and I find the segregation of veterans to be very disheartening. This started with the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) issuing Letter 20-03-11 on March 26, 2003 which directed how a Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Veterans were to have their claims handled differently than other veterans (expeditiously and hand to hand) i.e. 30 day limits while other veterans wait years, I myself am at the three year mark. Then DVA letter 20-03-36 dated September 23rd, 2003 was issued streamlining the process even more, and finally DVA letter 20-05-14, dated March 8, 2005 was issued.

On April 24th, 2007 Senator Larry Craig released a news story which starts

NEW REPORT CONTAINS BLUEPRINT TO HELP CUT THE RED TAPE FOR VETERANS, CRAIG SAYS. 25 recommendations made to improve the transition for new veterans”.

On the same day Secretary Nicholson released the following:

Task Force Aims at Improved Services for GWOT Veterans Nicholson - Vets "Shouldn't Fight For Benefits Earned" WASHINGTON (April 24, 2007) - Military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can look forward to more timely receipt of benefits, better information and more streamlined processes, thanks to streamlined federal procedures announced today by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, who chaired a presidential task force. To view and download VA news release, please visit the following

Internet address: http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel

Senator Larry Craig said "This one action to unify the disability rating process will help cut the red tape for injured service members and that should lead to an improved benefits delivery system. I believe this will be a major step forward for future generations of military personnel"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Section 3: (mostly your text)

Everything is for the “New Veteran”, what happens to the "Old Veterans" like myself? I say lets unify the veterans and treat them all the same. Given my past honorable service to my country, I believe I deserve the same benefits as the “New Vets”.

Will you support legislation that will treat ALL veterans applying for their VA benefits equally or will you stand by while those of us who served our country honorably, just not recently, are placed in the back of the Veterans Affairs claims processing line behind our younger counterparts?

Respectfully,

[SLEDGE]

United we stand, divided we fall.

The only legal way to put an end to the illegal crap that the government throws at us is to VOTE.

Vote for a veteran.

Or vote for somebody that has proved that they are willing to help us get everything we deserve.

Otherwise, 'nothing' is going to change.

sledge

[betrayed]

Betrayed,

Would you mind if other veterans used your letter as a boilerplate for their own letters to legislators something along these lines:

knock your self out

[Berta]

GOOD FOR YOU JIM!

I sent the Task

Force four solutions as to the VA problems- and reminded them too that many many are waiting endlessly for proper decisions---and I griped and used my own situations with VA to support my position-

It is bad enough that we are in a situation where new vets will get priority in claims that only makes the backlog worse-

I will gladly stand aside for these vets but after 4 years it is hard to stand aside-knowing that the VA continues to ignore my evidence.

These new vets will at some point be lumped in the same barrel with all of us long term claimants-when their "newness" fades-

I made my cover letter dramatic- to get their attention---hope it did.

TaskForceVAAPril2007.doc

[tssnave]

Betrayed, Thanks!

Berta,

My heart breaks for you. If you're willing, please post the rest of the pages of your letter. Only the first one came in. Also, as a matter of privacy, if it's important to you, you may want to black out your name and address from the copy of your letter you post online. This may or may not be a concern to you but I just wanted to point it out in case you didn't mean to post it.

Also, I thought your opening line in the second paragraph was VERY powerful both in words and pictures with his photo and ribbons. Yes, let them look into the face of the young marine who served his country and was killed not by enemy fire but by malpractice at the VA. WHEW! VERY POWERFUL!!

I suggest that anyone who writes to their political representatives use similar visuals in their letters. The young veterans today HAVE their face, their image, in the papers, magazines, media. But us older vets do not. I think using a picture and ribbons in the letter is an EXCELLENT way to bring the realization to your reader that you (or your spouse) too are the face of the solider, the sailor, the airman, and the marine.

Thank you, Betrayed and Berta for helping the rest of us do a better job in writing letters to our legislators.

