I joined the army in a moment of patriotism; a moment that today I dearly regret.

    I can not explain it, but I have lived long enough to find out that our government doesn't really care about those that served.     Especially when you become a liability for their budget.

    The Veterans Affairs agency was formed to administer to the needs of those that served and has been a national disgrace for decades.     Under the premise of fraud and those that do not deserve disability compensation, the V.A. has systematiclaly denied such benefits to those that do (deserve.)

    The V.A. has operated like a closed legal court where the claimants have very little say or rights.

    Our Congress has limited compensation in this adversarialy system to no interest due, or any penalty for due process delays.

    The more I learn about the system and research, it makes you sick.     Sick of the lies, the cover-ups and the implications that the government is dealing fairly with those that served.

    We don't care about the glory and honor, and coming with serving your country is a commitment to a period of sacrifice; sacrifice where you may not return to your normal civilian life after your period of service.

    I just recevied an email update on an article regarding AO (Agent Orange) in Guam and the "legal status" of being on the DOD list.     After all, the government adheres to an unfavorable policy in granting compensation on appeal in court where and if the location you served is listed as one where herbicides were stored and/or used.     See recent article.

    If it is not listed, that is sufficient grounds to deny your claim.

    Fair?     Hardly.

    Then the government sends you forms to expediate the decision on your claim and when you are someone like myself that filed almost three years ago and you find out that their is a classified air force report that herbicides were used (extensively) in Thailand, it makes you sick.     Sick for yourself and the hundreds if not thousands that came before you and were denied because the government did not disclose everything to their knowledge.

    From time to time there will be a well-meaning congressman or senator that comes along to support those that served, but rarely gets the important issues resolved for those of us in need today or the future.

    At this stage of my claim rights, writing to my congressmen and senators, and the need to resolve matters for other veterans in my class, Thailand vets, you begin to wonder whether you will live long enough to reach the end of this madness.     Or, will I die leaving my wife and family with my debts and obligations which must be very painful at the hour of death.

    This is a national disgrace and whether the agency entrusted with its administration is led by a veteran, combat veteran or just another political appointee, we can only look to the future and pray that through global communication resolved and the practices of the V.A. reformed.

Franco Picchione
Regular Army 16 Nov 66 - 17 May 77
Veterans Activists

p.s.   Remember - freedom as we know it is never free.     Some give all and all give some ...
 
RAO BULLETIN ARTICLES 31 DEC 07

VA LAWSUIT (LACK OF CARE) UPDATE 01:   The government asked a San Francisco federal judge on Friday to dismiss a high-profile lawsuit challenging the system of treatment and benefits for returning combat veterans.     The government's lawyers argued that civil courts have no authority over the Department of Veterans Affairs' medical decisions or how it handles grievances and claims.     "If plaintiffs are not happy with the way the system is currently working, their remedy is to take it up with Congress" or with the veterans department, Justice Department attorney Daniel Bensing told U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti.     He said that in 1988, Congress created a system of reviewing veterans' claims and it can't be second-guessed by regular courts.     It was the first hearing on the nationwide lawsuit that is being closely watched by veterans, their families and advocacy groups.     The suit seeks a judicial finding that the VA's system of handling claims and appeals violates veterans' rights.     The plaintiffs also want court orders requiring the department to provide immediate medical and psychological help to returning troops and to screen them for risk of stress disorders and suicide.

    Gordon Erspamer, a lawyer for veterans' advocates, argued that the system established under the 1988 law is rife with constitutional violations that federal courts are competent to judge.     Wounded veterans, he said, are arbitrarily denied care and benefits, are forced to wait months for vital treatment and years for benefits, have no access to lawyers or potential witnesses, and have little recourse when their claims are rejected.     Under the current procedures, Erspamer said, the government "can deny health care to veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with impunity. ...   If this court dismisses this case, there is no way that these claims will ever be adjudicated."     Conti, a World War II veteran and a judicial conservative during his 37 years on the bench, raised questions about the courts' authority over the dispute but did not say how he would rule on the government's dismissal motion.

    The suit was filed in July by two organizations - Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth - as a proposed class action on behalf of 320,000 to 800,000 veterans, or their survivors, claiming service-connected deaths and disabilities.     They focused on claims of post-traumatic stress disorder, increasingly common among returning troops.     A Pentagon study group reported in June that about 84,000 veterans, more than one-third of those who sought care from the VA from 2002 through 2006 had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress or another mental disorder.     The Pentagon group also found that the system was understaffed, prompting the VA to announce staffing increases in July.     The suit said the department has a backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims.     Veterans' advocates say the VA pressures stressed-out soldiers to acknowledge pre-existing "personality disorders" that gain them a speedy discharge while forfeiting future disability benefits.    Erspamer said improper delays and denials of treatment and benefits have contributed to an epidemic of suicides.

[Source:   San Francisco Chronicle Bob Egelko (Email) article 15 Dec 07 ++]

Editorial:     What is wrong with this story?     Is it that Congress continues to allow an agency of the executive branch that affects all military veterans to continue to practice unchecked?     No?     Quote:   "If plaintiffs are not happy with the way the system is currently working, their remedy is to take it up with Congress" or with the veterans department[,]   - that's from the lawyers defending the government's position; [take it to] "the veterans department."     Come on!     Get real!     "Fox guarding the hen house."     "[the] VA's system of handling claims and appeals violates veterans' rights."     No?     Really?     (See "Fox guarding ...")     "The Pentagon group also found that the system was understaffed[,]"     By design, or budget, or both?     "VA pressures stressed-out soldiers .."   .. and ..   "[improper] delays and denials of treatment and benefits have contributed to an epidemic of suicides."     Gee, I can't imagine "Why?"


11 Jan 08 San Francisco Chronicle Article Update

    Veterans' advocates can proceed with a lawsuit claiming that the federal government's health care system for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan illegally denies care and benefits, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled 10 Jan 08.     U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, a conservative jurist and a World War II veteran, rejected Bush administration arguments that civil courts have no authority over the Department of Veterans Affairs' medical decisions or how it handles grievances and claims.     If the plaintiffs can prove their allegations, Conti said, they would show that "thousands of veterans, if not more, are suffering grievous injuries as the result of their inability to procure desperately needed and obviously deserved health care."     He said federal courts are competent to decide whether those injuries were caused by flaws in the health care system and the VA's grievance procedures.     Conti did not rule on the adequacy of the treatment system, which will be addressed in future proceedings.     But he decided one disputed issue, finding that veterans are legally entitled to two years of health care after leaving the service.     The government had argued that it was required to provide only as much care as the VA's budget allowed in a given year.     A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Melissa Kasnitz of Disability Rights Advocates, said the judge had rejected the VA's "shameful effort to keep these deserving veterans from their day in court."

    The next step is a hearing on the plaintiffs' request for an injunction that would require the federal agency to provide immediate mental health treatment for veterans who suffer from stress disorders and are at risk of suicide, said Sidney Wolinsky, another Disability Rights Advocates lawyer.     That hearing is scheduled for 22 Feb 08.     The suit claims that the federal government's failure to provide timely treatment is contributing to an epidemic of suicides among returning soldiers.     The suit was filed in July by two organizations, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, as a proposed class action on behalf of 320,000 to 800,000 veterans or their survivors.     The groups said the VA arbitrarily denies care and benefits to wounded veterans, forces them to wait months for treatment and years for benefits, and gives them little recourse when it rejects their medical claims.     The department has a backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims, the suit said.     A Pentagon study group reported in June that the system was understaffed, prompting the VA to announce staffing increases in July.     The study group also found that 84,000 veterans, more than one-third of those who sought care from the department from 2002 through 2006, had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress or another mental disorder.

    In seeking dismissal of the suit, the Justice Department argued that Congress had barred federal courts from hearing complaints about the VA system when it established a special Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims in 1988 to review grievances over treatment and benefits.     But Conti said the special court can examine only individual cases and has no power to consider "systematic, constitutional challenges."     He said those belong in regular courts.     Conti also said the VA system, originally intended as an informal procedure to help veterans resolve their claims, has morphed into an adversarial process in which claimants have to comply with formal legal rules, often without a lawyer.     "It is within the court's power to insist that veterans be granted a level of due process that is commensurate with the adjudication procedures with which they are confronted," Conti said.     Efforts to reach the Justice Department for comment were unsuccessful.

[Source:   San Francisco Chronicle Bob Egelko (Email) article 11 Jan 08 ++]


p.p.s.   We leave you with a satire of government (pure) bull shit from (where else?)
the Government Accounting Office (the watchdog of all places) telling it like it isn't ...

