Veterans Claims Help

AOJ LA- FIELD OF DREAMS

Posted on May 31, 2026 by asknod

We live in interesting times. As most know, I’ve been making life miserable for countless VA Secretaries over the last several decades. I’ve come to expect a certain amount of pushback and recalcitrance to grant my clients’ rightfully earned benefits. I always prevail eventually but here below, witness the LA Regional Office’s decision to quit torturing my client and just chieu hoi without a long extended appeal back to the Board to sweep up the broken glass. Boy howdy when this happens, I tend to move my wallet to a front pocket and start looking over my shoulder for the inevitable other shoe to drop.

The Fed Circus, back on May 16, 2024, came down with the decision that §3.350(f)(3) could be awarded more than once. In fact, there was no limit to how many times except that you obviously could not exceed the maximum SMC entitlement of O.

I had always subscribed to this interpretation- and always lost -when trying to attain multiple awards in addition to full-step increases under §3.350(f)(4). While the Barry decision pointedly declined to specifically address (f)(4), it did point out something we can all take heart in. It stated that 38 USC §1114 and its counterpart 38 CFR §3.350 have remained virtually unchanged since their promulgation in 1946. That’s a subtle way for the Court to say that if the regulation is still the same, then something stinks down at the corner of Delay Street and Deny Avenue NW.

That’s an important consideration to just throw out there if you are hoping for retroactive awards under Barry. Think about it. Barry didn’t change the statute or regulation. They merely clarified what the original meaning was-that Congress knew how to remunerate us and didn’t step on its collective tongue when they wrote §1114(p).

Many litigators think the only way to go back and “fix” all these old injustices is to file a CUE claim to reclaim their retro pay for their clients. There is much precedence on the subject of retroactivity as it applies to CUE. Many say it is a fool’s errand. Many sit and dawdle on the sidelines waiting for a definitive answer. Many doesn’t include me. I don’t practice law. I perform it.

When you claim a CUE has occurred, you have to prove one of two things. Did they screw up and misread the regulations then in force? Or did they possibly make the decision based on an incomplete record? After either one of these errors singly has been proven to exist based on the “reasonable minds can only concur” model, the next salient question is “Did it manifestly change the outcome or was it harmless error?

Some of my compadres in the lawdog profession think that the legal standard is more along the lines of “did they misconstrue the meaning of the existing regulation and thus err?” But that’s not the legal standard of review. §20.1403 states ” Generally, either the correct facts, as they were known at the time, were not before the Board, or the statutory and regulatory provisions extant at the time were incorrectly applied.

Quite simply, to me, if §3.350(f)(3) says

” In addition to the statutory rates payable under 38 U.S.C. 1114 (l) through (n) and the intermediate or next higher rate provisions outlined above, additional single permanent disability or combinations of permanent disabilities independently ratable at 50 percent or more will afford entitlement to the next higher intermediate rate or if already entitled to an intermediate rate to the next higher statutory rate under 38 U.S.C. 1114, but not above the (o) rate. “

(and it does), then that, to, me, constitutes “regulatory provisions at the time that were incorrectly applied. I fail to see the words “my bad” or “we misunderstood such that we screwed hundreds of thousands of Veterans since ’46”.

Screenshot

Veterans of all ages will readily concede that when VA screws up, they rarely overpay you thousands of dollars. The reverse is more often true. That’s why many of us have to make the pilgrimage to DC several times to obtain what is legally ours. I don’t remember how many CUEs I’ve won but more often than not, the decision after appeal is “Yep. We screwed up. Here’s your brand new shiny 0% rating for _________. Now, if you want a compensable rating going back to 1972 for your Johnnie Vet, you’re gonna have to saddle up and start over, bubba.”

Where Barry bumps are concerned, you folks on SMC have no idea how many of you got the poopy end of the punji stick. Think how many of you had 100% ratings in the form of TDIUs and additional 60% or more ratings for conditions totally separate for other things back before 2008. Are they saying “Yep, but you can’t file a CUE on that because it was sort of a difference of opinion as to whether to give it to you. ” Uh-uh, it doesn’t work that way. If the regulation said 100% + 60 = SMC S, then you were due that extra $300 Corvette payment in 1956.

In order to avoid the CUE fight, I file for the Barry bumps after the BVA grants the a&a. Encarnacion v. McDonough says we have to file to fix a “ministerial grant of the BVA” after their decision and we have to do that by asking the very idiots who screwed us. That would be the local Fort Fumble- not the Board. We can’t just hang a u turn and go back to the Board and say “Dude, they forgot to Barry bump me at Fort Whacko down in Texas.”

Don’t ever claim CUE. It’s not a “final” decision yet. I say “gimme the money, honey” at Fort Fumble after BVA grants. VA always says “Go suck an egg”. I’m forced to take it to the BVA to get the money. But here’s where it gets interesting. The BVA will always grant the claim for the Barry bumps and advance you to the correct alphabetical letter involved but the Fort Fumbles will always assign the retroactive dates for the Barry bumps. At least they always do that for me.

Think of your BVA Veterans Law Judge like the Roman Emperor down at the Colosseum in 44 B.C.. If he holds up his thumb, you live. If he points it down, you don’t. But he doesn’t come down to the colosseum floor to shake your hand or cut your throat. The Fort Fumbles across our fruited plains have that job. They write the decision and hand out the money.

Now, it could be they (the local yokels) are doing it incorrectly and are supposed to only grant post-2024 bumps… but they don’t. Does that mean they can mount up the posse and come back and jack you for the retro 5 years later? Probably not. It’s their error- not yours. But could it be that the Secretary has now decided to grant retro anyway? After you get your teeth kicked in by the CAFC, could be you don’t much feel like picking another fight with them for a while.

To illustrate this better, I went up to the BVA for two things for my nursing home Vet who’s lived there (the nursing home- not the BVA) for over 3 years. By law, if you go into an institutional home, it’s a given you need a&a. Emanuel kept filing for a&a and they’d send him a QTC notice to report on June ___, 2020 at 1234 Yellow Brick Road in Long Beach. Emanuel has no car and it’s 35 miles away. That’s a nasty trip- even in his electric wheelchair. So he’d call up and say “How do I get there”? QTC would say ‘Not our problem. Call your wife’. Emanuel is divorced. Lather, rinse and repeat 4 or five ~~times~~ years.

When Emanuel came to me in September of ’25, he said no VA attorney or Agent would take his claim on because he was already TDIU and there was no money in it for them! DAV said “What’s SMC?” I got him a raise from 70 to 100 for his PTSD first, then a&a, then a 100% for his heart and finally an 80 for his Stage 3 kidneys. They denied a second a&a for loss of use so I went around them. I filed for a K because he had a dead winky from his DM II. They’d denied that back in 2014. That gave him what we needed to go for N 1/2 + K capabilities and a different pathway to R1 via §3.350(h)(2).

While I was waiting for the K, I asked for an earlier effective date for the IHD. As I mentioned a few weeks ago in an earlier blog, The BVA decided to give him a&a going back 4 years earlier than I asked for. I was waiting for the SMC K to launch the R1. But if I’d filed it as a CUE asking for the Barry bumps, they might have only given them to him commencing after Barry went into effect on May 17, 2024.

Here’s my legal brief, the BVA decision, the Rating Decision and the Code sheet. In addition, I attach the temporary SMC Calculator memo VA is using until they incorporate the Fed. Circus Barry Bump precedence into the M 21. As many of you don’t know, the VAOIG came out with a paper on how the AMA version of the SMC calculator refuses to go above SMC M last year. Funny thing is their old Legacy calculator still works just fine. Quite the coincidence, huh?

Redact BVA 10182 filed 3.24.2026

Redact Duran win 5.19.26

Redact RD R1 5.28.2026

Stone CS 5.28.2026

Redact SMC R1 Calculator memo

Winning claims at the VA is rapidly becoming an art form. Old techniques are passé. You have to constantly reinvent the wheel to stay ahead of these folks- especially in this new world of AI. The teaching moment, if there is one, is that you should never rush out and start throwing out CUE claims if the decision is less than a year old. I got booted off Hadit.com for telling old Berta that.

But, by the same token, sometimes you can use a regular claim for a higher SMC rating based on a new disability to get a can opener into it ( a final claim older than a year) and get the Barry retro they declare is unattainable before Barry was decided.

In closing, I would like to say thank you to all my readership who send me U- tube links to the ever-increasing numbers of “VA experts” who know so much. I watch and laugh and then pray Veterans are not listening to this tripe. VA has a 26% accuracy rate per the CAVC. Would you really follow the advice of an auto mechanic who had torn down and rebuilt a go-kart engine and is now an avowed expert on 914 Porsches and how to adjust the fuel injection settings? How about a former VA rater? He’s blindly copied and pasted everything his Coach dictated to him straight out of the M 21 for ten years but suddenly he’s self-employed and an independent thinker capable of correctly interpreting Part 3 of 38 CFR and the latest CAVC/CAFC precedence. Better yet, if you subscribe to his newsletter and sign up for his boot camp for a small, one-time fee of $199.99, you can be at Permanent and Total in no time flat. If only it were that easy. I wonder if they refund your money when you strike out.

