Hello everyone! A new Guest Contributor has joined!

Posted on November 26, 2023 by robinhoodesqvetsatty

Asknod was kind enough to invite me to write some guest columns. I’ve followed along the various Veteran focused blogs for years (Asknod, Hadit, /r/Veterans, etc) and I have a ton of respect for what Asknod does. He is definitely a zealous advocate! I will do my best to live up to his expectations and to contribute to the community he has created here.

So, my name is Robin Hood (yes it really is) and I am a practicing attorney. My first job out of law school was with the Veterans Benefits Administration in 2008, and I worked there until 2014 as a claims adjudicator. I was very senior by that point and would train and mentor the new folks. When the Director had a hot case that really needed to be moved along, my desk was one they would choose. I was very good at it, and I really did love my job; I got to grant people benefits by way of solving puzzles and using laws, regulations, and policies. It was glorious. But, it’s the VA, and no place is perfect. I finally had enough of the red tape and bureaucracy and lay people trying to tell me what the law is, when I’m the one with the law license. So, I left and joined a Very Large Law Firm in 2014 where I still work because they wanted to get into the VA space. (I’m not mentioning their name in order to avoid having to clear any of this with them).

Over time our lead attorney left and the leadership role fell to me, and our junior attorneys both quit within months of each other, and so now I’m faced with handling three attorneys worth of work and rebuilding the department. I am very fortunate that this summer we were able to hire Glenn away from the Board of Veterans Appeals. He’s a 20 year retired Marine and I’m hoping to get him to contribute here as well.

I’d like to try to write an article each week, talking about claims/appeals related issues, or maybe telling stories “from the trenches” as we deal with fighting/dealing with the VA. Oh the stories I could tell. It might give the regular readers a window or insight into what is going on behind the scenes.

Potential future topics I could write about:

  • Claims Sharks: how to recognize them and why they are evil.
  • How VSO and accredited agents/attorneys are similar and how they are different
  • The difference between “Service Connection” and “Evaluation”
  • Service Connection in depth (Direct, secondary, presumptive, aggravation)
  • The Appeals Modernization Act in the real world at the VARO level.
  • AMA at the BV
  • BVA Hearings
  • Higher Level Review Informal Conferences.
  • Independent Nexus Opinions or Evaluations
  • Effective Dates.
  • Dead Reckoning in the context of Blue Water Navy claims.
  • The “business” of being an accredited Veterans Attorney/Agent
  • “War Stories” as they occur to me, based on recent experiences with the VA
  • Other topics suggested by you, the dear reader! Post a comment with suggestions of topics you’d like to see.

Obligatory disclaimer to keep me out of ethics hot water. I’m an attorney, which means I have to follow the Rules of Professional Conduct as adopted by my State Bar. The preceding statements are not legal advice and do not create an attorney/client relationship. See my profile for contact information.

P.S. As a postscript, and due to potential legal attacks for discussing the subject of “VA Claims Sharks”, we (both Mr. Hood and I) are forced to state this disclaimer that anything you read here is not legal advice instructing any of you to stiff a company you contracted with to do your claims. Perish the thought. However, it does not prevent us from saying we do not sanction a business model clearly forbidden by the Congress and the DVA. As a VA Agent with no legal training and no JD, my thoughts on the subject do not constitute legal advice and never will. Consider Asknod.com/asknod.org as an entity akin to the Babylon Bee site.

Posted in Guest authors, Lawyering Up, Tips and Tricks, VA Attorneys, VBMS Tricks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

A WARM, FUZZY THANKSGIVING FROM VA SECRETARY McDONONOUGH

Posted on November 22, 2023 by asknod

Denis the Menace

Every once in a while about this time of year, we all become a wee bit maudlin and little acts of kindness well up in our bosoms. We have this insane urge to spread joy and happiness across our fruited plains and draw those we love near to us. Well, most of us anyway. Thus, in order to make all of you feel much more self-assured it isn’t just you getting screwed over, I thought it prudent to share this one with you.

Co. F, 51st Inf. LRP Bien Hoa 1967

After fifteen years of asknod.com, I’m fairly certain ol’ Denis & Company know who I am.  What the hey? When a BVA Veterans Law Judge interrupts me in mid-sentence during a face-to-face Board hearing and asks if I work for asknod inc or are familiar with him (it) because my logo sits atop his legal brief he’s holding (and pointing to), it’s obvious my ‘bad company’ reputation has preceded me. In this case, it was VLJ Jon Hagar back in April of this year at the VACO on 425 I Street NW and he’d just granted a SMC R 1 claim for another of my Veterans about six months prior.

Oddly, this wonderful work I do, which is fairly well-known (and recognized) above at the Board, isn’t thought of quite so fondly by the troops in the trenches below at our 57 Fort Fumbles. In fact, those curmudgeons up there in Detroit don’t seem to cotton to my attempts to help my fellow Veterans. I reckon they don’t do Thanksgiving up there judging by what I’m fixing to share.

Let me put this in perspective. It’s dry season 1967 up in I Corps. A twelve-man LURP team has just engaged a NVA company and called for extraction. After all, that’s what they do. Roam around for a week or two out in the bush and find the dinks. When they find ’em, they call in arty and an airstrike. Next, they call in gunships and slicks to extract them RFN. Lather. Rinse Repeat for one year. My boy Bob is the team leader. I represent five others of his team as well.

In their haste to egress the overwhelmingly superior enemy force and the hot LZ, the Peter Pilot pulls a bit too much pitch and wallows off to the port side. Veteran Bob hasn’t managed to get a death grip on a D ring in the floor yet and falls from 40 feet. Fortunately, another gunship swoops in and grabs him but the swan dive really messed up his back permanently as you can imagine. VA knows this, too. It’s all in his STRs. Bob leaves Vietnam after his 375 and a wakeup. He’s sporting a CIB and a BSM.

Fast forward to 1994. Veteran Bob has finally worn out his back. A few fusions and a permanent, imbedded pain pump with Dilaudid later, VA generously grants the maximum schedular rating of 60% for his back with left leg radiculopathy. Fast forward twenty years to 2016. Veteran Bob’s back is so bad, if he sneezes he shits his pants. The dilaudid kinda slows him down a mite bit and he’s eschewed driving by now. Lack of exercise has caused DM II -if the Agent Orange didn’t first. He’s getting OSA from a nasal fracture that didn’t heal well from the fall out of the chopper back in ’67.

Bob puts in for SMC L aid and attendance and they grant. It’s legit, too. He’s having a hard time getting around. VA grants on an extraschedular basis because-well, hey- he’s only 60% screwed up and can’t walk without a walker and being a zombie from the dilaudid. Fast forward seven years and along comes that eeeevil VA Agent Alex Graham and his plans to get Veteran Bob up to SMC R 2.

I file him for PTSD, OSA, DM II and peripheral neuropathy, secondary to the DM II. I really don’t pay much attention to the fact that his claims are run out of Deteroit. I thought that was pretty much over with the new NWQ spreading all claims across the US depending on what they are. Uh-uh. Detroit’s been sharpening the punji sticks and waiting for this shindig to fire up.

It begins innocently enough. He gets the 20 for DM and the 50 for the OSA. No sweat. A few years back in ’15, they’d upped his Bronze Star to one with a V and still awarded him another one (first oak leaf cluster). They don’t hand them out in Cracker Jack boxes.  As for the PTSD, they’d called it DC 9433 “Dysthymic Disorder” back in ’93 and ’03 when he reopened it last. It figures. They said I was “passive aggressive with antisocial tendencies” after two years over there. Remember, they didn’t “invent” PTSD until 1981.

Right now, that one and the bilateral peripheral neuropathy are deferred awaiting God only knows what. Seems that BS with the V or the CIB would suffice for the bent brain gig. All his team members are at least 70% and have been for several decades. But you don’t know the VA. Veteran Bob just came down with Stage 3 lung cancer in the right upper lobe. It ain’t responding to the chemo or the radiation. They gave him 100% and a zero chance of remission. Of course, he’ll have to go back in to prove he’s not healed in December of 2024 if he wants to keep it.

Which brings us to today. Put your Holy Shit Batman safety belts on when you hear this one. Don’t even waste your breath on a ‘say it ain’t so, Bro.” This is downright ugly to read. Attached is the initial salvo and the Extraschedular fired off three days after I asked for all the new goodies and the a& a to go with them.

redact 526 filed 3.13.2023

Redact extraschedular

Happy Easter, Bob! We love you and we have a special present in store for you. We don’t even care if you’re 20-year protected under §3.951. We’re gonna fix your wagon. Hear? But that was not the end of the matter….

I haggled with these folks and finally wrangled a terminally ill flash out of them. It still didn’t budge them on the PTSD or the PN of the lower  extremities yet. I finally wrote ol’ Beth Murphy, Tom’s wife, who took his old Director of Comp. and Pen. Services job yesterday. I received a polite “We’re on it!” back from her this morning and dang if she wasn’t telling the unvarnished truth…

redact Dir. c&p response

redact RD 11.22.2023

Redact CS 11.22.2023

Boy howdy if that doesn’t just make you proud to work for VA. A Veteran is dying of service connected disease(s). As a government employee, it behooves you to protect the fisc and ensure no slackers slip through who are not entitled. Bravo, gentlemen. Another financial threat has been averted. Promote that man. Actually, it took three signatures. Detroit’s VSCM, the AVSCM and a RVSR all joined hands and sang Kumbaya and averted financial ruin.

Happy Thanksgiving. I have much to be grateful for. I have two new granddaughters-one 2.5 going on 16 and one just 5 months old. The best part is they don’t have cell phones and actually talk to me.

P.S. Of course, you folks know me by now. If I can’t win in Detroit, I go to DC.

RD R1 7.24.24

Posted in Extraschedular consideration, Thanksgiving and war, VA Agents, VBMS Tricks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

EXPOSED VET RADIO SHOW THURSDAY NIGHT 11/16/2023

Posted on November 13, 2023 by asknod

Following on the heels of last week’s Tennessee SMC Seminar, I’m happy to announce  the Post-Game Wrap of our presentations by none other than the speakers themselves. If you were unable to dial in that day (Wednesday the 8th last), you can still get a round up of the whos, whys and whats this Thursday at 1900 Hours Eastern or 1600 Newsome time. John and Ray will be hosting and the rest of the Peanut Gallery will be contributing bits and pieces as well.

Cocktails and snacks will be served virtually, as usual per Corona 19 protocols.

Here’s the computer link to the festivities

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/jbasser/12287062/connect/d85782b2a48f89768c4c68613143c01bd049f36e

And the call in number for you computer-challenged folks is

(515) 605-9764

Hope to see you there in the cloud or out loud. Dial one if you wish to contribute to the conversation. Look for the Bat Signal in the sky

 

Posted in Exposed Veteran Radio Show, Humor, research, Tips and Tricks, Veterans Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

THE TENNESSEE SMC WALTZ

Posted on November 4, 2023 by asknod

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.

Posted in Exposed Veteran Radio Show, Food for the soul, How to Qualify for VA SMC, SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VA special monthly compensation, Veterans Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

VBASTPETE317–BULLSHIT CLEANUP ON VERA

Posted on November 3, 2023 by asknod

VA is awash in acronyms if you hadn’t noticed. VERA is VAspeak for Visitor Engagement and Reporting Application. This is what transpires after you keep pitching a bitch about why it’s been 218 days since your HLR decision finding a megafailure in the duty to assist, and a new  c&p exam that says you’re charcoal. VBASTPETE317 is the location Andrea ________ works from -translated as Veterans Benefits Administration, St. Petersburg Regional Office Number 317. Now let’s talk about the bullshit.

About ten years ago or so, VA came up with a plan to centralize the delegation of claims to what is known as the National Work Queue or simply the NWQ. No longer would you see the familiar address of your local Fort Fumble emblazoned at the top of your Rating decisions. The NWQ sent the next rating decision determination to the next available Regional Office (RO) to “work”. There, a coach assigned the rating to a lowly VSR. If all was well, s/he wrote it up and submitted it back to the Coach to approve, fix or alter. Of all was well, it returned to the NWQ for assignment to write it up.

Think of a Bingo ball hopper with all the balls swirling in the air inside. When the Bingo caller (the NWQ) is notified a rater is available to work a claim, they pull out a ball (your claim) and send it to the RO to work. If it isn’t ready to rate, they return it to the NWQ for repairs. Somehow this was supposed to speed up the rating process.

Crashed 3/21/1971 near LS 72 killing PIC Ben Franklin and 2 Meo kickers

Eventually, after about 15 tries, the claim again is dispatched by the NWQ to a RO and it is promulgated. The NWQ isn’t a rating entity. Think of it as a clearing house for assignment of claims. Joe Rater raises his hand and signals he’s available. NWQ pulls out the ball with your SSN claim number on it and Bingo (no pun intended)-it is routed to his desk to be worked.

So, after bitching almost nonstop to the 800 Dial-a-Prayer number (800 827-1000)- aka the Booth Bitch or the Prize Redemption Line- eventually somebody from the VERA crew calls you up and feeds you a line of bullshit that defies the imagination. Which is where I found my client Tony yesterday. They called him instead of me…

Check out this ol’ boy’s grease gun.

Attached below is the Post-Game wrap authored by Andrea ____ in the VBMS computer explaining the mystery of what is holding up his claim. This is rich. “His claims are currently with the National Work Queue which is not under the jurisdiction of the Regional Offices.”  Well, yes and no. The NWQ isn’t playing keepaway with Tony’s claims nor are the ROs subservient to the NWQ’s whims about dispensing claims. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. If Johnny rater is unoccupied in VBA 405 White River Junction in New Hampshire, he asks the NWQ for another claim to work. The NWQ is obligated to send him one and they do. There sure as hell ain’t no jurisdictional dispute about who gets to work the claim. The NWQ is the mailman-not a rating authority. Makes you wonder who’s been bullshitting Andrea or else what’s Andrea been smoking?

Redact query

The next sentence after the one highlighted in yellow is an outright lie. I have a large number of Vet clients whom I filed claims for long after 3/31/2023 whose adjudications have all been done and the Vets paid in full. None of them were advanced on the docket out of order or given the rocket docket treatment of decades past. The truth is much simpler. Tony’s claim is for a&a and SMC T.

