VAOIG–POLICE BLOTTER

This is better than that blurb they put in the local paper telling you who did what in your town. The “town” here is VAville. Some of these highlights are towards the bottom. Apparently there are others who find VA heavy-handed, mean, vindictive and rather overbearing. Some of the better ones:

Veteran Arrested for Making Threat To Kill National Guard Major General
A Veteran was arrested by OIG and the FBI after threatening to kill a Major General of the U.S. Army National Guard. During a compensation and pension appointment with a VAMC psychologist, the defendant discussed a detailed plan to assassinate the Major General at a retirement ceremony. The Veteran is currently being held without bond pending trial.

Probably a wise decision.

Veteran Arrested For Threatening To Shoot Montgomery, Alabama, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor

A Veteran was arrested for making threats after an OIG, Federal Protective Service (FPS), and local police investigation revealed that he threatened to shoot a vocational rehabilitation counselor at the Montgomery, AL, VA Regional Office (VARO). The defendant made the threat after being told that the counselor needed to review his file and that he needed a “Plan of Service” before the counselor could authorize a computer software purchase.

Funny. I never saw a “Plan of Service” on my greenhouse request. Maybe that’s what I did wrong.

Veteran Indicted for Threat To Kill a Montgomery, Alabama, VAMC Physician

A Veteran was arrested and subsequently indicted for intimidating a Federal employee engaged in his official duties. An OIG and local sheriff’s office investigation revealed that the defendant threatened to return to the Montgomery, AL, VAMC and kill a VA physician and everyone else who entered the medical center. During a search incident, OIG agents and the local officers seized a rifle, shotgun, and two handguns.

It’s never a good idea to vocalize your displeasure with the quality of care you receive at a VAMC.

Veteran Arrested for Threat To Kill Dothan, Alabama, CBOC Employee and Others

A Veteran was arrested after an OIG and local police investigation determined that during a telephone conversation with a Dothan, AL, CBOC employee, the Veteran threatened to use his handgun to kill the employee along with 42 other people. The initial law enforcement contact with the Veteran resulted in a 2-hour standoff as the Veteran barricaded himself in his residence with a firearm. The defendant was subsequently subdued and arrested without incident after he attempted to flee from officers. He is currently being held without bond pending judicial action.

This one confused me. How can you barricade yourself and simultaneously flee from officers if the SWAT team has you surrounded?

Veteran Arrested for Threats to New York, New York, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor

A Veteran was arrested for aggravated harassment after an OIG, FPS, and local police investigation determined that she threatened to cause bodily harm to a New York, NY, vocational rehabilitation counselor. On a voicemail recording to the victim and during a subsequent conversation with a service organization officer, the defendant stated that she was going to harm the counselor at the VARO or outside of the facility.

This is the only one I’d take seriously. She probably refueled the Expedition and was going to mow the VOC REHAB dude down. When a woman tells you ahead of time on a voice mail what the game plan is, you’d better take precautions.

Well, there you go. A nefarious bunch or ne’er do wells, these Veterans. All in all, it was almost a wash as to whether VAMC employees engaged in more criminal acts than Veterans. At least we can sleep at night knowing our OIG is cutting a swath through crime to the tune of many millions of dollars while saving us all several hundred thousand. One other disturbing trend that is becoming evident is that no matter how many reports of VA medical errors committed at VAMC s, the OIG remarkably always comes to the same conclusion that “it could not be substantiated.” As in, even though Billy Bob Sixpack complained that the VA surgeon cut off the wrong foot, it could not be substantiated that an error had occurred”.  Or this one from the report:

OIG did not substantiate that a patient with dementia, who
was deemed to have decision making capacity regarding where he wanted to live, was held against his will for an extended period of time. The Interdisciplinary Treatment Team made efforts to address the complicated medical, ethical, and legal considerations that delayed the patient’s discharge to a Florida assisted care facility. OIG could neither confirm nor refute the validity of the patient’s DPAHC. Due to a lack of medical record documentation, a Regional Counsel attorney was unable to determine whether the document was legally executed. However, during most of the patient’s nearly 3-year stay at the facility, the son was the patient’s recognized health care agent by both facility staff and other family members. OIG confirmed that facility leaders did not appear to respond to clinicians’ requests for assistance.