VA law is getting more complex each passing day. None of us can outthink AI but we can outmaneuvre them. It’s a stacked deck. If you are still using a VSO or attempting all this pro se with the help of all the Combat Kraigs and CivDiv folks out there, you’re in for some rough sledding if it involves SMC. Tinnitus, hemorrhoids and flat feet are 10% Mardi Gras beads on Fat Tuesday night. SMC is far more complicated- like becoming the King and Queen of the float and riding up front in the Krewe cab.

True knowledge of how to fight VA on SMC can’t be had out there in Utube Internet land. I try to illustrate it for free to a certain extent but I can’t supply anything more than generalized advice. Each claim is unique and requires an attack plan tailored to the Veteran’s individual circumstances.

RIP MLB 1961-2026

Posted in Aid and Attendance, Barry Bumps in SMC, BvA Decisions, CUE, How to Qualify for VA SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, VA Agents, Veterans Law | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with SMC Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, How to win SMC T, Service Connection, VA claims, VA SMC Back Pay, VA SMC Claims, VA SMC Mr. Potatohead, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 2 Comments

MEMORIAL DAY 2026- 8 NEW SOULS TO COMMEMORATE

Posted on May 22, 2026 by asknod

Another trip around the Sun and my eighteenth article on the subject of Memorial Day. As the title suggests, I lost another eight clients over the course of 2025. Sadly, one was not currently married (with children) and was a Nehmer-class Vet. As the Agent Orange lawsuit was not a product of the VA, it falls under different rules. If you die of any of the diseases listed in §3.309(e), in the absence of a spouse, your children can be substituted for accrued claims and burial benefits.

Since everybody and their mother is writing about dead Vets this weekend, I’ll go off the reservation and focus on other items that impact us as Veterans. One good thing I hear is the Govt. has decided to increase DIC benefits for surviving spouses. No mention of exactly how much but anything would be welcome and long overdue.

Imagine existing on a 100% rating for about $4 K and $2 K of SSA and suddenly you’re getting $1650 plus only the hubby’s SSA. I’ve developed a program where I have all the data and forms (22a, 534 and 847) already presigned and here, poised to file a DIC claim the moment a Vet passes away. All I need is the Death Certificate to launch.

I dumpster dive the Vet’s claims file while he’s alive and harvest all the marriage and divorce records off old 686s. The reason is simple. Who in Sam Hill has time to start assembling that data in the middle of funeral arrangements and the endless phone calls to rearrange your life? A widow (or widower) has an impossibly heavy load to carry as it is. I offer this gratis to all my clients. It’s almost impossible to accomplish it after the Vet dies. We have about 3 days to grab it following death before we lose access to the VBMS file. With a brand new 22a in hand, I can file it the moment the file is shut down and prepare for the DIC filing. This is Boy Scouts 101- be prepared.

Other exciting news this week is the recent class action decision in North Carolina against Veterans Guardian VA Claim Consulting LLC. It seems there is still a law on the books saying you can’t do this (VA Claims) unless you’re accredited by VA. Just because the Federal Government is remiss in prosecuting these greedy Veterans who are fleecing their fellow Veterans out of tens of millions, that doesn’t mean individual fleeced resident Veterans of North Carolina are not free to fly at it. And Jennifer Ford, Eric Beard and Brian Otters proceeded to fly at them. Read about it here:

Veterans Guardian VA Claim Consulting LLC

Now for bad news. The VA litigation picture for rank and file Vets who file claims right now is bleak. An Agency already renowned for being slower than the Seven-year Itch, has become even slower. Considering they’re claiming to squeeze every Lincoln Penny until Abe hollers ‘Uncle’, VA has now embarked on an unsustainable path to do endless c&p exams and turn the 125-day Standard claim model into a two-year project- and then only complete a small part of it. They’ll defer the rest and schedule the c&p for the mental 4 months out. Three years later following the original 526 or 995, when (and if) they finally do grant, the effective date has morphed into the day last week when the c&p shrink did your psyche review- not November 10, 2023, when you filed the claim for increase. Welcome back to the Hamster wheel.

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), one would think VA could take your claim and insert it into their magic computers with virtually instant results showing a grant or denial. One would obviously think wrong. C&P subcontracted clinicians are adverse to putting anything down on paper except for that which VA asks for. They are only given documents VA chooses to allow them to see- not the entire claims file. Bingo. There goes a fair and balanced “opinion”.

Perhaps even worse, VA will tell the QTC/VES dudes which DBQ form to use. So it’s not uncommon for them to say “use the DBQ for peripheral neuropathy for Agent Orange that had to manifest within one year of leaving Vietnam. Do not use the DBQ for DM2 neuropathy or other neurological manifestations [which is what the Vet actually suffers].”

But the AI “sees” that a clinician has not put forth an opinion about your_________ so they ask for a clarification. And another one. And another one. Then the insanity begins. “Please provide a medical opinion on if it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s TERA exposure to radiation and asbestos caused his peripheral neuropathy with Parkinson’s”. By now, we’re 20 c&p exams into it and no less than 17 clinicians have spoken. But they can’t see each others’ opinions so some begin to try to intuit what VA really wants them to write and say just to get them out of their hair. And worse, all these subcontractors are expected to drop everything and answer these clarification responses… which doesn’t pay as much as the original c&p exam by the way.

So who’s getting filthy rich? Each c&p exam goes for about $750-$1000 bucks a pop. The Nursey Nurse with the shiny new FNP after her name is getting a flat salary of about $40 K per year for a 30-hour work week (so VES/QTC can avoid paying for medical/dental) based on an 0800 to 1630 work day with 1/2 hour for lunch and two 15-minute Marlboro breaks morning and afternoon three days a week.

A very close friend and former LRRP who did 20 years as a LA County Sherriff once said the best way to keep the money from a bank robbery on-site was to “shoot the money”-i,e., the guys packing it. Since we can’t shoot the Presidents of QTC, VES, LHI, LHGS or Habib’s Learing Center and C&P Exams, someone should examine where all this dough goes. I can personally attest, by going to these c&p exams with some of my clients, that the information needed to make a decision can easily be harvested in one 30-minute setting- including using the correct DBQ(s). But in order to do this, the clinician needs the complete claims folder. Oddly, in every VAF 21-2107 exam request, the VA VSR writing it makes sure the clinician gets a copy of my VAF 21 22a Power of Attorney. What could that possibly have to do with whether the Vet has Parkie’s?

VA is attempting to use AI to reduce their human employee component. Why not? It means less humans with hangovers, colds and chronic kidney disease, morbid obesity, DM 2 (who get medical benefits) equals more output production that is almost guaranteed to be error-free. Right? Too bad it doesn’t work that way. In a more perfect world we could just build AI-driven Veterans Service Centers with Drive-thru lanes. Pull up to the order window and submit your claim from a menu of pull down options. Pull around the corner and pick up the decision. Check to make sure you got what you ordered and off you go on your merry way. A human hand would never touch the claim.

AI is going to demand perfection. We can’t program in benefit of the doubt in this venue. Either you is or you ain’t. How do you put an §1154(b) combat presumption rider in there? Who’s in charge of manually figuring out the Barry Bumps until they update the M 21 to fix it? Duran happened in ’23. It still hasn’t been updated 3 years later. I had to take this one up to the Board to get it fixed. If the AI perfect computer can’t “see” this, what else is it missing? Quite a bit, apparently.

Redact Duran win 5.19.26

In spite of all them long-winded speeches about how the new AMA was gonna smear hog grease all over the wheels of VA justice, it seems they just keep adding a few more miles to the tunnel and telling us it’s a work in progress. Kinda like that train they’ve been trying to build out in California since ’08 from SF to LA. The BVA is still trying to wade through their 2019 “just under 36,000 Legacy claims” that somehow spilled over into 2026. VA is still claiming 98% accuracy. It reminds me of the CNY song. “49 reasons-all in a line, all of them good ones-all of them lies.”

Secretary Collins has to serve two masters. Three, actually. Congress and the inherent purse strings, the President’s continuing favor, and lastly the very Veterans he’s appointed to serve. This puts him in a precarious position of denying them housing at the West LA Campus for almost a decade while letting a prep school, a car rental outfit and a sports team use the VA’s campus. That we had to sue to win that no-brainer speaks volumes about the complexity of VA’s priorities and their allegiance to Veterans. What does it take to make us their North Star?

Perhaps more in our/my legal bailiwick, how can the Secretary spend millions defending the incorrect decisions made by their Agency and Board of Appeals year-in and year-out? Better yet- why? Very rarely do VA’s OGC law dogs “get it” and concede error. We could probably save hundreds of millions if VA formed an ad hoc Ombudsman group of VA employees and Veterans who could mediate these matters like adults over pretzels and an adult beverage to two after work instead of some headstrong VSCM (or BVA Board Chairman) who goes around singing “It’s Doug Collins’ Organization but the VSC(BVA) department is mine.”

I get to see the ugly underside of what goes on at the Fort Fumbles across our fruited plains. Remember, VA honchos like to say “We don’t look at how much a grant is going to generate. Whether you’re entitled to $12.5 K or $125 K retro, we cut the check.” So how come this feller here in Pittsburgh is getting acid indigestion over a little $220 K underpayment 11 months overdue? He’s a GS-11. This is miles above his pay grade and he’s a hot mess.