F Co. 51st Inf. (LRP) Bien Hoa AB 1968

Knowing Tony has a positive c&p exam that says he’s in the same boat as Hogan’s famous Goat, and that c&p says they’ll be forced to grant the SMC T, they’ve decided to escort him over to the Group W (Waiting) bench to set a spell. Why pay Tony now? There’s no rush. Check out the 2680 for a&a. It says Tony would need to be institutionalized if his wife/caregiver divorced him or died suddenly.

Redact 2680

Lastly, VA assigns a “shit or get off the pot” suspense date for raters to work these claims. The NWQ knows when the Bingo date occurs and automatically dispenses the claim again to the next available rater to do it. Tony’s suspense date is 9/07/2023. Seems like VA is running a wee bit behind schedule on their high dollar three-signature claims.

Anyway, this isn’t an anomaly. I went back and looked at all my other SMC claims that had been HLR’d and been declared defective due to duty to assist errors. I clearly see the same pattern. One for R2 has been sitting there ready for decision since August 3. Date of claim? 3/29/2023. Days pending? 220. It’s like déjà vu. I could go on to cite more instances but I’m beginning to think VA is funning my clients and me.

 Maybe them fellers up at the NWQ ran out of money and are just holding onto these until they reload their coffers. Or… maybe it’s that old delay, deny and hope we die- game  before they cut the paper. 

Posted in Aid and Attendance, SMC, TBI, VA Agents, VA suspense dates, VBMS Tricks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

QUILTS OF VALOR

Posted on October 31, 2023 by asknod

A funny thing happened on the way to my office just before the Spring NOVA event in Fort Worth. A gal named Sandy Heinzele of the Kitsap County branch of the Washington State Quilts of Valor Foundation called me out of the blue and asked me if I’d heard of the QOV Foundation. To be truthful, I hadn’t. She explained in brief detail that a Veteran somewhere, or an organization had nominated me to be a potential recipient of a beautiful quilt hand-crafted by industrious ladies from a large, nationwide group that honors Veterans. They chose me. The fact is, she didn’t specifically say it was gender-exclusive so I reckon there could be men involved in the quilting process. What the hey? Men are being taught how to multitask nowadays. I heard it on the news.

Be that as it may, the only thing I’ve ever won was a fishing derby in Westport, Washington in 1991. A client for whom I was building a home invited me to go fishing on Father’s Day to show his appreciation. Dang if I didn’t hook a 56-pound Halibut and win. The prize was one hundred dollars and my name in the local newspaper. Hoooo, doggies. The halibut was reward enough from my standpoint.

Other than that, I won the lotto to participate in the War in Southeast Asia back in 1969. I was one of the lucky two million,three hundred eighty three thousand that drew a low enough draft number ensuring my participation. Now, I know the most recent 2020 census data shows that there are no less than thirteen million living souls who claim they, too, were there in the flesh but I suspect there’s something amiss in the counting. But that’s another story for another day.

To say I’m honored is a masterpeice of understatement. I have no idea how many lucky souls who are nominated actually end up with a quilt. Mine is absolutely to-die-for gorgeous as you can see. I also wish to thank a fellow Veteran, Jules Fleischner, PA-C for this auspicious honor. Apparently it was he who nominated me. Jules and I met via this website in what seems like aeons ago and have become fast friends over the years.

Our friendship is further cemented by the long-running saga of LZ Cork and one of my clients who sadly passed during the Pandemic- Butch Long. One of his fellow platoon mates, Michael Balzarini was among those killed the night Butch was injured in the attack (1/18/1969). Mike’s nephew, if you can believe it, was a Special Forces trooper who works with Jules. I think they did the 60-klic Grenada Fun Run together back in ’83. He well remembers his uncle’s history and it was an inspiration to him to join.

Sandy Heinzele, the gal who presented me with the quilt, is the mother -in-law of a Veteran in addition to her quilting passion. He was clobbered in the cowardly Khobar Towers attack in 1996 but survived. More recently, her Veteran husband passed away on July 4th. Her losses will always reverberate in my mind when I look at this magnificent piece of artwork.

To be truthful, I’m not much of a parade kind of guy. I, like all in my family, served my country when called and am proud to say I did. I bought a Vietnam Veteran hat years ago after I won my VA claim but I never wear it. I know I was there. I don’t need daily attaboys or that abominable “Welcome Home!” sobriquet from strangers. Boy howdy does that grate on the ears fifty years later. I’m alive and plenty thankful for that alone.

Valor is a strange animal. Most folks don’t know they have it in them until they need it. Unfortunately, when mixed with PTSD, it sometimes demands to be fed like a hungry dog. Eventually, either your valor or your luck run out. Once a hand grenade came whistling in totally unannounced and bounced over next to a jeep near us. Some brave soul jumped on it and began screaming for us to run. It was a dud- like a lot of NVA ordnance was. He got a Silver Star and didn’t even get a scratch. A friend was opening a c ration can of peaches or fruit cocktail one afternoon. We were all lounging around taking a pseudo-siesta and some dink took a pot shot at us with an SKS from 300 yds. He hit the door to the barracks about 10 feet to our right.

The grunt opening his c ration can flinched and sliced the bejesus out of the flesh between his thumb and index finger. He hustled off to find the doc and we went back to work. He even told the pecker checkers the truth that it wasn’t really a SFW or GSW. A week later he gets the Purple Heart and politely declines it. The commander, a Captain, took him aside and explained it thusly. Rule #1 is HHQ never makes mistakes on awards or medals. Rule # 2 is if you suspect an error has occurred, refer back to #1. He shut up and put it in his duffel bag. That’s how screwy the War was. Sometimes you prepared for the ultimate act of valor and didn’t even get a scratch. Other times, you weren’t allowed to even deny your non-valor. Go figure.

Quilts of Valor Letter

I can think of about a hundred Vets I served with who deserve this quilt as much or more so than I do. Unfortunately, some never made it back or have passed due to the nasty effects of Agent Orange. On behalf of all of them, I consider it an immense honor to be the one to accept it and keep it safe.

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

 

Posted in All about Veterans, Food for the soul, LZ Cork, VA Agents, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

DADDY DAY AT SCHOOL

Posted on October 26, 2023 by asknod

Cupcake sent me the below article while I was in DC for a face-to-face, bayonet-distance hearing (my favorite) before a really great Veterans Law Judge yesterday afternoon. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In my business, a face-to-face hearing is worth a thousand pictures. Creating empathy for a Veteran’s  incredible travails is the very essence of litigating- the je ne sais quoi, if you will. It’s the only thing I can hazard a guess on (outside of  my pure, ornery persistence) to explain my extraordinary successes in this VA poker game we play.

I gotta tell you it’s a good thing I didn’t read this article right before my hearing yesterday or I might have turned into a puddle of tears. Read on.

Daddy Day at School

As Told By Linda Lindley

 

Her hair was tied up in a pony tail. Her favorite dress tied with a bow. Today was Daddy’s Day at school, and she couldn’t wait to go.  Her mother tried to convince her she should probably stay home. The kids might not understand if she went to school alone. But she wasn’t afraid. She knew just what to say-what to tell her classmates-about why he wasn’t there, too. Still, her mother worried how she would face this day alone. And that was the primary reason she was trying to dissuade her from going.

But the little girl went to school eager to tell them all about a dad she never sees. A dad who never calls. There were dads lined up against the back wall of the classroom for everyone to meet. Children were squirming impatiently for their turn-anxious in their seats. One by one the teacher called on a student from the class to introduce their dad. As the minutes slowly passed, the teacher finally called her name.

Every child turned to stare. Each of them searched the room for a man who wasn’t there. “Where’s her daddy at?” she heard a boy call out. “She probably doesn’t have one.” another child dared to say. And from somewhere near the back, she heard one father say in a low voice to another “Probably another deadbeat dad. Too busy to waste his day.” Other fathers nodded in agreement.

The comments didn’t offend her. She gazed out at her mom and then looked back at her teacher who encouraged her to go on. And with her hands behind her back, slowly she began to speak. And out of her mouth came words incredibly moving. “My daddy couldn’t be here today because he lives so far away. But I know he wishes he could be here since this is such a special day. Unfortunately, you can’t meet him but I wanted you to know all about him and how much he loves me.”

“He loved to tell me stories. He taught me to ride my  bike. We used to share sundaes and ice cream cones. He liked to surprise me with pink roses and taught me how to fly a kite. And though you can’t see him, I’m not standing up here alone. ‘Cause my daddy’s always with me. Even though we’re apart, I know-because he told me. He said he’d forever be in my heart.” With that, her little hand reached up and lay across her heart feeling his heartbeat beneath her favorite dress.

And from somewhere in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in tears proudly watching her daughter who was wise beyond her years. For she stood up for the love a man who was not in her life-doing what was best for her; doing what was right. As she dropped her hand back to her side, she stared straight into the crowded room. She finished with a voice so soft but its message was clear and loud.

“I love my daddy very much. He’s my shining star. And if he could, he’d be here today. But Heaven is just too far away. He was a soldier and he died last year when a roadside bomb hit his convoy. But sometimes when I close my eyes, it’s like he never went away.” And then she closed her eyes, looked up and saw him right there by her side. To her mother’s amazement, she watched in surprise as a room full of fathers and children all closed their eyes as well.

Who knows what they saw before them. Who knows what they felt inside. Perhaps  they saw him at her side, too. Into the silence, she whispered “I know you’re here with me, daddy.” And what happened next perhaps made believers.

All those derisive, who only moments before were quick to rush to judgement, were silent. For each, even with their eyes closed, could almost envisage a long-stemmed rose on the teacher’s desk beside her. That little girl, if only for a moment, was blessed by the love of her shining star. She was blessed with the gift of believing that Heaven is far closer than we could ever conceive.

If you have a minute next week or so, how about you post this to let everyone know that our soldiers, sailors  and airmen will hopefully never be too far away in our thoughts… or forgotten after they pass. Honor them while they live.

Happy Veterans Day early to my readership. And in the immortal words of Forest Gump,  “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Posted in BVA Hearings, Food for the soul, Veterans Day | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

VBACOL319–CLEANUP ON AISLE R1

Posted on October 14, 2023 by asknod

First of all, I’d like to explain that all Regional Offices are assigned a three-digit identifier number to confuse somebody somewhere. The Russians in case they attack? Why not just call it what it is? Columbia, South Carolina is, for example, VBACOL319. The numbering system begins at 301 with Boston. There are gaps in the numbering to allow for future VAROs to be inserted but the numbering would appear to be in the order they were added. VBAPROV304 is Providence, R.I.  VBANYC306 is New York City. Some states have more than one Regional Office. California has three ( San Diego(377), Oakland(343) and LA(344). 

VAROs beginning with a 400 prefix, as near as I can see, report to one of the 300-series Regional Offices. I do know If you call the Fort Harrison, Montana Regional office (436) the polite receptionist in Salt Lake City (341) picks up. The Anchorage, AK (463) office is answered in Seattle (346). And so on.

Few people know it but back in the late ’80s, the industrious raters in San Juan Puerto Rico (355) discovered a way to make some extra income on the side by cozying up to their local counterparts in the VSO offices and began selling ratings. The standard rate was $300 for a DC 6260 Tinnitus rating. The price went up from there. Everything was fine until some poor Veteran complained about the high cost. $300 was serious folding money back then and a tinnitus claim at 10% was only about $70 a month. The upshot  of the whole thing was San Juan’s raters were forbidden to write anything more than dependency ratings. The authority was transferred to Columbia S.C. for about five years. San Juan’s raters went through an ethics class and were “reprogrammed” to do it properly. Shoot, knowing VA, they probably even got a promotion up to DROs.

The following story is a study in incongruity to me. Back in about 2013, under the tutelage of Under Secretary for Benefits (USB) Allison Hickey, the National Work Queue (NWQ) was instituted. All the claims from across our country, including Manila and San Juan, all went into what can best be described as a Bingo Ball hopper. Each ‘ball’ (read claim) was pulled out and worked in the order it arrived-or so they said. If they screwed something up and a Congressman/woman pitched a bitch, the claim was pulled out and worked immediately by VBADC397-the Appeals Management Center (AMC) which has been renamed about 50 times and was, after the advent of the new AMA, renamed the the Office of Administrative Review (OAR). The OAR generally handled all the BVA remands but was repurposed after the new AMA came into effect. It is now one of three Decision Review Operations Centers or simply DROCs-the other two being St. Pete’s and Seattle.  Gradually, Veterans noticed that their ratings decisions (RDs) no longer had the location of their local Fort Fumble emblazoned at the top.

Now, the only way to determine who wrote your grant or denial is to view the ‘Notes’ section in the Veteran’s VBMS efolder to see who ‘worked’ it. As a general rule, the NWQ would assign the file to the very next rater who found his inbasket empty. So why did my Vet Harry get such speshull treatment from his hometown Regional Office? And why, pray tell, did they send it over to the Washington DC DROC to do the R1 reduction proposal on what can only be seen as a poorly-attempted screwover that was destined to backfire?

The raters in Columbia seem to have had it in for ol’ Harry since his first attempt to summit Mount VA in 2002. And 2010. And 2011. And on and on. It did get better by 2017 when he managed to snag his Aid and Attendance but no one in their right minds could honestly say he didn’t qualify for it. But all his ratings happened at Columbia-not Albany NY or San Diego. For some inexplicable reason, the boys at Columbia have had a death grip on every claim he’s ever filed. It’s as if the NWQ claims hopper doesn’t exist in Columbia.

Which brings us up to the present. Knowing Harry’s on his last legs medically, I felt compelled to clear up some old unfinished business even though it was a low-value claim. By now, I’d gotten him the loss of use of his upper and lower extremities and R1. It’s the principle of the matter to me to not leave any money on the table. He was entitled to a bump up from SMC L to L ½ right after  they cut the paper on his A&A in 2017 under §3.350(f)(3) and they blew him off. In addition, six months later, he got another 100% schedular for his lung disease which entitled him to the bump up from the SMC L ½ to M under §3.350(f)(4). Yep. They told him to go suck eggs on that one, too. It was subtle. It’s called implicit denial. VA’s take on this is simple. They deny by just not doing it. It’s up to you to ‘see’ the error and complain. In Harry’s case, they (the village idiots in Columbia) wouldn’t even concede they screwed it up when I CUE’d them. So I went back up to the BVA and laid it out in three part harmony for the Veteran’s Law Judge (VLJ).

LS/MFT-Liquid Sunshine Means Fried Targets

Well, being intelligent, the folks up at BVA VACO (BVA Central Office) saw right off that the Columbia raters couldn’t count to twenty even if they took off their shoes but then that anomaly generally exists at all Regional Offices. The SMC ‘calculator’ quits working right after SMC S and refuses to spit out the correct SMC rating. Any rating over SMC L has to be overridden and entered manually. Funny how that works, huh?

Now, Harry had won his ‘bumps’ at the BVA and the decision was returned to the NWQ to be effectuated and  the shekels distributed. But here’s where it gets queer. I know I’ve told a lot of you that it’s nothing more than an old VSO wives’ tale that VA raters have a unwritten program whereby they will attempt to reduce your ratings if you keep filing more claims. My classic example proving it untrue was if they do, how in Sam Hill did I get to 290% (two 100% schedulars, a 60, a 40, two 30s, a 20 and a 10 for my tinnitus) without getting a punitive haircut? I expect because it never rose above the level of SMC S. R1 is $9,267 a month and a whole different ballgame, apparently.

Take a gander below at the June 27, 2023 Rating Decision the VBA397 Washington DROC handed down. Vindictive? You don’t know the half of it. Not only did they begrudgingly cut the paper granting the bumps, but a decision was made somewhere up in the USB hierarchy to teach ol’ Harry (and by extension, me) that this kind of tomfoolery would not be tolerated by Denis the Menace. In fact, my/our effrontery would be punished to dissuade others from such conduct. It might have worked on some chucklehead snowflake VSO but not a combat Veteran. Granted, I’m no big boy like Combat Craig™ but I can hold my own in the litigation arena. Page one of the Code sheet couldn’t have made it more clear who we were dealing with. Even more obvious was that the decision was signed by the Assistant Director of the OAR.

redact CS ^ bump and CUE reduction

 

 What the VA poobahs proposed to do was take Harry’s old 2017 SMC a&a rating away due to a now-perceived CUE and reduce him down to SMC O for his two SMC Ls for loss of upper and lower extremities. Without that old 2017 L for aid and attendance, he wasn’t eligible for the R1. That’s a pretty drastic haircut financially and knowing their vindictiveness, I’m sure they were positively drooling at the opportunity to tote up the amount erroneously paid out back to 2017 and reduce him to abject poverty-and by extension his wife’s DIC for the rest of her natural born life as well- after the poor guy had passed on.

I was taught to never occupy a static position. You’re a sitting duck the longer you camp out there and do nothing.  When attacked, you attack right back-in spades. If they’re throwing hand grenades at you, return fire with the four deuce mortars and call in an air strike RFN.  I learned early on that nothing conveys that exquisite emotion of F___ You more eloquently than napalm and CBUs (liquid sunshine and Black Cats in our ’70s vernacular). Too bad we’re forbidden to use them in VA law. Harry had a spare 100% schedular for his Interstitial Lung disease and I’d debated using it to get him back-to-back A&As for R1 when he first approached me for representation. However, his loss of use of his extremities due to the Parkinson’s would provide him with an automobile and Specially Adaptive Housing (SAH) so I opted for that line of attack. It took a couple of years but we prevailed and I thought we’d put this puppy to bed- and then this cheap shot began. Shit. The guy is dying. How much more would he cost VA if they just let it ride? Too much, apparently.

So I filed for a new A&A entitlement solely for the lung disease and boy howdy did I have the airpower to back it up. Check it out. I’m sure the OAR folks stared at it for several weeks like a Rubik’s Cube trying to figure how to deny him and follow through with their proposed reduction. It didn’t pan out. They must have sent it back over to Columbia (again) who were forced to concede they’d run out of hand grenades. But the thing that grabbed my eyeballs was the concession on page 3 saying- “This proposal to reduce you from R1 to SMC O has been withdrawn. We have magnanimously decided to call in the dogs and piss on our proposal-to-reduce fire. Move along. Nothing to see here. As you were, Harry. ” Withdrawn? More like “We admit we stepped on our dicks.”

redact filed a&a 7.25.2023

Redact final RD protected R1

redact final code sheet 10.11.2023

During the war, I always packed a couple of hand grenades everywhere I went-even to the loo. Old habits die hard. Rest in Peace, Harry. You earned. it. Like ol’ Zac Brown says in his song…

You know I like my chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up.

I don’t think there’s anything more satisfying than bearding the VA lion in his own den.

The M 26 Dupont Spinner for fishing

See you in DFW next week, folks.

Posted in Aid and Attendance, AMC or ARC, Implicit denial, R1/R2, Reductions in rating, SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

BRAIN MUSCLE TRAINING IN FORT WORTH

Posted on October 13, 2023 by asknod

Once again, the Biannual convocation of VA’s most committed representatives calls. We are assembling for the purpose of  learning new techniques with which to do battle with the incorrigible miscreants who inhabit the Veterans Service Centers across our fruited plains. Sadly, my Fuji apples just came due and they are TDF (to die for). I’m forced to leave in High Season. If you are an aficionado of Waldorf salad, it’s the derniere cri on the subject. Of the three types we have (Liberty and Gravenstein), the Fuji are incredibly late but more than worth the wait. Hopefully, I can take a few to Ft. Worth without getting arrested by the Fruit Police.

The hotel looks like a Carnival Cruise Liner if you ask me but hey-my taste is in my mouth. I got the email saying NOVA™ reserved block of rooms were going on sale on a Monday morning about 9 or 10 a month or so ago. I booked mine immediately (due to memory problems) then called a buddy down in Califunia and told him to get on it before they were booked out. He lollygagged about and finally began an hour later. Too late. They reserved a block of one hundred forty rooms. I checked the attendee list and see 267 individuals. Oh well, Uber drivers shall benefit handsomely. Yesssssssssssssss.

Classes run from Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon, 0730 to 1630 Hrs. We get a good grip on not only what’s new on the legal menu but insight from VA’s very own employees on how to maximize our use of the VBMS computer. My enduring wish is that VA had the bandwidth to allow all Veterans access to the platform. As it is, it can be slower than a tick on a cold day-even for us. Watching the little doomoflotchie sit there and spin brings back memories of the old Dial-up days in the 90’s.

Kinda looks like a cruise ship from here

Anyway, now you know why I probably will not be answering my phone in the next week or so. I checked my records and dang if I don’t have more clients in Texas than any other state in the Union. I reckon it must be some kind of Veteran friendly to pack them in like that. In Washington State, you get a free license plate if you’re disabled and very little else. Cupcake and I both work so there’s no property tax holiday yet. I’m not complaining. To be able to represent America’s bravest Veterans is an honor more than worth the minor sacrifice.

 

Posted in VA Representative Training, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

BVA STATISTICS–TAKE PROTEIN PILL, DON HELMET

Posted on October 5, 2023 by asknod

Just got this informative news bite on BVA costs versus performance output from a good friend and former Veterans Law Judge. Being an incredibly smart fellow, he wisely parted company with the BVA and sought employment at one of the unarguably finest outfits representing Veterans before the Department of Veterans Affairs. I speak, of course, of Chisholm, Chisholm and Kilpatrick. Attorney (and partner) Christine Clemmons does a wonderful job delivering devastating news on the Board of Veterans Appeals’ lack of progress in spite of onboarding 35 more Judges in the last year. I personally think the increase in the budget is heavily impacted by these new Judges’ salaries. They ain’t cheap… but then, nothing’s cheap north of Richmond from what I hear tell.

You can watch the bloodshed here:

The worst stat I heard which rolled my socks down was the cost per claim to adjudicate an appeal year over year. Think $1,695 per claim in 2020. Now think $2,760 per this fiscal year. If you think that isn’t terrible on a one-off basis, think about my greenhouse claim. I’ve been working that diligently since March 20, 2011 including two CAVC Ex Writs and two trips to the Board already. I’ll be flying back to DC again for Hearing number 3 directly due to the forced recusal of a certain VLJ who shall remain nameless. Hey, all I did was ask for recusal. It’s not like I insisted she be hoist on her own pétard.

If you read the grant, you’ll note the Deputy Vice Chairman, Thomas M. Rodriguez, stated: “It is the decision of the Board to act on its own motion to recuse Judge _________…”. Shoot. All I needed to do was draw arrows to the Hearing Transcript in my VBMS file and ask them to peruse a few verses. And here I went and wrote ten pages of carefully thought out prose with expletives deleted-all for naught.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do love flying back to DC and shooting the shit with Thomas Williams. He’s the Greeter who serves drinks and ushers us in to the ‘courtroom’ at VACO to be introduced to the presiding judge (VLJ). We’re on a first name basis now. We both own horses and have a lot in common except for our height. He’s about 6’6″ easily. I get a crick in my neck looking up when I greet him. But there are other, far more personal reasons to go back, too. I like to visit the the Wall. Lots of friends and lots of memories chiseled in that black granite. And most of all, I get some quality time with my dad over at ANC.

In sum, we’re spending far too much for justice that is slower than the seven year itch. The AMA was touted as a panacea to end all panaceas. So far, all I can see is two more miles of darkness tacked onto an incredibly long tunnel already with no respite in sight. It’s almost like Ronald Reagan famously said- “What are the nine most dreaded words you’ll ever hear?”- I’m from VA and I’m here to help you.

And that’s all I want to say about that.

 

Posted in Appeals Modernization Act, BvA Decisions, vA news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments