Why is it that when our soldiers come back from war, it seems you have to move heaven and earth to get help for them? I have watched my brother go thru hell tryin to get what he so richly deserves after fighting for our country. I find it extremely sad that when these men and women come back they have to fight to get any help they may need. I admire these men and women who put thier lives on the line for us.

You have correctly identified a weakness in the care system.

If you are not aware of it, the VA does in fact have an expedited care system for those who have been in theaters of war within two years of arrival back in CONUS.

You may wish to advise him of that.

Thanks for your post!

Returning vets should be one of our country's highest priorities, unfortunately, it appears it is not. My experience has been that the process is cumbersome and often marked by the lack of any human contact.

I highly recommend that the veteran find a competent veteran service organization representative. These men and women often work for little or no compensation and are extremely knowledgeable in the inner workings of the VA. I would shop around to find one that the veteran feels comfortable with, and could establish a good working relationship with through the process of filing a claim.

It should also be said that the folks at the VA have a responsibility to the American taxpayer to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. Needless to say that it appears that they often are over zealous in keeping with that requirement. In the mean time, the process is long, hard, and daunting. A good service rep could help the vet overcome this problem, or at least make it a little easier to bear.

Hope this helps!

Link to chartered Veteran service Organizations:

VSO (chartered)

dmuhler

I'm going to bump this thread up. There are a ton of service organizations available for vets which are listed by Mr. Muhler.

Thanks to him for posting this valuable information!

Good answer. Now, how do I contact you privately since I have something to offer all vets with PTSD? Tom

quote:

Originally posted by OldAFcop:
You have correctly identified a weakness in the care system.

If you are not aware of it, the VA does in fact have an expedited care system for those who have been in theaters of war within two years of arrival back in CONUS.

You may wish to advise him of that.

Thanks for your post!

nlrbbb

I think one problem is that people don't become aware of the situation until they have a loved one involved in the system.

It's not like after WWII when everyone wanted to help the Vets. Now only 1% of our population serves,or has family and friends who care.

I don't know what the answer is, but we have to support any of these vets we know and keep letting our elected officials know we expect more from them.

Bill


Cobra3ak

I'd be real interested in what you have to tell people.

I let Congress and the senate know exactly what I feel almost on a daily basis. I have a Son that has 19 years AD and is stressed to max because of current situation. I f he gets out at twenty and has issues that are not taken care of,.... that would be unacceptable to me.

I write more to my two Senaters than I post on this site because of my Son

I can't go on without ranting

I haven't lived in Texas since I was discharged, but when I was going through my hell there, I had assistance from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and her office.... they were so helpful, and I truly think they are why I was finally discharged, and not charged with SOMETHING ELSE I didn't do. As my ADC said back then "just take the discharge, at this point our concern is they'll creat another charge, and this time court-martial you, not just article 15 you".

When I left Texas, there was a full out Congressional Investigation going on, but I have no idea of the outcome. I think my ex-commander is now on 'forcible retirement', but i'm not sure. I've heard through the grape vine that he was / is being investigated on more things than just me and what happened when I was under his command, but don't know...

anyway, writing and contacting our reps, sure does work. Good on ya all!

Any member can email me at OldAFCop@military.com. I check in from time to time and will respond as I can.

The best bet for returning vets is to go directly to the closest VA medical center; don't be afraid to tell your story and keep on seeing people until you get the answer that you want to hear.

Things are far different now than they were post-Vietnam, that's for sure.

Thanks for your postings.

I write my Senator for Washington State who happens to be Senator Patty Murray! Also, all veterans need to seek help from the VA . Because of the budget and increase of veterans now seeking help the waiting lists are long! I had to get past the trust issue of having anything to do with the military and or VA. The veteran , family, and/or friends needs to advocate what is needed and not to take no for answer. Sally

As we are beginning to see from the Walter Reed mess, there is an awareness which is spreading about the care of veterans.

This would be a good time to be as active as possible while public opinion is opening to the plight of those who have served.

My 2 cents worth.

