GI Bill Forever a headache for veterans!

Today there was this release from the VA.

Statement by Secretary Robert Wilkie on Forever GI Bill Housing Benefit Payments

To clear up any confusion, I want to make clear that each and every post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiary will be made 100 percent whole – retroactively if need be – for their housing benefits for this academic year based on Forever GI Bill rates, not on post-9/11 GI Bill rates.

I made this clear to Chairmen Isakson and Roe on calls yesterday and want to reassure Veterans and taxpayers that is indeed the case.

Although VA has encountered issues with implementing the Forever GI Bill on Congress’ timeline, we will work with lawmakers to ensure that – once VA is in a position to process education claims in accordance with the new law – each and every beneficiary will receive retroactively the exact benefits to which they are entitled under that law.

And yesterday NBC News reported this.

Veterans Affairs Dept. tells Capitol Hill it won't repay underpaid GI Bill benefits recipients
By Phil McCausland

For weeks, student veterans across the country have raised an alarm about delayed or incorrect GI Bill benefit payments, which the Department of Veterans Affairs has blamed on computer issues.

But on Wednesday, the department told congressional staffers that it would not reimburse those veterans who were paid less than they were owed, two committee aides told NBC News.

The news conflicts with a promise VA officials made to a House committee earlier this month that it would reimburse those veterans who received less than the full amount they were due.

According to the aides, however, the VA said it could not make retroactive payments without auditing its previous education claims, which it said would delay future claims. The aides asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

NBC News previously reported that some veterans were forced into desperate financial straits stemming from a change in calculating housing allowances under the Forever GI Bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law in July 2017. When its computers were unable to process that change, the VA quickly faced a backlog of veterans’ claims three times higher than normal.

Six years later, Suicides After War

Facebook let me know about something I put up six years ago.

Shocker for a couple of reasons. The first is, I hardly ever think about this book and the other is, the numbers are far worse than they were back then.

If you haven't heard of this book, that is Ok since a lot of people haven't. One person liked it.

James G. Young

5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome book

May 14, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

If you have not read anything Kathie has written you are at a major disadvantage when discussing PTSD. She has a first hand account of dealing with this herself as the wife of a Nam vet, but then devoting her life to understanding the dilemma and helping others understand it as well. I consider Kathie a highly knowledgable contact with regards to this subject and have consulted her many times.

Kathie truly has the inside pulse in understanding the issues here, the denial of our government and the failures of the administrations to come to grips with how best to deal with it. Our government is trying to find a series of magic bullets (medications) that some practitioners hand out like candy because they have nothing else to give and lack the compassion needed.

Straightforward, if you haven't read this book or spoken to Kathie you are at a major disadvantage. Great Book Kathie, well written and researched, should be made mandatory reading for anyone dealing with or discussing PTSD. ....

Since I write so much on the subject of PTSD and suicides, I forget a lot of things I've written, but the thing is, I remember most of their stories. I had to go back and take a look at this book. Totally sadden by the fact that the military and the VA still has not figured out what people like me learned decades ago.

We learned because it was all too personal to us. It was not just something to research, but it was our lives. What we failed to do, meant someone we loved would suffer, and usually, that meant our entire family. What we succeeded at is what kept us going. Knowing that the other side of all of this is beyond measure. Seeing these magnificent men and women heal is the reason I get up every morning.

Sure it would be great to not have to work a regular job and the do this the rest of the day, but I really think that is one of the biggest reasons I find it so reprehensible that so many are making money, and having fun, because they talk about veterans committing suicide.

We lived it. We have seen so many coffins filled that when I did the first video on suicides back in 2007, I had to call the President of Point Man to help me recover. The heartbreak was tearing me apart.


Anyway, tonight I am sitting here, reminded yet again, of how much we learned over all these years, and how it is all being thrown away, including the veterans all these people claim to be working so hard for. 


From THE WARRIOR SAW, Suicides After War

By the time I finished writing FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE in 2002, troops had been in Afghanistan for months and there was only talk of sending more into Iraq.  My heart was already breaking knowing what was coming for far too many of the war fighters and their families. Remembering what it was like to feel alone with this struggle, I tried to do something about it for others.  