Thanks,

ts

[Berta]

I didnt realise that- but I don't feel my address matters-

I am more concerned about C file numbers-

I can only post part of this letter-due to privacy of VA employees who I named-

as well as my vet reps--

I told them plenty--here are three of the 4 solutions I asked them to consider -I deleted parts where I name names-I left in my POA's name though-

FOUR POINTS THAT MIGHT HELP NEWLY RETURNING SERVICE DISABLED VETERANS:

1. The VCAA –Veterans Claims Assistance Act states that all valid claimants will receive a proper VCAA Notice and election form prior to the initial denial of their claims.

I have never received a legal VCAA notice in over 4 years-this legal error was one reason I got a fast BVA remand and therefore did not become part of the backlog. My own POA has considerable remands at the BVA because their clients did not get legal VCAA notices either and they-NYSDVA- never questioned the illegal VCAA letter at all. Also I understood the government went to great expense to publish pamphlets as enclosures for the proper VCAA letters. I deal with hundreds of veterans as a volunteer benefits counselor and never heard of any veteran or widow getting the explanatory pamphlet. The VCAA letter must be specific as to what evidence the claimant needs to send the RO and this statement is highlighted and underlined. This way the claimant knows exactly what they need to send the VA. Otherwise the VA will say they have not submitted any evidence and the claim is denied and set up for eventually 2 years at the BVA- and then the BVA upon seeing that the VCAA notice was deficient, will remand the claim back again to the VARO for another long delay in processing. This practice of deficient VCAA letters from VA Regional Offices must stop!

2. New veterans should be informed that there are numerous internet web sites that are trying to help veterans obtain the evidence they need for VA claims. Also many units have web sites if they need buddy statements. Also we fortunately have access to BVA and CAVC decisions as well as General Counsel Opinions and the complete updated versions of M21-1 as well as the entire rating schedule and 38 CFR rating procedures on the internet. The VA web site itself is truly excellent in helping veterans get information for all sorts of benefits but often the veteran has to take more steps to access other sites to fully understand the complexity of many VA issues.

3. The third point I am making is out of the VA’s jurisdiction but the impact is ON VA decisions.

Veterans consistently find that veterans organizations, to include county veteran service agencies as well as state veterans divisions, such as NYSDVA do NOT always have updated VA claims information nor do they consistently give good claims advise. While there are many vet reps across the nation who do exemplary claims work, many of them don’t and the lack of oversight into veteran’s representation by organizations chartered by Congress or in my case, a state veterans division, compounds the backlog problem considerably. Not all veterans and widows are veterans advocates like me who can even recognize how poor our representation is. I know, based on my studies of the continued backlog and countless remanded claims at the BVA web site- that due to RO violations of the VCAA –that veterans representatives fail to correct as soon as they happen, and a lack of probative and proper initial claims advice from veterans representatives holding the claimant’s POA can only mean that the unconscionable backlog of claims at the BVA will continue to grow.

New returning disabled veterans who obtain the services of veteran’s representatives should also realize that they themselves need to be proactive in obtaining the medical evidence they need, and not to leave the military without their complete SMRs, and certainly they should have a list of contact people from their units, and they should carefully choose the representation they need from veteran’s organizations.

4. Oversight of Regional office operations is desperately needed. Many of the RO problems have already been voiced in a survey that the Office of Inspector General did in 2005. While some claims and the evidence they involve generate proper VA awards, other claims sit with evidence (like mine) still awaiting a rater’s attention after 4 years of the initial filing date

(much more omitted due to Privacy Act here and I elaborated much more on this point of oversight and named individuals)

I thanked the Task Force for the opportunity etc-- to send them input and also told them what I might do if the VARO and my Reps do not get their act together and make sure that the RO reads my medical evidence after the latest return to the rating board.

I also told them there is NO Honor in a Section 1151 death and my husband deserves a direct service connected death and his true Peace with Honor-

which I will get for him no matter how long it takes.