No, you’re not reading a new regulation. You’re reading about VA’s new way of interpreting the old one. Pop a cold one and requisition a bowel of some Dot’s™ pretzels. This isn’t going to take a sixpak to explain. It’s a sign of the times. Face it. America, and the world, is now experiencing mega-intelligence gains in leaps and bounds. Well, everyone but Iran that is. But hey. They do possess the world’s largest fleet of submarines now.  Computers are reaching Skynet quality. It was inevitable the moment Cro Magnon man figured out how to make fire.

This story is about AI. We can’t escape its reach. The whole game of VA compensation has always been underfunded and overworked. Between the hospitals and the cemeteries, it’s been understaffed, too.  I knew that much in 2008 when I finally got a copy of my claims file in glorious color. There were mustard stains on the blue 1994 VA 21-6789 deferred rating sheet. VA raters were working from their desks at lunch just to even hope to keep up back then-without computers. VA has always been on a short budget leash of sorts but there was always money for the Christmas Party and the Karaoke machines. And there were always bonuses for all the hard-working Coaches who orchestrated a month free of any grants.

Here we are in 2026 and the number of line raters is still a finite number proportionally- unequal in comparison to a now-vastly expanded Agency with more bean counters than there are beans to count. A 20-year war with lots of TBI can create that. VA even has Customer Satisfaction Survey offices whose sole endeavor is to survey the shit out of everything and massage the numbers to say things like

90% of VA’s survey participants express

satisfaction with their interaction with VHA

Let’s put that into context. The surveyors went into the post-surgery recovery room at the Seattle VAMC and interviewed some mega-Fentanyled, post-anesthesia Vets who were asked “Are you satisfied with your interactions with VA today?” Nine out of ten (90%) appeared to nod their heads up and down occasionally. Bingo. 90%. Vet #10 hadn’t recovered sufficiently to raise his head to nod one way or the other.

Now let’s apply this to VA’s perennial problem of line raters quitting after about a year or two after realizing they’re going to be rode hard and put away wet for $48 K a year… for 5-6 years before they can cross train into a RQRSRVW quality control dude or apply for that cushy Congressional Interests berth.

VA raters have to produce X number of  “actions” per day/week or risk getting put on a performance review. True, raters probably don’t give a shit whether they grant or deny but the decision has to be the correct one. And besides, the claim is always handed to the Coach for a day or two before meaning the VSR writes what Coach says to write. What? You think a VSR gets to do the “grant if you can/deny if you must” dance?  No more dart boards and blindfolds in the 21st Century. But, with the advent of the 21st century, and the addition of a new 20-year war and all its brand new disabled Vets, raters are plumb overwhelmed. They burn out. And here comes AI just in time.

Everyone at 810 Deny Ave. NW knew choosing not to add thousands more raters just made the backlog worse…but-but-but if you had a magic 8 ball that could make all those decisions in the blink of an eye and the 8 ball didn’t require a paid family medical plan or a 30-day guaranteed annual vacation, look at all the money you could …  Wowser. But you could wipe out the backlog faster than you could say Doug Collins and never have another one. This is like trusting a self-driving car implicitly-even at 80 mph in rush hour traffic.

Welcome to the new Improved VA. Now let’s take a gander at some of this new “machine” expertise versus, well, the VA’s human cohort assisted by the M 21. Was the decision correct? Who cares? Not our problem. Call the Board or OGC. Statistically, VA screws up 74% of anything it gets involved in compensation-wise. If they’re already using AI, that doesn’t say much for its accuracy now does it?

Here’s a client I have up at the Court currently fighting this AI monster. Here’s his code sheet from 2019- it says he was granted loss of use of his bilateral feet. That’s presumed to be correct unless the VA can prove CUE somehow. But the AMA has a new back door called §3.2601. If you file a 996 and do a HLR, the DRO dude says he can mix and match and change your ratings as long as it doesn’t end up being a reduction in pay.  §3.2601(j) says, inter alia, ” In addition, the higher-level adjudicator will not revise the outcome in a manner that is less advantageous to the claimant based solely on a difference of opinion.” So, now you know. The AMA has holes in it.

Johnny Vet CRD redacted

Now keep your eye on the rating. Poof. Six years later, no CUE but a new diagnosis says no loss of use- just a&a. This pissed me off so bad I asked Wes to take it up to the Court. I’m worried the VA will put in a judgement and claw back his $98 K for the SAH program and his automobile from the $27 K auto grant. Shucks. They could legally, you know? According to them, he doesn’t have loss of use of the feet now.

new code sheet six years later

Truthfully, I honestly thought this was some clever new gerrymandering technique to fence me out of my impending attack for a second SMC L for a&a for Bob’s heart. It ain’t like VA doesn’t know who asknod is. But recently, they did the exact same thing to another of my Vets. Ross has a valid a&a for a lot of Parkie’s disabilities. But over the last several years the comorbidities of both Parkie’s and DM 2 have destroyed his ability to walk unassisted and use his upper extremities for dressing and shaving. See. Here’s the 2024 proof right here on the code sheet.

a&a CS

Then the seizures hit. I was busy fighting for the seizures when the rating decision came down on a denial of upper and lower extremities. VA is stealthy. They don’t come right out and say “dude, we denied your request for loss of use of uppers and lowers. Thanks for your service”. No way. They say “the rate we’re paying you for your SMC is confirmed and continued”. Check it out.