Either VA is on a diet to conserve money by laying off their workers or they’re now spending it all on an endless procession of nothingburger c&p exams that only create more confusion, more questions… and more exams. Regardless of which, the net effect is beginning to make the claims process a lifetime endeavor for Veterans. No one- not even a Veteran- should be subjected to that. Wasn’t that why we raised our right hand? That, at some time in the future, assuming we didn’t end up only being remembered on Memorial Day, that our dear Alma Mater (VA) would be there for us?

Happy Memorial Day- especially to all you Gold Star Families and others who have lost your loved ones in the defense of our Great Country. Few Nations on Earth can point to 250 years of Heritage and such an enviable record of human rights. Indeed, God has shed His grace on Us.

Posted in Appeals Modernization Act, Artificial Intelligence in claims, Barry Bumps in SMC, C&P exams, Claims sharks, DIC, Legacy Claims, Memorial Day, VA Agents, Veterans Law | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with SMC Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, Korean War Vets Help, Memorial Day 2026 with Asknod, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 2 Comments

5/07/75–51 YEARS LATER

Posted on May 10, 2026 by asknod

An interesting phenomenon occurs about this time every year. May 7, 1975 was the last day America’s military recognized its ever-diminishing number of Viet Nam or Viet Nam-era Veterans. Or was diminishing until the passage of the PACT Act reinfused it with tens of thousands of Vets from Thailand, Anderson AFB and certain places in Korea, Laos and Cambodia. The phenomenon is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot. My email fills up with still-disgruntled V Vets complaining about being spit on, ridiculed as baby killers, or deprived of meaningful employment for years after one glance at their DD 214.

After much introspection, I’ve reached acceptance. There’s really nothing that can be done now to rectify the “subdued homecoming” we received as the local fish wrap called it utilizing the lens of historical perspective in 2004.

But first, I’d note I’d just arrived at Travis AFB from Yokota AB Japan non-stop on a C 5 on 20 May 1972 fresh out of the bush. We landed about 0100 and went through customs and then on to wherever we were going. I took the shuttle over to San Francisco International to catch a flight back to DC to see my mom. It had been 2 years and some change since I left.

SFO, at 0230 Hours in Spring of ’72 was pretty quiet. You could hear the Hare Krishna chants and the green tambourines jingling when you arrived. I totally missed out on all the flying spit medals. I was still wearing my camo fatigues and jungle boots with a survival knife peaking out on my hip. My .357 was in my shoulder holster inside my shirt. And yes, I unloaded it per regs before boarding the Klong flight at Udorn 30 hours earlier.

I’d popped a few Desoxyn about 12 hours into it so I was still humming right along. You cannot sleep in an empty C 5. Chances are I wouldn’t have been in a great mood anyway if someone had wanted to harangue me. Pussy cutoff date had been two weeks before so I was already a hot mess. But fortunately for both of us, their modus operandi was a bit more leisurely- a couple of lattés at 10 AM and a toke or two before the arduous, devoted work of civil disobedience called.

So here we are 51 years later using medal math or 51 + 18 if you choose March 29, 1973, if you want to pretend we all went down to the Aerial Port Bldg at Tan Son Nhut, or Phan Rang or Udorn, duffel bag on shoulder, hung over to beat the band, to depart home. The emails are from all those who still say things like “If they drafted me tomorrow at 75, I’d still do it all again.” Right. Pass the Desoxyn first, please.

Let’s analyze this. What would anyone get now from a gigantic “Welcome Home” Parade for serving in Viet Nam? Give me free dinner for two and all you can drink at Applebee’s™ and I could call it good. How about a Starbucks© free coffee for life card? How about 25% off at Cheapo Depot on John Deere® 360° riding mowers? I guess I shouldn’t complain. I’m getting paid at SMC S as it is.

Quite frankly, the only thing that bugged me after I got out was the VFW “Sargent at arms” who told me I couldn’t join because Viet Nam was just a “conflict”- not a genuine war. But seriously, guys. Carrying that “they dissed me” chip on your shoulder for 50 years can give you a serious complex- an inferiority complex. To me, that Viet Nam Vet hat is a cry in the night for a thank you for your service or a ‘sorry we were all assholes back in ’68’.

There’s nothing to be ashamed of now. I know for some it might be a painful subject to discuss even now. We were conditioned to bury that part of our lives and assimilate, get married and procreate. Nobody wanted to hear or talk about that era. In 1980, Cupcake found out I’d served. Several of my friends and I were all meeting up at our local watering hole for Happy Hour one evening and a car backfired close by. I was down to the ground with that .357 out when she got out of her car. In retrospect, I think that’s what might have impaired my chances of talking her into marrying me until 1987.

Since none of us own a DeLorean with a 10 gigahertz flux capacitor on the trunk, we’re stuck here in the present. Why wallow in the past? We should be harassing our congressmen for freebies. Screw the mea culpas and the Pity parades. We should be going to Mecum Car auctions and demanding 50% discounts on them ’67 GTO convertibles with the Hurst four-speeds. That’s the currency we should be talking. As for Starbucks, for me it’s too much work to comb my hair, brush my teeth and apply two squirts of Right Guard just to drive 10 miles for a cup of coffee. Screw it. I’ll make my French press here. Besides, they probably wouldn’t let Pickles come in.

Now, on to today’s teaching moment. You’ve probably heard me talk of the ‘shit or go blind’ technique in VA law- or at least my version. I filed Marion here for his entitlement to R1. The Board granted it but VA shmoozed him and said “Dude. you have a L 1/2 already. The new L is less value. So there’s no retro. Get it?” So I filed a 995 and said send the money to this address. and don’t forget the Barry bump. They seized up and scheduled a c&p exam!. So I sent in a 4138 and said ‘Disregard the Barry bump. Proceed to rating. Do not pass go!” Then I sent in a §5103 saying “That’s all, Folks!” Incipient Blindness and an urge to defecate began immediately.

Friday evening at 1630 quitting time this popped up. I include the June 2025 BVA decision that said “Johnnie Vet, come ooooooon down!” So the BVA gal grants. VA hems and haws over a paltry $220K and finally says “We ain’t granting because the VLJ is full of shit. It’s pyramiding.” But then they get the code sheet right. I can’t make this shit up. We’re off to the Board and another year of waiting. By then, they’ll own him about $260K. Idiot’s delight.

Redact BVA Decision grants a&a

Redact 4.29.26 2nd RD deny SMC R

Redact 4.29.26 CS grants SMC R

Posted in Aid and Attendance, Barry Bumps in SMC, BvA Decisions, How to Qualify for VA SMC, SMC, VA Agents, VA special monthly compensation, Vietnam War history | Tagged askNOD.com, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Gulf War Claims Help, Help with SMC Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Service Connection, SMC, SMC Barry Bumps, VA claims, VA HCV Claims Help, VA SMC Claims, VA SMC R1, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 7 Comments

VA’S NEW AI–§3.102(a) YOU NOW GET THE DOUBT OF THE BENEFIT

Posted on April 23, 2026 by asknod

No, you’re not reading a new regulation. You’re reading about VA’s new way of interpreting the old one. Pop a cold one and requisition a bowel of some Dot’s™ pretzels. This isn’t going to take a sixpak to explain. It’s a sign of the times. Face it. America, and the world, is now experiencing mega-intelligence gains in leaps and bounds. Well, everyone but Iran that is. But hey. They do possess the world’s largest fleet of submarines now. Computers are reaching Skynet quality. It was inevitable the moment Cro Magnon man figured out how to make fire.

This story is about AI. We can’t escape its reach. The whole game of VA compensation has always been underfunded and overworked. Between the hospitals and the cemeteries, it’s been understaffed, too. I knew that much in 2008 when I finally got a copy of my claims file in glorious color. There were mustard stains on the blue 1994 VA 21-6789 deferred rating sheet. VA raters were working from their desks at lunch just to even hope to keep up back then-without computers. VA has always been on a short budget leash of sorts but there was always money for the Christmas Party and the Karaoke machines. And there were always bonuses for all the hard-working Coaches who orchestrated a month free of any grants.

Here we are in 2026 and the number of line raters is still a finite number proportionally- unequal in comparison to a now-vastly expanded Agency with more bean counters than there are beans to count. A 20-year war with lots of TBI can create that. VA even has Customer Satisfaction Survey offices whose sole endeavor is to survey the shit out of everything and massage the numbers to say things like

90% of VA’s survey participants express

satisfaction with their interaction with VHA

Let’s put that into context. The surveyors went into the post-surgery recovery room at the Seattle VAMC and interviewed some mega-Fentanyled, post-anesthesia Vets who were asked “Are you satisfied with your interactions with VA today?” Nine out of ten (90%) appeared to nod their heads up and down occasionally. Bingo. 90%. Vet #10 hadn’t recovered sufficiently to raise his head to nod one way or the other.

Now let’s apply this to VA’s perennial problem of line raters quitting after about a year or two after realizing they’re going to be rode hard and put away wet for $48 K a year… for 5-6 years before they can cross train into a RQRSRVW quality control dude or apply for that cushy Congressional Interests berth.

VA raters have to produce X number of “actions” per day/week or risk getting put on a performance review. True, raters probably don’t give a shit whether they grant or deny but the decision has to be the correct one. And besides, the claim is always handed to the Coach for a day or two before meaning the VSR writes what Coach says to write. What? You think a VSR gets to do the “grant if you can/deny if you must” dance? No more dart boards and blindfolds in the 21st Century. But, with the advent of the 21st century, and the addition of a new 20-year war and all its brand new disabled Vets, raters are plumb overwhelmed. They burn out. And here comes AI just in time.

Everyone at 810 Deny Ave. NW knew choosing not to add thousands more raters just made the backlog worse…but-but-but if you had a magic 8 ball that could make all those decisions in the blink of an eye and the 8 ball didn’t require a paid family medical plan or a 30-day guaranteed annual vacation, look at all the money you could … Wowser. But you could wipe out the backlog faster than you could say Doug Collins and never have another one. This is like trusting a self-driving car implicitly-even at 80 mph in rush hour traffic.

Welcome to the new Improved VA. Now let’s take a gander at some of this new “machine” expertise versus, well, the VA’s human cohort assisted by the M 21. Was the decision correct? Who cares? Not our problem. Call the Board or OGC. Statistically, VA screws up 74% of anything it gets involved in compensation-wise. If they’re already using AI, that doesn’t say much for its accuracy now does it?

Here’s a client I have up at the Court currently fighting this AI monster. Here’s his code sheet from 2019- it says he was granted loss of use of his bilateral feet. That’s presumed to be correct unless the VA can prove CUE somehow. But the AMA has a new back door called §3.2601. If you file a 996 and do a HLR, the DRO dude says he can mix and match and change your ratings as long as it doesn’t end up being a reduction in pay. §3.2601(j) says, inter alia, ” In addition, the higher-level adjudicator will not revise the outcome in a manner that is less advantageous to the claimant based solely on a difference of opinion.” So, now you know. The AMA has holes in it.

Johnny Vet CRD redacted

Now keep your eye on the rating. Poof. Six years later, no CUE but a new diagnosis says no loss of use- just a&a. This pissed me off so bad I asked Wes to take it up to the Court. I’m worried the VA will put in a judgement and claw back his $98 K for the SAH program and his automobile from the $27 K auto grant. Shucks. They could legally, you know? According to them, he doesn’t have loss of use of the feet now.

new code sheet six years later

Truthfully, I honestly thought this was some clever new gerrymandering technique to fence me out of my impending attack for a second SMC L for a&a for Bob’s heart. It ain’t like VA doesn’t know who asknod is. But recently, they did the exact same thing to another of my Vets. Ross has a valid a&a for a lot of Parkie’s disabilities. But over the last several years the comorbidities of both Parkie’s and DM 2 have destroyed his ability to walk unassisted and use his upper extremities for dressing and shaving. See. Here’s the 2024 proof right here on the code sheet.

a&a CS

Then the seizures hit. I was busy fighting for the seizures when the rating decision came down on a denial of upper and lower extremities. VA is stealthy. They don’t come right out and say “dude, we denied your request for loss of use of uppers and lowers. Thanks for your service”. No way. They say “the rate we’re paying you for your SMC is confirmed and continued”. Check it out.

Ross 10.16.2025 RD

But here’s where the VA gets busted. That rating decision doesn’t have a single tense-related verb out of place. Not even a single dangling participle. It’s like the VA computer just got a Batchelor’s in English Lit 401 recently. So we ran it through our own AI and Claude says 81% chance of AI construction. But that’s not the end of the matter. The code sheet says…wait for it, after 4 years ol’ Mister Lazarus here no longer needs a&a because he was supposed to be getting SMC L for loss of use of the lower extremities all along. But that’s not what the rating decision says in the narrative. Ruh-oh, Rorge (as George Jetson’s dog Astro was wont to say).

CS announces LOULEs 10.16.25 not found in VBMS

The Secretary is crowing from the rooftops that the VA is sailin’ through them 526s and 995s like a pro and issuing decisions faster than a speedin’ 5.56. But what use is AI if all the decisions are wrong? What ever happened to “haste makes waste”? Or perhaps worse. Come on. It begs the question “Is the AI built by the same folks who created the Hal 9000 and the M 21? Is it possible to fabricate a computer system geared up to only say “Heads I win. Tails you lose”?

I’m not trying to cause concern or cast doubt on Emperor Doug’s new AI invisible clothes. Far from it. I’m just concerned that there seems to be a marked difference in how VA adjudicated claims as short a time as two years ago and how they promulgate them now with such blatant errors. An old Latin euphemism comes to mind. Experiencia docet (Experience is the best teacher). If you’ve been doing this over 165 years since the War of Northern Aggression, it stands to reason the process would be flawless by now. AI could only confirm the obvious.

Remember the old lyrics in CSNY’s 49 Bye Byes- “49 reasons all in a line. All of them good ones-all of them lies”? Listen further until you get to “Time will tell us who’s trying to sell us.” It’s my considered opinion, and mine alone, that VA is beginning a whole new method of rating our claims. Hell, they don’t need to change the diagnostic codes or revamp Part 3 to fence us out in the Federal Register any more. They just turn their AI HAL 9000 loose and let it set out on an unguided safari á la Browkowski with unlimited c&ps or just fabricate it out of whole cloth (as usual).

One thing I am seeing is an endless parade of c&p exams far exceeding the amount needed to “clarify” a medical diagnosis. The last one was subtle. The doctor says he has IHD so it’s presumptive herbicide and he has some other heart shit that is related to his hypertension but he’s SC for that too so give the man his 100%. More Likely than less likely. Duh? Agent Orange causes IHD. Next?

C&P No. 13 says SC

Two weeks later along comes a request for a new c&p to clarify if it’s possible that asbestos or radiation could screw up the heart like that -apart from the IHD of course. The good doctor (a different one) says oh hell no. It wasn’t asbestos or radiation and says less likely than more likely. VA grants SC for the IHD at 30% even though he’s pissing 1-3 METS and he’s blowing a 28% on his ejection fraction. Did they say it was radiation or asbestos? No way. They merely said something screwed up his heart and it wasn’t SC or a TERA risk like asbestos or radiation. No mention of the 800 lb. HTN gorilla in the room. But if Agent Orange isn’t a TERA risk, then just exactly what is? Only AI guided by a perverted mindset could create this Mobius Loop. Well, I suppose some Coach at VBAPHI310 relying on his trusty M 21 is capable of it, but truthfully, this was a contrived outcome. VA had no intention of granting Rick a full ride a&a scholarship. He attended about 30 c&ps or ACE reviews. This one below is the AOJ’s way of washing their hands like Pontius Pilate.

C&P No. 14 says no dice

So I let you be the judge of all this. Is VA on a new bender to deny anything and everything they can in a misguided hope of reducing what they’re being forced to pay out? Is this the new metric of just keep asking for one more c&p until you get the desired answer? Ten or fifteen c&ps at $750 a pop is still cheaper than 30 years @ 60%. Something has changed. But what do I know? All I know is the old Benefit of the Doubt I remember from 1989 has become inverted and the duty to assist lies solely with you if you hope to win anything substantial. My suggestion is to find a late-model HAL 9000 with low miles and plug it in. You’re gonna need one if you want to play poker with VA. Well, that and a good VA Agent or Attorney. Don’t leave home without one.

Posted in 100% ratings, Agent Orange, Aid and Attendance, Blue Water Navy, BvA Decisions, C&P exams, How to Qualify for VA SMC, Reductions in rating, SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VA Attorneys, VA Conspiracies, vA news, VA special monthly compensation, VA statistics, Veterans Law, Vietnam Disease Issues | Tagged Agent Orange, asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Gulf War Claims Help, Gulf War Vets Help, Help with SMC Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, How to win SMC T, Korean War Vets Help, Service Connection, SMC Barry Bumps, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 3 Comments

SMC–THE NEW REDUCTION GAME

Posted on April 12, 2026 by asknod

Ever since the Fed. Circus determined (in Barry v. Denis the Menace) VA had been funning us and purposefully disremembering how many times you can be awarded half-step “bumps”, we’ve been hitting them up like Mormons on a broken one-armed bandit in West Wendover. The regulation was written originally in 1946 and hasn’t changed remarkably since. The part of this that’s putting a hole in the financial bucket is that it’s retroactive. Retroactive like back to 1946 gentlemen…

If you’re rated at SMC L for aid and attendance, blindness, loss of use of a hand and foot/ both feet or bedridden, and you have any other disabilities that are not related to the aforementioned conditions that add up to 50% or more (using VA math of course), then you’d get that $250 per month kicker for L 1/2. Lather, rinse and repeat for each and every 50% rating separate and distinct from the L.

So just imagine Johnny Vet with the misfortune of having a 60 mikemike gook mortar land right in the middle of a gaggle of guys in a listening post. He’s lucky. He’s still alive… but he has a few more chips and dents than the average Eleven Bravo. He’s getting an L for loss of use of the legs. Actually, he can “walk” after a fashion if his wife holds on to him but his Parkie’s tremors combine with really bad DM 2 neuropathy to make him unstable.

So right after Johnnie gets the brand new 100% rating for Ischemic Heart disease, I put him in for the Barry bumps while I began the fight for a&a for the DM2, kidney failure and peripheral neuropathies. VA denied and I foolishly allowed them to suck me into an HLR to “fix” it quicker than going to the Board. Fix it they did. They ordered up a few c&ps and determined lo and behold, he didn’t actually have loss of use at all. But just to show they were fair and balanced and wanted to make it right, they said it’s a simple fix. Turned out it was a need for a&a all along since back to 2019. The c&p babe just didn’t know how to read the regulation was all.