Yep. The son screwed up. He spent three years complaining to the doctors trying to spring his dad and the OIG cannot “substantiate” it. Nevertheless, the kid was in charge and should have smuggled him out if he felt Dad was being held against his will. Chances are we’d sure have heard all about how that one was substantiated as kidnapping had he succeeded.

images

Posted in VAOIG Watchdogs | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

LEGIONNAIRES DISEASE IN PITTSBURG

I just got this in from Veteransclaims Blog site. How can you screw up the water supply in a building? It comes in from the street in a sealed system. It comes out of the faucet. Where’s the contamination?

Posted in All about Veterans, vA news | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Mental Illness

candles

The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School will weigh on our minds for a long time.   No words are adequate to describe the horror and trauma of this cruel insanity against defenseless precious children and their caregivers.  Nod’s own son was the victim of a mentally ill shooter this year.  The shooter’s mother could not get adequate help for her disturbed daughter.

I’ve read different articles about the Newtown massacre; this one seems to reflect some of the discussions about mental illness and trauma that take place here:

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-mental-illness-conversation_n_2311009.html

There is no justification for our society to not do everything possible to help mentally ill people and support their families.  We can’t go on ignoring, stigmatizing or using the band-aid approach to mental health care.

We care deeply about the Newtown victims and their loved ones.  We don’t know how to comfort them from afar but they are in our prayers.  What can we do? We can promise to continue to speak up for a just society that provides compassionate care for all mentally ill persons so that they won’t hurt or kill others or themselves.  We promise not to forget you, dear little children.

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BVA–BLADDER CANCER AS DUE TO AO OR DIESEL

I was sent this via several attorneys as though it was the Holy Grail. I disagree. This is nothing more than the BVA caving in when the VARO failed to mount a defense. The RO failed to even address the contentions of Johnny Vet. They gave it the circular file treatment for one reason only. Bladder cancer wasn’t on the §3.309(e) list and they thought there was no need to get serious. Any argument based on a direct basis wasn’t even considered. In a word, they were lazy.

When the case hit DC, it was apparent that the only ones supplying rebuttable evidence were the Vet and his agents A. Ray Martin and Robert D. Ford. You’ll see where the BVA do the traditional “Sorry, dude but other BVA cases hold no precedent here so don’t bother submitting them”. Little traction was gained there. What is important is the mountain of evidence and the nexus letters they submitted in their defense. This is the meat of any claim’s success and why I pass this on.

It (BVA decisions) hardly constitutes meaningful or useful evidence in a defense concerning any of you, but it is a valuable bookmark for any who suffer identical circumstances. This is where many ignore what we discover and publish here. The elements to winning a claim are many. General evidence will always need to be supplanted with a good nexus. Good meaning well-reasoned nexus letters able to stand up to critical examination are a must.

An example is what I received yesterday from member Leigh in her long running battle to win SC for her Hep. She’s now on liver #2 and she’s seven years younger than me. The VA examiner stated:

VA examiner opined(sic), after review of your claims file, to include the evidence listed above there are no studies available showing any scientific evidence (sic), “it is less likely than not likely(sic) that her current condition of hepatitis c is a result of being inoculated with a jet gun”.

Here is the mistake. While it is accepted that Hepatitis C has not been documented as being  transmitted via a jetgun, this is not definitive evidence it cannot happen. If you (Veterans) never fly to the moon in a DeLorean, that is not conclusive proof that it is impossible. What this “examiner” failed to include in this statement is that it is plausible. Plausible means that it could happen. By not stating the plausible theory, the VA’s nexus is not probative and will not stand up on appeal. It’s wobbly. Besides the tortured, butchered English, the legal supposition is compromised from the outset. The 2004 FAST letter we are told of frequently still carries some weight and should not be discarded out of hand. A VLJ earlier this year dragged it out and granted based on the same set of circumstances-that it is plausible. The RO failed to mention this and the Vet wisely did. As long as it is accompanied by a well- rationalized nexus, it is a probative tool to win with.

Our Philadelphia Vet here wins because his evidence is far more probative than the limp-wristed attempts of his RO to deny him. That is why he prevailed. It helps to have good legal help but absent the facts that qualified him (a buddy letter saying he “stepped foot” (sic) in Vietnam), he wouldn’t have gotten to first base. Secondly, without a concise nexus letter that ruled out alien abduction and all other extraneous post-service risks, he would have done a face plant too. Winning is often accomplished by getting all the evidence under one roof. Getting it all there at the same time seems to be Leigh’s problem. She has two dynamite nexus letters from her transplant doctor and Dr. Cecil yet they are nowhere to be found in the adjudication or evidence section. That’s how sloppy VA is. For that reason we nominate the Baltimore VARO also known as the Star Spangled Banner Regional Office the dubious distinction of the “What? Me worry about the decision?” award.

imagesae neuman

Posted in BvA Decisions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

HIDDEN VALLEY OR NOT IT!