Ross 10.16.2025 RD

But here’s where the VA gets busted. That rating decision doesn’t have a single tense-related verb out of place. Not even a single dangling participle. It’s like the VA computer just got a Batchelor’s in English Lit 401 recently. So we ran it through our own AI and Claude says  81% chance of AI construction. But that’s not the end of the matter. The code sheet says…wait for it, after 4 years ol’ Mister Lazarus here no longer needs a&a because he was supposed to be getting SMC L for loss of use of the lower extremities all along. But that’s not what the rating decision says in the narrative. Ruh-oh, Rorge (as George Jetson’s dog Astro was wont to say).

CS announces LOULEs 10.16.25 not found in VBMS

The Secretary is crowing from the rooftops that the VA is sailin’ through them 526s and 995s like a pro and issuing decisions faster than a speedin’ 5.56. But what use is AI if all the decisions are wrong? What ever happened to “haste makes waste”? Or perhaps worse. Come on. It begs the question  “Is the AI built by the same folks who created the Hal 9000 and the M 21? Is it possible to fabricate a computer system geared up to only say “Heads I win. Tails you lose”?

I’m not trying to cause concern or cast doubt on Emperor Doug’s new AI invisible clothes. Far from it. I’m just concerned that there seems to be a marked difference in how VA adjudicated claims as short a time as two years ago and how they promulgate them now with such blatant errors. An old Latin euphemism comes to mind. Experiencia docet (Experience is the best teacher). If you’ve been doing this over 165 years since the War of Northern Aggression, it stands to reason the process would be flawless by now. AI could only confirm the obvious.

Remember the old lyrics in CSNY’s 49 Bye Byes- “49 reasons all in a line. All of them good ones-all of them lies”? Listen further until you get to “Time will tell us who’s trying to sell us.” It’s my considered opinion, and mine alone, that VA is beginning a whole new method of rating our claims. Hell, they don’t need to change the diagnostic codes or revamp Part 3 to fence us out in the Federal Register any more. They just turn their AI HAL 9000 loose and let it set out on an unguided safari á la Browkowski with unlimited c&ps or just fabricate it out of whole cloth (as usual).

One thing I am seeing is an endless parade of c&p exams far exceeding the amount needed to “clarify” a medical diagnosis. The last one was subtle. The doctor says he has IHD so it’s presumptive herbicide and he has some other heart shit that is related to his hypertension but he’s SC for that too so give the man his 100%. More Likely than less likely. Duh? Agent Orange causes IHD. Next?

C&P No. 13 says SC

Two weeks later along comes a request for a new c&p to clarify if it’s possible that asbestos or radiation could screw up the heart like that -apart from the IHD of course. The good doctor (a different one) says oh hell no. It wasn’t asbestos or radiation and says less likely than more likely. VA grants SC for the IHD at 30% even though he’s pissing 1-3 METS and he’s blowing a 28% on his ejection fraction. Did they say it was radiation or asbestos? No way. They merely said something screwed up his heart and it wasn’t SC or a TERA risk like asbestos or radiation.  No mention of the 800 lb. HTN gorilla in the room. But if Agent Orange isn’t a TERA risk, then just exactly what is? Only AI guided by a perverted mindset could create this Mobius Loop. Well, I suppose some Coach at VBAPHI310 relying on his trusty M 21 is capable of it, but truthfully, this was a contrived outcome. VA had no intention of granting Rick a full ride a&a scholarship.  He attended about 30 c&ps or ACE reviews. This one below is the AOJ’s way of washing their hands like Pontius Pilate.

C&P No. 14 says no dice

So I let you be the judge of all this. Is VA on a new bender to deny anything and everything they can in a misguided hope of reducing what they’re being forced to pay out? Is this the new metric of just keep asking for one more c&p until you get the desired answer? Ten or fifteen c&ps at $750 a pop is still cheaper than 30 years @ 60%. Something has changed. But what do I know? All I know is the old Benefit of the Doubt I remember from 1989 has become inverted and the duty to assist lies solely with you if you hope to win anything substantial. My suggestion is to find a late-model HAL 9000 with low miles and plug it in. You’re gonna need one if you want to play poker with VA. Well, that and a good VA Agent or Attorney. Don’t leave home without one.