VA WIN TO SSI WIN NOT A GIMME

Posted on March 25, 2014 by asknod

disability-ptOkay. We have a lot of guys who come here with a shiny new VA 100% or TDIU compensation rating. They all say “What’s next, Nod?” My rejoinder is to admonish them that the SSI/SSD is a different animal and requires different rules for a win. Read this article carefully so you don’t step on your neckties.

Posted in VA+ Social Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

1-800-FNG–THE ORACLE AT DELPHI

Posted on March 21, 2014 by asknod
3rd Century B.C VA Regional Office (#222 Delphi, Greece)

3rd Century B.C VA Regional Office
(#222 Delphi, Greece)

I received a call from one of our members of the Mile High On Dope State. This in no way implies Hepper 74 is a doper nor was it meant to. I merely mention his geophysical location to point out which Regional Office he is forced to do business with. I wonder if they have to get a piss test for pot. 

H74’s lament was that he had contacted VA by the most casual of methods-the dreaded 800-827-1000. He was disturbed by what he heard and the general tenor of the conversation. For some it is like a surreal experience. They feel they’ve made the Hadj to the Oracle at Delphi and kneel before the Phythia Six Actual. Sorry to pop the balloon, kids.

Let’s see what and/or who we’re dealing with here. To join the exalted ranks of the VA, you begin at the entry level assuming you do not have the new VA Academy Training from Baltimore and a pedigree. Entry level begins with manning the phone banks and being able to query various computer systems to glean information to give to the anxious caller. Many of us are not computer-literate or live in Dial Up/HughesNet country. Trying to make a connection with the internet that is fast enough is an incredible hurtle. Let’s face it,

https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits-portal/ebenefits.portal

is still slower than the seven year itch even with a good high-speed CATV internet connection. HughesNet must be like a wet blanket and green, smoky firewood.

Likewise, some do not choose to connect to this octopus. I don’t blame them. I snuggle up to a good newspaper every morning and rub the ink on me just to remember what analog really means. Thus, for those who, for whatever reason, remain aloof, they are essentially fenced out by technology through no fault of their own. To them, the written word is the common, preferred method. Failing that, the 800 number is employed to “correct” the record or to ask why you are at 400 days post-SOC, dying of HCV, and not getting your F9 certified and your hearing scheduled. And then you reach “Peggy”.

The Pythia, or, in the twenty first century what has segued into The Peggy, now greets you after waiting 45 minutes (before being given a choice of a callback at a less busy time-like next Thursday or Friday at 10 AM). Peggy would like to confirm your identity and will do so just in case some other irate Veteran with a similar name is imitating you. S/he immediately initiates a VA form 119 Report of Contact to be included in your C-file.

119

If you are rude and abusive, this will be noted. If you seem a little peeved and question your GS-3 VA Intake and Information Specialist’s mental and technical abilities, it will be noted. If you seem as though you are at your wit’s end due to VA’s mistakes, it will be noted and you will be offered the PTSD hotline.  This is standard operating procedure. I know. I’ve read a bunch in my file.

Years ago, the 800 number was linked directly to your own Regional Office’s switchboard and it was a real Godsend. You could conduct business and get things fixed in a hurry compared to these days. Hell, guys like Lorenzo would give me their inside phone number and say to call them back if I didn’t get it straightened out. One day in 2008, we here in Seattle stated getting “Sean” in Salt Lick City. Sean was still knowledgeable back then and could actually access two useful computers to ascertain what in Sam Hill was really happening. That was before the backlog. People like Sean are raters now. The problem is that there aren’t enough Seans in the system. Enter Miss Piggy Peggy.

download (1)Peggy is a FNG. S/he is a cherry. S/he’s so green they don’t dare trust them with a real VA computer. These are the types you would not let carry M-26s, gaily dangling off their Alice Packs like some John Wayne movie.  Instead they get the dumbed down Sesame Street one-eBennies. I encountered this phenomenon on a 1- 800 Recon several weeks ago. I keep my hand in to see how bad it is. I’m explaining my query to GS-3 Shawandah (no last name) about an “administrative review” of claims which have not been adjudicated in the first instance yet. Shawandah proceeded to recite verbatim right off the eBennies screen until I interrupted to ask if that was what she was doing. Yes, indeed. No more Access to VACOLS or PIES for her. No back doors. In Lorenzo’s day back in 2007, he’d put me on hold and wander back into the rater’s den and get a read on what was up.

