Hallelujah! Someone in congress is finally listening!

While I seriously doubt Rep. G.K. Butterfield has any clue what I've been saying all this time, it appears that at least someone is finally listening to the veterans and what this backlog of claims is doing to them. They have been suffering because no one in the government got ready for any of them when they sent them into Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bill: Have VA pay old claims automatically

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 30, 2009 11:25:16 EDT

A North Carolina lawmaker proposes tackling the backlog of veterans’ disability claims by awarding benefits to veterans after 18 months if their claim hasn’t been processed.

Veterans Affairs Department officials have told Congress they are, on average, processing disability compensation claims within 162 days and have a goal of cutting the average to 120 days. But Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., is one of many lawmakers who think there is a limit to how patient veterans could be in waiting for money they are due.

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” Butterfield said in a statement. “Veterans deserve better than this.”

Butterfield introduced a bill on Friday, HR 3087, that would automatically approve a veteran’s claim if no decision is made by the VA within 18 months. The bill doesn’t say exactly how the VA would do this, but creates a task force to monitor VA to make sure the 18-month deadline isn’t met with an arbitrary denial just before the claim must be paid.

The bill comes as the number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year. In testimony two weeks ago before a House committee, VA officials said the current 162 days is 17 days less than one year ago, a sign that they are beginning to make process.
go here for more
Bill: Have VA pay old claims automatically

There are over 32 posts on the backlog of claims. This is one of them and Linda Blimes should have been listened to all along.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Potential VA benefits chief has new ideas
No I don't have ESP and I did not go to Harvard. I just pay attention and read about people like Linda Blimes thinking it would be a great idea to take care of the veterans by pushing their claims thru. Ironic as it is this showed up today on Army Times, but hey, anyone paying attention feels the same way.
Potential VA benefits chief has new ideas/
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 2, 2009 17:36:26 EST
A Harvard University researcher with some radical ideas about how to reduce the backlog of veterans disability claims appears to be in line to head the Veterans Benefits Administration. Linda Blimes, a public policy lecturer and research at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, wants the Department of Veterans Affairs to operate like the Internal Revenue Service — on an honor system that trusts veterans claiming service-connected disabilities.

All veterans claims would be approved as soon as they are filed, with a random audit conducted to “weed out and deter fraudulent claims,” Blimes told the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in testimony in 2008.Ninety percent of veterans disability claims end up being paid after they make it through the system, she said — proof, she said, that most veterans are asking only for what they deserve.Immediate payment of at least a minimum benefit would help to reduce the average 180-day waiting time for initial benefits claims to be processed and allow VA to redeploy the employees processing those claims to work on more complicated appeals, she said.

Blimes also has talked of a vastly simplified disability rating system that would have just four ratings instead of the current 10 for service-connected disabilities and illnesses.Blimes has not been formally announced as a nominee, but her name is being circulated among lawmakers and congressional staff in what has become a standard procedure to determine whether there is any strong opposition to her taking the key post.Her idea of a streamlined claims process has some prominent supporters, among them Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman who has talked of automatic claims approval as a way to quickly eliminate the claims backlog.
click links for more

Veterans groups fighting over VA Claims and equal treatment for all veterans

Veterans groups fighting over VA Claims and equal treatment for all veterans
By Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 5, 2013


Where were all these complaints in the press when veterans were suffering even longer, in bigger piles of backlogs topped off with even worse conditions as claims were just denied because the rules didn't allow them to get justice?

There is a reason a new veterans' group like IAVA have complained about the VA recently along with people like Jon Stewart ranted again last night about suffering veterans but older, established groups have the wisdom to know what is behind all of this.

Vet Groups Divide Over VA Backlog and Leadership
Apr 04, 2013
TOM PHILPOTT

With the backlog of compensation claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs having ballooned in recent years, one would expect major veterans' service organizations to be among VA's harshest critics.

If so, they would join a rising chorus. Recently network news programs have turned cameras and commentary on the mountain of 598,000 overdue claim decisions, suggesting bureaucratic neglect of returning ill and injured vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. Time magazine columnist Joe Klein even asked VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign.

One veteran association, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), says the administration isn't doing near enough to end the backlog with its average wait, from filing to decision, now at 273 days and some veterans in the largest cities reportedly waiting more than 600 days.

But most veteran service organizations aren't joining that chorus, for perhaps two major reasons. One, they believe they understand better than the loudest critics why the backlog has grown so. Some contributing factors these veterans' groups actually fought for.

Two, criticism of Shinseki and his team rings hollow to many veteran groups given the administration's support over the past four years for robust funding of VA, unprecedented cooperation with vet advocates, and the depth of its commitment to reform a 20th Century paper-driven claims process.

That's why groups including Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion came to Shinseki's defense after Klein's call to resign. That's why Joseph Violante, legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that VA is moving "down the right path" with many of its reform plans even while "processing over a million claims annually, which in my mind is something phenomenal."

Violante described VA leadership as the most open he has seen in almost 30 years working veterans issues in Washington D.C. He had particular praise for Allison A. Hickey, under secretary for benefits.

At the same hearing, Bart Stichman, executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, praised Shinseki. The NVLSP successfully has sued VA, initially more than 20 years ago, to compensate Vietnam veterans for diseases presumed caused by wartime exposure to herbicides including Agent Orange. Stichman said Shinseki showed courage when, facing a rising claims backlog in 2009, he added three new diseases to VA's list of diseases compensable for Vietnam veterans due to Agent Orange.

This required VA to re-adjudicate 150,000 claims previously denied and to process more than 100,000 fresh claims from Vietnam veterans, including for most anyone with heart disease who ever served in Vietnam. The Veterans Benefits Administration put more than 2300 experienced claims staff – 37 percent of its workforce – on the effort for two and a half years, paying out more than $4.5 billion in retroactive benefits.
read more here

Just a reminder of what really happened
VA Claims backlog 915,000

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” Butterfield said in a statement. “Veterans deserve better than this.”

Butterfield introduced a bill on Friday, HR 3087, that would automatically approve a veteran’s claim if no decision is made by the VA within 18 months. The bill doesn’t say exactly how the VA would do this, but creates a task force to monitor VA to make sure the 18-month deadline isn’t met with an arbitrary denial just before the claim must be paid.

The bill comes as the number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year. In testimony two weeks ago before a House committee, VA officials said the current 162 days is 17 days less than one year ago, a sign that they are beginning to make process.

That was reported in June of 2009! It may come as a shock to the IAVA and others that the backlog of claims was that high before, but it doesn't pack such a big punch now if they mention that simple fact. If they actually remembered how long Gulf War veterans and Vietnam Veterans waited for their combat related disabilities to be taken care of and compensated for, then they would have to face the fact that ALL OUR VETERANS MATTER.

Is there a problem now? Sure there is and there has been one over and over again but as older groups fought longer for all veterans, it seems as if people forget they even exist. What kind of publicity did the Vietnam veterans get fighting the VA in the 70's, 80's, 90's or the other 12 years? Were they supposed to just wait and die for what their service to this country did to them so that the newer generation of veterans could be taken care of? After all they were getting the attention and the funding of mega charities raising "awareness" for their issues even though the older groups were fighting for them equally.