[click on their dumb logo for bull]


  Veterans' Benefits:   Improved Operational Controls and Management Data
Would Enhance VBA's Disability Reevaluation Process


  Veterans' Disability Benefits: Processing of Claims Continues to Present Challenges


  Veterans' Disability Benefits: Long-Standing Claims Processing Challenges Persist


  Veterans' Disability Benefits: Claims Processing Challenges and Opportunities for Improvements


  Veterans' Disability Benefits:
VA Could Enhance Its Progress in Complying with Court Decision on Disability Criteria


  Veterans Benefits: VA Needs Plan for Assessing Consistency of Decisions


  Veterans' Benefits: Quality Assurance for Disability Claims Processing


And, from the Halls of Congress and our Senators -

.. with Senator Akaka's compliments ... A:   USAF CHECO Report *   * Air Force History Report classified "Secret" so no one could read it ...     At least, not now.

Senator Murray gives it a shot ... Senator Murray wasn't surprised at the lack of progress from DVA? I should hope not. The only surprise would be any positive news from that organization. Even the DVA itself seems to wonder why they can't catch up. We're told, “The agency also said it was receiving more disability claims than it had at any time in recent history and that it had received more than it had expected in 2007.” I've come to the conclusion that since the DVA can't figure out why there are so many claims and the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee remains as clueless as usual, it's up to me to set the record straight. I know what's happening and why. It's really pretty simple to unravel the mystery and it's easy to accurately predict that it's going to get worse, much worse. There are only 2 factors that are affecting the tremendous increase of claims being filed. The first piece of the problem the VBA must face is that Veterans from WWII and the Vietnam era are pissed off and they aren't going to take it any more.     Then there's the Internet. We've forgotten what life was like before the Internet. Only a decade ago, if we wanted information about almost anything, we spent hours making telephone calls (from land lines), writing letters (using stamps), seeking out brochures, maybe even going to a public library for research. To use a search engine wasn't yet something we thought of as being a simple routine. Google wasn't a company and "to Google" as in; “I Googled it up and got 521,054 hits” hadn't become a common action. A decade ago and back beyond that, if a Veteran wanted to file a claim with the VA and receive a disability benefit, he or she rarely knew where to begin. We would often seek out a Veterans Service Officer in the Yellow Pages and make appointments and wait and fill out some papers and wait some more. Many Veterans just couldn't be bothered with it all. They knew by the grapevine that no matter what they did they were likely to be denied.     The process was adversarial and denigrating.    I recall a personal hearing of my own in the early 1980's when I was humiliated by a member of the committee.     He all but accused me of being a leech on society and and was very vocal that my records showed nothing I claimed.     My “Service Officer” sat quietly and had nothing to say and I wasn't allowed but a few words myself before the meeting was closed.     I lost, of course and didn't go back for almost 15 years. But now it's 2007, we have high speed Internet access and knowledge, all the knowledge in the world. It's right at our fingertips. And many of us are very angry about the treatment we received from our VA those many years ago. In a way, filing and filing again brings some satisfaction for the way we were treated all these years. So we're filing claims.     Tens of thousands of claims.     The burden on the VA is steadily increasing because so many of us are taking back what was rightly ours in the first place.     I eventually won that claim that was denied me back then.     It took me until 2006 to win it but by God, I did.     The VBA could have and should have given me what I had earned and what I was owed back then.     They didn't, I got smart and learned how to fight and I increased their workload and I won.     I'm now filing a CUE claim that will take me back to my original date of denial in 1971. Am I pissed off about the treatment I received back then?     You bet I am.     Do I want justice?     Oh yeah I do. I'm telling others to file for their legitimate claims and they're telling even more people and they're telling more people. The message is spreading like wildfire...file your claims. If you're denied, appeal. If your appeal is denied, appeal that appeal. The Veteran has nothing to lose and everything to gain. The recent proliferation of Internet sites, particularly of those where experienced Vets give advice to less experienced Vets is a phenomenon that VBA couldn't have predicted. How could they have known that [Internet sites] would crop up and have thousands of Veterans registered, networking, and sharing their VBA claims experiences with each other every day? Every morning I see a new site promising to help fellow Vets with disability claims. (This is a good time to caution you that not all of these sites provide good info that you can trust. As with all things on the Internet, proceed with caution and don't give out personal information unless you're sure you can depend on the guy at the other end.)   - Jim Strickland http://shop-las-vegas.com/VBA .. as in Veterans Benefits Administration Written for Veterans by Veterans (All material may be copied/reused/stolen)