I always got a bang out of B-52 milk truck drivers. They’d belly up to  the stag bar and regale each other with their “mission”. As in “There we were at Angels 20 and we cut lose. The gooks never knew what hit them. ” What were they thinking? That the bombs might miss the ground? What can you see at 20, 000 feet above mean sea level? In a word? Nothing.

As a corollary, in the construction industry, many contractors have that laissez faire attitude. It has many iterations with the 20,000 ft. test being just one. Variations are the five mile, five minute warranty, the six foot rule and “You can’t see it from my house” rule. The six foot rule is the most amusing. A contractor will cut a small diameter stick six feet long and keep it handy.  When they do the walk through on a new home, he’ll employ it to show he doesn’t have to fix a blemish by proving from six feet away that it is invisible to the naked eye. This is written into the contract innocuously such that most would not ascertain the significance of it.

Similarly, the VA enjoys flying at this exalted altitude or employing their six foot stick too. The reason being is so they can misconstrue what it is that anyone with an ounce of intelligence could extrapolate from incoming correspondence. Let’s look at Member JM’s predicament.

JM has been in contact with me for several months. He doesn’t have HCV but that does not preclude my giving him advice on how to do this. A claim is a claim and VA manages to hamburger all of them to some degree. He was visiting a sister site for Vets and was rudely brushed off by some of their moderators. I won’t mention which site but it’s the one with the pink peggy logo. JM’s problem began with his denial following an October 2010 filing for his knee (right). He can no longer stand and work for prolonged periods of time and finally opted to take Uncle Sam up on his promise of care in the event he was injured playing war. Uncle Sam, as you will read below, said “Well…not exactly”.

Where this gets humorous (if such a thing is possible when you’re broke and almost homeless) is what ensued afterwards. JM filed a NOD and the vA decided it was a reopen of a new claim. Nevermind that he still had eleven months to file the NOD on the existing claim. Hell, no. He must want to file for a reopen! When he tried to straighten out that error in March via an IRIS, he got the “Roger. We copy you want to reopen the finally denied old claim for the right knee”. Again, we’re still within the one year window for his NOD and now he has three claims running for the same right knee. I know what you’re thinking. He’s one of those Thalidomide babies from the sixties with three right knees. Wrong. JM is much younger and is a product of the 9/11 krewe.

Below are some of the documents he sent me that prove his chronic, permanent condition. Of course, when traveling at 20,000 feet, it’s difficult for vA to read these documents. That is, assuming they want to read them. 

Here’s the IRIS.

JM responded thusly:

I want to make it clear that I have filed  a NOD for my claim dated october 2010 (within the year time period allowed from denial).  I have not asked for a new claim.  I intend to preserve the original claim date of october 2010. since it apparently does not exist from the feedback I am getting I have resent it. I also want to make it clear that the VSO does not have power of attorney over me and anything they do is without my consent.  The only new claim that I have filed is for my Back which was sighned certified mail as recieved RRR april 6,2012, along with another NOD letter, and also revoction of POA from the VSO.  I filed this NOD regarding my oct 2010 knee claim becuase the reason for denial directly contradicted the evidence given to the VA.  The denial said there was no evidence of disability, yet my army medical documents provided clearly and specificaly referd to my chorinic disabilty due to injury in 2005.  They stated this specificaly in plain english with a diagnosis,on a  documenation of injury, profile and memarandum for medical discharge.  This was all current at the time I filed for cpmensation and I am currently being treatd by the VA for this .   Furthermore the Dr at QTC did not do a medical exam on me.  He gave me an xray and did not do the exam that he said he did in his write up which also conflicted with my army medical records.

If any of you wondered why we have this interminable delay at the vA, this will set your mind at ease or raise your hackles. It’s classic proof of Murphy’s law. It can, and indeed did, go wrong. Unfortunately for JM, vA has decided to play the “We’re so confused we cannot figure out what it is exactly that you want. Could you please clarify what precisely it is you are trying to say in English? We’re here to serve you but we simply can’t help if you don’t tell us.”

This is a classic old ploy vA has used for decades and it has fallen into disuse until now apparently. We may see more of this with the backlog reaching epic proportions. Prepare for a tsunami of  correspondence purposefully torqued out of context soon from the masters of doublespeak. The good news. It will only take 162 days this time to  deny it even though they already have all the paperwork!

P.S. By the way, thanks for leaving your SSN and DOB on those documents, JM. I just ordered a set of golf clubs on your new Mastercard. Cost? About $899.00 . Improvement to my golf game? Priceless.