What I really think needs to change is the manner in which a veteran, who already has been rated for a service-connection, is re-evaluated. I don't feel anyone is done good by the current system of pulling docs, social workers, etc for extra duty, and they look at a few charts, and talk to you for 10-15 minutes, and make a recommendation which is then approved (9 times out of 10).

It is harmful to the veterans, and creates more paperwork and red-tape and time wasted than it solves. The cost to the VA is considerable, considering about 95-100% of all those re-evals are appealed, and many go on to the hearings etc etc.

now THAT's FRAUD WASTE AND ABUSE, in my book...

quote:

This would be a good time to be as active as possible while public opinion is opening to the plight of those who have served.

That is exactly what is happening here in Illinois, where our Senaters and Reps are wide open to Veterans issues now, and will push for passage of Laws to make sure our young Vets are taken care of properly.

We older Vets should take advantage of our influence now, because politicians want to hear from us....now.

If you forward pre-written letters sent to you from organizations, etc. , just edit the opening statement to let them know you are a Vet, family member, or loved one. Such as; "As a Disabled Vet", "As a Veteran of the Military ", As the Wife of a vet", etc..

All good ideas!

Keep up the good work. No one said getting through the red tape was easy. It takes a lot of courage.

All the red tape is hard enough if you are not dealing with PTSD, anxiety, depression, agoraphobia etc... but when you have these problems, I feel it makes my symptoms worse for quite sometime after I have to deal with this.

I had 2 appointments today, one for my regualr psych doc, and the other for a psych eval (again) and my car wouldn't start

I called in to reschedule throught the after hours, but now I'm really stressed out that this is going to mess up my claim / rating..

Please actively support H.R. 1538, the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act, introduced on March 15, by Representative Ike Skelton.

Flash

HR 1358 - Wounded Warrior Assistance Act



Please send the following editable message to your Representative --

As a disabled career military retired veteran and your voting constituent, I urge you to cosponsor and actively support H.R. 1538, the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act, introduced on March 15, by Representative Ike Skelton.

H.R. 1538 would provide the people, training, and oversight mechanisms needed to ensure that our wounded warriors feel secure that they will always receive committed quality care and that the system will not fail them. The legislation also sets the stage for much needed reform of administrative processes that will restore member confidence in the integrity and efficiency of the disability evaluation system and begin the process of achieving a truly seamless transition of service members to the Department of Veterans Affairs programs.

Some key provisions include --
(1) Improvements to medical and dental care for members of the Armed Forces assigned to hospitals in an outpatient status.
(2) Establishment of toll-free hot line for reporting deficiencies in medical-related support facilities and expedited response to reports of deficiencies.
(3) Independent medical advocate for members before Medical Evaluation Boards.
(4) Training and workload for Physical Evaluation Board liaison officers.
(5) Standardized training program for Department of Defense Disability Evaluation System.
(6) Improved training for health care professionals, medical care case managers, and service member advocates on particular conditions of recovering service members.
(7) Criteria for removal of member from Temporary Disability Retired List.
(8) Improved transition of members of the Armed Forces to Department of Veterans Affairs upon retirement or separation. This is particularly important to those being separated or retired under title 10 US Code Chapter 61 for medical disability with less than 20 years of service.
(9) Establishment of Medical Support Fund for support of members of the Armed Forces returning to military service or civilian life.
(10) Evaluation and report on Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs disability evaluation systems. It is already established that, on average, the Department of Defense rates approximately 20% lower than the Department of Veterans Affairs, notwithstanding they both follow the same ratings schedule.

Again, please cosponsor and actively support H.R. 1538. It is the right thing to do.

Please advise me of your intentions.

Signed,..........

Thanks for the update!

Hello All,
My Name is Dan and I am a National Service officer. I would be happy to answer any general questions on claims for benefits through the VA.

Got a few questions for you that have been chatted about here:

1. If a person is Permanent and Totally disabled by the VA, is that something that can be reviewed or changed by the VA?

2. Could you explain how some people are Permanent and Totally disabled can be eligible to work and receive benefits while others are not?

3. We are lead to believe that the VA is supposed to find the veteran's records, but somehow this burden falls back on the vet to sustantiate their own experience. Can you give us some info on that?

Thanks.