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Military.com Forums Sound Off! Tom Philpott Benefits Column - Sound Off! Why DoD to Lose Power to Rate Disabilities|
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RE: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,152398,00.html
> While it certainly appears to make sense to put it all in one place in terms of uniformity, there also needs to be a fair and responsive appeals process in place. (In my own case, when I appealed my VA rating, I won on the first try, so it CAN happen.) |
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Amen...This should have been done a long time ago. It's the right & fair thing to do for all of our Vets & their families. Further; I really believe that there should be a combining of our VA & military medical hospital & clinic systems, along with the funding allocations, under one accountable administration. In doing this, I believe that a more timely & prioritized utilization of resources may be accomplished....
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I'm not sure that I agree with this decision, as a taxpayer and a military physician who has done his share of separation physicals over the years. Prior to the onset of combat operations in 2001 when seriously injured personnel with legitimate disabilities started to be generated in large numbers, the claims for "disability" that I was called upon to assess in the separation process were for the most part ridiculous, minor complaints associated at best with the aging process that all of us undergo regardless of whether we are in the military service or not, and at worst were either fictitious or had absolutely nothing to do with their service in the military. This entire charade was actively encouraged by the VA reps who conducted the separation briefings, many of whom bragged during the briefings about their own success in getting disability. I had no problem with backing up 100% the Devil Dogs who actually had suffered some impairment during their service that was going to impact their ability to perform another job after their service or retirement, but the vast majority of cases that I saw were attempting a scam to get the easy money that the VA was advertising and the US taxpayer was knowingly funding. Putting the VA in charge of this is like giving the fox the key to the henhouse and will lead to more siphoning off of funds which could be put to better use for those troops with real disabilities. I think "disability" has taken on a new meaning in the past few years, but there are still those who are looking for disability for "back pain" and "trick knees"...and we are and will be paying for a long time to come for those who succeeded in this process during the 80's and 90's and earlier.
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I'm so tired of people talking about what our tax dollars are spent on. Our tax dollars are spent on a lot of sh@#*t that we as Americans are going to have to foot the bill. For example the government spent millions of dollars to resume President Lincoln body because of allegations that he was poison and not shot. If Lincoln was found to be poison was our government going to spend millions of tax payers dollars to dig up his accuser hold trial and incarcerate his corpse. Good luck in finding witnesses. You never hear anybody complaining about how tax dollars are spent on foolishness like this. Only when it comes to some form of disability we get our panties in a bunch and start talking about our tax dollars. If you awarded every disable veteran at 100% you still would"nt scratch the serfice of the money(tax payer) this administration has spent on this war in Iraq. In conclusion I never met or heard of any veteran who receives disability from the VA, DOD, or SSA who was interviewed by Robin Leach from the show, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". Give us veterans what we deserve!!!
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The committee studying this whole idea has already pizzd away a few mil of tax payer money. We are committee happy. Love to study things to death, spend millions doing it. Find someone guilty, always got to find someone guilty, if the committee didn't, what did we form the committee for in the first place. Now we have "guilty" people, we need a law. A "Law" oh my, now we need a "special task force" to enforce it.