Had it not been for them there would be absolutely nothing for the OEF and OIF veterans coming home with PTSD.

Congressman Miller missed a few things on his VA claims history lesson

"I want to show you how it has increased since then 327,275 in June of 04. In June of 08 it was 404,161 and 913,690 in June of 2012."

Congressman Miller missed a few things on his VA claims history lesson.

January 2007 Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have already filed 176,000 new disability claims, but have run into a VA backlog of more than 400,000 cases.

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004

April 2008 “Since 2006, the number of claims has grown 15 percent. The amount of time it takes to make decisions on disability claims is two to three year. On an average, it takes four years to get an appeals decision.”

June 2008 VA reported 879,291 claims were in backlog
July 2008 there was this report

The title of the House committee report sums up what happened: “Die or Give Up Trying: How Poor Contractor Performance, Government Mismanagement and the Erosion of Quality Controls Denied Thousands of Disabled Veterans Timely and Accurate Retroactive Retired Pay Awards.”

The report by the majority staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform domestic policy panel, released Tuesday, concluded that at least 28,283 disabled retirees were denied retroactive pay awards because rushed efforts to clear a huge backlog of claims led program administrators to stop doing quality assurance checks on the claims decisions.

And of the original 133,057 potentially eligible veterans, 8,763 died before their cases could be reviewed for retroactive payments, according to the report.

August 2008, there was this VA expects to receive almost 900,000 benefits claims this year, and has a backlog of about 400,000 claims. In mid-July, VA officials reported that they were beginning to make a dent in the backlog because they were hiring new claims workers and using better training and a more efficient claims management process.

And in March of 2009 there was this

A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.

VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.

Since we didn't fix it back then and after it gets better this time, how long do you think it will take before it gets bad all over again?

Backlog of VA Disability Claims Reduced by 34 Percent since March

Backlog of Disability Claims Reduced by 34 Percent since March

93 Percent of Claims Over One Year Old Completed

WASHINGTON (Nov. 7, 2013) –The Department of Veterans Affairs has made significant progress in reducing the backlog of disability compensation claims – from 611,000 to 400,835 or 34 percent -- since peaking in March. Concurrently, VA improved the accuracy of disability ratings, and provided hundreds of thousands of claims decisions to Veterans who have waited the longest.

“Veterans shouldn’t have to wait for the benefits they’ve earned,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.  “This has never been acceptable, but we are executing our plans and moving in the right direction to meet our 2015 goal of eliminating the backlog.  We still have more work to do, but we are making clear progress and no one is more committed than our VBA employees, more than half of whom are Veterans themselves.”

Since the VA launched the initiative to eliminate the oldest claims first, claims processors at the 56 regional offices of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) have been focused on claims that had been waiting longer than one year.  As of Nov. 4, VBA has completed 93 percent of these older claims, resulting in over 476,000 decisions for Veterans since the initiative began on April 19.  The proportion of claims decisions that resulted in benefits being granted remained on par with historical averages—between 65 and 70 percent.

At the same time, the accuracy of rating decisions has improved.  The three-month average for decision accuracy when evaluating a complete claim file is 90 percent -- a 5 percentage point improvement since 2011, and a 7 percentage point improvement since 2010.  The three-month average accuracy for rating individual medical conditions inside each claim has climbed three points to 96.7 percent since December 2012.

VBA also directed 20 hours of mandatory overtime per month for claims processors, and worked with the Veterans Health Administration to place VA physicians in regional offices to review medical evidence to help speed decisions.  Mandatory overtime was halted during the government shutdown in October, but has been re-established and will continue through Nov. 23.  VBA anticipates mandatory overtime to continue in 2014, based on available funding.  Optional overtime for claims processors will remain in effect.

“I am grateful to our employees, many who have been working long periods of overtime since May, for their great dedication in helping our Veterans get the benefits they’ve earned,” said Under Secretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey.  “I talk to them every day and they are committed to building on their record-breaking progress, helping transform the VA into a paperless system, and ending the backlog for good.”

In the coming months, VBA will continue its effort on further reducing the backlog, focusing on those claims that have been pending the longest.  VBA will also continue to prioritize disability claims for homeless Veterans, those experiencing extreme financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and Veterans filing Fully Developed Claims (FDC).  Filing an electronic FDC is the quickest way for Veterans to receive a decision on their compensation claim (http://www.benefits.va.gov/fdc/). 

Regardless of the status of their compensation claims, Veterans who have served in combat since Nov. 11, 1998, are eligible for five years of free medical care from VA for most conditions.

Veterans can learn more about disability and other Veterans benefits on the joint Department of Defense/VA web portaleBenefits at www.ebenefits.va.gov. 

VA Claim backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009

The question is, where were you when this happened? I'm talking to you Republicans choosing to remain silent as the problem grew and grew and they waited, suffered waiting and their families suffered, as Bush cut VA funding and Nicholson returned funds unspent. Where were you when they were being turned away from the VA with PTSD and suicidal, and then ended up killing themselves? Where were you Republicans out there claiming to care so much about the troops? Why were you silent? Why didn't you complain when men like John Mc Cain were voting against veterans and what they needed? Did you even pay attention?

I'm talking to you Democrats out there. Those of you who were more interested in protesting the occupation of Iraq, claiming how much you wanted to save the lives of the troops at the same time you did not utter a single word about what the living and wounded were going thru right back here? You are supposed to be the people caring more about the veterans in this country. You allowed Bush to make any claims he wanted about taking care of the troops and being "grateful' for their service at the same time he was stabbing them in the back and then you complained because they didn't know the truth.

And yes, I'm talking to the rest of you out there all so patriotic waving the flag on Memorial Day as you do on Veterans Day. Where are you the rest of the year when they are suffering? Are any of you writing letters to President Obama or Congress? State after state are cutting back their VA State budgets because of the economical crisis. Where are these wounded veterans and disabled veterans suppose to go when they need medical care and financial compensation so they can live their lives? The same lives they were willing to lay down for this country? Ever think, I mean really think about them?

President Obama has a lot on his plate right now and while his intension is to take care of our veterans, having proven that already with his budget increase, this is a crisis for them and will just keep growing unless you decide that the veterans of this country are worthy of you attention.

Read the following article and then watch the video below. Wounded and Waiting will show you exactly what kind of men and women we're talking about. They are not just numbers. They are our countrymen, our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and neighbors.

Crisis at the VA as Benefits Claims Backlog Nearly Tops One Million

Monday, 01 June 2009

By Jason Leopold

During the past four months, the Department of Veterans Affairs backlog of unfinished disability claims from grew by more than 100,000, adding to an already mountainous backlog that is now close to topping one million.

The VA's claims backlog, which includes all benefits claims and all appeals at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals at VA, was 803,000 on Jan. 5, 2009. The backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14 percent increase in four months.

The issue has become so dire that veterans now wait an average of six months to receive disability benefits and as long as four years for their appeals to be heard in cases where their benefits were denied.


Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said during a hearing in March that the VA is “almost criminally behind in processing claims.”
go here for more
Crisis at the VA as Benefits Claims Backlog Nearly Tops One Million

Wounded And Waiting - watch more videos

Wounded Times Recorder of Veterans History

Wounded Times Recorder of Veterans History
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 2, 2013

In the last couple of months Wounded Times has been getting a new look. Considering there are now over 20,000 posts held for you to read and research, the old look needed to be replaced. It has become a recorder of our history.

Stories from across the country are not simply forgotten about as we move from one story to another. It is too easy for some reporters to forget what happened last month when they report on what subjects of their interviews tell them.

A great example of this is what happened with the VA claim backlog. Even Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee didn't seem to know what it was like years ago. Wounded Times did.

In 2009 the backlog hit 915,000.

Bill: Have VA pay old claims automatically
Marine Corps Times
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 30, 2009

A North Carolina lawmaker proposes tackling the backlog of veterans’ disability claims by awarding benefits to veterans after 18 months if their claim hasn’t been processed.

Veterans Affairs Department officials have told Congress they are, on average, processing disability compensation claims within 162 days and have a goal of cutting the average to 120 days. But Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., is one of many lawmakers who think there is a limit to how patient veterans could be in waiting for money they are due.

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” Butterfield said in a statement. “Veterans deserve better than this.”

Butterfield introduced a bill on Friday, HR 3087, that would automatically approve a veteran’s claim if no decision is made by the VA within 18 months. The bill doesn’t say exactly how the VA would do this, but creates a task force to monitor VA to make sure the 18-month deadline isn’t met with an arbitrary denial just before the claim must be paid.

The bill comes as the number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year. In testimony two weeks ago before a House committee, VA officials said the current 162 days is 17 days less than one year ago, a sign that they are beginning to make process.

Jeff Miller is from Florida

Florida veterans among the longest wait for VA claims

Memorial Day weekend brought news that VA Backlog in Florida had veterans waiting 433 days.

By the end of June there was a report out of the Tampa Tribune with this piece of news released in a report saying that the VA had decided 2,100 claims for Florida veterans.

The St. Petersburg VA Regional Office will now join in VA efforts to complete the disability claims of veterans who have been waiting more than one year for a decision, while completing the final batch of oldest claims in progress, according to the release.

The office has been the subject of complaints by veterans, some of whom have waited more than 560 days for a decision.

There was a backlog in 2007, 2008 and 2009 but there were also huge backlogs long before the media decided it was important enough to cover. Unless the VA is fixed for real they will keep seeing more suffering while waiting. 

It was not until June of 2013 that the Congress decided to give the VA the funds to hire new claims processors.

U.S. House Votes to Pay For More Veterans’ Claims Processors
Bloomberg News
By Timothy R. Homan
Jun 4, 2013

The U.S. House voted to give the Veterans Affairs Department, which was exempted from this year’s budget cuts and furloughs, the money to hire more staff in fiscal 2014.

The spending bill, which advanced on a vote of 421-4, would allow the department to hire 94 new employees to help handle a backlog of disability claims that has drawn the ire of lawmakers. The department has 56 regional benefits offices serving more than 20 million veterans.

“I will not accept any further excuses; the VA must make progress,” Representative Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the panel that wrote the appropriations bill, said today.

Average wait times for first-time disability claims range between 316 days and 327 days, according to a May 28 bipartisan letter signed by 165 House lawmakers.

The legislation was the first of its 12 annual spending bills to reach the House floor. It would increase resources for military veterans and reduce funding for Pentagon construction projects.

The bill’s $157.8 billion total is almost $13 billion more than current funding levels.

The Veterans Affairs Department would be given 3.5 percent more in fiscal 2014, in part to help reduce its backlog of disability claims, while funding for Defense Department construction spending would decline by about 7 percent.

“Clearly this is an austere budget year, to put it mildly,” Kentucky Republican Hal Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said today. “Virtually all areas of the government will face cuts.”

Nothing will get fixed for the sake of our veterans unless we know what is going on as well as what went on before. History matters so they cannot get away with just saying what they want, when they want.

It is the same way with everything else going on. PTSD isn't new. Military Suicides are not new. That is the most depressing thing of all. Politicians and military leaders seem to think they can just pretend they are just learning of all of this but the truth is held here.

Principi: Eligibility explosion behind VA claims backlog

Principi: Eligibility explosion behind VA claims backlog
Pensacola News Journal
Written by
Tom Philpott
Military Update
July 6, 2013

Those criticizing the Department of Veteran Affairs for its enormous backlog of disability claims are ignoring how recent laws and politics have turned VA into something Lincoln never envisioned: A fount of billions of dollars in payments for ailments likely caused by aging rather than military service, says former VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi.

Principi’s push to restore “integrity” to the VA claims system began with a keynote address June 20 at a Washington D. C. forum on the VA. His speech, however, landed with a thud, ignored by other forum participants and even by its co-hosts, a group called Concerned Veterans for America and the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard.

The compensation claims backlog can’t be solved, Principi argued, until Congress, VA leaders and veteran service organizations acknowledge and address how recent laws and policy decisions vastly expanded disability pay eligibility. Unless a “rebalancing” of priorities occurs, the former VA chief warned, public confidence in the VA claims system is at risk.

He compared calls by politicians and pundits for current VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and key deputies to resign over the claims backlog to “relieving the lighthouse keeper because the fog is so thick no one can see the light.”

Ironically, Principi’s remarks were sandwiched between a half hour of fresh attacks on the VA from Republicans on the veterans affairs committees, and a panel of vet advocates who urged VA to work harder and smarter to process the rising river of claims. Overlooked was Principi’s assertion that disability pay eligibility today goes far beyond Lincoln’s charge: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.”
read more here

Congress complaining about the VA is not new news

I was reading "Watchdog: Skeptical House panel quizzes VA head on budget" on Washington Examiner written by Mark Flatten when this part jumped out at me.

"I'm concerned that we're not really seeing the results for the money Congress has provided to VA over the last years," Miller said. "VA has missed its own performance goal every single year and I think most committee members here are really very tired of the excuses that we keep hearing."

Toward the bottom there was this.

In 2009, it took an average of 161 days to rate a disability claim. Today, it takes about 286 days, according to the VA's most recent figures.

Considering the Congress has not even passed a budget in years, they are really in no position to complain that much.

This is from THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, my new book being published on Amazon appropriately enough, on April 15, tax day. Notice what was happening and then notice the date.

Senator Obama went on to say, "When we learn that the VA health care budget is more than $1 billion short, we shouldn't tell our veterans that there isn't a crisis, we should tell them that we will do what it takes to make sure that they get the health care services they earned" said Obama. "That is why I once again am joining my colleagues in an effort to provide the VA with the funding it needs to fully meet the health needs of our veterans. Senator Murray's emergency supplemental funding bill is necessary to avoid what is clearly an on-coming crisis in the VA health system." (Obama Says $1 Billion Shortfall in VA Health Care Budget Requires Emergency Funding By: Barack Obama II Date: June 28, 2005 Location: Washington, DC)

This does not even address the fact Vietnam veterans are over 40% of the backlog of claims now because no one paid attention to them before when they had their claims turned down. Does not address how two wars were started but Congress didn't seem to care they had not planned for the wounded by body or mind.

Am I happy about what is going on? Absolutely not! But I haven't been happy about any of this for a very, very long time.

UPDATE
I knew something didn't seem right on the article from "Watchdog" so I searched my achieves.
VA Claim backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009

Crisis at the VA as Benefits Claims Backlog Nearly Tops One Million
Monday, 01 June 2009
By Jason Leopold

During the past four months, the Department of Veterans Affairs backlog of unfinished disability claims from grew by more than 100,000, adding to an already mountainous backlog that is now close to topping one million.

The VA's claims backlog, which includes all benefits claims and all appeals at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals at VA, was 803,000 on Jan. 5, 2009. The backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14 percent increase in four months.

The issue has become so dire that veterans now wait an average of six months to receive disability benefits and as long as four years for their appeals to be heard in cases where their benefits were denied.

Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said during a hearing in March that the VA is “almost criminally behind in processing claims.”

This was on Morning Joe and you need to hear what they are claiming now as if any of this is new!

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

VA backlog buries veterans’ claims

UPDATE
Veterans for Common Sense has published an article on a lot of questions veterans have.

Unknown Impacts of Government Shutdown of VA on Our Veterans
Written by VCS
Thursday, 07 April 2011 11:52
Tea Party Presses for Shutting Down Government - and Our VA

The Tea Party folks do not stand by our veterans. They have proven this whenever they are asked about the debt we owe our veterans. They say turn their care over to private companies and let them be used for profit. That is what it boils down to no matter what they actually admit to wanting to do. They take pride in the fact they want to privatize the VA, get rid of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. The fact the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan right now, along with the forces serving with NATO addressing the Libya crisis may not end up getting their pay does not bother them at all. They want what they want and they don't care who has to suffer for it. What really gets me angry is that there are some really good people in the Tea Party and their care for our veterans along with the troops are deeper than words. So why don't they stand up to the hacks they elected and demand they stop their plans to hurt the veterans? I do not blame Democrats on this one for standing their ground. Someone has to fight for regular people and not just the rich. These same people also demanded the tax breaks for the rich.

When you read about the backlog of claims the VA already has, know this will make their lives even worse because as far behind the VA is on processing claims, they will end up with a bigger pile of claims and more veterans suffering waiting for the debt we owe them.

VA backlog buries veterans’ claims
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Apr 7, 2011 6:23:51 EDT
WASHINGTON — The number of veterans’ disability claims taking more than four months to complete has doubled, prompting criticism from veterans and Congress that the Veterans Affairs Department failed to prepare for a rise in cases it knew was coming.

“Without question, I believe that the VA disability claims system is broken,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairwoman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said Wednesday.

The number of claims that take more than 125 days to decide has gone from 200,000 a year ago to 450,000 today, according to administration budget documents. As a result, veterans must wait even longer to receive payments for disabilities.

VA says the delays are due in part to a generation of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with more complex claims, and a decision two years ago to expand compensation for Agent Orange-related illnesses. Claims also increase in a poor economy.

But veterans groups and Murray said VA was aware that claims would rise.

“The explosion in the claims backlog is another predictable, preventable insult to thousands of veterans of all generations,” said Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

It now takes VA six months on average to process each compensation demand for illnesses or injuries. And the delay will reach an eight-month average next year, according to documents.
read more here
VA backlog buries veterans claims

Veterans Benefits Office Mistakes Cost Veterans Time and Money

Report cites VA struggles with benefits paid to veterans
USA Today
By Gregg Zoroya
Published: July 14, 2014

The federal department responsible for caring for America's veterans, already mired in scandal over delays in health care, continues struggling with another major responsibility: paying compensation to those wounded or injured or who grew ill from service in uniform.

While the VA managed last year to reduce a huge backlog in veteran claims for money, it was at the expense of appeals to those decision which are rapidly mounting, according to testimony slated for Monday by the VA Office of Inspector General.

The written testimony provided by the House Veterans' Affairs Committee in advance of a congressional hearing outlines several sloppy or improper steps taken by the Department of Veterans Affairs in processing compensation claims. They include potentially inflated success rate in reducing a controversial backlog and over-paying veterans by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Other mistakes or sloppiness cited by Haliday include:

The VA failed to follow up with veterans granted temporary 100% disability pending improvement of their physical health. Investigators estimate this has resulted in $85 million overpaid since 2012 and could mean another $370 million wasted in the next five years.

Other VA processing responsibilities have suffered because of so much emphasis on reducing the compensation backlog. The number of pending appeals of compensation judgments has increased 18% since 2011 to nearly 270,000.

Federal law prohibits reservists and National Guard troops from receiving drill pay and VA compensation at the same time. But the VA has failed to check on this, resulting in $50-$100 million in overpaid compensation annually.

Halliday cites an assortment of other problems including thousands of pieces of undelivered mail languishing at an Indianapolis VA processing center.

At a VA benefits office in Philadelphia, investigators are sifting through allegations that staff shredded or hid mail related to compensation claims or failed to respond to 32,000 requests about claims from veterans.

In Baltimore, a VA processor was discovered storing 8,000 pieces of unprocessed claims-related mail, Social Security data and other documents in his office, along with 80 pending claims.
read more here

And now a reminder of where we were on all of this back in 2008

Buried under backlogs
Federal Times
By GREGG CARLSTROM
February 25, 2008

More than 400,000 veterans are awaiting decisions on disability claims they filed with the Veterans Affairs Department, and roughly one-quarter of those have waited more than half a year.

Social Security Administration staffs are grappling with more than 600,000 disability claims.

Regional service centers at the Homeland Security Department’s Citizenship and Immigration Services are buried under more than 1 million citizenship applications.

And the Food and Drug Administration is more than a decade from inspecting every foreign pharmaceutical plant it is obliged by law to inspect.

Poor planning by agency leaders and underfunding by Congress created these debilitating backlogs that may take years to resolve, according to federal officials, legislators and watchdog groups.

At the start of the Bush administration in 2001, VA had more than 400,000 pending claims for disability ratings, which determine a service-disabled veteran’s employability and disability benefits. The department made progress reducing that number: By 2003, the backlog was down to around 250,000.

But then the nation went to war.

“VA was kind of cruising right along with a certain volume of claims until the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Then the volume of claims increased,” said Belinda Finn, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing. “We still had the same processes for handling a lower workload, and the system just hasn’t been able to handle the increase in claims.”

And so the backlog started creeping up. By 2008, VA once again has more than 400,000 pending claims for a disability rating. About 25 percent of those are officially considered backlogged, meaning they have been pending longer than six months.

“The number of claims that we receive each year has been going up pretty steadily,” said Michael Walcoff, VA’s associate deputy undersecretary for field operations. “In 2000, we got 578,000 claims, and last year got 838,000. That’s a pretty significant increase, and certainly some of that can be attributed to the soldiers coming back from [the wars].”

President Clinton left 400,000 with no wars and President Bush left over 800,000. Then the mess with President Obama. What this goes to prove is it does not matter which party is in charge since congress has been led by both parties as well during all the presidencies. It starts with congress and they will not take responsibility for any of it. Not a damn thing. Next time you hear one of them blame Obama, remember that, because the next President will be blamed as well for what Congress has failed to do since 1946 as the first House Veterans Affairs Committee took their chairs.

Buried under backlogs

Buried under backlogs
By GREGG CARLSTROM
February 25, 2008
More than 400,000 veterans are awaiting decisions on disability claims they filed with the Veterans Affairs Department, and roughly one-quarter of those have waited more than half a year.
Social Security Administration staffs are grappling with more than 600,000 disability claims.
Regional service centers at the Homeland Security Department’s Citizenship and Immigration Services are buried under more than 1 million citizenship applications.
And the Food and Drug Administration is more than a decade from inspecting every foreign pharmaceutical plant it is obliged by law to inspect.
Poor planning by agency leaders and underfunding by Congress created these debilitating backlogs that may take years to resolve, according to federal officials, legislators and watchdog groups.
At the start of the Bush administration in 2001, VA had more than 400,000 pending claims for disability ratings, which determine a service-disabled veteran’s employability and disability benefits. The department made progress reducing that number: By 2003, the backlog was down to around 250,000.
But then the nation went to war.
“VA was kind of cruising right along with a certain volume of claims until the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Then the volume of claims increased,” said Belinda Finn, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing. “We still had the same processes for handling a lower workload, and the system just hasn’t been able to handle the increase in claims.”
And so the backlog started creeping up. By 2008, VA once again has more than 400,000 pending claims for a disability rating. About 25 percent of those are officially considered backlogged, meaning they have been pending longer than six months.
“The number of claims that we receive each year has been going up pretty steadily,” said Michael Walcoff, VA’s associate deputy undersecretary for field operations. “In 2000, we got 578,000 claims, and last year got 838,000. That’s a pretty significant increase, and certainly some of that can be attributed to the soldiers coming back from [the wars].”
go here for the rest
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3387368

It's a great article but he's only half right on the backlog of claims numbers.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

VA claim backlog at 816,211 but IT cut back? WTF
Vets' groups urge IT budget boost for benefits processingBy Bob Brewin bbrewin@govexec.com February 13, 2008 Veterans' services organizations have urged Congress to provide a sharp increase in the information technology budget of the agency that handles their compensation and pension claims.The fiscal 2009 IT budget request for the Veterans Benefits Administration is about 18 percent less than the fiscal 2008 proposal. The overall IT budget for the Veterans Affairs Department, VBA's parent agency, jumped 18 percent in President Bush's latest request.VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Fort Meade-Based Black Hills Veterans Claims Found in Dumpster

From 1993 to 1999 we had to fight to have my husband's claim approved. It was bad back then when no reporters cared. By the time his claim was approved, we knew there were many, many more it was happening to. It ended up getting worse.


This report came out in 2008 when it was taking 2 to 3 years for an original claim and 4 years for an appeal.

Richardo (Rick) F. Randle, director of Alabama Department of Veteran Affairs, was the guest speaker at the April 19 meeting of the Lower Alabama Veterans Alliance Saturday at Ryan’s in Enterprise. Randle told the filled-to- capacity crowd of LAVA members and guests that staffing is a critical issue with the department, and until more resources become available, staffing will remain a problem. “We are doing the best we can with the resources available to us,” said Randle. “Since 2006, the number of claims has grown 15 percent. The amount of time it takes to make decisions on disability claims is two to three year. On an average, it takes four years to get an appeals decision.”

Later in 2008, part of the reason was clear, the GAO found no accountability and it was taking 2 years to train new VA claims processors.

VA officials said it takes at least two years to properly train disability claims employees, and they must complete 80 hours of training a year. New employees have three weeks of intense classroom training before they begin several months of on-the-job training at their home offices. But “because the agency has no policy outlining consequences for individual staff who do not complete their 80 hours of training per year, individual staff are not held accountable for meeting their annual training requirement,” the GAO found. “And, at present, VBA central office lacks the ability to track training completed by individual staff members.”

THE HOUSE OF Representatives and the U.S. Senate approved legislation in March that would increase the VA budget by $3.2 billion, which is more than what the Administration offered in February. According to the June issue of DAV magazine, this move could set the VA’s total budget at $93.6 billion for 2009, indicating a $5.22 billion increase from this year.

As of March, the VA reported 879,291 claims were in backlog from the same time last year.

And claims were being shredded with numbers being "fudged" as employees lost their jobs, but members of Congress with jurisdiction over the VA kept their jobs.

The first heads have begun to roll in this investigation. During the week of October 6, 2008, four employees at the New York VARO, including the Director, were placed on administrative leave. More accurately, they were removed from their positions awaiting the outcome of the investigation. Sources close to this investigation say that those removed, and others, were found to have been fudging the "timeliness" figures. And, there are allegations that documents, including paperwork essential to the claim process had been destroyed.

November 13, 2008 - A high-ranking U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs administrator from Guilderland has been placed on paid leave in the wake of an investigation into his office.

Joseph Collorafi was suspended last month as chief of veterans affairs at the New York City regional VA office, said Keith Thompson, acting director of the office.

The investigation revealed that someone in the regional office intentionally entered claim documents from veterans with incorrect dates — called "backdating" — into an internal database, VA spokeswoman Alison Aikele said Wednesday.

All that was followed by this piece of news in March of 2009

VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.

By June it was worse

Crisis at the VA as Benefits Claims Backlog Nearly Tops One Million
Monday, 01 June 2009
By Jason Leopold

During the past four months, the Department of Veterans Affairs backlog of unfinished disability claims from grew by more than 100,000, adding to an already mountainous backlog that is now close to topping one million.

The VA's claims backlog, which includes all benefits claims and all appeals at the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans Appeals at VA, was 803,000 on Jan. 5, 2009. The backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14 percent increase in four months.

The issue has become so dire that veterans now wait an average of six months to receive disability benefits and as long as four years for their appeals to be heard in cases where their benefits were denied.

Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said during a hearing in March that the VA is “almost criminally behind in processing claims.”

So, as we've seen, everything old is new again to those not paying attention all along.

Files of 1,100 veterans thrown in dumpster at Hot Springs VA
Rapid City Journal
Seth Tupper Journal staff
July 31, 2015

More embarrassment struck the beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs Friday when it was revealed that files containing personal information on 1,100 military veterans were mistakenly thrown out with the garbage.

Someone tossed a box containing the files into a dumpster on Friday, May 15, during an office move at the Hot Springs campus of the VA Black Hills Health Care System. A different employee noticed the box and files in the dumpster Sunday, May 17, and the items were retrieved and secured by Veterans Affairs police.

The Fort Meade-based Black Hills system, which serves 19,000 veterans residing in South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, announced the dumpster blunder Friday in a news release. The release did not divulge the number of veterans affected; that information emerged during a Journal interview Friday with Teresa Forbes, public affairs officer for the VA Black Hills.

She said an investigation was conducted, but it did not determine which employee was at fault.

“The investigation found that during a regular office move, that the box of files were inadvertently thrown in the receptacle,” Forbes said. “It was just an unfortunate mistake during an office move.”
Read more here

Shineski proves why the VA claim backlog has grown

There is enough proof right here on this blog alone that the problems with the backlog of VA claims started a long time ago and got worse because the door was opened to a lot more veterans. You can start with this post. Overwhelmed VA didn't happen overnight and work your way back for the last five years. The problem is the President may set the agenda but in the end it is up to congress to fund it. If the money isn't there to hire enough employees to cover all the veterans finally turning to the VA, then look at congress. What was this administration supposed to do? Let veterans wait even longer for what they already paid for until congress decided to do something?

The men and women risked their lives serving this country so whatever they need because of it is a debt we owe them and not the other way around! Chaplain Kathie

Shinseki Defends Claims Backlog: 'Let it Grow'
Aug 28, 2012
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan

In the cases of Vietnam and Gulf war illnesses, the VA is dealing with claims now because "we didn't take care of business when we should have," he said.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki defended his agency Tuesday attributing the growing backlog of claims in the VA system on the agency's decision to expand the pool of veterans eligible to issue disability claims.

In a departure from the rhetoric Shinseki has used before Congress, Shinseki said at the American Legion's National Convention that he's not afraid of the claims backlog that has grown to about 600,000 -- a sore point when Senators and Congressmen question him on Capitol Hill.

The VA secretary said he doesn't regret opening the opportunity to issue disability claims to nearly a million veterans of wars going back more than 60 years. He only wishes the decision had been made sooner to give the VA a head start.

"It was the right thing to do … And we will do it again whenever the opportunity to better serve veterans presents itself," he said. "Let's not back away from such decisions, either because we're afraid of, or don't want the backlog to grow – let it grow. We'll work on it. We'll get it down. But let's keep our priorities straight here.
It's about taking care of veterans." read more here

VA Assistant Sec. Tommy Sowers blames others

UPDATE
March 28, 2013
Last night Jon Stewart of the Daily Show showed how angry he is over what is happening to our veterans coming home from Afghanistan joining the line of Iraq veterans. I like to watch the Daily Show before I finally go to sleep. Last night was not one of the nights when he got my mind off what I do all day long. I was too angry. Not angry about what usually gets my blood boiling. I was angry over Stewart forgetting how bad it has always been for our veterans.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

I left the Daily Show this comment
I track all these reports and last night I was glad it was covered but wow are you wrong. The number of VA Service Reps was 1,516 in January of 2003 but in 2007 there were only 1,392. In 2000 the VA had 578,000 claims but went to 838,000 in 2008. That same year the VA was trying to do online claims. It was also later in the year of 879,291 in backlog including 148,000 Vietnam veterans who finally filed claims in 2007. That same year, the a defense contractor was given a contract for $2.7 million to make 555,000 phone calls to veterans to find out why they had not gone to the VA. Obama changed the rules for PTSD claims and Agent Orange Claims but with the mess that was there before, Congress didn't increase funding enough or hire enough staff to even catch up. Suicides are up and there are 900 DOD suicide prevention programs congress finds the money for but they are not working. RAND took a look among other researchers and found why they failed but DOD won't listen.
You should be angry at what is going on, but we've been angry all along.

If you doubt he is telling the truth, then you need to read what happened in 2008.

Veterans Affairs lauds technology, blames predecessors for 2-year claim wait
Jane C. Timm
9:35 AM on 03/27/2013

Veterans Affairs’ Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers blamed the previous Veterans Affairs administration for the recently revealed 700-day wait that many veterans face when claiming disability.

The crux of the problem, Sowers said, is that they inherited an inefficient, paper-based claims system.

“Why are we still using paper in 2013?” Morning Joe‘s Mike Barnicle asked.
“Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” Sowers fired back. “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.”

The wait now tops 600 days in many places.
read more here

Buried under backlogs
By GREGG CARLSTROM
February 25, 2008

At the start of the Bush administration in 2001, VA had more than 400,000 pending claims for disability ratings, which determine a service-disabled veteran’s employability and disability benefits. The department made progress reducing that number: By 2003, the backlog was down to around 250,000.

But then the nation went to war.

“VA was kind of cruising right along with a certain volume of claims until the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Then the volume of claims increased,” said Belinda Finn, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing. “We still had the same processes for handling a lower workload, and the system just hasn’t been able to handle the increase in claims.”

And so the backlog started creeping up. By 2008, VA once again has more than 400,000 pending claims for a disability rating. About 25 percent of those are officially considered backlogged, meaning they have been pending longer than six months.

“The number of claims that we receive each year has been going up pretty steadily,” said Michael Walcoff, VA’s associate deputy undersecretary for field operations. “In 2000, we got 578,000 claims, and last year got 838,000.

Apr 24, 2008 “Since 2006, the number of claims has grown 15 percent. The amount of time it takes to make decisions on disability claims is two to three year. On an average, it takes four years to get an appeals decision.”

Pilot Program to Cut Red Tape for Veterans' Disability Claims
VA Launches Pilot Program to Cut Red Tape for Veterans' Disability Claims
KWTX Channel 10 (Texas)
June 13, 2008 - The Texas Veterans Commission will assist the Department of Veterans Affairs Waco Regional Office in a pilot program aimed at faster processing of disability claims, the state Veterans Commission announced Friday.
The Waco VA Regional Office and the TVC was selected for the pilot program because “they are well known for working together with exceptional effectiveness,” the TVC said in a press release Friday.
Veterans counselors from TVC will use their unique understanding of VA claims processes to assist veterans in more quickly obtaining the evidence needed to support their claims,” said Acting Under Secretary for Benefits Patrick W. Dunne.

June 22, 2008
VA reported 879,291 claims were in backlog
June 22
Increased VA budget to quicken disability claims
BILL SMITH VIEWS ON VETERANS
THE HOUSE OF Representatives and the U.S. Senate approved legislation in March that would increase the VA budget by $3.2 billion, which is more than what the Administration offered in February. According to the June issue of DAV magazine, this move could set the VA’s total budget at $93.6 billion for 2009, indicating a $5.22 billion increase from this year. The two bills, H. Con. Res. 312 in the House and S. Con Res. 70 in the Senate, passed March 13 and 14 respectively.
From comments in the June issue of the VFW magazine: “The $3.2 billion increase is in line with the veterans health care recommendations that were laid out in the Independent Budget,” said Dennis M. Cullinan, director, National Legislative Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, when referring to a budget developed by the VFW, Paralyzed Veterans of America, AMVETS and Disabled Veterans. “Both the Senate and House versions reject the proposed co-payment and fee increases, which the VFW strongly opposes.”

July 16, 2008
VA Announces On-Line Claims Applications
Wonder if this has anything to do with Lockheed Martin messing up the claims process? That just made the news yesterday.

VA Announces On-Line Claims Applications
WASHINGTON (July 16, 2008) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that on-line applications are now accepted from veterans, survivors and other claimants filing initial applications for disability compensation, pension, education, and vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits without the additional requirement to submit a signed paper copy of the application.
Effective immediately, VA will now process applications received through its on-line application website (VONAPP) without the claimant's signature. The electronic application will be sufficient authentication of the claimant's application for benefits. Normal development procedures and rules of evidence will still apply to all VONAPP applications.

All of this led to this

House passes 8 veterans’ benefits bills
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 30, 2008 17:26:37 EDT
Veterans with disabilities clearly connected to military service, such as amputated limbs as a result of combat wounds, would get speedy approval of claims to receive veterans’ benefits under a bill approved Wednesday by the House.
The Disability Claims Modernization Act, sponsored by Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., is one of eight veteran-related bills that the House of Representatives rushed to pass before leaving town for a summer break that will stretch into early September and feature a lot of campaigning by lawmakers seeking re-election as well as the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions.

Lockheed Martin mistakes caused $20 million in benefits errors to disabled veterans, Kucinich says
By Stephen Koff, Plain Dealer Washington Bureau Chief
on October 23, 2008
WASHINGTON -- A federal contractor's mistakes have caused $20 million in errors affecting severely disabled military veterans, according to U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
It's too early to tell how much of that represents money denied to severely disabled veterans, compared with excessive payments that the government made to veterans who should not have qualified for as much.
But according to Kucinich, citing an audit by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, between 1,782 and 1,985 severely disabled veterans were wrongly denied a payment, while as many as 2,514 such veterans received inaccurate payments. This only includes payments exceeding $2,500, since smaller ones are not part of the DFAS review.
In terms of the number of veterans involved, this means the contractor, Lockheed Martin, "mis-computed and mishandled the VA Retro pay awards of the equivalent of a whole combat brigade," Kucinich said Wednesday.

If you read Wounded Times you get the news like the above without the political bull. You can know the facts. If you subscribe, you get it all first.  Remember it is free!

War is temporary but veterans are lifelong commitment

War is temporary but veterans are lifelong commitment
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 13, 2013

With the government shutdown it is a good time to think of what is supposed to happen in less than a month from today. November 11th is Veterans Day. A day we as a nation are supposed to honor our veterans and remember their sacrifices.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs there were 22,328,000 veterans as of September 2012. There were 3.61 million veterans receiving disability compensation plus another 725,165 claims filed waiting approval. Of those, 418,711 are considered "backlog" because they have taken too long to decide at over 125 days.

While reporters seem to focus on the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans waiting for the VA to honor their commitment to them, the truth is, there are veterans waiting even longer.

Post-9/11 (Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) claims make up 21% of the total inventory and 22% of the backlog
Gulf War (definition) claims make up 23% of the total inventory and 21% of the backlog
Peacetime (period between end of Vietnam and Gulf War) claims make up 11% of the total inventory and 11% of the backlog
Vietnam claims make up 37% of the total inventory and 38% of the backlog
Korean War claims make 4% of the total inventory and 4% of the backlog
World War II claims make up 3% of the total inventory and 3% of the backlog
Other era claims make up 1% of the total inventory and 1% of the backlog

Troop Levels in Afghanistan Since 2001 from the New York Times

In November of 2001 there were 1,300 troops sent to Afghanistan
By November of 2002 there were 9,500
2003 12,000
2004 15,800
2005 17,400
2006 20,400
2007 24,700
2008 30,853
2009 68,000


These are the numbers from the Congressional Research Office

Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001-FY2012: Cost and Other Potential Issues
Troops sent to Afghanistan
2002 5,200
2003 10,400
2004 15,200
2005 19,100
2006 20,400
2007 23,700
2008 30,100
2009 50,700
2010 63,500
2011 63,500
2012 63,500


Troops sent to Iraq
2003 67,000
2004 130,600
2005 143,800
2006 141,100
2007 148,300
2008 187,900
2009 135,600
2010 88,300
2011 42,800
2012 4,100


As you can see, the numbers do not match. The report from the Congress was published in 2009 so the rest were the guess numbers.

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, Who gave us the freedom to demonstrate
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag.
And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag."
Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Some reporters want to tell us that Afghanistan is the longest war, while officially that may be true, the real truth is, it isn't.

When: The Vietnam War began on November 1, 1955 and ended April 30, 1975. It lasted for 19 and 1/2 years.

The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956. His name was added to the Wall on Memorial Day 1999.

US Troop Deployments into Vietnam from the Heritage Foundation
1950 9
1951 74
1952 74
1953 138
1954 4,628
1955 427
1956 752
1957 751
1958 846
1959 819
1960 794
1961 959
1962 8,498
1963 15,620
1964 17,280
1965 129,611
1966 317,007
1967 451,752
1968 537,377
1969 510,054
1970 390,278
1971 212,925
1972 35,292
1973 265
1974 130


The last to die because of the Vietnam war were in 1975, 1974 1 and in 1975 62.

1975 was the year that the last 18 casualties (Daniel A. Benedett, Lynn Blessing, Walter Boyd, Gregory S. Copenhaver, Andres Garcia, Bernard Gause, Jr., Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove, James J. Jacques, Ashton N. Loney, Ronald J. Manning, Danny G. Marshall, James R. Maxwell, Richard W. Rivenburgh, Elwood E. Rumbaugh, Antonio Ramos Sandovall, Kelton R. Turner, Richard Vande Geer) occurred on May 15th during the recapture of the freighter MAYAGUEZ and its crew.

Their war Memorials were closed and now their disability checks may not come. The reports of the VA making progress in reducing their "inventory" of claims are now jeopardized along with payments for caregivers. Caregivers to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are covered but families of Gulf War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans, Korean War Veterans and WWII are not.

Caregivers, that is such a strange word when we are talking about veterans. Families, well that is a given that they care and many have given up careers to care for their wounded war fighters. Congress was supposed to care enough that they would honor their commitment to the wounded, orphans and widows of the fallen. They manage to get headlines when they write bills to prove how much they "care" but with each congress, veterans have seen history repeated while members of congress retreated from their obligation to those they sent into combat.

It isn't a matter of Republican or Democrat betraying this fundamental obligation. It has been going on no matter which party controls all of it.

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."
General Norman Schwarzkopf

The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are shocked by what has happened to this country because people can't work together for the sake of this nation they were willing to die in service to.

Isn't it time they were actually honored everyday? Isn't it time to end this national disgrace in Washington?

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."
President George Washington
American Veterans Memorial

Gunman killed 12 at Navy yard, press slammed thousands

Here is another headline for you
VA: Aaron Alexis never sought treatment for PTSD

Washington Navy Yard Day From Hell leaving 12 dead and 8 injured along with hundreds in shock. Family and friends of the shooter are dealing with a lot of questions along with family and friends of his victims. Reporters are trying to figure out how to get more attention for their reports by making sure they PTSD tied into the motive.

The headlines are starting to show up like this one from USA Today
PTSD reportedly affected alleged shooter

Why not? After all, using PTSD doesn't cost them anything but it does cost veterans with PTSD more stress because reporters focus on the minority of veterans committing crimes instead of the real suffering going on.

VA claims
Post-9/11 (Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts) claims make up 21% of the total inventory and 22% of the backlog Gulf War (definition) claims make up 23% of the total inventory and 21% of the backlog
Peacetime (period between end of Vietnam and Gulf War) claims make up 11% of the total inventory and 11% of the backlog
Vietnam claims make up 37% of the total inventory and 38% of the backlog
Korean War claims make 4% of the total inventory and 4% of the backlog
World War II claims make up 3% of the total inventory and 3% of the backlog
Other era claims make up 1% of the total inventory and 1% of the backlog

While not all of these claims are for PTSD there are hundreds of thousands of veterans with PTSD from all wars. The truth is they are more likely to commit suicide than commit any kind of crime but the press doesn't focus on that part. There are 55 veterans a day trying to kill themselves while at least 22 a day succeed.

Washington gunman hails from New York, called ‘sweet,’ ‘peaceful’ despite rap sheet The 6-foot-one, 190-pound shooter was born in Queens, according to the FBI. Friends described him as a ‘sweet’ and ‘peaceful’ guy who studied Buddhism, but he had a history of anger-driven incidents that got him in trouble with the law, arrest records show. (New York Daily News, Ginger Adams Otis, September 16, 2013)

The "peaceful guy" decided to kill people yesterday but the press decided they would yet again make sure they tied PTSD to the story.

I talk to these guys all the time and they are more likely to harm themselves than anyone else. The systems treating them are pitiful examples of what is wrong. When you read a story about someone like the shooter being treated it is more an example of the failures of these "systems" than a reflection of what a veteran is.

Daily Show Jon Stewart credited for clueing in Congress?

Daily Show Jon Stewart credited for clueing in Congress?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 8, 2014

Senator Richard Burr, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee talked about how bad things are for our veterans. What is even more remarkable is that he pointed to Jon Stewart of the Daily Show instead of the work of the Veterans Affairs Committee not staying on top of everything going on so that a comedian wouldn't have to do it.

Stewart has been wonderful reporting on what they have been going thru and you can watch most of the clips on veterans here. The problem is Stewart reports on what his writers know and that, that is a problem. A bigger problem when a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee didn't know more.

Burr weekly GOP address focuses on needs of veterans
News and Observer
Posted by Renee Schoof
February 8, 2014

Sen. Richard Burr delivered the weekly Republican address on Saturday. As the most senior Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, the Winston-Salem senator focused on the backlog of disability claims veterans still face.

The audio of the address is available here. The video will be available here and you may download the address here. Excerpts of his address follows:

“Thankfully, over the past five years, Congress has authorized over $600 billion to VA in robust and sustained increases of government funding for veterans’ programs designed to be part of a more responsive federal support for veterans outreach and care.”

“This unprecedented level of support has been especially evident in the area of veterans’ benefits, specifically disability payments. The surge in financial support has not been matched with an equivalent surge in responsiveness from the Veterans’ Administration.”

Burr said that “incremental progress” has been made to reduce a “now infamous” backlog of claims that existed last year. There are nearly 700,000 veterans and their families “waiting for answers,” Burr said. Claims often have errors, and so veterans have to file appeals.

“More than a quarter million appeals are waiting to be resolved and the time it takes VA to act on appeals is worsening,” Burr said. “As the nation’s military stands down from its war footing, veterans should not have to wage another battle here at home, this time against government bureaucracy.”

Burr said that some veterans also have to wait too long for mental health counseling and other health services. The VA is taking steps to improve its staffing and health care delivery, “but more remains to be done.”
read more here

Sounds like a really good speech. It made it seem like all of this is new. The problem is, it is far from new and because the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee along with the House, did not stay on top of any of this. They have been historically ignorant no matter which party was running the show.

In 2008, NPR reported that Fort Drum officials told the VA to stop helping soldiers with claims.

Morning Edition, January 29, 2008 · Army officials in upstate New York instructed representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs not to help disabled soldiers at Fort Drum Army base with their military disability paperwork last year. That paperwork can be crucial because it helps determine whether soldiers will get annual disability payments and health care after they're discharged.

The Army denied the charges so NPR had to back it up with facts. It was true.

One of the spots on the Daily Show pointed to how the DOD and the VA did not work well together however Stewart didn't know this had been going on since 2008 when Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake announced they were going to work together on claims. What followed was a report starting that "VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense."

"The fiscal 2009 IT budget request for the Veterans Benefits Administration is about 18 percent less than the fiscal 2008 proposal. The overall IT budget for the Veterans Affairs Department, VBA's parent agency, jumped 18 percent in President Bush's latest request."

All this didn't happen overnight. Gregg Carlstrom reported for Federal Times that "Poor planning by agency leaders and underfunding by Congress created these debilitating backlogs that may take years to resolve, according to federal officials, legislators and watchdog groups. At the start of the Bush administration in 2001, VA had more than 400,000 pending claims for disability ratings, which determine a service-disabled veteran’s employability and disability benefits. The department made progress reducing that number: By 2003, the backlog was down to around 250,000."

This was reported the same year.

“Since 2006, the number of claims has grown 15 percent. The amount of time it takes to make decisions on disability claims is two to three year. On an average, it takes four years to get an appeals decision.”

“We have claims that have been pending for a decade, two decades and some that date back more than 50 years. We have appeals from World War II,” said David E. Autry, a spokesman for the Disabled American Veterans in Washington D.C., which represents veterans and advocates and helps them obtain their benefits."

Grover Cleveland Chapman, a WWII veteran went to the VA Outpatient Clinic in Greenville after having his claim denied yet again. He took a gun into his hand and shot himself at the age of 89. He had the letter with him when he shot himself, Harriett Chapman said.

That was also during the time when VA Doctor Ira Katz was being defended after withholding the fact the VA had 12,000 veterans a year attempting suicide. Yes, that means 1,000 a month tried to kill themselves but that was just part of the story since when you consider while there are 21,978,000 veterans the VA only has 3.7 million collecting compensation. How many veterans do you think are trying to take their own lives with that many in the VA system?

In 2008 the GAO found there was no accountability in the VA for claims processors.

"Lockheed Martin, the contractor hired in July 2006 to compute the complex retroactive pay awards, had difficulty making the computations fast enough to eliminate the backlog quickly. The complexity of the computations also hindered Lockheed Martin’s ability to develop software to automate the process." The result of this was that 8,763 veterans died before their cases could be reviewed.

It was the same year the VA announced online applications started.

The news reports tell a totally different story than what most reporters want to include in their articles. The truth is the truth no matter how much they want to forget about. The biggest issue is when members of the House and Senate on the committees controlling all of this want to forget about what they did not do.

UPDATE February 9, 2014

I was just reading an article on The Hill about this by Megan Wilson. It began with these words.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) took the Department of Veterans Affairs to task over the lengthy wait many veterans face for disability compensation.

In Saturday's weekly Republican address, Burr said the backlog of disability claims from wounded veterans began to improve only after frequent lambasting by The Daily Show.

I left this comment.

Burr is on the Veterans Affairs Committee and should have known that none of this is new. Clinton left 400,000 pending claims for 2001. In 2006 8,763 veterans died before their claims were approved and Lockheed Martin started working on claims. Bush left 816,211 for Obama in 2008. In 2008 the DAV stated they had claims going back 50 years they were still trying to get approved. A WWII veteran drove to VA hospital at the age of 86, pulled out a gun and shot himself with the denial letter in his hand. Burr should have known all of this and the fact that Jon Stewart had to clue him in isn't funny at all.