Dang. And I thought they were dragging their feet on my claim. Check this out. Major Reno’s great grandson files for Hep C in 1995. This assumes they didn’t take more than a year to deny from filing date. And then the famous deny and delay unto death begins. This one is far more entertaining and legally intense than mine ever was.

May 1995 RO denial at St. Fumbleburg, Florida.

BVA  Traveling Board hearing September 1996

BVA denial March 1997

Vet files Motion For Reconsideration  (MFR) June 1997.

BVA declines request for MFR August 1997

Vet  files Notice of Appeal (NOA) to CAVC late 1997

CAVC (Court) affirms BVA decision July 1999

Vet appeals to 3rd Federal Circus Fall 1999

Fed. Circus affirms Court decision September 2000

VCAA kicks in and VA agrees to an Unopposed motion for voluntary remand back to the CAVC anyway.

Court vacates 1997 BVA decision and remands back to BVA .

BVA remands to RO in August 2001 and again in January 2004 for more development

Meanwhile, back at the BVA ranch, while the January 2004 development of the claim was in remand, the VLJ overseeing the case up and retired. Therefore a new VLJ was saddled up .

New BVA Traveling Board hearing  August 2009

BVA denial (again) May 2010

Sgt. Reno files new NOA with the CAVC late summer 2010

Court vacates May 2010 BVA decision September 2011

DOCKET NO. 95-32 722, now almost 13 years old, is remanded back to BVA  in early 2012

BVA remands claim back to the George Armstrong Custer Memorial VARO located in Fort Harrison, Montana July 10th, 2012 for assembly of records which seem to never have been fetched.

NPRC will diligently research its records for several minutes and notice no current medical facilities located in Pleiku City, Democratic Republic of Vietnam. As for the Firebase November SMRs, those records are insulation in a bamboo hut somewhere nearby. Right about now the NPRC is mailing a letter to the RO saying there is no such medical facility listed in their database.

JSSRC will diligently report after a year that there was indeed a Firebase November located XX klics from Engineer Hill Medevac Facilities but there is no mention of an attack on the outpost so PTSD (and HCV) cannot be verified.

The BVA , in June 2014 will deny the claim again and this time will put bright red sealing wax on the imprimatur. Sgt. Reno will futilely appeal and file his NOA by August 2014.

The Court will convene in a single judge decision (SJD) shortly thereafter in June 2015, our much-traveled Veteran will receive notice that the Court has reaffirmed the denial yet again. The attached note to the flowers will read “No flies on us!”

I guess we can safely say he’ll try the Circus again based on some obscure point of law. This is undoubtedly the best example of Win or Die I’ve seen in all my time studying this vA enigma. Trying to get useful info out of the NPRC is a crap shoot. The JSSRC is an admirable group and are fairly diligent in comparison. What is missing here is a coordinated search in the right place for the correct knowledge. I suspect NPRC has medical inpatient records on this guy over in the hospital records section of the warehouse with all the rest.  That’s where the search should focus. In reality the Chicken Little scenario will ensue. When all are satisfied that they cannot produce anything, the Vet will be buried in 2020 and his spouse will take over. Imagine. This was done with a Law dog. If he’d attempted this by himself they’d be playing the “We thought you were trying to reopen the old claim. Sorry Bro. Back to Fort Fumble via the AMC.”

The November VA “What? Me worry?” award is therefore shared equally between the St. Pete’s and Fort Harrison ROs for mutually culpable crimes. Attorney Robert M. Kampfer gets a big gold star next to his name for perseverance above and beyond the call of duty and little else. Why they (law dogs) go to the floor for us is a miracle in this legal environment.

Remember, folks. 125 days and 98% coming to a VARO near you-soon.