Kind of like immigration, it's being studied, we have a "special task force" or is at a "special task farce"? That isn't a waste of tax payer money right? They are getting more benefits than any veteran or the entire disabled veteran community will ever receive. No my friends, I can see this one coming like a freight train. They will form a committee to study this "problem" find less than 1% not qualified to receive VA disability benefits. Go wacko and demand a "special task force" be formed to go get these "bad dudes" spend another few million that the vets will never get prosecuting them and THEN!!!!!! to show the rest. Slap them in JAIL. He11 it only costs $40,000 a year to incarcerate someone in this country at todays dollars. An think of all the "savings" they just got this "fraud", at the cost of a few mil and are going to spend even more locking him or her up. Yep sure makes perfect sense to me. Waste more money on this crap and take it away from the vet. Oh yea here comes the argument. The VA won't pay it it will come from other funds. What funds? The same ones the VA get their money from? TAXES? |
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Well Doc, obviously you were never a grunt carrying 60 plus pounds on a forced march, repeatedly, nor were you ever parylized due to a back injury requiring spinal surgery. 18, 19 and 20 year old Marines with chronic back pain don't come from sucking down sodas at the officer's mess. Your life of priviledge has resulted in an obviously biased opinion. Pick up a rifle and defend freedom of people for a while, in the shidtholes of the world, and maybe you'll get a better perspective on the wear and tear on the real fighters bodies. |
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Baileno Said in part:
Obviously, Dr. Allen has a bad taste in his mouth for the Veterans Administration...As do many current Veterans seeking medical help. The standing joke when I retired in 1984 was...The higher the rank the higher the disability rating! Historically, the Navy has the highest rate of Disability Evaluations of all the Services, with the Marines and Army coming in with the lowest. Since the Department of Defense has the most obvious reason for keeping Disability Ratings low...They Pay the Bills...It seems just as obvious that it makes sense to shift that responsibility to a more neutral Government Agency. I can understand Dr. Allen's concerns, but I'm not sure which side of the Hen House is locked or if anyone has the Keys? The entire Military Health System and Veterans Administration are rife with problems and in need of positive change. This isn't the 80s or 90s...this is 2007. Our Veterans...Past, Present, and Future...deserve what they were promised and what they paid for through blood and sacrifice. |
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"You can't hide in the past, but you can't run from the future" |
I wouldn't worry about any of it too much. As it was Mr. Parker is as much a politician now as Sen. John McCain. What the article does not tell you is that Mr. Parker was swinging from the infamous Dole-Shalala report that was going to do more damage than good before the release of the VDBC report. Ask him yourself. He goes parading around these forums under INADMIAC. I had a very interesting banter with him about this and he is just another political snake in the grass slithering on his belly around to his way to political office no doubt. Well whatever office or wherever he runs, I will be there with my brothers and sisters to vote AGAINST him and his type that DO THE POTAMAC TWO STEP. NO HEY DIDDY DIDDLE RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE IS THERE MIKEY?!!!
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Like the man said, you never were humping a ruck so where besides a medical book have you gotten your insight. And as I have found out, you need to do a lot of high cost tests to find out what is wrong with a back. I ended up having 5 operations on mine, and still live in extreme pain. All from a service connected injury. I had to fight for 8 years with the VA to get a fair rating. My civilian doctors knew what was wrong, but the VA did not want to deal with it, so I suffered, and made it worse in order to keep my family living without going on welfare. I now have to use a cain, live on pain meds, and some days cannot sleep. One person cannot tell another what his back pain is. It is an individual thing. I had a woman friend of mine who said she would have two babies for every surgery she had to endure. So Col, before you make a statement that these men were scamming, talk to a few people who have endured the living hell that we go through. |
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I like the idea of makeing a review and try to make things better. it is better than "that is the way it is done". I remember when I was a young lad PO3 and broke my wrist. I was told by a medical board, that if I did not deploy, even with the broken bone in my wrist, I would be separated from the service as I was considered undeployable! I was scared into going with a cast on my hand to Korea and Team Spirit. They were shocked when I arrived there and after a month I had it removed, and suffered a refrax of the same bone. now it is a constant pain in the cold. Was it considered a problem now, no! O well, I will live. could have been a fractured head!!! The point I am trying to make here is that we have many out there that are scared into sucking it up, vs. getting care for their injury. I can name 4 friends from Iraq and Afganistan that are back in the war, hiding their nightmares, fears of the dark, and other PSY issues because they will be considred undeployable and booted out of the service. they go back and keep adding to the problems at hand.
One more question, with the VA being the ONLY source of disability, will their budget constraints effect the types and severities of disabilities they issue to their already burdened system? Fox and hen house thing here? |
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I was treated in the mannor mentioned within the article; I was told I was no longer worldwide qualified and thus a MEB (Medical Evaluation Board) package would be sent to the MEB.