I started blogs and websites but was getting angry more about the fact I had to search for hours just to find the few stories being covered.  That’s when I decided that I would put all their stories in one place so that no one felt as if they were the only going through all of this.  It was also in an attempt to avert what happened to Vietnam veterans like my husband suffering from PTSD along with the secret we thought we had to keep.  

Wounded Times Blog began in August of 2007, had over 18,000 posts by the time this book was finished and was viewed over 1 million times. There are 2,727 posts on Combat and PTSD, 4,822 on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and 988 on military suicides.

The stigma of PTSD has always been a barrier to getting the help they needed to heal, which was obvious, but what most people did not know was it added to their suffering when they believed it was their fault they had it and there was something “wrong” with them.

In October of 2007 psychiatrists with the American Psychiatric Association published a study on stigma and found “RESULTS: Stigma was portrayed as a major disadvantage to treatment seeking. Yet most participants indicated that people would be supportive of treatment seeking. Reducing symptoms was a major advantage of care. Barriers, especially those viewed as "self-induced," such as pride, not being able to ask for help, and not being able to admit to having a problem, were considered major impediments. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that interventions developed to engage veterans in care must be directed toward cognitive factors that motivate treatment seeking. “

By the time that study was released I had been putting videos up on YouTube for a year to make sure veterans knew what PTSD was all about and do it in terms that put it simply without all the psychiatric jargon I had to suffer reading when there was absolutely nothing else to learn from.  No self-help books in the 80’s, no Internet in homes and no one in the civilian world were talking about any of this.

So why are we reading reports on Military Suicides reaching an all time high in 2012 after all these years? Because average people had no way of knowing what it was, what to do about it and very few knew how to save their lives.  We relied on the media to inform us and they let us down.

How do I begin to tell you the story of what happens after war when too few even know what it is like for them during it?  We didn’t pay attention when our parents and grandparents came home and wanted to tell us stories while we were growing up.  We got bored.  It didn’t dawn on me that while I was reading about the Korean War and WWII in school, I had veterans of those wars in my own family.  It was not until I grew up and fell in love with a Vietnam veteran in 1982 that I started to care enough to learn.

Maybe that is the way to start this.  To make it all personal to you dear reader you need to know the men and women just as much as you need to know the numbers.  You need to know where we are, how we got here and what can be done about it. So we’ll start with some numbers.

The Gulf War lasted six months.  It claimed the lives of 382 US troops. Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, 2001-2013 has claimed 2,178 US troops so far. 310 of them were killed in 2012. Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003-2012 had claimed 4,486 US troops. 1 was killed in 2012. Yet the deadliest year was in 2012 and claimed more lives connected to military service than any other year, but their deaths were by their own hands. 

This nation has spent about a billion dollars on efforts to prevent suicides but after all these years evidence proves they did not work.  Congress kept funding programs no matter what happened and then they had to hold countless hearings listening to family members plead with them to do something about war fighters killing themselves.

These are the deaths from suicides for 2012.

Army 182

Army National Guards 96

Army Reserves 47

Marines 48

Air Force 59

Navy 60

492 total reported suicides from one year alone. 

Added onto those suicides came news that at least 22 veterans take their own lives everyday. Every major media outlet continued to use the wrong numbers while declaring headlines like “the worst year” when their numbers were only 349.  CNN had the Army total right but left out the other branches. “325 Army Suicides in 2012 a record” reported by Tom Watkins and Maggie Schneider on February 2, 2013. The issue there is it left people wondering about the others in the Marines, Marine Reservists, Navy, Air Force and Air National Guards. 

In February those numbers were revised to add a soldier to the 7 reported in January another Army National Guardsman. This news was buried in the report from the Department of Defense news release for January suicides, 19 “potential” soldiers, 6 Army National Guardsmen and 8 Army Reservists.

That is where we are.  How did we get here? What went so wrong they were surviving in combat but not coming home? How do we change what happens to them so they stop finding life more dangerous here than it was in combat? This war after war requires something that cannot be purchased like the newest and latest weapon the Pentagon drools over. It requires something that is freely given because it was received freely.  It requires us to make the difference for them.

