VA Claims backlog of 915,000

Amazing when you actually discover the year this happened.

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. click link for the rest

Fort Hood Master Sgt. arrested for refusing to put weapon down

While I do not agree with what Master Sgt. Grisham did I have to agree with the fact that just because a veteran or member of the military has PTSD, they should not lose their gun rights. They are not the ones civilians have to worry about any more than they have to worry about anyone else with PTSD. Do some commit crimes? Yes, just like the minority of civilians do. Do they commit suicide with a firearm? Yes, the majority use guns but again, as with civilians, most with PTSD do not commit suicide. The means is not as important as the reason. If they had the proper help instead of programs that do not work, we wouldn't see so many killing themselves. If they were not given medications that were not intended to treat PTSD and have terrible side effects, we wouldn't see so many of them going from being willing to die for the sake of someone else into killing someone else.

NCO arrested for refusing to put down weapon
Army Times
By Jon R. Anderson
Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 30, 2013

Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham, a conservative military blogger and vocal gun rights activist, was arrested March 16 in Temple, Texas, after a scuffle with a local police officer.

The incident unfolded after someone spotted Grisham carrying “an assault-style rifle” as he and his teenage son were walking along rural roads near the Temple airport west of town, said Temple Police Department spokesman Cpl. Chris Wilcox.

Wilcox said walking on a road with a rifle is not against the law, but “if you have an AR15 or an assault weapon of some type and someone calls that in, we’re going to go and investigate it. I imagine any police department in the country is going to do that in light of all of the shootings that have taken place.”

An officer was dispatched to check things out. Wilcox said the officer approached Grisham and told him to set down the loaded rifle that was slung across his chest so the two could talk.

Instead, Grisham “became very irate and angry and yelled at the officer he was not going to take his gun,” Wilcox said.

A scuffle ensued, with the officer eventually drawing his service pistol and pinning Grisham against the patrol car until backup units arrived. A search also revealed that Grisham, a counterintelligence agent stationed at nearby Fort Hood, was carrying a concealed pistol, for which he had a permit.

The arrest came the same weekend Grisham was quoted in Military Times defending gun rights for troops with post-traumatic stress. He has been open about his own diagnoses following tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
read more here

Texas District Attorney and wife found dead

Mike McLelland, Kaufman County District Attorney, Found Dead With Wife In Texas Home
03/30/13

KAUFMAN, Texas -- A sheriff's deputy says authorities are investigating the deaths of a North Texas county district attorney and his wife who were found dead in a home.

Kaufman County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis said Saturday that the county District Attorney, Mike McLelland, and his wife, Cynthia, were found dead in a home in an unincorporated part of the county. Authorities have blocked off the street where the couple's last known address is located.
read more here

Saving a Fort Carson soldier's life

Saving a Fort Carson soldier's life
Straight talk to talk down a man threatening suicide
Eric Singer, Weekday Evening Anchor
Mar 29, 2013

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo
Seconds count when you get a call that someone you know is threatening suicide. Captain John Rigsbee got the call at the end of January at his home. A fellow soldier was holed up at his residence, "The service member had barred himself in the bathroom with a weapon threatening to kill himself."

Captain Rigsbee and others got to the Fort Carson soldier's home to make sure he didn't end his life, "It was two hours of trying to talk him down and taking the gun from his head." Captain Rigsbee and another man stayed the first night with the soldier to make sure he was in a good safe place and wouldn't try to harm himself. Captain Rigsbee told me, "I think it's something people should do, not only as a part of a job but as part of being a decent human being that's what we should do."
read more here

Soldier celebrate Easter in Afghanistan

Soldiers, civilians celebrate Easter with sunrise service
DVIDS
4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
Story by Staff Sgt. Richard Andrade

LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Before the sun began to rise over the Afghan mountains, music and prayer filled the air as service members and civilians gathered to celebrate Easter Sunday at Forward Operating Base Gamberi, March 31.