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You are a lucky man commander, because if I ever find the SOB that made the comments on item 25 of my separation examination in 1973 I would clean his clock, fore his remarks that amounted to perjury and is the sole cause of the fight with the VA that started in 1984!!!  |
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Blue,
I have been deliberately muted on your attacks on me for the sake of the forum and to keep the discussion civil and informative. But when call me a politician, well, "Those be fightin' words". Yes, I highly encourage the readers to visit our previous discussions on the "Tricare for all Unfits, discussion. http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7660045820001/m/7990011741001 I think the readers will find that my words, and more importantly my actions, have been focused on one mission: taking care of disabled vets. They will also learn I had to continually correct your misinformation to other vets on various subjects, especially concurrent receipt. Please ask what Marine SGT Cullum thinks of my actions when I interceded and got his DoD disability rating maintained at 40% and thus he kept his disability retirement. The Navy ruled his rating should be reduced to 20% and to separate him without retirement. Please ask what Army SGT Pinero thinks of my actions as I was able to secure a retirement level rating for this 14 year in service vet after his informal and formal boards ruled he should be separated with out retirement. Please ask what Air Force SSGT Hartley thinks of my actions when I was able to secure his permanent disability retirement after his informal and formal boards ruled he should be separated without retirement. Please ask what Navy Seaman Reed thinks of my actions as I was able to secure his permanent disability retirement after his PEB ruled he should be removed from the TDRL and separated without disability retirement. Please ask the tens of thousands of vets separated with less than a 30% DoD disability rating what they think of my actions now that they will likely get a review of their DoD disability ratings to ensure these rating were in compliance with disability laws and regulations. Many will likely be awarded their long overdue disability retirements. I am glad you got a permanent disability retirement from the Coast Guard. Had you been in the Army, you would have been separated without retirement and lost all your separation pay due to the VA off-set. Had you been in the Army, I would be your best friend now because I would be fighting to get you your disability retirement. When the VDBC voted not to extend concurrent receipt to disability retirees under twenty years, I along with others went to bat to change their minds and we did. I already qualify for concurrent receipt so I did not have dog in the fight, other than my conscious not to leave others, like you, behind. I briefed the Dole Shalala commission once but I briefed the VDBC ocer a dozen times on issues involving the VA claims process, Concurrent receipt, and most importantly, the completely broken Defense Disability Evalaution System. If you listen to the VDBC testimony to the House VA Committee, you will hear Committee Chairman Filner at the end talk about the injustice to Vietnam Vets due to the Agent Orange situation. I was part of a five person delegation, at the invitation of Charles Kelley, that met with Rep Filner for an hour to apprise him of these issues. While Mr. Kelley is a renowned expert on these issues, I was able to reinforce his ideas on how to streamline the VA claims process for presumptive conditions from one year to a matter of days. His plan is nearly identical to some of the ideas I have briefed to the VDBC. Mr. Kelley is a true hero for his tireless efforts on this front and I was privileged to lend him support. I have taken the bait and you have called me out to defend my good name and actions. Don’t be surprised if I don't respond to your future and baseless attacks on me. I will let my actions speak for me. Every minute I spend continuing this nonsensical dialog is another minute wasted that I can be using to help disabled vets who were not as fortunate as you. Mike, P.S. INADMIAC is the handle I developed at the spur of the moment when my name was already taken on this forum. It represents the four branches I served in during my 25 year Army career: Infantry, Air Defense, Military Intelligence and Acquisition Corps. This message has been edited. Last edited by: INADMIAC, |
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"You can't hide in the past, but you can't run from the future" |
POLITICS [QUOTE]Don’t be surprised if I don't respond to your future and baseless attacks on me.[Quote] POLITICAL RHETORIC [QUOTE]I will let my actions speak for me.[QUOTE] MORE POLITICAL GESTURING [QUOTE]Every minute I spend continuing this nonsensical dialog is another minute wasted that I can be using to help disabled vets who were not as fortunate as you.[QUOTE] POTAMAC TWO STEP WHEN PRESSED BY THE MEDIA ABOUT EVERY DIFFICULT QUESTION NOW AND IN THE FUTURE OR BETTER YET! CAMPAIGN SLOGAN FOR ELECTION!  Funny thing Mikey, you are great about helping all those soldiers coming off active duty. What about when they started GETTING SCREWED AFTER THEY LEAVE YOUR LITTLE MEB/PEB SYSTEM?!!!! I DON'T EVER REMEMBER YOU OFFERING YOUR HELP WITH MY SITUATION ON THAT!!! I KNOW I HAVE MEMORY PROBLEMS BUT I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GO BACK AND READ IT IN AN EMAIL OR POST NOW WOULDN'T I??? EVER THE POLITICIAN, SERVING OTHERS TO SERVE ONES OWN INTENT AND GAINS!!!! MAYBE IF MCCAIN WINS HE CAN NOMINATE YOU TO HIS CABINETS SO US REAL VETS CAN GET REALLY SCREWED!!!! |
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"You can't hide in the past, but you can't run from the future" |
ON another note Mike,
Why did you come on this thread? TO gloat in the glory of your fame in the media? |
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going back to 2000 is not far enough I was medically discharged after 13yr 4 months of service back in 1997 and given a 20% rating which I thought was unfair and appealed and denied. After I was discharged I put a claim in with the VA which after 18 months waiting was given a 30% rating and now my rating is 50% so why is going bavk to 2000 the magic number?
