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All posts by Michael Brewer
Veterans Administration Adds Five Ilnesses to TBI Diagnosis
As a reminder to the families of returning veterans, the VA has placed five additional defined illnesses to the list of conditions that may be eligible for compensation and health care for service connected issues related to traumatic brain injury(TBI).
Veterans who are diagnosed with Parkinsonism, unprovoked seizures, some forms of dementias, depression and hormone deficiency illness linked to the hypothalamus, pituitary or adrenal glands may now apply for VA benefits.
From 2000-2012 approximately 250,000 troops have been given a TBI diagnosis, with just 81,000 being rated as service connected. This accounts for much of the backlog that is now front page news across the nation.
Another contributing factor to that backlog is the addition of Ischemic Heart Disease, about six years ago, to the Agent Orange related illness.
37% of the backlog are Vietnam Veterans, many of whom are just now getting care for exposure to Agent Orange.
Budget Boondogle For VA Clinics
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New Director at Arizona Department of Veterans Affairs
I apologize for the late posting of this press release. I was on the road helping some veterans with their claims. It seems important enough to post for the benefit of Arizona Veterans.
Governor Jan Brewer Announces Director of the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services
PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer today named Janson “Ted” Vogt as the new Director of the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services (AZDVS).
“Ted ’s military background and management experience make him uniquely qualified for this position,” said Governor Brewer. “
As a veteran in his own right, Ted is a passionate advocate for our nation’s military men, women and families. He understands their needs, but he also recognizes their value to our state and our communities. I’m confident Ted will be a tremendous asset to the Department and a strong voice for Arizona veterans.”
Mr. Vogt is a veteran of the United States Air Force, where he worked as an intelligence officer and commanded a 26 person unit responsible for providing counter terrorism and threat information.
While with the Air Force, Mr. Vogt served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, and throughout the greater Middle East as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His duties within the Air Force included: Intelligence Briefer for the Secretary and Chief of Staff for the Air Force (The Pentagon 2006); Acting Flight Commander, 35th Operations Support Squadron (Misawa Air Base, Japan 2004 ‘06); Horned Owl Liaison Officer, Combined Air Operations Center (Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar 2004 ‘05); and Intel Battle Captain, Combined Joint Task Force 180 (Bagram, Afghanistan 2002 ’03).
On a civilian basis, Mr. Vogt has been an Associate Attorney at the Law Offices of Gerald K. Smith and John C. Smith, PLLC, since 2010.
Earlier, he was an advertising account executive with Leo Burnett Company, Inc., in Chicago, Illinois (1998 ’99); an executive assistant for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (1997; 1999-2000), and served as a mergers and acquisitions analyst for Broadview Associates, L.P., in Fort Lee, New Jersey (1995-’96).
Mr. Vogt has extensive public policy and legislative experience as an elected member of the Arizona House of Representatives (2010-‘13). As a legislator, he was a strong supporter of veterans’ issues, and sponsored legislation that granted automatic in state tuition at Arizona’s public universities and community colleges to honorably discharged veterans.
Mr. Vogt earned a law degree from the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law (2010). He graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s in History (1995).
Tucson Mayor Announces Plan To End Veteran Homelessness
Of all the cities in the United States that could pull this off, Tucson is one that has a head start and the resources to be in the vanguard. With the laudable track record of programs like Esperanza and Escalante, the Mayor’s declaration can manifest with the evidence based success of the three decades of volunteerism in the veteran community. Si se Puede!
Lisa Markkula, Communications Director
Office of the Mayor
o: (520) 791-4201
TUCSON, AZ – June 21, 2013
Who: Mayor Jonathan Rothschild
Representatives from: CODAC, Compass, City of Tucson Housing, Police and Fire Departments, the DM50, Primavera, the Red Cross, the Veterans Administration, other service providers
What: The White House has announced an initiative to end veterans homelessness by 2015 and Tucson is one of 25 flagship cities selected to lead this effort.
Mayor Rothschild has embraced this challenge and formed a working group to focus on identifying homeless and chronically homeless veterans and placing 52 a month into housing – all while cutting the HUD VASH Voucher processing time in half, from 40 days to 20 days. HUD, of course, stands for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and VASH stands for Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing.
“Our homeless veterans run the gamut from chronic homeless to students taking classes at Pima or the U of A and living in their cars,” said Mayor Rothschild. “We can get both populations – chronic homeless and recent homeless – off the street and into housing. We’re working hard to make this happen quickly, but it certainly won’t be easy. It’s going to require commitment from our city departments and employees, from our agency partners, and from our community.”
Veterans of Foreign Wars Looking For Vietnam Veterans Who Were Under 16 Upon Induction
The VFW is on a mission to discover anyone who served in Vietnam who was under 16 years old. The only known person is a Marine from South Carolina named Dan Bullock. Should you have any pictures, letters or any documents to verify the veterans tender age, send them to Robert Widener, VFW Magazine, 406 West 34th Street, Kansas City, Mo. 64111. 816-969-1173. email, “rwidener@vfw.org”
Touring my time in Vietnam, we encountered many soldiers and Marines who were 17, but none 16. Both the South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese Armies employed children of all ages, as did the Viet Cong. Of course, we all now know that it was tactical. Our boys just wanted to serve, as they have done since the inception of our nation.
New Online VA Tools
Since the inception of this blog, I have used the Catholic War Veterans as a resource. They are top notch, honest and reliable in the information they gather and work diligently to disseminate to the veteran community. We are all here to do our small part to keep all veterans in the loop and hopefully not misguided by our sensationalism addicted media, who frequently do not do all their homework. Veterans Affairs cannot be relegated to sound bites and talking points. Can you imagine running the Armed Forces in that fashion? T
We are excited to share a few new online tools VA has recently launched to help Veterans learn more about the benefits they’ve earned.
Please help us share this online content by sharing it with your email contact lists and posting it online – via your websites, online newsletters and social media accounts.
If you have any questions about this or other VA content, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Videos
VA Disability Claims process: http://youtu.be/_QgfzRoHLjk
Vocational Rehabilitation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASPqtJWJ-KU&feature=share&list=UUBvOzPLmbzjtpX-Htstp2vw
Infographics
Fully Developed Claims: http://benefits.va.gov/transformation/infographics/fdc_claims_cork_board.html
SAH: http://benefits.va.gov/transformation/infographics/special_adaptive_housing.html
eBenefits: http://benefits.va.gov/transformation/infographics/ebenefits.html
VA Hiring: http://benefits.va.gov/transformation/infographics/va_hiring.html
God Bless +
Jose M. Garcia PNC
National Service Officer
Catholic War Veterans
Mindfullness Classes For Veterans
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Veterans Administration Plan to Expedite Claims
With the mindset of the Tea Party folks we have created a schizoid situation that will resolve itself with some common sense.
You cannot spend every waking hour slamming the government, and then in the same breath blame them for not taking care of veterans.
The VA did not plan, nor budget for 14 years of wars. Who did that? I believe Donald Rumsfeld told us it would be a “cake walk,” and over in a few months.
So, I would say the Veterans Administration is dancing as fast as they can. It takes two years to train a V.A Rating Officer. Many are just now coming on board.
Our beloved Main Stream Media are also masters at partial reporting. I suspect it is for lack of research staff and speed at which they need to get to market.
When it comes to the VA, they seem to leave out all back story and all delineations of the problems, and focus on what the fraternal veterans organizations tell them.
The VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, Marine Corps League, are all very fine advocates for the veteran, but they too leave out the nature of the problem and focus on all that is bad. That is how they show advocacy and create agenda items for conventions. I am a member of all of them, and want them at my side. I would encourage them to show more context and history of the problems with the disability claim process, so as to lend some perspective to readers and listeners of the news.
It has recently been reported that the wait for a claim to be processed is 262 days. Given, that it may decide the balance of your life, is that all bad?
There was a time when it was five years! And now we have an onslaught of Vietnam Veterans who are entering the system with Agent Orange illnesses that have been ignored for 40 years. Is that not a good thing?
If you had 9000 thousand people show up at your Church on Sunday, I guess you may have a backlog eh? Is that not a good thing?
Soldiers and Marines who have been severely injured and known to have permanent disabilities, can now begin their claim six months prior to their discharge. So hear this, they are not veterans yet. Some are still in Walter Reed Hospital, which is an Army Hospital, not a VA Hospital. They are still on Active Duty.
These folks are counted in the backlog, yet their discharges are delayed, which adds to the pile up of claims. No one in the MSM reports this debacle.
So lets participate in the problem solving process, rather than incessantly ragging the VA. Our returning veterans of war will appreciate a more positive approach and outlook from the citizenry they defended.
VA to Expedite Claims Decisions for Veterans Who Have Waited a Year or More
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today it is implementing an initiative to expedite compensation claims decisions for Veterans who have waited one year or longer. Effective today, VA claims raters will make provisional decisions on the oldest claims in inventory, which will allow Veterans to begin collecting compensation benefits more quickly, if eligible. Veterans will be able to submit additional evidence for consideration a full year after the provisional rating, before the VA issues a final decision.
“Too many Veterans wait too long for a decision, and this has never been acceptable,” said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. “That is why we are implementing an aggressive plan to eliminate the backlog in 2015. This initiative is the right thing to do now for Veterans who have waited the longest.”
Provisional decisions will be based on all evidence provided to date by the Veteran or obtained on their behalf by VA. If a VA medical examination is needed to decide the claim, it will be ordered and expedited.
“Issuing provisional decisions not only provides Veterans with applicable benefits much more quickly, but also gives them an additional one-year safety net to submit further evidence should it become available. Our door will remain open and if a Veteran has additional evidence, their case will be fast tracked,” said Allison Hickey, Undersecretary for Benefits.