U.S. Army chaplain Maj. Steve Prost, (right), a native of Platte City, Mo., speaks with soldiers and civilians during the Easter sunrise service at Forward Operating Base Gamberi, March 31, 2013. Prost serves as the brigade chaplain for 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based out of Fort Hood, Texas. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Richard Andrade Task Force Long Knife Public Affairs)

The early morning service began with the invocation by U.S. Army chaplain Maj. Steve Prost, brigade chaplain, assigned to 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and native of Platte City, Mo., said there couldn’t have been more perfect weather.

The service featured a pastoral prayer, scripture reading, and a musical performance by U.S. Army Sgt. Amelia Shields, unit supply specialist assigned to Company C, 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based out of Fort Hood, Texas.

The native of Stone Mountain, Ga., said she was grateful to be asked to participate in the morning service. “I am honoured to be here amongst my fellow soldiers this glorious morning,” read more here

Eat, pray, love, forgive, heal

Eat, pray, love, forgive, heal
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
March 31, 2013
Easter morning
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Matthew:26
Christ knew what was supposed to happen and that it would be for the sake of others. He was doing it out of love as He had said before that dark night.

13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15)

38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

The time had come where He knew His life would be surrendered but even in those moments, He had the choice to turn around, walk away and live. He made the choice of His own freewill to do as God wanted Him to do.

After His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, He looked at the people standing there, some mocking him and some believing the end was a failure as He was dying. Yet even in those moments His thought were for others.

34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

He knew what it felt like to be abandoned by God as God had to sit back and watch the suffering of His Son so others would know how to live, love and forgive as well as be forgiven.

45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).(Matthew 26)

The followers of Christ felt as if they were wrong. They lost Jesus and questioned what it all meant because they couldn't understand that while they saw it all as a failure, the life of Christ was all about sacrifice and love. It was not until Sunday when they began to understand what it was all about and their grief was healing as the began to look at all of it a different way.

We all need to do the same. Our bodies need food to live, but we are not just flesh and bones. We need to pray so our souls can stay connected to God and gain the strength to go through our own struggles in life. We love. To love your children is easier than to love someone when they hurt you so you need to forgive them. It is harder when you believe you are the one that hurt someone else, so you need to also forgive yourself as Christ forgave the people who though they were right standing by the cross as He was dying.

You can heal your body but to heal what others cannot see, you need to look at things differently. Roll the stone away from your own eyes and see how much you are loved.

Veterans face paying more for America's debt?

Veterans say they wrote a blank check to Uncle Sam the day they signed up to serve. Our first President was a General named George Washington and pretty much felt the same way.

“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 veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation.”

I have that quote at the bottom of my emails for this reason. They are the first people we thank in November on Veterans Day and their families are the ones we think about on Memorial Day. Too bad too many have such a short memory of the price these men and women paid for the sake of the rest of the country.

Mine is a military family. We don't ask for much and as a matter of fact, wish we didn't have to. The price we are paying everyday for my husband enlisting to go to Vietnam is something we would rather do without. Since he came home so long ago, the war came with him in his body and his mind. He's the reason I do what I do everyday.

Since I read so many reports from across the country for this site, I read some things I wish I didn't ever see. Comments like the VA is a free ride for fakers and they just want the money. Politicians saying that the VA should be privatized and give the disabled vouchers. These same people line up to slam the VA and complain about how much they are messing up, but all of them have very short memories.

It doesn't matter what year they served, or what political party was in charge at the time they were sent. It doesn't matter what nation they were sent to. It shouldn't matter if the American people agreed with it or not because the people they elected sent them. Sent them to do a job and risk their lives to get it done.

We read about the contaminated bases they lived on along with their families. We read about the weapons used that caused their illnesses like Agent Orange. Over and over again we read about the dangers they face for our country from one generation to the next. We also read about people talk about how grateful they are and the debt they owe to the men and women getting the job done but when the rest of this country decides this group is not worth taking care of as much as it was when there was more money in the budget is sickening.

