Happy Veterans Day coming up to all of you. I’m on the road again this week to Tennessee. Ray Cobb asked me to give a speech to a lot of VSO service officers and the general Veterans public on the subject of SMC. Included in the show will be Exposed Vets Radio host John Stacy, Beth Spangenberg, PA-C of the Valor4Vet IMO outfit, and many more.
Sharing a Marb and aerating the perimeter.
One thing I get a bang out of is meeting all these Vets. I represented Ray before the VA for his R2 but one of my Vietnam clients, Donald and his lovely wife Barbara from Portland TN of the 51st Inf.(LRP) will also be there. I had a long interesting fight to get Donald his TDIU. Who’d a figured VA would give him a ration of shit about PTSD? Jez, he’s got a Bronze Star, two ARCOMs and two Air Medals. What all else did they want? A MOH with a cherry on top?
Taking the Uber to work.
Possibly even coolest is all the R1s and R2s on parade. There’s going to be a constellation of them at this gig. James Cripps is slated to be there unless I’m ill-informed. Some of these I had a direct hand in and some I “ghosted” if I was too busy. Regardless, nothing gives me such a bang as to set up a good SMC ambush and lead VA right into it using their very own regulations. Them Veterans Service Center Managers (VSCMs) and Coaches in the ROs across the land think they’re too cool for school. It gives me great pleasure to take them down a notch or two with 38 CFR §3.350.
The Veterans Conference is an all day affair this coming Wednesday, the 8th of November in Winchester, Tennessee at the First United Methodist Church, 100 South Jefferson Street. The seminar begins at 0830 Hrs EST and runs until 1600 Hrs. unless anyone gets long-winded. I reckon they’ll pull the plug for lunch but the article I read didn’t discuss anything more than donuts and coffee. Reservations are a must. Call Ray at (931) 308-8914 to check to see if any seating is left.
NAPE-aka Liquid Sunshine, Hot Soup
Hope to see you there and if you’re one of my clients, I’d be honored to shake any of you all’s hand. Bring your cameras. I have Vets scattered all over the fruited plains and it flat out tickles me half to death to get out of my office and actually set eyes on them. Sadly, a lot are severely disabled in one way or another or on the verge of punching out. Representing the most disabled is an emotionally challenging job and we lose more than a few every year during the pendency of their claims. It then becomes a battle royale after DIC to to finish it for the surviving spouse. I relish that eventuality because VA thinks they can chump the widow out of her accrued claims with a paper blizzard. Not on my watch, bubba.
P.S. A good friend (LURP) sent me this one (from North Carolina) left over from Halloween. Ah-ah-ah. No comments from the Peanut Gallery. This is a G-rated website.
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 
As David Murphy said, “God’s work you do.”
I’d like to know if any of the VSO’s have ever used the FOA to get unpublished internal documents such as training papers from BVA. Unpublished guidelines for Community Care.
It is my understanding–could be wrong–that documents (and images) created by and for government employees and/or (most?) are owned by the public, therefore, unless there are CLASSIFIED (national security) they can be released.
This would be incredibly helpful for veteran work, everyone including journalists and lawmakers who are also in the semi-dark. The congressional hearings (CSPAN) barely scratch the surface. And the questions are, hmmm, often leading or off base.
There are small VSOs who probably don’t get invited because their voting base is smaller than, say, DVA’s.,
Then there is the problem of getting information into an Open Access archive so that everyone can learn from them. And people can deposit them safely as files, make backups, etc…to help everyone. And there could be useful files languishing in file cabinets and “the cloud”, such as those that have been posted on ASKNOD, deposited and accessible. Names can be redacted of course of course but I don’t see why the author of a training document would need to be withheld.
Possibly Internet Archive could be a suitable home. The trick is knowing what to ask for.
Internet Archive has lost a court challenge from the big publishers who don’t them them to lend their digitized works if–they are still in copyright–to the public. Some compromises may have been reached for some access. People with low eyesight can probably read many works. I don’t know the case details. We make small donations to Wikileaks and Internet Archive. They report that only a small percentage of users, heavy or light, give anything. I was told by another retired person, who makes small donations to say, St. Jude’s, gave a few dollars, millions more could be raised. She made a great point on how she spreads her widow’s mite.
JUST AN IDEA:
In anycase, FOI requests are costly I’ve heard. Maybe selling some ASKNOD mugs, hats etc..could become a source of funds for misc. veteran needs in the future.
Perhaps a trusted volunteer (?) veteran group could manage the effort and make sure everything is made in the USA or Fair Trade certified companies, such as organic coffee. (Made by unions and Veteran-owned would also be a plus in my eyes.)
Gods Work you do