Bill Gates didn’t start Microsoft until 1975 and most households did not have a personal computer until the 90’s.  Things were going on the same as they are now only people didn’t have Facebook to share their heartaches or find support groups to turn to.  There was no way to track stories across the country because no one was going to subscribe to every newspaper and there were a lot more of them back then.  National news on TV was actually national news but time limits didn’t allow for anything more than what producers considered the top stories while now we have 24-7 cable news stations.  The producers of these “shows” don’t seem too interested in the veterans because stunningly most Americans thought the troops were out of Afghanistan a long time ago.

If you’re wondering why suicides went up after the Suicide Prevention Hotline went into effect, after bills were passed by Congress, which there were many, after the Department of Defense put into practice prevention programs beginning with Battlemind replaced by “Resilience Training” then you are not alone.  The truth is, after over 40 years of researching what combat does to those we send, the Congress, Department of Defense, the VA and “mental health professionals” have arrived to fight this enemy unarmed.

If you want to read it, go to the link but if you have been reading this site since 2007, when it went up, you probably know everything in the book already.

All of this goes into why I started PTSD Patrol. Someone has to be reminding all of you that you are so worth every effort, and a hell of lot more than you have been getting.

So I will leave this post with this message...Let this be your alive day! (PS old video when the VA said it was 18 veterans committing suicide. We know the truth better now than we did back then.)

Indiana changing the conversation from suicide to actually preventing them

Vets helping vets

CNHI News Indiana
By Haley Cawthon
2 hrs ago

Tackling mental health issues, one conversation at a time

“I served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, during the Cold War and then during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, so there’s that connection with my fellow veterans in terms of deployments, missions and that sort of thing. In the Army they have this thing called your battle buddy, in the Navy it’s your shipmate, in the Air Force it’s your wingman — it’s the concept of leaving nobody behind and we are all in this together.” Ken Gardner

In a divisive time in the United States, almost all politicians and civilians can find common ground when it comes to supporting the troops. Yet, veterans are still dying daily due to a lack of mental health services.

In 2016, 6,079 veterans died by suicide across the country, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Seventy of those deaths occurred in Indiana, and more than half of those veterans were 55 or older.

As bleak as those statistics are, there is somewhat of a hidden silver lining: Indiana’s veteran suicide rate of 16.7 percent is significantly lower than the national rate of 30.1 percent, and even the Midwestern region suicide rate of 28 percent.

So while there is still room for improvement, the Hoosier state appears to be leaps and bounds ahead of the nation. What sets us apart?

Recognizing the signs

Part of the solution to improving veterans’ mental health lies within another persons’ ability to notice the veteran is struggling before a crisis occurs, said Brandi Christiansen, a Navy veteran and executive director of Mental Health America of North Central Indiana. If no one intervenes, a veteran struggling with mental illness can become dangerous to themselves or others.

“We are waiting too long. We are waiting too long to have difficult conversations, we’re waiting too long to get help and identify those warning signs and symptoms,” Christiansen said. “I think we have become complacent as a society.”

According to the VA, about 11 to 20 out of every 100 Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veterans have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War veterans and 15 out of every 100 Vietnam veterans also suffer from PTSD.
read more here

Con-combat veteran Marine nabbed by honorable one

Man's tip led to arrest of US Marine accused of posing as decorated combat veteran

KOMO News
Al Pefley
November 27, 2018

Finally, he got Haerlin’s military records that show although he was in fact a Marine, Haerlin never served in combat and he was discharged “under other than honorable conditions.”

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — A Port St. Lucie man is accused of posing as a decorated combat U.S. Marine veteran who served overseas.

This case started a few months ago, when sheriff’s detectives got a tip.

The tip came from a real U.S. Marine veteran who says he had information that bothered him so much, he had to go to law enforcement.

“It is a shame, in every sense of the word. It’s a shame,” said Robin Barker, a Port St. Lucie resident.

Barker spent two years in the Marine Corps in the 1970’s.

He’s the man who went to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office and provided a tip that led to the arrest this week of 56-year-old Cary Haerlin.

“When I realized over a period of time that he was a master at deception, I wasn’t gonna let it go,” he said.
read more here

VA UPDATE on GI Bill

Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs

Post-9/11 GI Bill Housing Payment Rates Update

November 28, 2018

Post-9/11 GI Bill Housing Payment Rates Update

WASHINGTON – Today the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced key changes in the processing of GI Bill benefits payments under the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 (Forever GI Bill).Because of continued information technology difficulties with implementing sections 107 and 501 of the law, both of which change the way monthly housing allowance payments are calculated, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie has directed Under Secretary for Benefits Paul R. Lawrence to take the following actions:

• Effective Dec. 1, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) will reset its implementation efforts for sections 107 and 501 of the law to give the department the time, contracting support and resources necessary to develop the capability to process Spring 2020 enrollments in accordance with the law by December 1, 2019.

• This includes soliciting bids from contractors for support in the areas of program integration, systems implementation, and software development. 

• During this time, VBA will pay monthly housing allowance rates for the Post-9/11 GI Bill at the current academic year uncapped Department of Defense (DoD) Basic Housing Allowance (BAH) rates.

• For many students, this DoD BAH rate will be equal to or higher than their current payment.

• VBA will also correct retroactively any underpayments resulting from section 107 and 501 implementation problems.

• If a student was overpaid due to the change in law or because of VBA’s challenges in implementing the law, the student will not be held liable for the debt.

• Also, for the current academic year (2018-2019), VBA will pay housing allowances based on the location of a school’s main campus, rather than the physical location of the student.

• This interim policy will terminate by December 1, 2019, upon implementation of a fully developed IT solution for sections 107 and 501 of the law.

• Finally, VBA will define a training site as a “campus” when the following conditions are true: the physical site of the training is either owned or leased by the school, and the school has ownership or control over the student’s classroom instruction or the faculty conducting the instruction. This approach reduces the administrative burden for schools and students from VBA’s initial interpretation of the law.

As these changes are implemented, VBA will remain in continuous contact with Veterans, Congress, Veterans Service Organizations and other stakeholders to ensure everyone is informed and knows what to expect. 

“Redesigning the way VBA calculates Post 9/11 GI Bill housing rates during a busy academic season was like flying a plane while building it, and that was unfair and frustrating to Veterans and taxpayers. That’s why we are resetting our implementation of the law for the next year to ensure we get the technology and formula right to put Veterans first,” said Secretary Wilkie. “In the meantime, beneficiaries receiving Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowances will be paid at the DoD BAH rate, which in many cases will be equal to or higher than their current payment.” 

While VBA’s pending education claims inventory was three times higher than normal in early September, that figure is back to normal levels. For more information on VBA’s pending education claims inventory, see here.

VBA strongly encourages schools to begin submitting enrollments immediately for the Spring 2019 term to help VBA process them in a timely fashion. This will ensure that Veteran students receive their housing payments promptly and schools receive tuition and fee payments. VBA expects to maintain timeliness standards of an average 28 days for a new enrollment and 14 days for a re-enrollment.

If students require assistance with their GI Bill benefit or experience a financial hardship due to a delay in payment, we ask them to contact our Education Call Center at 888-442-4551 between 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday-Friday.  Students may also keep in contact with VA on our social media sites; on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gibillEducation/ or on Twitter at VAVetBenefits.

Share Your Thoughts On New Caregiver Act

Department of Veterans Affairs wants to know what we think about the new Caregiver Act

Request for Information

Through this notice, we are soliciting information on certain changes made to PCAFC by the MISSION Act. We ask respondents to address the following questions, where possible, in the context of the discussion in this document. Commenters do not need to address every question and should focus on those that relate to their expertise or perspectives. To the extent possible, please clearly indicate which question(s) you address in your response. As previously mentioned, responses to this request will inform our updates to PCAFC.

