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Need some help

ENFIDLENFIDL Posts: 5,836 ✭
in Non Cigar Related
Guys as some of you know I spent just over 5 years in the Marine Corps. I'm not gonna go into a lot of it but let's just say I need some help here. The VA is telling me it's gonna be another 13-19 months to get me my rating and benefits. It's absurd to think that veterans have to wait a year or more to get their benefits when they need them in a timely fashion. What I'm asking of you guys is if you could take a min and post this to fb, twitter and share it with your friends, family, politicians, the va and anybody that will listen and let them know that we won't accep this kind of treatment of our veterans. Thanks for your time and support my fellow borks
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    jlmartajlmarta Posts: 7,881 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ENFIDL:
    Guys as some of you know I spent just over 5 years in the Marine Corps. I'm not gonna go into a lot of it but let's just say I need some help here. The VA is telling me it's gonna be another 13-19 months to get me my rating and benefits. It's absurd to think that veterans have to wait a year or more to get their benefits when they need them in a timely fashion. What I'm asking of you guys is if you could take a min and post this to fb, twitter and share it with your friends, family, politicians, the va and anybody that will listen and let them know that we won't accep this kind of treatment of our veterans. Thanks for your time and support my fellow borks
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    You've probably already done so, but have you talked with your local Veteran's Service Officer? Those folks will go the extra mile for veterans and I recommend them highly. Here in California, they're usually a county office - I don't know how they're funded in other states. Just my $.02.....

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    ENFIDLENFIDL Posts: 5,836 ✭
    Tried. Dude drug me around for a year and then bailed and won't return my calls, emails, etc
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    danielzreyesdanielzreyes Posts: 8,769 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Done via Twitter.
    "It's plume, bro. Nothing to worry about. Got any Opus?" The suppose to be DZR
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    jlmartajlmarta Posts: 7,881 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ENFIDL:
    Tried. Dude drug me around for a year and then bailed and won't return my calls, emails, etc


    Bummer!! What state are you in? Virginia? In any case, there are state veteran's organizations and a federal organization. Us certified "type A" personalities are fond of going over the heads of someone in our way. Might I suggest that? I'd keep climbing over whoever is in my way until I got some results. But that's just me.... You have to do what YOU'RE comfortable with.

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    ENFIDLENFIDL Posts: 5,836 ✭
    jlmarta:
    ENFIDL:
    Tried. Dude drug me around for a year and then bailed and won't return my calls, emails, etc


    Bummer!! What state are you in? Virginia? In any case, there are state veteran's organizations and a federal organization. Us certified "type A" personalities are fond of going over the heads of someone in our way. Might I suggest that? I'd keep climbing over whoever is in my way until I got some results. But that's just me.... You have to do what YOU'RE comfortable with.

    image
    Yeah it's gotten to a point where nobody else there would do anything besides tell me to talk to that guy as he's the only one around. Needless to say this why I'm taking it public. Figured this is how I'll put pressure on the va and bring awareness to this severe injustice. This isn't happening to just me. It's happenening to veterans everywhere
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    ENFIDLENFIDL Posts: 5,836 ✭
    danielzreyes:
    Done via Twitter.
    thanks brother
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    brianetz1brianetz1 Posts: 4,134 ✭✭✭
    i have a unique take on this as i have several family members and friends that work at the VA. So i hear about this type of thing going on all the time.

    over the past several years the post claims departments have been on a hiring freeze. People retiring....not filling those positions, people moving to other departments.....not filling those positions.....etc, etc. When they do hire many times it is temporary positions with less training than normal. Occasionally they will fill a current position with someone from within, but rarely new employees.

    So they are several years behind on the claims. it is something that is known, but there is not much they can do about it because no federal budget was agreed upon for the last 12 months so no, or very few, permanent positions.

    I know it is frustrating, but know that your vet rep probably won't call you back because there isn't much he can do at this point.

    The nice thing to remember is that benefits date back to the date that the claim was filed. So when your claim is eventually reviewed and confirmed you will get a nice check dating back to when it was filed.

    I wish you luck with your online quest, and hope it ultimately helps out.
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    RainRain Posts: 8,958 ✭✭✭
    brianetz1:
    i have a unique take on this as i have several family members and friends that work at the VA. So i hear about this type of thing going on all the time.

    over the past several years the post claims departments have been on a hiring freeze. People retiring....not filling those positions, people moving to other departments.....not filling those positions.....etc, etc. When they do hire many times it is temporary positions with less training than normal. Occasionally they will fill a current position with someone from within, but rarely new employees.

    So they are several years behind on the claims. it is something that is known, but there is not much they can do about it because no federal budget was agreed upon for the last 12 months so no, or very few, permanent positions.

    I know it is frustrating, but know that your vet rep probably won't call you back because there isn't much he can do at this point.

    The nice thing to remember is that benefits date back to the date that the claim was filed. So when your claim is eventually reviewed and confirmed you will get a nice check dating back to when it was filed.

    I wish you luck with your online quest, and hope it ultimately helps out.
    This makes sense, and sheds some light on the situation. A lot of my friends get out of the Army, enroll in college...and don't get their tuition assistance for the first few months. Like everything else relating to the Army, and the military in general....nothing is fast or works right the first time.
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    webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So, basically, you're saying this is just the way it works and nothing is gonna change?

    I don't see how posting to Facebook changes squat either. But is there really nothing anyone can do? Congressman help?