22 million veterans are not being taken care of because they are not all wounded, ill, poor, needy, elderly or receiving a dime from the government. Think about that for a second. We can't even properly take care of a smaller percentage than 7% of the population after they signed their lives over?

Veterans fight changes to disability payments
By Kevin Freking
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Mar 30, 2013

WASHINGTON — Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.

Government benefits are adjusted according to inflation, and President Barack Obama has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. Benefits would still grow but at a slower rate.

Advocates for the nation's 22 million veterans fear that the alternative inflation measure would also apply to disability payments to nearly 4 million veterans as well as pension payments for an additional 500,000 low-income veterans and surviving families.

"I think veterans have already paid their fair share to support this nation," said the American Legion's Louis Celli. "They've paid it in lower wages while serving, they've paid it through their wounds and sacrifices on the battlefield and they're paying it now as they try to recover from those wounds."

Economists generally agree that projected long-term debt increases stemming largely from the growth in federal health care programs pose a threat to the country's economic competitiveness. Addressing the threat means difficult decisions for lawmakers and pain for many constituents in the decades ahead.
read more here

Will Fort Hood Families ever get justice after massacre?

There is just no way to put it otherwise. First it was delaying the trial over the "shooter" wanting to have a beard. He said it was his religious right but didn't manage to explain why he didn't have to have one before the massacre. The families had to wait.

Now it is all about him once again and the DOD is saying that the Purple Heart for the wounded and murdered would "adversely affect the trial" so families have to wait again!

Defense Department says giving Purple Heart to Fort Hood survivors would hurt Hasan trial
By Pamela Browne, Catherine Herridge
Published March 30, 2013
FoxNews.com

Legislation that would award the injured from the 2009 Fort Hood shooting the Purple Heart would adversely affect the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan by labeling the attack terrorism, according to a Defense Department document obtained by Fox News.

The document comes following calls from survivors and their families for the military honor, because they say Fort Hood was turned into a battlefield when Hasan opened fire during the November 2009 attack. Fox News is told that the DOD “position paper” is being circulated specifically in response to the proposed legislation.
read more here

Will they honor the wounded and the families after the trial is finally over? Will they finally get some justice then?

The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War release date

THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR RELEASE DATE is April 15, 2013

Well it is the end of March and it is still not finished. To bring justice to the families of these veterans it has taken longer than I thought it would. There is too much information that has to be in this book.

With the fact congress and the DOD have wasted about a billion dollars on "suicide prevention" I decided that the release date will be, appropriately enough April 15, 2013, tax filing date.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy, 13 Nov. 1789

I doubt Franklin thought of how the two of them would end up being connected for so many military families.

Every piece of information in this this book has come from news reports, Congress, the VA, Department of Defense and editorials I have done over the years on Wounded Times. Information that has been forgotten by the very people talking about and responsible for all of it all this time. You'll be shocked at what has been going on when you weren't looking but they were suffering.

I am going it alone as usual. I haven't been able to find an agent so it will be up on Amazon and Kindle. Check back for updates over the next couple of weeks.

Department of Veterans Affairs should draft temps

Department of Veterans Affairs should draft temps
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
March 30, 2013

The claims backlog problem didn't start last month or last year, but started a long time ago. It got worse because as Afghanistan and Iraq were creating more and more disabled veterans, older veterans who were waiting for far too many years joined them after their claims had been denied.

This isn't from this year but from August 2008.
More than half of wounded troops slipping through the cracks

"The VA needs aggressive, pro-veteran leaders, for more additional funding for staff, office space and for screening and treatment equipment," said Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense. "The VA needs more streamlined policies so that veterans don't need to fill out a 20 page form in order to get care."

Sullivan said his organization decided to file suit when it became clear the agency wouldn't take action on its own. Before helping to found Veterans for Common Sense, Sullivan monitored disability claims for the VA. In 2006, he resigned in protest.

