In 2016, Gulf-era veterans passed Vietnam-era veterans (and Korean/WWII) in the general population. Click the thumbnail below to see a big readable copy of the graphic below.
CAVC “wins” older veterans accomplish, pro se or with help, will eventually spare many younger veterans from the same misery dealing with the VA. All the traps set out to foil vets from the beginning of the claims process have to go. The fake C & P exams etc. have to go.
Like it or not, this bizarre institution won’t change unless veterans get involved in politics because Congress passes laws which the Secretary then revises according to whatever he can get away with.
Political actions such as Letters to the Editor are more able to persuade readers than online petitions, polls, or tweets–unless you are a Very Very Very Important Person. And some local Letters are published online and can be “shared.”
As the graphic shows, veterans and their families are more concentrated in some states; they have more political clout when they choose to exercise it. In the future, active military and veterans of color should become more influential. But everyone’s influence counts when used.
In the meantime, as the motto says, “Win or Die.”
Kiedove
asknod
brewerkelli
cspencer02
jamesaurora
kcraveiro
Laura
Veterans Claims Help 
Anybody know any place to access:
West’s veterans appeals reporter.
Available at GSU Law Library Law General Stacks, one-week circulating material (KF7705.A2 W3 ). GSU is Georgia State University and they stopped updating it in 2008. I am going to stop by and look at the old stuff, but it is hard copy. I think the online would me much more useful. Their website unfortunately requires a 2 year minimum and $200 a month. Anybody ever have access to the Veterans Appeals Reporter and find it useful or not?
Try searching on Worldcat, if there are no local libraries, contact a research librarian. To use it online they may allow you to access the data base from within the library only. However some college give alumni library privileges. Next suggestion, contact your state library service for help.
Michael–Here’s the link to Atty. website and excellent interview. Reading to the end, I was very touched by the story of the Korean veteran’s frostbite and the judge’s moral, and common sense response to the case was. Very nice.
https://www.veteranslawblog.org/board-of-veterans-appeals-judge/
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Let’s see if Alex can shed some light on the C & P exams and the legalities.
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I believe that there should be some kind of fund set aside for IMOs for veterans who can’t pay for a private doctor or specialist visit out of pocket. The other thing is that doctors who work for non-profit hospitals, should accept assignment fees at the same rate they are paid by Medicare or the VA. That would help.
This is where the local DAV, or VSO could really help if the national leaders were behind getting the IMOs. They could negotiate with the hospital’s financial office and write a press release to the local paper about the request The good people working for VSOs must feel horrible when they have to explain why they have failed to get relief for vet after vet because of the crappy C & P exams.
If the RO wasn’t interested, fine. That makes things simple. Mano-a-mano, get the hospital to agree to accept “network” /Medicare fees from veterans who seek an IMO. And just take it from there. Or better yet, volunteer to see say, 200 veterans at no charge for the independent medical opinions. Great publicity for the hospital and it will help them meet their charity work federal requirements.
Of course the administrators would have to be educated about why this was needed, and they would need instructions about how to write a nexus letter.
Receiving an inadequate C&P exam is almost SOP for the VA. I have had psychiatric exams where the doctor asked just one question ” Are you working”. Exam lasted ten minutes. I had an exam for DMII where doctor told me vets get fat on purpose just to get money for DMII. I also know no matter how good your claim is that if you don’t show up for a C&P exam you are a dead duck. The C&P exam system is so adversarial you might as well go into the exam with a tin cup and a lawyer (except they won’t let you bring a lawyer I don’t think). Beyond the C&P exam what a vet needs is an iron clad IMO to combat these hitman doctors who do C&P exams. I had the same sort of shit from worker’s compensation doctors and disability insurance doctors. They all believe injured workers or vets are fakers and frauds and resent paying taxes to support them. They are the same ones who avoided the draft and never got near a military post in their lives. If Gulf War Era vets surpass us old RVN Era vets we are in trouble since I see very few when I go to the VAMC. I see myself represented there as in broken down old Korean, Vietnam and even some WWII vets. These are the guys using the system and not younger vets in my experience. I could be wrong and I hope I am. The draft was sort of non partisan since they grabbed dumb democrats and republicans. I don’t know where they heads of Gulf Era vets are at since they are all volunteers. I volunteered because recruiter told me no way was I going to Vietnam. I was very dumb but wised up quickly but too late.
The Gulf vets are most likely working during the day, and some may have health insurance through their employer so that’s why you see mainly oldies. If the wife is also working then they may be making too much money to enroll in VA healthcare.
On the other hand, the vets who were deployed to the Gulf have been exposed to a motherload of killer-toxins that may really result in many different types of cancers as they age. In fact, I met a young policeman who served there and he has already had a tumor removed from his neck. They don’t yet know what they are up against when they file for disability benefits. It would be nice to smooth the way for them with reforms.
Some of today’s active military are working with nano-particles /chemicals; no one knows what they will do to human bodies but they are a hazard. Without reforms, the system will not be able to respond rapidly to the needs of their future healthcare needs or for their basic needs.
VA should run as smoothly as Medicare seems to. But Medicare needs to be able to negotiate drug prices the same way the VA can. (Who is putting up the that roadblock–Ds, Rs, or both???) We oldies have a lot of work to do, limited physical energy to overcome and the clock is winding down unfortunately.
John, I always attend c&p exams with my local Vets I represent-most especially for PTSD claims. They try to tell me it’s forbidden. I tell them we’ll be back when they straighten it out. They always relent on the spot. Imagine someone being arrested and asking for counsel. Can you imagine the shitstorm if the cops told the rainmaker he couldn’t be present for the interrogation?
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Judge Clemente’s interview on Chris Attig’s generous website yesterday was encouraging for “another one” purportedly caught on the proverbial hamster wheel of Remand from the BVA via the CAVC (almost one year there now on Claim/Appeal of 2006); Are my “legal perceptions legitimate”; when viewing; Sharp v. Shulkin; in that “Not having” a C and P; or “Receiving inadequate C & P”; or having a C & P that “was requested for me; the Examiner to NOT give you an exam but merely get my C & P from the RBA/ C-File/Record before The Agency”.
Are there other parameters?.
Michael, please contact me at asknod@gmail.com for an answer to your question or please supply me with the CAVC appeal number. Your query is unclear as written. I would be happy to discuss it with you.I’m not sure what “are my legal perceptions legitimate” refers to.Sharp v. Shinseki (2009) deals with dependency claims. It sounds like you are unhappy with a remand for a c&p but with all those semicolons in there, it’s confusing me.
The C and P was done prior to the Remand of January 2017.