Hepper74 had the misfortune to stumble into one of the Cherry Peggys without this course knowledge. We often assume that when we call GEICO or Allstate, we are dealing with a person who either has the authority to kick ass and take names or will connect you to the one who does. Shit then happens and soon in most cases.

The VA is plagued by a vast horde of new-hires who lack training in the arts. Schooling is backlogged as well. Thus, like most big telephone companies of the 70s-80s, linemen turn into telephone operators for six months until they get the slot into the indoctrination and Human Resources Dog and Pony shows.  From there on out, a career path is laid out and they can begin training in earnest for the mail room or the board room. H74 assumed he was dealing with the GEICO format. Unbeknownst to him, they’re hiring the subpar, reject applicants from Homeland Security in an attempt to lower the nationwide unemployment rate. Assuming they would be adept at anything other than nosepicking is ludicrous. Putting them up on the level of the Phythia of Delphi Fame is even more risible.

6219747227_9cab3e8d35_oIt’s time we realize this system is toast from stem to stern. Defibrillating it every couple of years with a VBMS, fully developed, no duty to assist claim path,  or whatever pseudotrick name du jour they construct, the actual system of denial is broken. The finger in the dike method is too late. Choppering in the VA’s Air Cav to every new hamlet where a mammoth backlog occurs is not going to put out this fire. Brokering claims back and forth like a hot potato looks good on paper unless Baltimore is shipping it’s claims to Detroit who is already up to their ass in alligators.

With due respect to Hepper74’s long association with the VA (five years), I should not have to explain to him in great detail why they can’t just cite to the obvious on claims like putting on their underwear in the morning- Yellow in front Brown in Back. Good to Go. We’re dealing with the VA. They have their own rules for the universe and are rather complacent about it. I do not blame him for his despondent attitude.

When any of you feel that pent up rage and call me, I am fond of pointing out that it took me 20 years and I’m still not completely finished with some of their smaller potatoes. I will be happy to commiserate with any of you, however. Misery does so loooooove company.

Posted in VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

SERVICE DOGS IN VA PTSD CASES

Posted on March 19, 2014 by asknod

gfwYou folks with bent brain syndrome who desire a good service/comfort dog may want to investigate this avenue. Hell, you don’t need to have scrambled eggs upstairs to need one. They are great to talk about the meaning of life with. They rarely argue and vacuum the kitchen floor without being told to.

Posted in PTSD | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TEXAS TITTY BAR–FACE PLACE HUMOR

Posted on March 18, 2014 by asknod

unnamedTrust Mark to find the good stuff. Once again, after his coup with the wet t-shirt contest, he returns with the Texas Titty bar. Being 100% disabled affords you plenty of time to search for the good ones.

Posted in FACE HUMOR | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

AMLEG RELEASES VA BACKLOG REPORT.

Posted on March 18, 2014 by asknod

amlegWell, gee. No big surprises here other than that the AmLeg Folks were dumbfounded that the backlog was like a plugged up toilet and starting to smell bad. Trust them there VSOs to get to bottom of it-after fifty years. It was MFUTHG¹ when I first went in in 89. Why they took so long to figure it out is a matter of conjecture. Having a bar inside the VSO HQ can make it difficult to find a sober point man.

¹ More f_____ up than Hogan’s Goat.