If any increase is determined to be warranted based on the additional evidence received, benefits will be retroactive to the date the claim was initially filed. The initiative protects the Veteran’s right to appeal the decision. If no further evidence is received within that year, VBA will inform the Veteran that their rating is final and provide information on the standard appeals process, which can be found at http://www.bva.va.gov/
Throughout this initiative, VA will continue to prioritize claims for homeless
Veterans and those claiming financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and Veterans filing Fully Developed Claims. More information about filing Fully Developed Claims is available at: http://www.benefits.va.gov/transformation/fastclaims/
Claims for Wounded Warriors separating from the military for medical reasons will continue to be handled separately and on a priority basis with the Department of Defense through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). Wounded Warriors separating through IDES currently receive VA compensation benefits in an average of 61 days following their separation from service.
As a result of this initiative, metrics used to track benefits claims will experience significant fluctuations. The focus on processing the oldest claims will cause the overall measure of the average length of time to complete a claim—currently 286 days— to skew, rising significantly in the near term because of the number of old claims that will be completed. Over time, as the backlog of oldest claims is cleared and more of the incoming claims are processed electronically through VA’s new paperless processing system, VA’s average time to complete claims will significantly improve. In addition, the average days pending metric– or the average age of a claim in the inventory – will decrease, since the oldest claims will no longer be part of the inventory.
While compensation claims are pending, eligible Veterans are able to receive healthcare and other benefits from VA. Veterans who have served in recent conflicts are eligible for 5 years of free healthcare from VA. Currently, over 55% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are using VA health care, a rate of utilization greater than previous generations of Veterans.
Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense—VA web portal eBenefits at: https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits-portal/ebenefits.portal
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C-123 Agent Orange Exposure
It is through the process of diligence and patience of one Veterans Benefits Counselor named Maude DeVictor, an employee of the Chicago VA in the 1980’s,that brought Agent Orange exposure and the consequent medical symptoms to the forground. Her saga was depicted in the 1986 movie titled, “Un-Natural Causes,” staring the late John Ritter. It is must viewing for the veterans who have been exposed, and the families of the now thousands who have died.
Major Carter, may well be caring that baton for the veterans who have yet to be included in the claim process.
I declared from the outset,when posting the first narrative that Major Carter wrote, that the extensive nature of blogging and its broad reach, may well be part of the vetting process. Advocacy for veterans has an exploratory aspect in the search for the truth. Chemical exposure experienced by Desert Storm troops is evidence of that process.. If the advocacy stumbles upon truth that negates the assertions of Major Carter, then Veteran Veritas will report those negations. For the present, discovery continues.
Our C-123 Veterans’ YouTube video posted this evening (purpose of the video is to explain away VA’s new term of “bioavailability” aiming message to our members, supporters and the VA itself)
[tnivideo caption=”” credit=””]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQKIQDj2dP4[/tnivideo]
The 1991 Agent Orange Law took away VA’s ability to deny Agent Orange-exposed veterans claims by requiring medical nexus, a nearly-impossible threshold Oof proof for any veteran to achieve, and instead gave the VA’s authority over medical nexus to the Institute of Medicine, of the National Academies of Science. The IOM determines which diseases seem to have a medical nexus with dioxin exposure, and recommends inclusion by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the VA’s list of presumptive illnesses.
But with the C-123 Agent Orange exposed veterans, VA has tried to recapture their control over determination of medical nexus by insisting upon bioavailability as necessary element of exposure. No bioavailability equals no exposure, in the VA’s twisted thought process. In fact, however, bioavailability flows from exposure and is not an element of it. We’re protesting this double-think on the VA’s part, which unfairly bars us from protections of the Agent Orange Act by pretending we were not exposed because we cannot establish, at least on an individual veteran’s basis, bioavailability.
I have run this thesis past toxicologists and it seems to hold up… the VA is trying to snooker us and, with the help we’re blessed with from Congress, the media and other veterans organizations it will not succeed.
We’re not paranoid about the VA. They have reasons for obstructing our claims which perhaps seem valid to them, and which might include:
- budget restrictions
- genuine disagreement with the technical aspects of our claims
- confusing us with “Blue Water Navy” – both groups claim exposure but with wholly different scientific basis
- Agent Orange “fatigue” – general effort to “draw the line somewhere with Agent Orange claims…it has to stop somewhere.”
- inappropriate disagreement with the legal basis for our exposure claims (Agent Orange Act, etc)
- don’t like airplanes or airplane people?? Or other reasons important to them but unknown to us
May I remind everyone of how helpful each veteran can be? We have contacted so very few New England senators and congressional representatives to join forces with Senator Richard Burr…please urge your own delegation to join forces and help. Perhaps you have seen the long list of supporting documents on the right side of our blog…I got most of those by writing or calling names off the internet and finding nice folks who want to help. Looking into our situation, many universities and individual experts have weighed in to help by providing expert findings…you can get the same from physicians and scientists at your own state universities. Please give an hour or so if you can.
Wes Carter
Mission Statement: VA Recognition of Agent Orange Exposure by C-123 Veterans
Email: rustysilverwings@gmail.com and wes@c123cancer.org