"In 2005, while working at VA, I briefed senior VA political leaders that VA was in a crisis of a surge of disability claims of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans," he said. "I recommended in writing that the VA hire more claims processors to make sure the veterans get their benefits faster instead of facing six month delays or even longer."

"The VA didn't do anything to help the veterans. What the VA actually did was several things to lock the doors and block veterans from getting mental health assistance from VA," Sullivan added.

There is a lot more that has been going on for a very long time.

Stressed soldiers sue for disability benefits
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Soldiers: Army denied them disability rating, so they were denied benefits
Lawsuit filed by veterans advocacy group on behalf of vets with PTSD
In October, Army ordered all future PTSD sufferers to be eligible for benefits
Soldiers want eligibility to go back six years

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Army intentionally denied benefits to soldiers suffering from a widespread stress disorder after they returned from service in Iraq and Afghanistan, a veterans advocacy group charges in a suit filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed by the National Veterans Legal Services Program, accuses the Army of illegally cutting off benefits to thousands of veterans and their families by refusing to assign a proper disability rating to those veterans after they had been discharged with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

As a result, the veterans have been denied benefits, including, among other things, lifetime monthly disability payments and free medical care for themselves and their families.

"I experience firsthand the horrors of war" said Juan Perez, an Iraq veteran and one of five plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "My expectation was that the military would be there for me, and my country would be there for me. Instead, the way I was treated felt more like a slap to the face."

There was also this report when President Bush's Administration fought a lawsuit to get veterans the care they needed.

During an interview given in November for the original CBS story, Dr. Katz told reporter Armen Keteyian that "There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem." When pressed for an answer to explain the VA's inability to come up with any suicide statistics among veterans, Katz replied "That research is ongoing."

However, "After a public records request, the VA provided CBS News with data that showed there were a total of 790 attempted suicides by VA patients in the entire year of 2007." This number does not match up at all with a private email sent by Dr. Katz to a colleague in which he states that the VA has identified "about 1000 suicide attempts a month in patients we see at are medical facilities," a far cry from his public estimate of 790 a year.

So how to we fix the backlog and take some extra stress off of PTSD veterans and other disabled vetearns? Draft and Army of temps to get things moving.

During a conference in Orlando a couple of years ago a VA representative stated that it takes two years to train a claims processor. We don't have two years. Some say that temps can't deal with the sensitive data of veterans. I think they are wrong.

One of the temp jobs I had was for a social services organizations to help them transfer data from one program that didn't work with the new one. All the data had to entered in for millions of files. The agency hired 20 of us to work as temps and get them caught up freeing the other employees to keep the flow going so that people didn't have to wait for it to get done.

The key is, we were fast and accurate. They tested us to see how well we did before they hired us on. Very few mistakes were made and we were able to get the data in weeks ahead of what they originally thought it would take.

We had sensitive information but were removed from the subjects we were entering the data for. It was straight out data with no emotional connection to the cases.

The DOD and the VA have programs that do not work together. There are not enough claims processors and it will take too long to get them trained and ready to go. Instead of making veterans wait, they should take the files that need to be transferred and get temps to get the job done.

That will free the processors up so they can work on the claims instead of doing the task of entering information. Keep the temps on until the backlog is cleared up and hire the good ones. It sure will cost a lot less than hiring a contractor to do it and then being faced with data breaches and delays. Veterans have waited far too long while one hand of the VA is trying to make up for mistakes of the past and the other is trying to figure out how to get today done.

This is from a Vietnam veteran talking about his county Veterans Service Officer and the debate about replacing a retiring officer.

I served my country during the Viet Nam conflict. In 1997, I had a heart attack. In 2009, I had another heart attack. My hearing is not good. When I heard about Nellie, I went to see her. She helped me sign up at the VA, which was one of the best things to happen to me. I received hearing aids from the VA. I also found out my heart problems are caused by Agent Orange. I was set at 60 percent disabled and receive compensation from the VA. In January of this year, I had double bypass surgery. Nellie helped me file another form and now my disability has been raised to 100 percent.