Posted in VA BACKLOG, vA news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

VAMC– SOVALDI RECON

Posted on March 18, 2014 by asknod

downloadKnowing it’s no fun to be blindsided by medical unavailability, I decided to be the point man, take the 77E and move out ahead. What I found at my VA Medical Center is cause for immense concern. VAMCs  have been instructed to triage Hepatitis C Veterans and allow only the sickest inside the wire. The ARPN explained that this was necessary due to the high cost of the drug and it’s “unavailability” as yet. 

So let’s investigate the findings. First off, to my intense concern, I was asked why I kept referring to it as Sovaldi. My “hepatologist” Eileen Hansen, corrected my mistake and told me it is called Sofosbuvir. Sofosbuvir went out in December when it went to market but I guess this email didn’t hit Eileen’s desk. Calling it Sofosbuvir now is like calling Valium Diazepam. Huh? Using the VARO-Who’s Who function at the top of the page, I “googled Eileen to make sure she wasn’t a chowderhead FNG. Nope. She’s a top of line ARNP and professes to be a designated specialist in this field. What is truly odd is that I have never met the shadow doctor behind her. She’s a ARNP and not permitted to operate without supervision. It’s a damn good thing, too. As for unavailability, I suppose q-tips were in the same category when they first came out.

ehPut your cursor on it and left click to enlarge the above. No need for a magnifying glass. Yessiree, Bob. She’s not a bedpan changer at $102 K. After having dealt with her on and off for over six years, I always find it amazing that every time we meet, she has no recollection of dealing with me-ever. After my Interferon misadventure in 2007, she tried to put me on the triple-drug Vertex (Victrelis) cocktail in 2011 even though the records clearly stated I was allergic to it. That’s why they call it “practicing medicine” rather than “performing”.

When we last talked in 2012, she informed me that if any new technology/treatment came up, I’d be the first to know of it. VA treats their 100% disabled with great care. I heard nothing all this time other than pleas to let them run the butt tractor (colonoscopy) up my derriere and take a peak. Next, it was a desire to run one down my throat and take pictures of my esophagus. They have two biopsies of the liver box already but still want another one. Why they feel the need to be paparazzi and photograph my insides to death is a mystery. The last time I let them go into my abdomen, they screwed it up and used it as an excuse to keep me a year and let the Doogie Howsers practice on me..

When we met yesterday, she was excited to tell me if I was lucky and didn’t get bumped like someone on standby for a flight, I would be in the running for one of the prized Sovaldi Sofosbuvir slots next spring in 2015. She also asked if I’d be interested in a drug trial of Olysio and Interferon at Virginia Mason Hospital in the meantime. I had to break the bad news yet again and explain for the third time that Interferon wasn’t in the cards. Five minutes later in the same conversation, Eileen made sure I knew that I should always be careful and let other doctors know I had a bad experience with Interferon and it was not an option for me. Perhaps a medical ID bracelet?

This is what we are dealing with at the VHA. Sovaldi will not be available to the masses for quite some time. If it is, it will be predicated on your being Stage 4 with at least a confirmation of fibrosis by ultrasound or core biopsy. If you ain’t dying, they ain’t buying in Seattle.

Because we are so trusted and considered salt of the earth, the VA has elected to entrust us with a maximum of a one-week supply of Sovaldi at any given time. This will then entail four trips a month at 33 miles one-way to pick up the medication. They absolutely will not mail it as they do morphine and all the other Schedule II narcotics  I used to get. Since it is not a doctor’s appointment, no travel pay will be forthcoming. After the first month, if you have not been caught selling this valuable medication on the open market, VA will allow you to pick up a two-week supply and cut your trips down to two a month.

I have genotype 3A which requires the longest to cure at 24 weeks. Nurse Hansen was quick to point out that VA was being mighty generous to even consider doing this for me when you realize it costs $1000.00 a pill. Oh, yes. That was reiterated five times. If, on the off chance the ultrasound did reveal any nastiness, why, I might be able to get into the next cohort of ten lucky lotto winners. Due to the immense costs to the VHA, there was absolutely no way to accommodate all the infected souls. Seattle is running them through at 10 souls every 16 weeks. I was going to point out there were 52 weeks a year and at 16 -week intervals that would add up to —well, never mind. It’s probably VA math. Considering there are over a gazillion Vets with HCV, using the triage method, those of you at Stage 2 should be able to get Sovaldi before you need a transplant 20 years from now.

So, in summary, if your are deathly ill, you get to move to the front of the line– in ten-person/sixteen week intervals. Except for those of us on 24-week intervals. If you are eligible, there are trials available but you have to ask regularly to find out.  VA is not mailing out reminders. The waiting list is out the door and around the block. The VHA’s purse is being sorely tried over this high-priced drug so we have to understand that they cannot serve everyone. We should be grateful that we are even being allowed access to it considering the VA is low on bucks. So much for cutting-edge Veterans care. For he who shall have borne the battle–unless it costs a shitpile.

I was going to ask her how they can afford to give out those humongous bonuses to the VISN heads of $25,000.00 each year if they are so strapped financially. I decided against it. You notice Eileen’s employment info above shows she didn’t get a bonus last year so there’s no use rubbing salt in that wound. She should be pissed she got the shaft.

If you have access to Medicare, I think the smart money is to go there. They trust you not to sell the pills but how in Sam Hill could you (or would you) put that on Craigslist?

images

12-week Supply of Sovaldi (Sofosbuvir-Gilead Sciences Corp.) Regular price- $1000.00/pill. $500.00 each OBO. See “Bob” at Wright Park in Tacoma on Tuesdays at noon at the NW corner. Codeword is “Swordfish”. No dealer inquiries. Cash only. Volume deals available on request depending on availability.

I guess you folks realize no one would ever go out on the little branches and tell this to you if you called up to inquire about the availability. This is why I went in and played dumb. You have no idea how difficult that charade is for a former Mensa member.

PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS__PS

Please tell us if you have been accepted by VA and are currently being treated by them with Sovaldi or Sofosbuvir (same drug according to everyone but VA). It has come to our attention that the VHA may be offering lollipops with no “lolli” on the stick. I was told Monday during my indoctrination that I would have to eat five (5) ribivirin pills per day if, and when, I began txment next year. Furthermore, if my weight increased above 165 lbs, it would have to increase to six.  I am currently 154. Since most I have talked to took only two (once in the morning and evening) in prior txments, I suspect we are getting the anal smoke therapy.

Obviously, if no one is getting the Sovaldi, then VA is once again saying one thing and offering nothing. Please set us straight. Have you or anyone you know received any of this medication or are you slated to get it in the near-term of the next month or two? VA and the VHA are not in the habit of “rationing” treatment for any disease so this would be an anomaly of the highest magnitude. Having dealt with VA for a number of years, I strongly suspect this is a public relations ploy. The details are too sketchy, the Ribivirin dosage is exorbitant and only ten souls per 12 weeks are slotted in. This dog doesn’t hunt.

Posted in Sofosbuvir | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

IRRITATED SERVICE OFFICER COMPLAINS

Posted on March 11, 2014 by asknod

downloadI found this comment on my How Low is Low? post and felt we should all analyze each and every point Mr. Kenneth Aune brings up. So, forewith, I transplant his complaint and query here and my rejoinder.