But…but… but you say. Right, once they hand you LOU (loss of use), that’s a finding of fact. What we call a conclusion of law. You have to declare a CUE to overturn it. VA didn’t. They just changed it from one L to another L. The problem is they already gave my Johnnie an Auto allowance and a Specially Adapted House based on his… yup… LOU. You don’t get those bennies for aid and attendance. The finding of fact rule in §3.104 also just attached to that shiny new Aid and Attendance rating, too. So now they’ve stepped in it and the two Ls make an O and then a R 1.

So the most obvious way to unravel this paradox after the BVA bolloxed it up and affirmed was to take it to the Court and get a reading on it there. My wingman Wes McCauley of United Veterans Disability wrote a stellar legal brief that noticed about 6 errors in their thinking and end result. This one’s up at the Court if anyone likes to read the docket entries. Go to CAVC 25-5399 Appellant’s brief to get a grasp of the argument. It’s a daisy.

But that’s not the end of the matter as we like to say. I have another Vet with a similar set of circumstances. The VA is beginning to pursue the same identical “disassembly and reassembly” of his entire ratings architecture. In Johnnie Vet #2’s case they began this process with a benign nothing burger. Johnnie #2 just got a second SMC L to go with his first one from back in 2021 for LOU of the foot and hand. This one was for a&a of the upper extremities and other musculoskeletal disease residuals combined.

Obviously, the two Ls make the O and then metamorphose to R1 but the VA brought in one of their Aluminum siding salesmen who mansplained it away thusly. ” Dude, stay with me now, hear? You’re getting L 1/2 for the hand/leg gig from ’21. But, you just got an L for the a&a, right? So… you get paid more for the L 1/2 than you would for the new L so there’s no retro. It’s a push is all. Got it?” Since Johnnie #2 isn’t in the habit of smokin’ the heavy duty stuff like Maui Wowy or munching disco biscuits, this didn’t just sail over his head. He called me. From Mexico where he lives. He said this didn’t sound right and wanted a second opinion.

I filed with a Supplemental to nudge the VA to put down the bong and cut the paper right. I also threw in a herring- a request for a SMC 1/2-step kicker from his L 1/2 (under §3.350(f)(1)(ii)) up to M under §3.350(f)(3). And what should happen? Yep. Just to be sure that Johnnie #2 wasn’t funning the VA and really did have a need for a&a, and just to be sure he still was suffering that nasty LOU of foot and hand, they threw in a request for ol’ Johnnie to saddle up the Electric wheelchair and motor on down to the lokal VES store and present himself for a couple 3 c&p exams.

Now, the same kicker applies here. A ministerial award of a&a to a Veteran does not require a new c&p at your local Fort Fumble to make sure the BVA Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) “got it right”. In fact, it would be illegal- not to mentioned unnecessary. Once you get that award for the LOU, it’s a permanent determination. That’s why they call it “Permanent and Total”.

So, because I’m fond of torturing these chowderheads, I sometimes like to play ’em like a smallmouth bass for a while. Johnnie #2 has already been waiting since June of last year for the R1 to hit and he’s not starving. Besides, it’s accruing bucks like a bad payday loan outside the main gate. So I sent in a letter saying “Pretty Please with a cherry on top. This is purely an administrative rating snafu”. And some feller in Pittsburgh said Roger that. They cut the paper Friday morning the 13th of March granting R 1 and then… it disappeared while I was over at Arlington National burying my mom that afternoon. Poof. Gone with the Wind.

In it’s place was the request for his august presence Wednesday next at VES @ 0900. The request said ‘we want to make sure you get every benefit coming to you. Boy howdy is that a word salad loaded with strychnine. So, to trim it down to just the purely administrative aspect of the a&a, I sent in a withdrawal of the Barry bump which technically would erase any possible rationale (read excuse) for a c&p. But the way the Pittsburgh crew was approaching this had all the hallmarks of the Waco fiasco with Johnnie #1. Step into my den said the spider to the fly…

So, the upshot of all of this is to apply my favorite tried-and-true technique of SOGB (make them shit or go blind). At this point, it’s like watching a bipolar guy who’s just run dry on lithium and begun firing erratically on 5 cylinders. He’s undecided on whether to go NASDAQ or Casper Milquetoast. Or buy a Lamborghini and sail it around the world.

And if that wasn’t enough, I set up an account with VES to get the c&p feed live to my phone. Since Johnnie #2 is a bit spotty on his phone answering, I’m stepping in to help out. After getting approved for all incoming commo, they called to schedule the c&p again. Did I mention they’d been having the Devil’s own time trying to get hold of him? It may have had something to do with me telling his wife in my broken Spanish not to take any calls- he’s bedridden and indisposed.

So this time I had to sadly let the schedular gal down emotionally and explain why the c&p was never going to happen-nor was it needed or required by law. She dutifully transcribed all that into the notes section of VBMS and I can almost see the Coach’s consternation rising daily down in the VSC Mosh Pit. Can he do that? This ain’t in the M 21. DEFCON 1. So what’s the worst that can happen? Are they going to deny the O and R1? If so, how? Are they going to deny the Barry bumps and ignore the withdrawal and camouflage the R1 with an implicit denial? Can’t do that anymore. Hamill v Collins just came back from the Fed. Circus and made the Three Stooges (Toth, Laurer and Jaquith) look pretty stupid. AMA says ‘tell me why I lost and what I need to provide to you to get it’. No more of that Legacy Cogburn v. Shinseki crap.

This phenomenon is not just cropping up in my claims. Wes says he’s seeing this same thing in his practice, too. It’s basically a redux of the old Extraordinary Awards Program (EAP) from back in the olden days (2006-08 era) where a VARO head Poohbah would “refer” a decision back to the VA Central Office (VACO) for a haircut in the back room. If you were due some extensive folding money- in Johnnie #2’s case about $220 K back to 2022- VACO would reinvent a reason why you were only going to get $22 K. In Johnnie #1’s case it was to push him into SMC P to avoid me building the inevitable O to R1 bridge with the coronary artery disease. In Johnnie#2’s case it was going to be a revelation that Johnnie #2, just like Johnnie #1, is getting ready to have one of them Holy Rollers Revival-in-a-Tent moments where the foot is miraculously healed. Bye bye loss of use.

It used to be back in the 80’s and 90’s, we could work with VA raters. Most were Veterans and decent folk. Nowadays, it’s like herding cats. They rely entirely on the M 21 like it’s the Koran and cannot speak mistruth. But what they ignore at their peril is 38 CFR. and there ain’t no rule saying the VA can CUE you and pawn it off as a difference of opinion 7 years later. Perhaps the best thing we have going for us as Veterans is that if the VA decides to CUE you, they have to have just as strong a case as you would against them.

VA is well-known for speaking with forked tongue. Hell, for that matter they’re well-known for speaking in Tongue and pretending it was handed down from Mount Arafat on tablets by some Dude with a long beard. Don’t be fooled. I’m guessing the majority of them overpaid Coaches are graduates of the GEICO Auto Claims Academy. I’ll report back at the end of this latest Long Range Recon Patrol into Indian Country.

Posted in Barry Bumps in SMC, BvA Decisions, CAFC Rulings, CUE, How to Qualify for VA SMC, SMC, SMC School, Special Monthly Compensation, Tips and Tricks, VA special monthly compensation, VBMS Tricks, Veterans Law | Tagged Agent Orange, asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Gulf War Vets Help, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, Service Connection, SMC, SMC Barry Bumps, sn, VA claims, VA SMC Back Pay, VA SMC Ratings, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 5 Comments

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION IN SAN DIEGO

Posted on April 11, 2026 by asknod

Every six months, we of the VA legal persuasion (legally accredited), descend on some unwitting city in sufficient numbers to accomplish absolutely nothing financially. Sure, the hotel will be filled to the gills but it probably would be anyway with a VFW convention or the like if we weren’t there. The only noticeable financial difference would be how much Bud Light™ was sold at the hotel watering hole that week versus Tanqueray or Johnny Walker.

Anyway, the choice this spring by our conference committee is a chicken dinner winner. I commend them. The last time we were in San Diego, it was in some out-of-the-way hole in the wall No Tell Motel on the other side of the bridge. If you didn’t arrive in a car or have an Uber app, you weren’t going anywhere for dinner. It would have been perfect for a Chinese-American Women’s Professional Yoga Association getaway as long as you had A Fannie Mae Chocolate Confectioner’s store in the lobby and an endless supply of Dom or Perrier Jouet.

The last time we had a nice place to learn about VA’s transgressions like this was in Orlando. It was a veritable estate with a gated entry and rent-a-cops. Balmy. Adjacent to Disney World and gazillions of killer restaurants. And warm. Unless it’s about 78 outside, I’m cold.

The Manchester Grand Hyatt is like supersizing a regular hotel and planting it alongside a town rich in military history with a bonus of building it on the waterfront or close to. I came down in 2013 to give a speech to the Vietnam Dustoff Association. They’d taken over a Hampton Suites right across from the train tracks. We got woke up about three times a night but we did get a pretty good dose of all the waterfront. Imagine my surprise when I entered the below deck hangers of the Aircraft carrier and looked up to see an old O 1 Birddog hanging overhead. Shucks, they even had a Navy Huey Gunship topside all tricked out with quad pigs. on both sides. Sweet.

I was packing my bathing suit after I saw this and Cupcake informed me that was right out. One look at my gut and they’d probably run screaming for the exits. Besides, my pool noodles wouldn’t fit in the suitcase…

Truth be told, I expect more is accomplished at the evening meet-and greets after a day’s book learning than what’s being taught during the day. The main purpose for all that scotch and gin is to lubricate the brain after harvesting those continuing legal education (CLE) credits needed to keep our accreditation status afloat. Well, that and to renew old friendships over a good dinner.

And, to be fair to all those who hail from the South, I would be remiss if I didn’t concede there are a few Bourbon drinkers among us who have yet to acquire a cultured tongue for the taste of Kingsford charcoal briquets. But there’s hope for them. It’s said one leads by example. I acquired the taste up in Laos because warm beer just didn’t cut it. Occasionally you landed someplace civilized like L 54 (Luang Prabang) where the Air Am hostel had everything- including ice. Granted, the Kaffir limes were those weird ones that took about five to get a ¼ teaspoon of liquid out of but hey- it was war. We suffered in silence.

So it follows Cupcake and I will be out of the office for about five days. If you have any emergencies, who ya gonna call? Right. Ghostbusters. Or VA’s Dial-A-Prayer 800 number. It may be listed as the Prize Redemption line.

Posted in Continuing Legal Education (CLEs), Humor, VA Agents, Veterans Law | Tagged asknod.org, asknod@wordpress.com, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with SMC Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get SMC Loss of Use, How to win SMC T, Service Connection, SMC, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 2 Comments

ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT AND I AIN’T GOT NOBODY

Posted on March 29, 2026 by asknod

Several Veteran have emailed me with the eternal quandary of how, or why, exactly, March 29th somehow became the “last day” of the geographical disagreement between the Republic of Viet Nam (RVN) and the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV). Well, it didn’t. At best it marked the end of America’s and the DRV’s disagreement and the return of our POWs. From where I stand, we might have officially rolled up and sheathed the ceremonial banners and flown the POWs out of Hanoi, but it was quite a spell after that MACV, SOG and a few other alphabet outfits etc. “officially” rolled up their tents and antenna farms and called it a day. MACV was just absorbed into JUSMAAGTHAI as far as I’m concerned.

As most know, I’ve been known to represent an inordinate number of former employees of in-theatre civilian airlines which had several names. I need not enumerate to say more than AirAm, CASI, Bird and Sons etc. Oddly enough, these former pilots, air cargo “kickers” and REMF facilitators at Air Operations Centers (AOC) across Laos, Thailand and RVN are all under the disability compensation umbrella of Secretary Doug and his merry band of adjudicators (DVA). They compete just like all you Veterans of various wars and expeditions for scarce compensation bucks.

It’s a long story but I know some of these former pilots- especially a few kickers I met up at Sam Thong in my day… and of course their surviving spouses. Those who are still alive might vehemently disagree that America’s combat assets and personnel were PCS by March 29th. If you buy that hooey, then I have some absolutely stunning bridges I’d like to sell you at a greatly reduced rate.

One gentleman I encountered and worked with on his claims was on one of the last 123s that bugged out before the new landlords of Tan Son Nhut Airpatch rolled a few tanks onto the active runway at about the red V2 sign. He was busy down on the flightline disassembling and crating PC 6s as fast as he could when the bell rang. A handful of AirAm Bell 206s, a few Porters and even some Caribous also escaped and either flew out to the waiting A/C carriers at Dixie Station, ditched nearby, beat feet to Don Muang or flew on to Clark if they had the legs. That was April 30, 1975-not March 29, 1973.

President Ford, for whatever reason chose the magic May 7, 1975 date as the demarcation line for no’ mo’ Agent Orange. But even then there were still a few Spec. Forces or SOGs acting as the fire department nearby in Thailand in case they were needed for extracurricular activities. Thus, you can understand my confusion when someone just pulls an extraneous date out of their hat. All President Nixon did on March 29, 1973 was to “officially” shut down MACV Headquarters, fold up the flag and proceed to conduct business as usual. Granted, they had to begin parking the cars out back to make it plausible.

So I pulled out my Perplexity or whatever AI trick Google is using to see what’s actually going on officially in America today as well as on May 7th that caused us to get bumped just for shits and grins.

Today is World Piano Day celebrated here and around the world. That’s because March 29 is the 88th day of the year and a piano has…wait for it… 88 keys. I’m willing to share May 7 with them.

Long before we kissed the concrete in Southeast Asia, March 29th was National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day. Women business owners were recognized equally as men were. We didn’t even need a DEI committee to supervise it.

As for May 7th, it’s pretty popular for quite a few more things. No wonder we drew the short straw. As I explained above, Congress chose March 29 solely because of President Nixon’s MACV shutdown. Obviously, they all think that has a shit ton more “resonance” with America. Here’s a short list of other reasons why we won’t be celebrating Pontius Pilate Day on May 7.

May 7th celebrates National Barrier Awareness Day. Congress aimed to help us simpleminded folk to recognize, understand and attempt to rid America of its social and physical barriers to disabled people-presumably including all those Vietnam Vets who had the misfortune to step on a Bouncing Betty.

In addition, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say most of you didn’t know it is also National Tourism Day, National Homebrew Day for all you aspiring Jack Daniels CEO wannabes, and National Roast Leg of Lamb Day (for which I plan to readily partake in this year).

Lastly, unless you were mistaken, it’s also National Paste Up Day recognizing all you “Traditional Graphic Design Technique” folks, National School Nurse Day and National Day of Prayer. So that explains it. May 7th’s dance card was plumb full up and already spoken for long before we made out hasty retreat on April 30th.

But what did happen on May 7th, 1975? President Ford officially moved to declare the end of the Vietnam “era” for monetary purposes. AI phrases it this way: “President Ford declared May 7, 1975, the end of the “Vietnam era” by proclamation to legally terminate wartime benefits, such as burial allowances and special Montgomery GI Bill rates, for new military recruits. Following the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, this move marked the transition to a peacetime military, saving the US $1.5 billion over five years.

This changed us over from “War Vets” to “Peacetime Vets”. The most obvious change was you no longer were awarded the coveted National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) from May 8th, 1975 on until we started invading places like Panama and Grenada. Shucks. Even Haiti. I get that. Every once in a while it’s necessary for our Military poohbahs to want to test out some of their new toys like M16A1s, Pigs and Claymores. I mean, how would they ever know they were going to need an A2? Or a clacker that didn’t require three pumps. So, if you raised your Right hand on May 7th, you got a NDSM. If you raised it on May 8th, you didn’t.

Taking that to it’s natural conclusion, you’d think that they would have put the kibosh on the NDSM from March 29th, 1973, on, right? Face it, all the combat troops had hopped a ride home on their Freedom Birds and they cut off the lights at Phu Cat, Nha Trang and Tuy Hoa, Tan Son Nhut, Bien Hoa, Phan Rang, CRB, An Khe and Da Nang. Right?

The VA recognizes the Vietnam Era for Agent Orange purposes to encompass January 9, 1962 through May 7, 1975. That’s the official date the Air Force cranked up Operation Ranch Hand out of Bien Hoa- and very surreptitiously out of Ubon over in Thailand. Apparently, King Bhumibol wasn’t too hot on seeing that shit sprayed all over his country. The Air Force nodded their heads and said Roger. No AO, bro. But to them that didn’t rule out a host of other flavors like Blue and White. The fact is, it didn’t even rule out Orange- just the overt mention of it around Thai Army folks.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Because President Bush decided to pick that day to reserve it for V Vets in 2008 based on what President Nixon did in ’73, and because President Obama announced he, too, was going to choose March 29 on Memorial Day of 2012 to make sure we got “commemorated”… and because President Trump quit screwing around and signed the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 on March 28, 2017, we now are stuck with it. For lack of a shoe the horse was lost. For lack of a horse the War was lost. But take consolation. Remember, Vietnam was not a War. According to the VFW, it was just a conflict. Try explaining that to the 59,474 families who lost a loved one.

We should be commemorating, for what it’s worth, on May 7th- or April 30th at the very earliest. In fifty years, no one will remember we lost anyway so it isn’t important. Moreover, if Viet Nam was not a war, why in Sam Hill did they begin handing out NDSMs in 1962 to them $23 drivers out of Bien Hoa? All them queshuns. And that’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it.

P.S. Because it is No Kings Day across our fruited plains, I was asked to share this with you.

Posted in Food for thought, Vietnam War history | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with SMC Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, Service Connection, SMC for aid and attendance, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help., war mementos | 4 Comments

MILESTONES–JOSEPH ALLEN McDONALD 1942-2026

Posted on March 8, 2026 by asknod

For Millennials, Gen Y and Z, this will be lost on you. In fact, I expect it would only have relevance to Baby Boomers. Country Joe was THE voice in the late-Sixties-early Seventies for the Vietnam Counterculture. I got to see him that August in ’69. Woodstock tickets were a graduation present from my mother. I took a friend I went to school with. We had a good time. It was the first time I saw a woman’s boobs. Two months later I was in Basic Training in Texas. And seven months later there I was. Country Joe’s I-feel-like-I’m-fixing-to-die-rag was still being sung in Vietnam when I left two years later in ’72.

The enduring song finally faded sometime after 1975. I’m surprised it wasn’t resurrected in 1991 or 2001 but by then America had developed more respect for us as servicemen and Veterans. Why, after almost twenty five years, folks began greeting us with “Welcome Home!” as if we’d just stepped off the Freedom Bird. Now, if we can just convince our government to quit instigating intractable 20-year wars like Viet Nam and Iraqistan, we may even be able to trim VA’s budget due to a dearth of disabled Veterans.

Joe died of Parkinson’s. He was in the Navy from 1959 to 1962 but never was exposed to herbicides. Which brings up the question of what he might have come into contact with as an Air Traffic Controller that would give him Parkie’s. Or whether Parkie’s is just endemic in the general population. In his words “Ain’t no time to wonder why. Whoopee, we’re all gonna die.”

Either way, I salute him for his service and pray I get to live that long. It would seem logical that America is gradually reaching the bottom of the Viet Nam barrel as far as Vets go. Various numbers are batted about but it seems the calculator is stuck at 850,000. That’s what they said in 2008 and the number hasn’t dropped appreciably since in spite of the fact that I lose 8 per year on average. Reincarnation?

Perplexity tells me between 610,000 to 850,000 still walk among us. But then, the 2020 census results revealed that in spite of the known fact that only 2.9 million of us served in-country, a whopping 13.4 million folks endorsed that they, too, had red clay betwixt their toes. Do tell. I suspect these are the Vets who pronounce Bien Hoa as Bee-in Ho-wah. I even met one at the 1992 Republican caucus in Gig Harbor. I asked him where he served because he looked pretty young. He said he was born in 1957 and got there just before they rolled up. He disremembered the name of the place he served. Time does that to you. Maybe it was with Senator “Bien Hoa” Blumenthal…

Posted in Food for the soul, Milestones, Vietnam War history | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Inspirational Veterans, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help., war mementos | 3 Comments

REDUCING THE VA BACKLOG ONE MISTAKE AT A TIME

Posted on March 1, 2026 by asknod

Several days ago, I read that VA has miraculously managed to shrink the backlog to less than 100,000 claims for the first time since 2013. At first glance, most of you would think “Holy shit, Batman. That means my claims will get done sooner.” Back the boat up to the dock, Gilligan. It doesn’t work that way. First off, allow me to set the stage for this article. I have a client for whom I won Aid and Attendance. As most do not know, because VA has perennially been narrowly interpreting its own Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) regulations to shortsheet Veterans since 1946, hundreds of thousands of Veterans were disenfranchised over the years and lost a lot of dough on just one of their regulations – §3.350(f)(3).

That error cost each and every one of you Vets with a SMC L or higher rating (up to N 1/2) a minimum of $250 per month in today’s dollars- and conceivably lots more. Obviously, SMCs L through O paid less in years past. But right now, in 2026, if you had been granted aid and attendance ten years ago and you had separate and distinct ratings adding up in VA math to 50% or more, you’re missing out on that money.

This gentleman managed to stand for his CMOH during the SOTU address.

The good news is you can file for it and get it paid back to you retroactively because it isn’t a new regulation. That makes it a CUE with retroactive application because nobody ever pitched a bitch about it for seventy eight years. And, because I think that is a rather nasty thing to do to my fellow Veterans, I’m letting you all know. It might drive the backlog up over 100,000 again but VA owes it to you.

Now, to put that in perspective, I’ve done about 500 of these SMC L aid and attendance (or higher) claims and appeals just in the past five years or so and almost each and every one of those Veterans are calling me up asking me to file for what we call the Barry bumps. §3.350(f)(3) permits a “bump” up from SMC L to L 1/2 with the above-mentioned case of 50% or more. If you had two disabilities or combinations adding up to another 50%, you’d bump to SMC M. And so on all the way up to N 1/2.

If you reach the N 1/2 combination and also had a SMC K for loss of use of winky or a mastectomy, you’d get a bump up to SMC O automatically. If your L was for aid and attendance and not for loss of use of the lower extremities, your O would “bump” up to SMC R 1. To put this into perspective, SMC L (married) pays $5120.42. SMC L 1/2 pays $5373.59. SMC M pays $5628.14. And so on. SMC R1 currently pays $10,046.47. These figures are enough to roll your mental socks down around your ankles, huh?

On the eighth day the Lord created White Phosphorus and saw that it was good.

Now let’s put this into the context of reducing the VA backlog. Simply put, how will you ever reduce the backlog when antique error is built into the equation? But there’s more. What happens if you ignore the error and keep repeating it now-in 2026? This is worse than Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill.

It’s a given that WW II, Korean and early peacetime, pre-Viet Nam Vets are probably too old or unaware that they got the poopy end of the Punji stick. But for Viet Nam Veterans, and especially the hordes now assembling in the wings from the 20-year Afstan and Iraq misunderstanding, correcting the record is going to take a while. Add in the Duran v McDonough decision pointing out that VA has also been screwing us on §4.124a DC 8000-8025 diseases since 1946, how can VA ever hope to reduce their backlog? They’re their own worst enemy and merely make more work for themselves every time they cut a new SMC rating.

On a more personal note, let’s do a peekaboo at one of the classic mistakes VBA is making every day nowadays. You finally prevail on your claim for SMC L for, let’s say, aid and attendance. By being granted the L, you are now automatically entering the “bump” zone. Since VA raters do not use innate intelligence to ascertain your correct rating or entitlement to these ancillary bumps, they just grant the L. This is the problem. VA raters don’t know how to do SMC. They resort to the fabled M 21 manual to tell them how to adjudicate a claim. Garbage in. Garbage out.

So we start with Johnny Vet’s new SMC L. In this case, he also has a 30% for migraine headaches, a 20% rating for a lower back problem and a 10% for his left knee. Using the §4.25(a) chart, he has a combined rating (30+20=44+ 10=50). Actually, he has five 10% ratings in addition to the above but we’ll get to that in a moment. The VA blew right through the Barry bump we did file for like a stop sign and didn’t even slow down. No problem. An easy fix, right? But this means while VA just reduced the backlog by one claim, they created the need for another one. But that is not the end of the matter. Oh, hell no- not by a long shot.

I can’t make this up but I’ll show you how bad the system has become. I’m unsure if it’s all the new AI or if it’s pure ignorance. That’s irrelevant. I now had to file Johnny Vet for a supplemental 995 and say he’s entitled to SMC L 1/2 (or in the vernacular of the VA, ‘the intermediate rate between L and M’) based on the headaches, back and knee. I even pointed it out for them both in VAspeak and in Dick-and-Janespeak just in case they assigned it to a FNG who’d never heard of SMC. Shoot, I went even further and attached a 4138 just in case they were still confused…

redact 995 Barry bump

VA accepted the supplemental claim but here’s where the confusion and claim # 3 begins. The intake specialist (and I use that term lightly) read this to mean Johnny wanted an increase on his headaches, lower back and knee. They promptly scheduled him for three (3) new c&p exams for each of the items I listed. Now think about this. Each one of those c&ps cost VA (and you the taxpayer) $750 bucks a pop. Poof. There went $2250 up in smoke. The silver lining to this cloud for Johnny Vet was that the Headache inspector actually read the records and checked the right box.

When I spotted all this c&p stupidity, I emailed the Coach who was supervising the rater and explained it carefully in one-syllable words. All I got was “If you have a complaint, please submit it to the Change Management Agent and s/he will transmit it to us. Otherwise, piss off.”

Fort Houston gave Johnny a brand new rating with a 50% for headaches (they just confirmed and continued his back and knee ratings). They even managed to figure out he was entitled to that SMC L 1/2 I asked for, too. But not so fast, Speedy Gonzalez. They gave him the 1/2 step bump for the headaches only. But by increasing his headaches, they accidentally created another half step bump to SMC M because Johnny has other 20 and 10% ratings that add up to 50% or more.

redact L RD for L1.5 2.24.2026

You see why I can’t make this shit up? Nobody would believe me. So here’s the code sheet. He’s now L 1/2 but he still has separate and distinct disabilities which have nothing to do with his bent brain syndrome supersized with his TBI that add up to a second 1/2 step bump. 20+10=28+10=35+10=42+10=48+10= 53%. How could Roger the Rater miss this? How could the M 21 miss it? Brain fart or programming error?

redact CS 2.24.2026

The repair order for Johnny Vet is definitely not to go for a HLR. If these folks can’t get their underwear on facing the right way when they get in the morning, expecting them to fix this is a fool’s errand. No, sadly this will require another trip to the BVA to get it sorted. Idiot’s delight. From the cheap seats where I’m sitting, I see one claim actually creating two more. In my parlance, that’s one step forward, two steps backward. If they turn around and walk backwards, they’ll get there sooner.

I do wish someone with a little pull could take this documented example up to Secretary Doug and explain the time-tested adage that haste makes waste. Or, as the Ahnold might say it, hasta la wasta, baby.

Yeah. I know. The picture’s reversed because the infeed was on the port side.

Here’s another good example of missed bumps. I’ve done about 25 of these in the last five months. More come through the door every day. To me, the crime is that you Veterans do not get to see your code sheets which means you have no idea they’re screwing you out of some serious folding money. Come to think of it, maybe that’s the idea…

redact 995 Barry bump

redact BVA filed 2.16.2026

This one was even more humorous. they turned the Vet down because he didn’t have loss of use of hands above the elbows and a few other misinterpretations of §3.350(f)(1).

Posted in Aid and Attendance, Barry Bumps in SMC, SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, VA Agents, VA special monthly compensation, Veterans Law | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with SMC Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, Service Connection, SMC Barry Bumps, VA claims, VA SMC Back Pay, VA SMC Ratings, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 2 Comments

THE SUNDAY ROUNDUP/CHICKEN LITTLE REPORT

Posted on February 22, 2026 by asknod

I find all kinds of gems scattered across the Internet. One toy I play with is a word search tool to find out where my name is mentioned to make sure nobody is putting words in my mouth. As all of you know, I don’t have to advertise young Russian hotties who seek White American Males or cheap Viagra for 87¢ a pill. I cheat. I have a law practice which pays for all this. “All this” is a whopping $100 a year. I owe my thanks to WordPress™ for that. Actually, even if I had no practice, I lucked out by marrying a rich girl.

My word search alarm went off somewhat late on this one but it’s a daisy. We talk about SMC a lot here because, well, what the hey? That’s the essence of my practice. Relax, I’m just a lowly VA Agent with permission to practice at the Court. That makes me .001% more cool than a VSO service officer in reality. Like old Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’ get no respect.” But then, I’m not a parade kind of guy. I don’t expect any.

But back to the search alarm. I see VBN (the Pink Peggy site) has really changed. It ain’t pink anymore. I hadn’t been there for almost a decade but my name popped up on one of their forums Check this discussion out. https://vetsbenefits.net/viewtopic.php?p=1643933

The word search found Tankerslead 19K interjected my website as a trustworthy source for information on SMC. Mr. Tanker was wasting his electrons. VBN treats me like an illegal alien or the crazy aunt that lives in the attic and erased my existence. But then, so did Hadit.com. Over there, they had so many threads with my name in them they couldn’t erase me so they just gave me a new moniker- Former Member. But Mr. Tanker announced:

“I’ve been reading a lot of Asknod and some of his trainees work he is more than solid has been working SMC for years his cases are very interesting and you get some Vietnam stories in the mix.”

The conversation link above is dominated by several of the Grand Poohbahs of VA law. One is an absolute hoot. As an aside, VBN booted me out long ago when I began publishing BVA decisions on asknod that contradicted all that wonderful advice they were offering over there. Grand Poohbah (GP) Cruiser even went so far as to correctly announce there is no rule forbidding two aid and attendance ratings but then promptly contradicted himself to say it cannot be done. A Veteran has a better chance of winning the Powerball Lotto than getting two a&a awards?

“To my knowledge (and I did do this at VA for 30 years so I think I’m on solid ground) there is no law or regulation that specifically says that two awards of aid and attendance cannot be granted based on separate disabilities, each requiring aid and attendance on it’s [sic] (their) own. This has always been VA’s interpretation and VA decision makers (be they raters, DROs, or BVA Judges) are required to rule accordingly.”

Since I’ve done this (double a&a ratings) about 300 times, I’m wondering if GP Cruiser spent his thirty years at the VA mopping their floors. But not to be outdone, he (she?) doubled down and stated you would have to appeal to the CAVC or the Fed. Circus to attain this rating…

“The only way you will get this is to appeal a BVA decision denying you the second aid and attendance award to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and get a Judge to overrule VA’s interpretation, either there or in a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. In other words you will only get this from a court outside of VA. I haven’t looked to see if there has already been a court ruling on this. I’ll let someone else do that.”

That’s okay. I looked it up for you, sir. It’s called Breniser versus Shinseki and it happened way back in 2011. It put the quandary he discusses to bed once and for all. I guess what scares me is that Veterans Advocates’ websites can publish this tripe with a straight face.

Lastly, on the VBN site, I notice they’re busy selling everything from cars to … wait for it… cheap Viagra. Jez- False VA law and Viagra? But I digress.

I see Hadit.com has reverted back to an ad-free venue again. In spite of the change, it would appear they’re having a hard time keeping the lights on. They have an active section devoted just to seeking donations. Again, what do they do with all this money?

$250 Dollars per year for a Patron’s Badge.

I know for a fact that I got Hadit’s owner (Theresa) SMC at the L rate for a&a back in 2018 or 19. Using the VA’s SMC calculator, we know a single Vet gets $4900.83 a month for a&a. Add in a SSA payment of at least the minimum at $1000/mo. and you’d think she would have no problem floating the Hadit boat. Go figure.

The next subject of interest this week is all the panicans going apeshit at the prospect of VA reinterpreting how §4.10 should be interpreted. To sum it up in a nutshell, this was a nonstarter. The whole thing existed on paper for 40 hours before being rescinded. Yet every guy with an ascot or a Santa Claus-sized beard is writing articles or Utubeing about how the sky is falling. Worse, even after Secretary Collins called off the dogs and pissed on the fire, the major news outlets (Stars and Stripes, Military Times etc.) were still crying in their beer about how many Veterans would be made homeless or die if this comes to pass.

Being the perennial Devil’s Advocate, let’s disassemble this and put it in perspective. Let’s say just for shits and grins that ol’ Secretary Doug did implement this for the sake of argument. The very first thing would be that if you were rated before this came into existence, VA could never use the new code interpretation to reduce your existing rating.

Another facet of the existing precedence, established back in 2012 in Jones v. Shinseki said that if the diagnostic code mentions the ameliorating effects of a medication, then you can rate on the medicated state of the Vet. Put more simply, if you had eczema and you used some kind of corticosteroid cream to help you reduce the rash or itch, then the improvement would be what you rate on. Look at Diabetes Mellitus II. Same thing. If you have it and need no medication, you get 10%. If you use metformin of glipizide, you get 20. If you have to regulate you activities and require a supervised diet then 40. And so on.

Take cancer. You get a temporary 100 for the active period when using chemo or radiation therapy. Afterwards, if it goes into remission, they rate on the residuals. So after they fry your prostate gland into charcoal and kill the cancer, they reduce you and rate on the residuals of how many Depends© undergarments you go through in a day.

I suspect the fear of most Veterans is if they are getting 50% for OSA and using a CPAP, they worry about getting reduced. Or with Bent Brain Syndrome, they’ll get a haircut based on the new and improved version of themselves on Paxil®. I get their concern. But, being the Devil’s advocate here, let me explore this.

So let’s say you’re at 70% for bugf**kyitis in a medicated state. You can still go to work as a Po-liceman and kill people but don’t need any accommodations for your disease. With the new ruling, VA is going to look at the medicated you instead of an unmedicated you. If you didn’t eat your Seroquel daily with a side of trazadone and supersized with a hit or two of 10mg Valium, you might be a basket case. But you aren’t! The drugs make you a productive member of society.

So VA is saying why give you 70% for the bent brain when they can lubricate your brain and make you functional? Seems to me the 70% or 100% rating for a Vet’s mental problems should be reserved for the guys that medication can’t even fix. One of my Vets was getting hosed with 600 mg of Thorazine three times a day back in the 90’s and it didn’t even faze him. He was certifiable then and still is.

The biggest obstacle to instituting the new rule was trying to avoid the 90 day comment period. Well, that and the that pesky Jones v. Shinseki rule recently reinforced by the New Ingram v. Collins decision at the Fed Circus. That’s what put the fear of god in them. But, just like a bullet, you can’t call Ingram back and put it back in the gun chamber. Short of Congress remodeling the regulations, Secretary Doug’s hands are tied.

I have no doubt we’re going to be revisiting this abortion at some time in the future but I don’t waste my time theorizing on all the possible what-ifs. Think back, Remember when all the Big Six VSOs were shitting their britches and saying Congress was going to do away with TDIU? I noticed §4.16 is still on the books this morning.

This Chicken Little crap about the sky is falling is beginning to become a bit much. Let’s all calm down and worry about our health-not how much we’re going to get paid for the lack of it. Truth be told, I’d turn in my SMC S tomorrow morning if I could eat some magic pill that would give me back my health. I just can’t conceive of this argument I hear that Veterans are going to have to forego their Eliquis and Entresto in order to keep their 100% rating for Ischemic Heart Disease. VFW’s bigwigs say you’d rather keel over with a bodacious Myocardial Infarction supersized with a stroke that reduces you to a vegetable in order to keep the bucks? I just don’t buy it.

Posted in CAVC Knowledge, Diagnostic Codes (DCs), Food for thought, Medical News, VA Agents | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | Leave a comment

Veterans Claims Help

AOJ LA- FIELD OF DREAMS

MEMORIAL DAY 2026- 8 NEW SOULS TO COMMEMORATE

5/07/75–51 YEARS LATER

VA’S NEW AI–§3.102(a) YOU NOW GET THE DOUBT OF THE BENEFIT

90% of VA’s survey participants express

satisfaction with their interaction with VHA

SMC–THE NEW REDUCTION GAME

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION IN SAN DIEGO

ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT AND I AIN’T GOT NOBODY

MILESTONES–JOSEPH ALLEN McDONALD 1942-2026

REDUCING THE VA BACKLOG ONE MISTAKE AT A TIME

THE SUNDAY ROUNDUP/CHICKEN LITTLE REPORT

“I’ve been reading a lot of Asknod and some of his trainees work he is more than solid has been working SMC for years his cases are very interesting and you get some Vietnam stories in the mix.”

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“I’ve been reading a lot of Asknod and some of his trainees work he is more than solid has been working SMC for years his cases are very interesting and you get some Vietnam stories in the mix.”

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