Memorial Day is painful to some, joyous to those who aren’t a subset of America’s fallen and, sadly to most, just an excuse for a three-day weekend with a lot of burgers and brewskis.  I won’t dwell on the morose serious side. To me, even though my dad rests on Mary Custis Lee’s front lawn, Arlington National Cemetery represents the ugly fallout of War; all wars- not just our internal squabble between the north and the south.

Having participated in a war once upon a time, I survey the last fifty years and see nothing has changed. Every time we end one, it’s only a matter of time before a new trouble spot rears its ugly head and all George Santayana’s admonitions fly out the window. We bust out the yellow ribbons and the medals and patriotic fervor rises in our breasts. Again.

A stanza of Fortunate Son by Credence Clearwater Revival rises in my breast…

Yeah-yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask ’em, “How much should we give?”
Hoo, they only answer, “More, more, more, more”

In case you haven’t noticed, those eager to commit to war most often are not the same folks who’ll be carrying the flag or toting a 16. I’m sure they have all the moral and intestinal fortitude of patriotic citizens but that’s easy if your personal involvement consists of little more than raising your right hand to vote ‘Aye” to another Tonkin Gulf Resolution committing hundreds of thousands of your fellow Americans to certain death. Again.

However, I won’t dwell on that today. Dead folks don’t demand respect. How can they? They’re long gone. Only their offspring and survivors can occupy that unenviable position. In another fifty years, there will be no survivors of the Southeast Asia War Games. Ditto one hundred years hence and the eventual passing of any survivors of the Afghan/Iraq/Kuwait debacle. We’ll still have plenty of Memorials to remind us of the absolute, utter futility of War but will probably still have plenty of them folks with Star-spangled eyes just waiting for a new conflict. Again.

This last week, I encountered a completely unexpected scenario. I doubt any of you would even conceive of this happening. To put it in perspective, allow me to ‘set the table’ figuratively. Since the War of 1812 or thereabouts, we’ve had a soft spot in our hearts for our sons of war who suffer disabilities incurred in both combat and training. We have created munificent statutes (in Congress’ mind) to remunerate them for their suffering. In furtherance of that worthy objective in 1865, we were forced to enact laws to prevent Veterans from being fleeced by unsavory characters who would steal funds awarded to disabled Veterans. We had pretty much put the puppy to bed until 2006 when Congress let their guard down and eradicated criminal penalties that protect us from their depredations.

With the advent of the Pandemic, idle hands (and minds) began anew the hornswoggling of a new generation of America’s warriors. I speak, of course, of the new cadre of what we call “claims sharks”. Quite simply, in the last four years,  uneducated, unschooled and avaricious individuals have begun offering help with VA claims. Their numbers continues to metastasize exponentially and the financial harm done to Veterans’ pocketbooks, and, by extension, their dependents, is appalling. Yet Congress dithers and does nothing. Again.

Many in the field of Veterans Affairs and litigation have strongly advocated for the safety rails to be erected once again to protect our disabled Vets. Sadly, Congress’ resolve to do something is being overwhelmed by greedy interests (read lobbyists) who advocate for a wide-open free-for-all of unaccredited, unlicensed scalawags. They propose new rules that would allow those they represent to fleece Vets unmercifully. This has given rise to two competing camps advocating for two entirely different outcomes-one, the old school version where only accredited attorneys and Agents like myself are properly vetted and supervised to prevent abuse; and a new version where unlicensed, greedy operators are demanding they be allowed to charge as much as the market will bear. Again.

The two competing legislative bills in question are the “Guard” Act which would reinstitute the old penalties for practicing VA law without a license versus the “Cares” Act which would allow any Tom, Dick or Harriet to throw his (or her) hat in the ring and charge up to $12,500 for a single claim. Currently, these unscrupulous outfits in the VA litigation business currently have been known to take five months of past-due benefits, including dependency funds, on brand new claims-something forbidden by law for accredited individuals.

Putting this in perspective, the 146 Veterans Service Organizations chartered by Congress provide this service for free. We accredited representatives generally charge 20%. The most complex cases on appeal are allowed to reach 30% in some instances. But under no circumstances are we allowed to charge a dime if VA grants a brand new claim right out of the gate. So just imagine some shylock showing up, providing Mr. unsuspecting Johnny Vet with lots of help and then taking him to the cleaners for 50%-all with no guardrails or supervision to ensure honesty. Their proffered codicil? Why, they’re not greedy. A max ceiling of $12.5 K for their expertise would be a pittance for their knowledge and expertise. And besides, there aren’t enough accredited attorneys or Agents to go around so this is more fair to the Veterans.

