Today we’ll talk about the complete turnaround in attitude, the new VA Rodney King “Can’t we all just get along?” plaint and more. VA VR&E folks are not saddled with this phenomenon more than once in a lifetime. My original “Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC in VR&Espeak) was the low man on the totem pole and got the “Go deal with the nutjob but make sure the GPS on the vehicle is operational in case we have to come find you.” job.

Kris arrived with knee pads and proceeded to apologize as only a VA weenie can. It began with”We were trained to ah work on getting you back to ah work… or… We always thought that ah, avocational pursuits were ah  right out… or…. The M 28 is mighty vague on a lot of this and we ah simply had nothing to ah go on…  The only thing besides too many ahhs and mouth breathers that ticks me off are people who use “yuh know” about sixteen times in a sentence. If you hear me use ‘you know’ it’s because you are the subject of the sentence and ‘you know’ is at the beginning.

Here are a few head notes to look at re the show. I present a live, defective Individual Independent Living Plan or IILP. There are several preliminary objectives.

New IILP for 2016 redacted

1) They want a c&p of sorts to make sure I don’t keel over from a myocardial infarct. They wanted me to go to the Bremerton Community Based Outpatient Clinic which they now call the Bremerton VAMC. One large room- two doctors, four nurses, four examining rooms. A lab to draw blood and urine for drug testing. Basically, the usual including about half of the population suffering from what sounds like double pneumonia. I traded and said we’d use my treating Medicare physician-you know, the one with the real nedical degree from an American hospital/Med school.

2) GSA Contractor will survey and build to suit me based on medical/ADA needs. (right!)

3) I promise to continue seeing my physician to make sure I am healthy

4) Lastly, the program will commence as soon as I sign it, not when the greenhouse is built. Worse, it will end in a year in April 2017. This is VA at their finest hour. I get free electricity, free propane and free fertilizer for eight months. I said I wanted a 2-year commitment as most ILP ‘rehabilitations’ run. They agreed 24 hours later without a blink of the eye. That’s a passel of propane, partner.

Next, I want to give you a jolt. The bid from Farmtek is almost eight months old but they promised to honor the price.

greenhouse + install quote redact  As you see, this is already up to $74,544.20 FOB.

Then there’s the utilities into the new structure. And the slab on grade foundation with a 36″ high foundation walls on the low sides for about $10 K-and of course the 24 X 48 X 4″ thick slab. And the rubber mats in case I fall down. And…

My VRC tells me there are more eyes in Washington’s VA Central Office (VACO) on this than there are eyes in a potato patch. Every comma, every change in the document I attached above requires 500 attorneys to parse it for the potential financial effects. Remember, we cannot go over $180,000.00. Oddly, when Bruce McCartney did this in Georgia back in 2007, he squeaked by on about $35 K. And for a 30 X sixty monster. All I originally asked for was a bigger greenhouse than the 6X8 I was in. VA could have gotten away for a song and a dance with a six by sixteen but they decided to fight. Now we’re talkin’ 1152 ft.². That’s bigger than a lot of houses I’ve built.

And that is what we are going to talk about today. Many of you have fought long and hard to win your VA benefits. Ratings shenanigans are a classic example of the VR&E’s techniques or vice versa.. They ignore the rules, they overlook evidence and then misinterpret the evidence they do have.  I don’t know it it’s on purpose. Who cares? You want to win so there’s nothing gained wondering what went wrong. We’re going to teach you how to do a VR&E nexus. Here’s mine.

ILP Evaluation 8-2014 redact

Here’s the BVA decision.

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp15/Files5/1538123.txt

The Show starts a 1600 on the left Coast and 1900 on the (L)east Coast. And yes, I will answer Buck’s question at the beginning.

“say in a case that the vet was awarded a 50% back in 1998 but never received anything until 2001 and then it was just an award letter letting me know I been awarded a 50% increase  dated back to when I filed for the increase which was about a year later…..in my recent ptsd award letter they stated I been 50% since 1998  that is news to me because I seem to on;y have got the 50% award in 2001 or dated back to 2001 and was awarded it in 2002  so they did give me a years worth of retro.”

Remember, the telephone number to dial in and listen is

347-237-4819

To open mouth and insert foot, press one (1) at any time. We welcome callers.

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