Once upon a time I spoke French for a living in the Air Force. One euphemism that comes to mind is the title to this epiphany. Literally translated, it says After me, the deluge. A deluge involves a lot of water. Think Moses crossing the Red Sea. Think Noah. What it has always meant as a  French euphemism and still means today is “Who cares what happens tomorrow? I’m outta here”. It can be traced  back to  Louis XV or his significant other- Madame Pompadour. It has resonance in this context because the VA has embraced this philosophy. They (VA decision makers) are merely here for a blink of the eye (twenty years for the most part) and have absolutely no interest in crafting a solution to the intractable bottleneck we currently endure compounded by grossly inflated accuracy percentages.

We hear day in and day out from none other than the Under Secretary for Excuses  Allison A. “Chipmunk” Hickey about how VA is striving to reach a 98 % accuracy rating from the current 86% one. No one is patting down the Emperor to ensure his clothing is invisible. It is assumed he’s wearing something and not out and about Commando-style.

The truth, as we all know it from the VBM (i.e. the Veterans Benefits Manual  by LexisNexis) is that the best they can really hope to ascribe to this process is 40%. This is based solely on the fact that the minuscule number of Appeals that make it to the Court are remanded, vacated or reversed on the order of 60% and sometimes greater.  Thus we are not stupefied to discover the VAOIG has turned up this very same factoid without a methane detector to sense the presence of bull manure. They just discovered this at Nashville, Kentucky of all places. I have written about a plethora of BVA decisions that emanated from this RO and they have all gone in favor of the Vet for the most part. Now we are crushed to find that the actual VARO, not withstanding it’s stellar reputation for clear and concise adjudications, is still in the dog house and only has an abysmal success (read correct) rate of 40%.

I have been harping on the fact that if 85% if you Vets fail to appeal your denials and go home, the VA counts that as a “correct” decision. In essence, their decision was proper and correct. Had it been in error, you would have appealed it. Simple logic dictates that you are smart and if they’re wrong, you will object. Nothing drove this home more clearly than the recent NOVA decision at the Federal Circuit when the VASEC said virtually the same thing.

Reality is far different as most know. When told you’re a goldbrick and a Safeway “slip on the floor club” charter member looking for the gravy train, most Vets would take umbrage and walk away convinced the system was rigged. They wouldn’t be far off, would they? According to VA’s much-vaunted statistics  no fewer than 85% of us file bogus claims. So it should come as no epiphany that Nashville has been blowing  bubbles lo these many years. But is Nashville an island in this respect? Would that it were true. Anyone investigating this phenomenon would be advised to be fleet of foot and measure all VAROs at once to resurrect their combined credibility nationwide. A simultaneous amalgam of all 57 would ostensibly raise the percentage of accuracy and make them all look better. Doing it piecemeal ensures the VAOIG hammer does not arouse undue attention nationally. Egregious numbers from individual ROs are not liable to cause alarm.

Actually, by transcribing this into a VAOIG report, it should be no great leap of faith to ascertain that most, if not all VAROs, are guilty of this error. Everyone would like to believe that their shop produces perfect widgets. When the VA hierarchy heralds this day in and day out and is even so bold as to tout these statistics at  House or Senate hearings, they attain some semblance or cachet of validity. All this come crashing back to earth like a drunken albatross when the VAOIG shows up. The GAO apparently is in cahoots with them, too judging by the statistics. Rodney Dangerfield had it right. “I don’t get no respect” was his famous byline and it sends the bolt home.

VA can profess to be the Virgin Mary and blame the backlog on Immaculate Conception but that doesn’t change reality. Reality is a harsh taskmaster and once exposed cannot be  made the scapegoat. The ugly reality, much like the naked Emperor, is becoming apparent to Congress and they are not happy campers. Simply ramping up the speed and number of decisions does not ensure accuracy. VA doesn’t get this.

With the unveiling of these indisputable percentages, the VA’s gorgeous sweater is unraveling before their very eyes. Everything they have blamed, including the deluge of Vets applying, is becoming a nonstarter. Remember that VA encouraged the military, at the behest of Vet’s Service organizations, to start briefing our future Veterans before separation on the ins and outs of filing. Now they are implicated as the progenitors of the backlog. To add insult to injury, they are filing as instructed for 5 to 8( and even 10 disabilities) they believe were incurred in service.  So too, are the plethora of Vietnam Vets after the new presumptives were announced in 2010 for IHD, hairy cell leukemia and Parkinson’s.  What’s a body to do? Well, according to the VA, the answer is “Please don’t send the VAOIG to our VAROs and unveil the truth”.

Nashville is no more an anomaly than any other VARO. The poor VSRs are under the gun to crank out 3-7 decisions a day and take care of this interminable Agent Orange debacle. Throw in some Congressional Interests that demand instant responses and a few Channel 7 CBS specials about the homeless Vets with PTSD languishing under  bridges with an ever-changing zip code and you have the perfect storm- gridlock with no escape on the horizon. I won’t throw in the VBMS they saddled 20 VAROs with. Those poor raters are in tears and I don’t blame them.

Does anyone reading this think  Nashville (or Louis XV for that matter) gave a rat’s ass about the findings? Of course not. This is business as usual. Having the VAOIG air your dirty laundry is actually the ultimate bitchslap because they work for the same outfit-VBA. It’s hard enough to do this without Congressional intervention every five minutes. Imagine your own organization coming in and dumping on you. The hierarchy at the ROs must think that Chicken Little may be on to something. What else can you surmise when claims keep backing up and the same old excuses you’ve been proffering for the last fifty years are unavailing? Worse, your own organization arrives and informs the world that your carefully crafted accuracy numbers are not only suspect but aren’t even close to reality.

Agency comments ?

The VARO Director concurred with our recommendations. Management’s planned actions are responsive and we will follow up as required.

They neglected to mention that the VARO director was given a medal, a bonus and transferred to Oakland to “fix” their problems. Ulrike Williams will be transferred to Dayton to deal with their “unique challenges” and so on and so forth. Eventually, everyone will move forward in a “musical chairs” game  and be promoted. Bonuses will be paid and hearts will burst with joy. Unfortunately there will be no joy in Vetville because mighty Casey, the  PTSD Vet, struck out and sucked on a lead Popsicle.

VA Service Center Managers