    Reminds me of the two year ordeal the wife went through to get social security disability. In that case, had to hire a lawyer. Lawyer took the lion's share of the "nice check dating back".

    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
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    Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,464 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is really messed up, and not new. Main thing is, NEVER give up. Old Army buddy of mine fought with them for 13 years (!), but, when he finally won, BIG check for the back payments. They're waiting for you to quit. Don't give the bastards the satisfaction.
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
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    MartelMartel Posts: 3,306 ✭✭✭✭
    Rain:
    This makes sense, and sheds some light on the situation. A lot of my friends get out of the Army, enroll in college...and don't get their tuition assistance for the first few months. Like everything else relating to the Army, and the military in general....nothing is fast or works right the first time.


    This happened to a friend of mine at grad school. Post-army, he spent forever on the phone trying to get all his benefits. His wife was also finishing her MBA, and they were both working as much as they could and still do classes and qualify for campus housing.

    Just don't do what they did and look at all that back pay and think "windfall" and go blow it on stupid stuff that you're trying to sell a year later when you graduate because you don't want to move it...

    Shakes head.

    They're my friends, but man, they've never lived in the real world and had to live by a budget.
    Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

    I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot.  I will smoke anything, though.
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    brianetz1brianetz1 Posts: 4,134 ✭✭✭
    Amos Umwhat:
    This is really messed up, and not new. Main thing is, NEVER give up. Old Army buddy of mine fought with them for 13 years (!), but, when he finally won, BIG check for the back payments. They're waiting for you to quit. Don't give the bastards the satisfaction.
    The va isn't like an insurance agency that denies until you fight. They have things that determine if/what you get. Some are guaranteed...for example if you are a Vietnam vet and you stepped 1 foot on Vietnamese soil and have any diabeties symptoms you are 20% service connected because agent orange is known to cause diabetes.

    The key is just to make sure you have a good doc and get your file in ASAP so that when your file is read and your PTSD or arthritis because of injuries in the line of duty are causing you irreversible harm you get your back pay on the date of filing.

    I know hat isn't what you want to hear but that is the way it works.
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    ENFIDLENFIDL Posts: 5,836 ✭
    webmost:
    So, basically, you're saying this is just the way it works and nothing is gonna change?

    I don't see how posting to Facebook changes squat either. But is there really nothing anyone can do? Congressman help?

    Reminds me of the two year ordeal the wife went through to get social security disability. In that case, had to hire a lawyer. Lawyer took the lion's share of the "nice check dating back".

    Actually posting it to FB and twitter has gotten somewhere. The VA has reached out to me and gave me a guy to call in regards to what I've been doing. They apparently would like me to stop. The fact that we as Americans are accepting this as the norm is terrible. By people posting to FB and twitter with it it shows that we aren't going to accept this and pressure them into making changes. Congressmen hasn't returned any of my calls or emails yet. Still gonna hassle him though lol
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    ENFIDLENFIDL Posts: 5,836 ✭
    brianetz1:
    Amos Umwhat:
    This is really messed up, and not new. Main thing is, NEVER give up. Old Army buddy of mine fought with them for 13 years (!), but, when he finally won, BIG check for the back payments. They're waiting for you to quit. Don't give the bastards the satisfaction.
    The va isn't like an insurance agency that denies until you fight. They have things that determine if/what you get. Some are guaranteed...for example if you are a Vietnam vet and you stepped 1 foot on Vietnamese soil and have any diabeties symptoms you are 20% service connected because agent orange is known to cause diabetes.

    The key is just to make sure you have a good doc and get your file in ASAP so that when your file is read and your PTSD or arthritis because of injuries in the line of duty are causing you irreversible harm you get your back pay on the date of filing.

    I know hat isn't what you want to hear but that is the way it works.
    I get it but I just don't see how we are accepting that people waiting a year plus for their benefits as being acceptable. That's honestly my biggest issue here
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    brianetz1brianetz1 Posts: 4,134 ✭✭✭
    i don't think it is right either. I think it is horrible that our vets don't get top notch care when they come back. I respect them more than anyone else in the country. I don't think we should be putting so much money into welfare and put more into our returning troops. Give them education, health care, psychiatric care, and support to start "regular lives"

    Honestly I think you should keep doing what you are doing. What are they going to do? Keep your benefits from you? Nope....you will work through the system just like everyone else and if you have a valid claim you will get yours.

    Just try not to take it out on your direct VA rep or the call center guys. They are working as hard and as fast as they can. They are just overrun by 1st Iraqi war careers retiring, 2 war fronts in the past 11 years, and vietnam vets that had no clue they were owed benefits because their own VA reps didn't tell them they were owed benefits. then their budgets get cut and positions are not filled.
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    ENFIDLENFIDL Posts: 5,836 ✭
    I'll def keep pushing on them. Like what you said what are they gonna do? lol I just want to bring exposure to this and not only help myself get my claim sped up but also help everyone because of how things are. I have never been one to get mad at a person over them doing their job. The reps and service center people are just doing what they can and they are so hamstrung that they can't do much.
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    macs-smokesmacs-smokes Posts: 587 ✭
    It took me sitting on someone's desk at the Local VA for them to take me serious. I just took a week off work; went down and sat in her office... I even took my lunch and several books. I guess I just annoyed the right person at the right time. This was in 2002 before the economy went into the tank.
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