Mr. Aune opines:

I’d like to know WHO has compiled this article and what credentials he or she has. I am a retired Accredited Service Officer, and I question much of and [sic] the precedence of your article. The Organization I worked for and the names you named, they represent veterans at the VA’s Central Office and the Board of Veterans Appeals and also on Capitol Hill addressing both houses for veteran rights. They go up against the legal minds of the VA. The couple [sic] names I recognized, they are highly knowledgeable in VA law, and some are retired from the VA (30 years plus) BVA. Lawyers? I would put my knowledge of VA law up against them any day. The difference being, these VSO Service Officers deal with VA only, the lawyers have other interest to generate income. They review claims and reject those that are not slam dunk claims. They do not want to do much investigating. You claim the VSO’s dislike [sic] the lawyers make too much money. The amount they receive is determined by the VA, and there is a cap on there [sic] reward. We have a problem with the veteran paying someone when it’s un-necessary. VSO do it at no cost to the veteran.

And my rejoinder to Mr. Aune:

Dear Mr. Aune,
I’m the author of the article.  My name is Alex Graham. I’ve been actively engaged doing claims since 1989. I have been through the process-each and every one of them- numerous times. I have won every one of my claims when the VSOs who swore to help me either couldn’t or wouldn’t.

download (1)All the wages paid via dues to the VSOs’ officers mentioned in the article are taken directly from what is called an IRS Form 990. IRS stand for Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Aune. They are not prone to lying or publishing lies of others. Unless these folks are lying, I assume the grossly inflated stated wages are correct. I did make an apology to another service officer from Virginia who pointed out that only the actual member’s dues support these highly overpaid guys in funny hats. Local donations to the Service organizations go directly to Vets fortunately. Apparently the local organizations are wise to the Nationals and keep their donations to help physically disabled Vets rather than give it to the financially challenged ones who get $350 K a year for going up to Congress to get drunk and bitch. Personally, in all the HVAC hearings I’ve watched, I have yet to see Art Wilson, Larry Maher or Danny Wheeler show up.
As for being “highly knowledgeable in VA law”, why is it the VSOs have such a miserable track record versus attorneys? Or, if you will permit me to observe, why is it I haven’t seen any of these whizbang VSO legal beagles you swear by up at the CAVC ? It’s because they are not lawyers, Mr. Aune. They are not permitted to represent Vets because they have no legal training recognized by judges. Why do you think VA employs 500 lawyers at the BVA to process our appeals? If they were nonadversarial, the natural path would be to hire folks who have the same legal training as you-albeit hopefully with a better command of the English language. As for putting your own legal acumen up against the likes of Kenneth Carpenter or Bob Chislholm, I fear it would be a slaughter like something right out of the Roman coliseum days- Lions -5, Christians-0.

imagesVSOs on average, win 20% of the 50,000 or so cases they take to the BVA. Attorneys win 28%. At the Court of Veterans Appeals, where you actually do have to have a law degree that didn’t come out of a Crackerjacks box, 65% of the lawyers prevail against the VA.  This means a lot of VSOs lost a lot of cases that they should have won if they ever had the legal talent to do so in the first place. Either that or they have incredibly bad luck at this business.

Perhaps you do not get outside and visit the real legal world much, but during your watch, while you were busy looking out for Veterans’ rights all these years, your VSOs have allowed VA to amass a huge backlog that is off the charts. Where, exactly, were all the VSOs who were being paid vast quantities of cash to defend our rights? Out on the golf courses around DC “bonding” with their VA counterparts? Your arguments are hollow,sir. Try as I might, none of what you say agrees with anything I see in the real world.

Mr. Wilson of DAV complained recently that attorneys should be 86’d out of the arena or reduced to a $200 pittance for repping a Vet. By that metric, why does Art Wilson need a $353 K salary? We’re here to help Vets. Remember?

Let’s put legal binoculars on and see what we see. If a Veterans Attorney sees a claim that is defective, unwinnable, or in some way fraudulent, as an officer of the Court, he is precluded from accepting it. Frivolous lawsuits by attorneys are forbidden. Fortunately for you VSOs, your ignorance legally protects you from the wrath of the Court when you arrive with a bogus claim for Hepatitis C due to Agent Orange. That’s one of DAV’s specialties. Think about this further. Why does DAV hire a legal firm (CCK) to handle all their appeals to the CAVC?

In sum, Mr. Aune, what you do not know about the process is appalling. Since you are not required to read law and pass the bar, you are allowed to act like a pro se Vet. In fact, the Court of Appeals has granted Vets that dispensation such that if they are under the wing of a VSO, they are permitted the Presumption of Stupidity and given even more leeway to account for the frightful legal advice given them. (See Comer v. Peake) A lawyer is held to a much higher standard and fined for his stupidity. We never read about law dogs filing appeals for a 10% rating for tinnitus for each ear.

Lastly, I would point out a glaring inequity. Why would any attorney worth his salt take on VA claims? The return is 20% on the venture versus an easy 40% were he to choose chasing  ambulances. Additionally, he would have a much faster path to riches if he steered clear of the VA arena altogether. Real  Courts pay the attorneys promptly without grousing. Can it be some are attracted to this because they see a disservice to Vets being perpetrated by unschooled VSOs? You have admitted their altruism is AWOL.

Judge Meg Bartley

Judge Meg Bartley repped thousands of Vets for free

And one final observation. VA lawyers usually are asked to intercede only after a VSO has hopelessly hamburgered a Vet’s chances of winning. This is why we have the phalanx of pro bono lawyers (Pro bono, Mr. Aune, is Lawyerspeak for “free representation” versus paid) such as the NOVA group or the NVLSP. If you are familiar at all with your Veterans Benefits Manual put out by Lexis Nexis, you would know that one our most esteemed new judges in years at the CAVC is Meg Bartley. She wrote the book you supposedly used to help Vets-that is- assuming you called what you did “helping”. Do tell, Mr. Aune. What is your win/loss ratio?

I neither champion lawyers or badmouth them. Universally, they have been proven an advantage at the VA. I am open-minded enough to counsel Vets to do as they so choose. We call that free will in America.  VSOs do not have the same cachet. They are hat in hand with the VA’s employees and the symbiosis is far too congenial for my tastes. Anyone who gets paid (by VA) for each POA he turns in cannot be an objective force in helping a Vet to win. That’s like putting a $250.00 bounty on every Veteran’s head.

VSOs represent the largest majority of Veterans claims help yet they only have a 15% win rate at the Regional Offices. Do you see the problem? No, I suppose you don’t. Vets don’t need lawyers. They need someone like you, right? God help us.

I note you have studiously omitted the name of the outfit you work for yet you imply you are on a first name basis or recognize many names mentioned here. Can it be you are too embarrassed to mention your own VSO ? Is it one of the highly-paid outfits I mentioned in my article? It’s okay. I understand.

Posted in VSOs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

MAKING AO PRESUMPTIVE FOR THAILAND

Posted on March 11, 2014 by asknod

 

The-Gordian-Knot

Alexander the Great cutting the Gordian Knot

Trust another Zoomie to come up with a better way to skin a cat. Meet Member Karen- formerly of the Zoomer profession herself- and married to a Thailand  groundpounder with all kinds of Orange Fertilizer problems. Karen has cut the Gordian Knot many of us encountered when we arrived to fight the war in Krong Thai, which is how we said it there. In fact Thai means “free” and that is, in essence, what Karen has done.

Being on the other side of some magical fence, we were never accorded the presumption of exposure to the stuff. In fact, in order not to ruffle the feathers of the King, our ambassador advised the military not to spray the stuff anywhere in Thailand unless it was an absolute necessity to insure base security. In that event, the military was instructed to refer to it as a “tactical herbicide” akin to Tordon 101 (Agent White) or some of the other “benign” flavors of what we call Roundup nowadays.  Calling it a tactical herbicide preserved the fig leaf of respectability but all parties knew full well it was the magic fertilizer. I also saw a lot of barrels of A Blue. They were marked Cacodylic Acid and a few other ingredients I can’t remember now.

Most do not know but Agent Orange doesn’t “kill” vegetation. It’s a massive dose of amphetamine and the plant feels impelled to grow like Jack’s famous beanstalk-immediately. The cell structure quickly breaks down under the overload and the plant dies thinking it has just begun to be all it can be.

The Gordian Knot that Alexander the Great solved by cutting is the enigma of how we all arrived in Thailand. VA would have us believe we materialized like the doomooflotchie on Star Trek. ” Aye, Cap’n. Beaming down landing party of nine to Don Muang Airpatch. On their way.” We all remember something different if we were Army, Air Force and sometimes the odd Marine. Our memory began a day and a half earlier in San Francisco. Most of us reported to Military Air Transport Service (MATS) at Travis Air Force Base. There we boarded a spartan, stripped down 707 leased from World Airways. This would also be the last time a lot of us saw a roundeye for a year.

World Airways had intermediary stops as needed for fuel. As was customary, refueling requires deplaning. From Travis, my flight landed in Honolulu. Next stop was Guam. A short hop to Yakota AB in Japan, on to Clark AB in Manila and then the final leg down to Saigon. Again, deplaning was required for refueling. Up until about the time of the Parrot’s Beak intrusion into Cambodia (March 1970), World Airways usually flew on to Bangkok and landed at Don Muang Air Base to the north of the city.

Saigon to Bangkok

Saigon to Bangkok. left click with your cursor on it  to magnify

Looking at the map. one can see the problem of flying over the battle. With the 707’s abysmal climb capability, it had a hard time making it up to 20,000 feet before crossing over the thick of the battle. The border was barely 130 klics away and Phnom Penh was only another 50. In order to avoid any problems with SAMs, a C-130 Klong Flight was introduced and made the trip twice daily.

Essentially, everyone had boots on the ground in the most real sense.  Yep. Boots on the PSP or concrete at Tan Son Nhut Air Patch. This satisfies the codicil of who was or was not “boots on the ground”. It makes no difference you were there for an hour of two once when you arrived and again when you left. The point was that you “touched” the land mass of the Republic of South Vietnam and thus were presumptively exposed.

Karen did what I never had to. She excavated that link by several different avenues and then found the decisions at the Board of Veterans Appeals Website and downloaded them as well. I was sent TDY back to Saigon in July 1970  after sailing through in May and had kept my orders showing proof of boots on land then. Before I found the TDY orders, I had been contemplating what Karen did but that was back in 1994. Internet access to that kind of thing would have been a real stroke of luck if I even had had a clue how to.

imagesWhat this means for John Q. Thailand Vet is glaringly obvious. We’ve been playing their simple-minded game for about a decade while mincing what the meaning of “tactical herbicide” is. All this time, VA has known full well what we knew. Everyone, with the exception of squids who sailed over on their boats, had to have landed at Tan Son Nhut and thus fulfilled the requirement that s/he touch red clay to join the Nehmer class. Of course, none of us could produce a boarding pass for this airplane flight so we were shit out of luck to prove that we did take a smoke break in a war zone. As an aside, legally speaking, I think we should all be accorded a bye on lay testimony to that effect based on Layno v. Brown ( anything that comes to you via your five senses is admissible). The sign (above) was right there in front of our eyes. The civilian terminal even had huge, red neon letters you could see from two miles out-at night.

Here’s the link to the BVA win based on the World Airways theory. This decision relied on the Pan Am flights but the technique is identical.

Here’s the .jpgs  for all the pilots and attendants who flew us.

WAirways Pilot

WA 2

testimony (pilot)testimony 2And here is another one I found. http://veteransvoteyourcause.com/files/HHegetheimerletter.pdf

Here is the link to AO being sprayed around Sattahip and U-Tapao via the CHECO reports.

Karen is wisely doubling down on her husband’s claim. In addition to the World Airways path, she is also going for residual perimeter duty exposure. She has three buddy letters of confirmation of duties on perimeter. She also has the complete, unredacted CHECO report and if she doesn’t, it’s above underneath the VCM medal.

This finally solves the conundrum of how we all arrived in Thailand absent alien abduction. VA is not going to like the floodgates to open on this and let another million or so Vets through the door. They really shouldn’t worry as they are getting off lightly. Think how many already died without getting this presumption.

Thailand Veterans, start your keyboards. And a warm thank you to Karen for her hard work that others might win as well. I’m telling you guys. These women are carrying the water more and more nowadays and making you look lazy.

Posted in AO, Medical News, Nexus Information, Thailand AO presumptive path, Tips and Tricks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

KPVETERANS.NET

Posted on March 9, 2014 by asknod

Key PenisnsulaWhat could be better than falling into cow poop and coming out happy and sweet-smelling as a clam at high tide? I decided to affiliate with the local Veterans outfit here in my neighborhood. Imagine a peninsula fashioned identically like Florida where it only take 45 minutes to travel from the Georgia Border to the Keys at the bottom.  Likewise , imagine the width at about 3-4 miles and you have a good idea of the parameters of our rural world. According to the VA’s Disabled Veterans tables by zip code, we have 341 Vets on the VA’s disability roles out of our 16,037 residents. The gravy is my Veterans Organisation is independent and fiercely protective of its own individuality. Yessir. No affiliation whatsoever.

While the Puget Sound is far more congested than, say, the Gulf of Mexico, it is nevertheless much in keeping with the Southeast Corner of  the United States geographically. It has bred a hardy, independent type of settler and homesteader from the late 1880s to the early period of the 1900s. The Google Earth picture shows the remarkable similarity.

My daughter married into the homesteaded community so I find myself related to every Anker, Michaelson, Loy, Niemer and Lutz on the peninsula. What it also means is rugged individualism and a unique, local take on government’s role in our life. Some of the folks hereabouts tend to carry openly. If you understand the 2nd Amendment, you don’t need a Thesaurus to decipher the statement. Even more have one legally concealed. Washington State is one of those amalgams of recently arrived progressives of the Sandy Hook persuasion contrasted by a staid, conservative element whose country ways are deeply ingrained. I live on five acres and can still legally shoot off my back deck. If it’s raining, I have an indoor pistol range.

The good news is it carried over into the Veterans organization. They didn’t cotton to the idea of having any one of the Big Six  (or one of the other 39) step in and assert control of their endeavour. Good deal. The VFW is now making overtures and the membership was very vocal in their feelings about this at my first meeting last Monday. Just my kind of people. After what we’ve discovered about the lot, I think I might have pulled up the tent stakes and marched out if I knew I was going to be affiliated with them.

My history with the VFW goes back to Lancaster California and 1973. Seems the Vietnam Boundary Dispute didn’t qualify as a genuine “war” and that I was not going to be admitted as a dues-paying member. Rather than head over to the American Legion with my tail between my legs, I decided to forego the whole Veterans experience for 40 years.

I’m back. I hope to sell lots of tomato starts to eager people desirous of helping Vets. This is also an opportunity to sell bricks with inscriptions to be laid around the flagpole at the local Veterans Cemetery. KPVeterans use their donations locally as they should. Somehow, the Honchos at KPVets do all this donation work without any fuss and bother.

I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with them. What might be the icing on the cake would be if they had Imperial Connections to allow me to legally help Veterans on their VA claims without risking the VAOIG Police  or the Office of General Counsel breathing down my collar for “informing” Vets on how to prosecute their claims.

I’ll keep you posted on how this unfolds.

 

Posted in VSOs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

THE FACE PLACE

Posted on March 8, 2014 by asknod

ATT00548Member Mark of the 100% Alumni Club sends us this one. Been there, done that. Fixed the problem. Twice. The second one was free and I got a son out of it to boot. 

P.S.

ATT00530

Posted in FACE HUMOR | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments