I’m sure we’ve all read the pablum supplied to us by Under Secretary for Benefits Allison “Wonderland” Hickey and her PR flacks regarding the backlog. Aaron Glantz of the Center for Investigative Reporting has assembled a fancy tool for determining just how bad it really is.  Not that VA is prone to stretching the truth, but it’s always nice to have an independent source with no skin in the game.  Politics aside, I’d be miffed regardless of which political party was the holdup. Ladies and Gentlemen Vets, this is far worse that the VA has been painting it. 

With the advent of the Veterans Benefits Management System, we expected an orderly transition to a paperless system-one that worked. VA can’t even figure out how many servers it will need when all 58 VAROs are up and running by the end of 2013 or… well, when they actually will get finished flushing out the bugs. That’s the ugly truth about design-build concepts. They have wrinkles that beget more wrinkles until the system becomes a patchwork of fixes instead of a well thought out integral creation.

With the new Provisional Ratings program, there will be another bump up in the backlog. VA admits this but seems to think they can still tame the lion before 2015.

Mr. Glantz has created a lovely new misery meter to keep us informed of what isn’t happening at our local ROs. Now you can keep track of where your claim should be using  hard VARO statistical data from prior years-but isn’t.

I’ll put this above in the widgets under the VCM labeled CIR Misery Meter so you can all click on it to consult the 8 ball. This new tool will be more accurate (and honest) than calling 800 Dial a Prayer or an IRIS “What’s going on?” query.  Here are some of the cutting edge subjects you can learn to quote from over dinner with the wife to explain why you may be changing your zip code for something more “variable” (read homeless). It will give you these  new statistics consistently updated to the latest Monday morning reports:

>Veterans waiting on a disability claim: The number of veterans waiting for a response from the VA for compensation for a disease, injury or illness linked to service in the military.

>Average processing time: The average number of days veterans wait for a decision from the VA.

>Average wait for new claims: The average number of days veterans filing a claim for the first time wait for a response from the VA.

>Average time to decide an appeal: The average number of days veterans wait for a response from the VA if they were denied their original claim and had to appeal.

>Completed claims: The number of claims processed by the VA by month.

>Claims received: The number of claims received by the VA by month.

>Claims completed per FTE: The number of claims processed per VA claims employee over the course of a year.

>Employees on duty: Number of claims staff working at the veterans service center at each VA regional office.

>Claims pending at least 125 days: The number of unprocessed claims at least 125 days old, including appeals.

>Claims pending at least one year: The number of unprocessed claims at least a year old, including appeals.

In fact, the only thing Mr. Glantz has neglected here is a good Rand McNally Atlas GPS app that shows the most desirable overpass homeless camping opportunities within walking or hitchhiking distance from the VAROs. I have taken the liberty of doing so.

QR Code for homeless Vets by VARO

I think a I speak for all Vets when I say that Mr. Glantz has provided us with a valuable tool to decide where to file. This news will allow Vets to vote with their feet and make cogent geographical choices about life until a grant of their claims materializes.