FROM THE JOHN BROWN
MEMORIAL VARO IN
HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA
Boy, when you have a VSO like this, who needs enemies? VFW is repping this guy and somehow the subject of a nexus letter never came up. Their scorecard on this latest adventure is VA-8, Vet-0. I hate that when that happens. In addition, someone hasn’t been minding the store on claim appeals deadlines. That has made it damn near impossible to get any traction for 8 years. Starting over each time is harder than hitching up all them reindeer to Santa’s sled.
Personally, if I were a registered, licensed Veterans Service Representative assigned to this Vet, I’m not sure I could look him in the eye and say I was proud of what I’d provided as a work product. The glaring truth is there is nothing to show for all those years. Proceeding on to DC, missing all the opportunities to have a hearing and eventually arriving empty-handed, save for a fistfull of VAMC VISTA records that merely confirm what everyone already knows, was a cruel joke.
This Veteran from Huntington, WV might not have been the sharpest tool in the hardware store but he sure didn’t deserve to get a legalzoom.gov, Earl Scheib, dollar three eightynine wannabe lawyer. When you set yourself up to be an expert at doing this, Vets trust you. Johnny Vet just found out the difference between trusting a well-meaning fellow and dealing with the reality of the VA shark tank.
I talk about this at great length every time I get a chance or a forum like Stardust Radio. I wrongly tend to believe that by 2013, there can’t be a Vet alive who is uninformed on this subject. Perusing the BVA decisions, I am constantly brought crashing back to earth. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of Vets help sites and almost all advocate you seek help from a VSO. Very few, however, get down in the weeds and tell you to keep your wallet in your front pocket and sit with your back to the wall.
Most of you have, by now, realized I do not harbor any admiration for VSOs. With all the revelations of high wages and Dom Perignon for the CEOs, their disdain for Vietnam Vets and their seeming inability to field a winning team either in Huntington or Washington DC, I have no use for them. This poor Vet invested his trust and 8 years of his claims life to a guy who couldn’t light a fart with nothing to show for the effort on all eight of his claims.
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 
Is this the link?
http://www.va.gov/vetapp13/files2/1312539.txt
I don’t really understand why the Veteran is having such a difficult time. The former Director of the West Virginia Dept. of Veterans Affairs is a VFW board member and has been for a number of years. I can’t understand why he wouldn’t step in and help this guy. Oh, I forgot, he doesn’t know crap about Veterans filing for disability from the VA.
No Banjos please. West Virginia and especially Southern West Virginia has always been ignored by those in charge. Whether it be a Politician or VFW Service Officer. The VFW’s I’m aware of are more interested in selling tips from a board and asking if you want another beer. Many Veterans being alcoholics can be traced right back to VFW and American Legion’s in our area. We didn’t invent self medication but we sure as hell made an art of it. We have in West Virginia a “Veteran’s Council”. This Council appointed by the governor was responsible for the operation of the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs in West Virginia. Wanna talk about a FUBAR. The new Governor mad it a Cabinet Level position. Now its a stopover for politician’s. We didn’t have a webpage until a couple of years ago. Not much help either way.
However several years ago I realized there was no help available for disability claims for Veterans wanting to file. So I started an organization and by an act of Congress made the VA put in place in Logan, West Virginia the first VA Outstation in the U.S.. My daughter then 17 served as a VSO, She was trained by VVA in Washington for ten days and the rest she learned the hard way. We sent hundreds through the system. We watched many of our friends die of horrendous diseases. I went on to build the West Virginia Veterans Memorial on the State Capitol Grounds in Charleston, West Virginia. Incidentally with little or no help from the VFW and American Legion. I realize this gives only a glimpse of what has been done in West Virginia but I drained me and our family. We are very pessimistic that anything good is going to happen for Veteran’s in West Virginia. Again my thanks for your service and work with Veterans.
Kyle Workman
Retired Ex. Director, West Virginia Veterans Memorial Inc.
Huntington, WV.
Thank You Kyle, you are a Good Man.
Thank you hepsick. Compliments are not what I usually get but most gratefully accepted.
Mr. Workman, that is exactly the type of non-service I encountered here in the northern panhandle. So I did it myself with the guidance of askNOD (the man, the book, and the website) and a few online resources. Luckily, Huntington seems to have most of it in one sock and I came out faring much better than expected. I have attempted to get VA certification to help Vets in this area and hit nothing but bricks and dead ends.
I’m glad you’re have some good luck in the Northern Panhandle. Of course without the help of the Veteran’s Council {controlled by the American Legion and VFW} life can be made more difficult for anyone trying to help Veterans. Anyway I applaud your efforts and thank you for your service.
Wait a minute. You can’t just have any old Tom, Dick or Harry Vet running running around willy nilly helping Vets unsupervised. Think of the confusion and error that might ensue. No. It’s better to have it centrally located and supervised by old hands who know what they’re doing. They’ve been doing it this way since the French and Indian Wars. It worked then and it works now.They call it the Good Ol’ Boy Network. Wanna join?
Your Part of the Scam or your not, They Do Not want Honest People in the system, The TRUTH might get out. Everything is upside down ass Backwards, They really do not want to help US, when you come to this Truth, its easy to understand, that the Bad Guys run the whole dam thing.
How absolutely true that is. At one time I thought it was only in West Virginia. Now I know its a nationwide problem. The organized Vets groups are no more than political hacks. I think the DAV is a little different but the majority of other groups are there for the politics .
Yeppers, 10-4, You Got It.
This guy…. sheesh.
From the decision… “Furthermore, as noted above, the Veteran failed to appear for a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge.” WTF? Must have forgot to annotate his calendar in Outlook.
This guy was done even before his drinking buddy/VSO got ahold of it.
I hear banjos.
Yeppers. I was wondering if you could drop by the bar with a copy of the BVA disaster and ask who wants to own it. You’re not a Vietnam Vet so they may let you in there. Wait. You served in peacetime. Sorry. No membership for you, hoss.
Where can I get that Bumper Sticker?????