So, you folks can imagine my surprise when Johnny (Iraqistan) Vet arrived at my front door asking for representation because his current attorney (legally accredited) wasn’t very well acquainted with Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) law. Since I know this to be true in most cases, I blindly believed his story and took his Power of Attorney for a records review only. After gaining access to his files, I realized this Veteran was what I politely refer to as a ‘frequent filer’. He had about 4 or 5 appeals pending at the Board that I would be legally required to defend if I accepted his full-blown POA. Whether they were viable, I had no way of knowing but I knew they would entail a lot of unexpected work I would be legally on the hook to defend.

I decided to hand this one off to a fellow attorney who wasn’t as busy as me but still well-versed in SMC. Before he even had a chance to do an in-depth longitudinal review of this Veteran’s claims file, a second Veteran, claiming to be a very close friend of the first Veteran, showed up and asked for help in the same SMC venue. He identified himself as a partner of the first Veteran in a “Veteran help site” with the business named “Blue Cord Patriots”. As most Army infantrymen know, they are permitted to wear the blue fourragère on their right shoulder after completing AIT. It increases the Esprit de Corps. If you’re going to become cannon fodder, you might as well look as snappy as you can to the gals.

My buddy Pete decided to take a gander at Mr. Blue Cord #2 and discovered to his dismay that the Blue Cord Patriots outfit is nothing more than another VA Claims Shark outfit. Pete called me to let me know whazzup. I immediately figured this out. Both of these Johnny Blue Cords are totally clueless as to how to prosecute and win a higher SMC claim. If they were so knowledgeable, they wouldn’t need me. What better place to learn than to hire a knowledgeable accredited representative to teach them how?

Granted, Johnny Vet #1 is a legitimate candidate for a high SMC rating. I won’t dispute that. But his former attorney was none other than Mr. Kenneth Dojaquez of Carpenter Chartered-probably one of the most knowledgeable attorneys of all things VA. I haven’t talked to Kenny about this but my guess is he caught wind of the guy’s affiliation with the Blue Cord sharks and wisely decided to part company with him. Could be I’m wrong but I strongly doubt it. As for Johnny #2, I didn’t see his file so I can’t say if he, too, was an SMC candidate. The funny thing is both are United States Air Force Veterans and the only guys who get to wear blue fouragères in the AF are aide-de-camp officers assigned to Air Force  Generals-but on their left shoulders. Nice try but no cigar, Sean and Patrick.

I guess the primary thought that comes to mind is chutzpah. Who would have the balls to surreptitiously approach an accredited VA representative with the express intention of absconding with his proprietary knowledge of SMC (or any facet of VA law) in order to sell the technique to other unsuspecting paying Veterans? You’d need a wheelbarrow to cart cojones that big around. I doubt even Commando Craig® would have the balls to do that.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not above sharing my SMC info with other accredited representatives. As a general rule, we enjoy sharing techniques to fight VA and gain benefits for our clients. Our efforts are truly driven by a strong moral compass. On the rare occasions I have witnessed other attorneys win big claims without a fight, I have never heard one utter a discouraging word about how they got screwed out of a fee for their services. Knowing some of my clients don’t have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of, I sometimes do their claims pro bono.

The business of helping Vets obtain their benefits should be altruistic. It should be an endeavor akin to what Dan Ackroyd said to John Belushi in the Blues Brothers movie- “We’re on a mission from God.” Not many aspire to be a VA ambulance chaser at 20% when you can go out into the wider world of civil litigation and charge 40-50%. The mere idea of engaging in a business to fleece anyone-let alone Veterans- should be severely punished. The shocking fact that it’s against the law in civil practice makes it all the more despicable when done by their fellow Veterans like VA Claims Insider Brian Reese and these avowed Blue Cord Patriots. I’m unsure how they can look themselves in the mirror and be proud of their endeavor…

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that. Happy Memorial Day. Don’t burn your burgers and dogs. Raise your glass in  a toast to the likes Park Bunker, Capt. USAF (below) in hopes we’ll recover his body soon. He deserves to come home.

P.S. And, as usual, LRRP Ed had to throw this one my way.