Accordingly, we request comments on the following:

1. How should VA define “a need for regular or extensive instruction or supervision” in the new 38 U.S.C. 1720G(a)(2)(C)(iii)?

a. Should this be based upon frequency of intervention needed by the veteran or level of complexity of intervention? Should this be based upon the impact to the veteran if such instruction or supervision is not provided? If so, how should this be measured?

b. What constitutes “regular” instruction or supervision?

c. What constitutes “extensive” instruction or supervision?

2. How does “a need for regular or extensive instruction or supervision without which the ability of the veteran to function in daily life would be seriously impaired” differ from “a need for supervision or protection based on symptoms of residuals of neurological or other impairment or injury?”

a. How should VA define and assess “a need for supervision or protection based on symptoms of residuals of neurological or other impairment or injury”?

b. Are there established standards VA should model?

3. How should VA assess whether the ability of the veteran to function in daily life would be seriously impaired without regular or extensive instruction or supervision?

a. Are there existing tools or assessments that could be used?

b. How should “seriously impaired” be defined?

i. For example, should there be a standard of time in which a veteran is expected to be able to function without the need for a caregiver, and once that period of time is exceeded, a need for a caregiver is required due to the impairment of the veteran? Is there a minimum period of time lapse that a veteran should be expected to be able to function and upon exceeding that time, might meet this eligibility criterion?

ii. Are there standards that should or could be used to determine when a veteran's ability to function in daily life is considered seriously impaired without regular or extensive instruction or supervision?

iii. How should “ability to function in daily life” be defined?

4. What specific financial planning services relating to the needs of injured veterans and their caregivers should be made available to primary family caregivers under the new 38 U.S.C. 1720G(a)(3)(A)(ii)(VI)(aa)?

a. Should entities provide these services for free?

b. Are there specific financial planning services that should be excluded?

c. How should these services be made available and/or delivered? Should these be provided in person, online, and/or via telephone?

d. Should there be a limit as to how many times a primary family caregiver has access to these services? If yes, should it be an annual limit or lifetime limit? Should it be limited by some other measure?

e. What types of private organizations provide these services?Start Printed Page 60968

i. What services do they provide?

ii. How are the services provided?

iii. Do these organizations provide these services for free?

iv. Do these organizations contract with other entities to provide these services? Do these organizations receive grants to provide these services?

f. What other Federal/state/local agencies offer these services?

i. What services do they provide?

ii. How are the services provided?

iii. Do these agencies provide these services for free?

iv. Do these agencies contract with other entities to provide these services? Do these agencies receive grants to provide these services?

5. What specific legal services relating to the needs of injured veterans and their caregivers should be made available to primary family caregivers under the new 38 U.S.C. 1720G(a)(3)(A)(ii)(VI)(bb)?

a. Should entities provide these services for free?

b. Are there specific legal services that should be excluded?

c. How should these services be made available? Should these be provided in person, online, and/or via telephone?

d. Should there be a limit as to how many times a primary family caregiver has access to these services? If yes, should it be an annual limit or lifetime limit? Should it be limited by some other measure?

e. What types of private organizations provide these services?

i. What services do they provide?

ii. How are the services provided?

iii. Do these organizations provide these services for free?

iv. Do these organizations contract with other entities to provide these services? Do these organizations receive grants to provide these services?

f. What other Federal/state/local agencies offer these services?

i. What services do they provide?

ii. How are the services provided?

iii. Do these agencies provide these services for free?

iv. Do these agencies contract with other entities to provide these services? Do these organizations receive grants to provide these services?

Paperwork Reduction Act

This request for information constitutes a general solicitation of public comments as stated in the implementing regulations of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 at 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(4). Therefore, this request for information does not impose information collection requirements (i.e., reporting, record keeping or third-party disclosure requirements). Consequently, there is no need for review by the Office of Management and Budget under the authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Signing Authority

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs approved this document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Robert L. Wilkie, Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs, approved this document on November 19, 2018, for publication.

Dated: November 19, 2018.

Jeffrey M. Martin,

Assistant Director, Office of Regulation Policy and Management, Office of the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs.

[FR Doc. 2018-25763 Filed 11-26-18; 8:45 am]

Do you think Congress should have figured all this out ahead of time?