Member Bob sent us this from the city that manufactures  Binford Tools and motor vehicles. It is a classic example of what I call divide and conquer. The Veteran has been asked to be honest. This he does. VA immediately drags out the credibility Powerpoint Presentation and dissects his answers in such a way as to make it sound like he’s making it up as he goes along. This allows them to deny it for several years and then force him to head to D.C. By denigrating the perfectly good nexus information from not one, but two doctors, they are violating the whole process of VA jurisprudence (Colvin v. Derwinski 1991). Here a VA examiner-a  ratings “specialist” if you will- has donned the Ben Casey stethoscope and opined that the two doctors are wrong. What makes this delicious is that one of the two is a VA psychiatrist. Mix in a little mish mash about too many stressors  and not identifying them with proper documentation or timeliness, and you have what appears on its face to be Vincent Vet malingering and looking for a VA handout. Voila! Claim denied. Remember divide and conquer.

Remember the old movie sets with the crew called “continuity”? Everything had to remain in its place or be returned to where it was at the start of shooting a scene to prevent cars from jumping or silverware from disappearing. Likewise, your claim has to have continuity. Don’t allow it to be unstructured. Everything must occur the same way each time in the retelling. “My mental state is due to this: A)_____________; B)__________; and C)__________. It happened 2/3/1968. I was in Qui Nhon and they were shooting at me. I swear that the above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Signed Vincent Vet. SSN 123-45-6789. ”

Like my pilot used to say: “If we’re shot down, give them your name, rank, airspeed and tail number. And pass the Scotch and be quick about it.”

If you’re blind like me, click on these jpegs and then click on them a second time to get good magnification.

This is why we are condemned to wait forever for a decision. These VA Examiners were imported from IOWA- Idiots Out Walking Around.

P.S. In deference to Gail from Iowa (the 29th State), I apologize for the slight. I tried to divorce it from yours by capitalizing all the letters. It appears I failed. No offense intended. Just my warped sense of humor. I’m sure Iowa is a beautiful state with many intelligent souls. I hear they grow corn there.