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I realy wanted to say A lots but think it best to just say BLANK
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rthawks,
There is nothing magical about the year 2000. The VDBC's CNA study data that backs their concerns and recommendations on the DES, only went back to 2000. You do not have to depend on this VDBC recommendation. You can file for a 10 USC 1553 Discharge Reveiw Board. You can file up to 15 years after your discharge. Larry Provost at the American Legion in DC can get you started. He can be reached at 202-861-2700. 10 USC 1553 is below: 1553. Review of discharge or dismissal (a) The Secretary concerned shall, after consulting the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, establish a board of review, consisting of five members, to review the discharge or dismissal (other than a discharge or dismissal by sentence of a general court-martial) of any former member of an armed force under the jurisdiction of his department upon its own motion or upon the request of the former member or, if he is dead, his surviving spouse, next of kin, or legal representative. A motion or request for review must be made within 15 years after the date of the discharge or dismissal. With respect to a discharge or dismissal adjudged by a court-martial case tried or reviewed under chapter 47 of this title (or under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (Public Law 506 of the 81st Congress)), action under this subsection may extend only to a change in the discharge or dismissal or issuance of a new discharge for purposes of clemency. (b) A board established under this section may, subject to review by the Secretary concerned, change a discharge or dismissal, or issue a new discharge, to reflect its findings. (c) A review by a board established under this section shall be based on the records of the armed forces concerned and such other evidence as may be presented to the board. A witness may present evidence to the board in person or by affidavit. A person who requests a review under this section may appear before the board in person or by counsel or an accredited representative of an organization recognized by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs under chapter 59 of title 38. Mike |
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Hey Bluecoastlife,
As a former Coast Guardsman, I'm ashamed of your behavior on this board. To launch a gratuitous, vicious, petty attack on Mike Parker, who spends his days helping fellow veterans, is truly disgraceful. Mike has enormous credibility and the thoroughness of his research on behalf of others shows in everything he writes on this and other veterans' help boards. Mike frequently has buttonholed me at a VDBC hearing to explain some of the challenges disabled veterans face in trying to get a fair shake from the services' bureaucracy. You're angry about something and I can't walk in your shoes. But you've allowing your bitterness to overshadow your judgment and to slur a good man. Perhaps that's your habit in these chatrooms. I don't know. It might make you feel good but it doesn't help anyone else. Why not contribute something other than bile to these discussions? I think an apology is in order. Tom Philpott Military Update |
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"You can't hide in the past, but you can't run from the future" |
Wow he helped a few vets! Something VSO's across our nation do day in day out 24/7 365 days a year WITHOUT glory or interviews. As a former Coast Guardsman I understand your limited views and need to not see the bigger picture, as in service we think, hmm, we taught to think we were special because we were supposed to do more with less equipment, funding and personnel. Well guess what? Less is NOT better! Less=limited views as yours are. Let me also enlighten you to my situation. Had the Coast Guard not done more with less and not told me to "Suck it up sailor" I would not be facing the current psychological nightmare and physical torture that I live with day to day. BUT I don't need you or Mike to champion me. I will take my benefits as they are do to me BY LAW! I do not need a hand out! So take your shame blame and belittling and go inflict on some other victim. The seeds have already been sown on both sides.
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Military.com Forums Sound Off! Tom Philpott Benefits Column - Sound Off! Why DoD to Lose Power to Rate Disabilities