Hidden Valley

In the ages old game of Not It!, the last person tagged is “it” until he/she can tag someone anew and shout the same. Take that to an adult level and you have government.

South Dakota Squidley writes me with a cogent observation. What if? I concur with him. This isn’t like being a little bit pregnant. This is Not it! in its superlative form. What if VA actually succeeds in getting claims out the door in 125 days by 2015? Forget the abysmal accuracy (VA claims 86% vs. CAVC remand rate of 60+%) and just imagine the consequences. Alright, back up and imagine even more appeals filings in light of the aforementioned inevitability of error-prone decisions.

Here’s the sad, unvarnished truth. Of 1,250,000 claims adjudicated in a recent year, 60,000+ are going on to appeal. We know of the “Hidden Valley” closet down at the VARO where your claims cool off for a year after receipt of the Form 9 before being boxed up and FEDEX’d® to 810 Vermin Avenue. This is, of course, the invocation of the FORM 8 and the fabled “Laying On Of Hands” to move it to the mail room. . Having now been CERTIFIED as substantive, the claim proceeds on to mildew in Washington DC for a year in their in-box. Pray for no remands or that timeline flies out the window.

Squidley, formerly an employee of the Canoe Club, is on to something as I said. More Vets filing equals more Vets appealing. More Vets appealing means more claims piling up in the Hidden Valley. After they escape that, they’ll just pile up higher at the BVA. The VARO guys are just playing Not It! with the BVA. More claims out the door, right or wrong means more work for the tired, overworked, under-martinied VL Judges with golfer’s elbow.

In 1961, twenty Boards of three judges were authorized with each having a Judge/doctor who could make medical decisions on-site. In 1988, with the passage of the VJRA, Congress withdrew the power of the stethoscope from the Boards. No longer were they allowed to opine on your Hep.  Although they quit hiring doctors with a juris doctor minor, they haven’t gotten that memo yet but that’s a story for another day. In 1994, the backlog started to grow. Vietnam was coming home to roost.  VASEC abruptly redefined a “Veterans Board of Appeals” (plural) to consist of 1 (uno) (single) one judge each. All of a sudden there were 60 Boards. This was a bigger hat trick that Jesus doing the Loaves of Bread with Anne Greensprings.

Anne

Everything went swimmingly until  larger numbers of Vets started showing up who keep getting clobbered in these War games. VA continued to plod along at their usual tortoise pace blithely unaware that another tsunami was fast approaching. The BVA, being very innovative, started investing some of their senior legal deniers with the exalted title of Acting Veterans Law Judges. They were allowed to do this for 90 days at a stretch, or simply grab a claim out of the basket and run with it. The only problem is they take the one on top. If it’s a humdinger with tons of medical jive in it, he/she stands a good chance of blowing the call. The obverse is true, too. That’s how we got that first jetgun claim in 2004. I’m sure that unlucky fellow moved on when the bonuses and achievement awards dried up. The VASEC put a note on the Bulletin Board and said “We’ll have no more of that nonsense.”

Moving on to 2013, 14 and 15, Squid calls it as even on the time to adjudicate. The claims will sit in some new limbo. Did I forget to mention the other closet? How about all you folks (me included) who opted for the DRO review? Foolishly thinking the VA might revisit your claim with compassion, they simply re-deny-but-but you lose a year minimum. This is yet another convenient waiting room before you even get to the Form 9 waiting room.

Your claim will eventually be denied in a shorter time as VA measures it. Accuracy is assuredly going to go down. Remember haste makes waste? VA will probably have an acronym to cover that contingency. It will be reviewed a few more times at the RO the old-fashioned way but this will now be post-125-day limit. After the original, magic goal of four months and five days has transpired, they can revert to form and start filing in the Hidden Valley again. Try to remember that VA uses semantics the same way they do everything. Absent any compelling language from the Under Secretary for Denials Allyson “the Chipmunk” Hickey, they are free to take another three years playing tiddlywinks with your claim before handing it off to the BVA.

Unfortunately all the delays in the world are not going to change the number of the judges. They are still invested with the same sixty. Even assuming every Leagle Beagle in the house was capable of strapping on the  “Acting”mantle, there would be no staff attorneys left to flesh out the denials. The bottleneck has just reappeared down the line. Moreover, with an ever-increasing number of vets demanding a do over, the numbers and delays will simply increase at this level. Note also that this doesn’t envision even more yet, nor does the head Chipmunk mention any delays other than the one specific instance of an initial filing decision. Once that 125-day hurtle is semantically surmounted, it’s back to the 2 year grind to a SOC.

Vets email me and say “Well, thank goodness they’re finally going to deal with this backlog problem.” Newsflash. Nothing will change. You’ll get in line and they’ll be handing out denials a week later at the other end. The longer, more protracted denial you are more familiar with will then commence.

The last lump in the python is the CAVC. In 1991, with the same number of judges, they issued 118 cutting edge decisions including Shafrath and Wilson. By contrast, our esteemed Court of eight currently has an unparalleled Not It! sum of seventeen (yeppers, count ’em) under their belt. When the new group of Vets arrives with $50 in hand seeking to fix VA’s screwups, the final phase of yet a new Hidden Valley will begin. It’s a good thing they’re all going to Electronic files. They’re running out of places to hide them.

"Now which one of these do you think you put Jim Smith's evidence in, anyway?"

 

The above is Winston Salem’s Hidden Valley on the sixth floor. Here’s The CAVC’s :

CAVC efiles

Posted in VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

MORE INFORMAL CLAIMS INFO

I have received even more mail on the subject of what constitutes an informal claim in the last several days. One thing I note is the importance of having expressed or evinced somehow in writing that you desired to file. Once announced the ball would be in VA’s court to act on it. Failure to do so would not abrogate their responsibility to contact you with the appropriate forms or assistance in filing. A case in point.

I had seen all the news on TV in the early nineties (approx. 1991) about Agent Orange. They encouraged Vietnam Vets to get tested. Nothing was said about filing but that goes hand in glove with lab results indicating a problem. I had been diagnosed with PCT and the doctor wasn’t sure about its cause. It was 50-50 as to the Hepatitis (I thought I had B) or Agent Orange. This was also before Caluza v. Brown (1994) and the need for a nexus letter.

I called up and got an appointment for Sept. 21, 1993 and arrived on time. I got the deer in the headlights look from Nurse L. Casey. What appointment? Nevertheless, they ran me through all the lab work, EEG, etc. and promised as the VA always does to make me an appointment soon. Very soon…

Since I never heard back, I opted to file in March 1994, approximately six months later. I will be petitioning for this as my earliest effective date. The following documents show two things. I showed up and evinced a desire to file for any and all claims associated with my disease and my blood labs clearly show something amiss in my Liver Function Tests.

Just for the record, if I had not filed within a year, my claim for an informal interpretation of this would not be valid. The VA built an escape hatch into it with the one-year provision.

AO file

2012-12-15 141737

Obviously this page wasn’t filled out because they never called me back for an exam. I found this stuff when I went in to the ROI office the first time in 2008. Surprised would be a masterpiece of understatement. I had no idea they still had this.

AO Registry  2

And the LFT evidence:

AO registry blood 2

It’s not important that the AST/ALT weren’t off the map here. I have a 1987 test showing 187 on ALT and another in 1992 with 230.

This is the kind of evidence they will demand of you. The best way to attack it in my mind is to win your claim first and then go back and say Yeah. But what about this? They may go back and do a Fenderson staged rating on it if there is enough medical evidence, too. I have never been able to predict what will happen on these EED claims. The informal attack is always difficult and VA will raise the specter of failure to show up within a year. You can actually turn that argument upside down if you point out that you did due diligence and they dropped the ball afterwards. Based on that, some have won up at the CAVC. Never accept the hokey excuse proffered by VASEC and the gang. They don’t have any desire to pay you a dime. Going back to 1993 is right out in their play book. Expect a fight. I am.

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I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Few are ignorant of the poignancy of this World War 2 Bing Crosby hit which has gone on to become a Christmas favorite. It was still a staple of the older “lifers” in the service in 1970. This was to be my first Christmas away from my family as well as in a war zone. During  December I was beginning to get sick from the hepatitis which would soon put me in the hospital. I’d had a transfusion about two and half months earlier and I was beginning to look like I’d drunk too much O.J.  The Johnny Walker snake bite medicine wasn’t much help either.

I had recently been assigned to T-11 way up country (October 11th, 1970) and was still settling in. I thought fondly of my Meo or Hmong friends I had made up in Laos and wondered if I’d ever see them again.  A word about these soldiers and pilots…

Ta-hann (General Vang Pao’s Meo soldiers) joined up very young. At eight or nine they were expected to take up a .30 calibre M-1 Carbine and begin base defense. This included spreading AO and ABlue around the perimeter in a cut off bleach bottle scoop.

By the time they reached puberty they were expected to be proficient in either a black powder Meo (I use Meo and Hmong interchangably because I remember them being called Meo) musket or the M-1. A certain number of captured Chinese Communist SKS rifles and AK 47s were sprinkled in. The occasional .45 ACP , G-3s, and Thompson SMGs were also still in use.

G-3 .45 grease gun

G-3 .45 grease gun

Ta-hann

Ta-hann

Ta-hann were not given re enlistment bonuses. They were paid infrequently and had a hard life. I cannot begin to tell you how they approached this mentally. Stoically, I imagine. I never heard any complain about the food or the rain. Vacation and R&R were not in their vocabulary. Family and clan ties were thick there and honor was all you had to set yourself above the animal kingdom. Serving in the military was not an if but a when. There was much pride around the campfire in the evening after kicking the Pathet Lao’s ass.  There was always talk of which cabal was friends with you at any given time. There were many-Neutralists,  others who supported the old monarchy and the Military Junta in power in Vientiane. VP’s troops were the front line up in Long Tieng representing the Junta, and in all the hills around the Plain of Jars. Vang Pao was supported closely by the CIA. The Pathet Lao (translated as Lao Nation) were the Laotian version of the Viet Cong.  The Neutralists were always jumping back  and forth early on but eventually sided with the Pathet Lao.

Muong Sui Laos (L-108) 9- 1970 -A

Meo (Hmong) mother w/ child taken at L108 Muong Soui 8/70

Air America knit this coalition of mountainous outposts together. We delivered like the Domino Pizza guy. We either landed and unloaded or dropped if the airpatch/LZ was hot or screwed up by the monsoon weather. Hard rice was ammo and military gear. Soft rice was food. Whenever we dropped we often used drogue chutes to arrest the fall of the package/crates/pallets. Sometimes we dropped pigs whole sans parachute knowing they’d have them for dinner. At any rate, there were always a lot of small chutes lying around.

Vang Pao made two promises to his Ta-hann. They would always be fed and clothed and when they fell in battle, they would be guaranteed a return of their body to their home and family for burial along with a one-time payment for services rendered. Vang Pao adhered to this religiously and it was what kept their army so faithful. A body must be returned to the earth to set the soul free. The family will celebrate you long after you depart. The soul is called Phee. It is your spirit and Meo were big on Phee. If you died  up in Xieng Khouang (L-22), your body would be unceremoniously wrapped up in one of those old drogue chutes and await transport on a Porter or Helio Courier back to Long Tieng (LS-20A). Once there, it might sit for several more days until a plane was headed upcountry to Na Khang or Khang Khay. While a Ta-hann had a promise of return, it was not time-stamped like the Mideast where they want to see you below ground within 24 hours. Ta-hann were often pretty aromatic before they made that final honor flight.

Imagine everyone in your town thinking as one. Aircraft etiquette says you fly around the proposed landing area  and observe your field. Since there was only one way in on the side of most mountains, it was a straight in shot. The mere sound of the aircraft galvanized the village into action. Small children were grabbed and whisked off the runway. Errant water buffalo were beaten and driven to the side. The whole populace stood and waited. If landing, the ta-hann was deplaned first to relocate the stench. The stoic looks of the villagers said much. There were no tears, no anguished wales or ululations for the dead. Just a staid glance and then all eyes reverted back to the aircraft. We never kicked a ta-hann out like cargo. We gave them much reverence even if their own were less reverent about the event. In America, when the military came calling to inform you that your son or husband was no more, an officer (usually field grade) accompanied by a senior NCO heralded the entrance. In Laos, a Helio Courier or Porter did much the same with said freight on board.

upcountrymeeting

Every year around this time, I think back on those brave men. Many died before reaching fifteen. They had no Christmas. There was little joy in their life. Weddings were rare and usually short-lived.   Buddhism is a way of life that dictates how everyone should behave. The operable phrase most descriptive is  “What goes around, comes around”. It seems so sad in retrospect but at the time war was all-consuming. Personal tragedy somehow never made a dent in their psyche. PTSD was incomprehensible.

The closest thing to Christmas was Pee-Mai (New Years Day) or Songkrahn (the water spirits festival). Outside of those two events, the year was remarkably boring. The spirits controlled the vertical and the horizontal  24/7. A dead ta-hann’s spirit was now free and there was no more association with his body. All that was needed was the proper sendoff and an annual tithe to his memory to keep his phee happy.

Keep this in mind when you celebrate the holidays. I certainly don’t want you morose and in a dour mood. Don’t get me wrong. But just think of all the poor souls who won’t be home for Christmas-ever.  Remember them. Hoist your glass in tribute to them. Regardless of their race or religious persuasion, they were some of the bravest, youngest soldiers I ever met. Why I remember them at Christmas rather than Veterans or Memorial Day is immaterial. Perhaps their phee require a tithe during the season.

My favorite airline

Posted in From the footlocker, Inspirational Veterans, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

SENATE TELLS vA TO GET WITH IT IN 2013

Well, here we go again. The Senate is now getting in the act and telling vA that they are running out of patience and expect some results as the Texas Veterans Commission (TVA) suggests.  This is becoming comical. Congress shouts and vA jumps (sideways). Congress roars and vA jumps (backwards). Congress really gets mad and says bad words and vA laughs (loudly). What’s next? Double Secret Probation?

dsrdsp

Posted in VA BACKLOG, vA news | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

EXTROVERT SNOWMEN

Don’t you just hate show offs? Now the snowmen are trying to get into the act.

show off

show off

Kabuki snowman theatre.

Kabuki Theatre for attorneys

Legendary Law Dogs

Legendary Law Dogs

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vAOIG–ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS

This is pathetic. The Playground Supervisors  (VR&E’s big, bonus winners) have been caught back east with their pants down.

 Participants Misidentified   

We reviewed a sample of 70 CER files and found 45 files were appropriately recorded in CWINRS as self-employment participants. However, case managers incorrectly recorded 25 of 70 files in CWINRS as veterans participating in self-employment services. According to the CER files, these 25 veterans received other VR&E program services such as independent living and employment through long-term services.

This is exactly what I suspected. I pointed out to my counselor that there were two distinct branches of the VR&E tree-a path to employment and one for ILP. He says there’s only one.  This is fairly conclusive proof that they consider it to be one big pie that can be cut up any way they say it can. The whole VR&E concept was born in 1918-right after the WW1.   The ILP was instituted in 1980 after Vietnam for Vets who would never normally survive any war.Congress realized that those of us who were severely disabled needed a special niche. vA has decided to exercise “portion control” over the funds allotted them. I always wondered why no one I talked to at VR&E had ever heard of ILP.

The VR&E is a personnel nightmare. It’s filled with GS-10s and above. The lowliest typists in the shops are usually GS-9s. Good ol’ boy network is writ large here. Everyone has initials after their name like CRC, BMOC, I(CU2), CO(OL), MS(NBC). I’m sure you know the types. Here. Go to my vA Who’s Who widget  and then just click on Veterans Benefits Administration, choose your state and look at the 300 employees. Ones listed as Social Science are the VR&E big guys. The smaller potatoes are Psychology. The typists are listed under Social Science with GS11 ($61K) to GS12 ($87K). Wowser. Twenty six VR&E troops at Fort Fumble in Seattle from GS 11 to GS14- One GS14, two GS 13, nineteen @ GS-12, and four @ 11. In the Canoe Club (Navy) they’d call that top-heavy with brass. Anywhere BUT the vA.

Does anyone see why we have a problem at the vA? Everyone there is so old they have Alzheimer’s or else they are getting paid waaaaaaaaaay over scale. Ya think? Used to be a GS-14 was pushing twenty years. Nowadays they start you at GS-10 there. Happy VR&E “social scientists” make happy ratings. So where’s my greenhouse?

VA approved greenhouse

VA approved greenhouse

Posted in Independent Living Program, vA news, VAOIG Watchdogs, VR&E | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments