BVA–R1 WITH ONLY ONE L

Posted on August 12, 2025 by asknod

I would have named this one Back Door Man by Jim Morrison of the Doors but it didn’t involve an extramarital affair. I will say, this is a first for me because prior to this,  you’d have needed a perfect storm to get this benefit. I had no cases  with quite so many service connected conditions that could benefit via the “backdoor SMC P” technique. Well, that is, until the Barry v. McDenis the Menace Fed Circus Decision- Barry v. McDonough, 101 F.4th 1348 Fed. Cir. (2024)- permitting endless half step bumps under §3.350(f)(3). Correction. Endless half-step bumps like this case until you hit the wall at SMC O. Read on.

In a grand effort to confuse us, the Secretary chose the term “SMC at the maximum rate” at some time in the distant past. To Joe average Vet, maximum translates into Boone and Crockett points or actually getting the Power Ball on top of the other six numbers. However, truth be told, the maximum rate is actually SMC at the O rate. It’s some serious baksheesh. Don’t get me wrong. A married Vet with an empty nest draws $6903.42.

It’s just that an Afstan Vet from 2008 with TBI and SMC at the T rate with a chestfeeder and three rugpersons can get north of $11,506.15 a month. From where I stand, $11.5 K beats $6.9K every time just like a full house beats two pair. Maybe the VA defines maximum like the rearview mirror does on your car door. Objects may appear larger than they actually are…

But let’s talk about Mark. Mark was a 95 Bravo 20. For those of you uninitiated into MOS, that’s a military po-liceman. As boots-on-the-ground Vets like us know, these guys almost always ended up being employed as an 11 Bravo 10 when the Long Binh Repo Depot ran out of Infantrymen. But hey. They usually got a CIB and an ArCom so they can’t bitch too loudly. Well, unless they caught a dose of lead poisoning.

Mark did his Eleven months and 28 days, snagged 4 bronze stars on his VCM and made it home in one piece… or so he thought. Now he’s the poster child for Agent O. Chronic Lymphocytic Lymphoma (CLL), Parkie’s, DM II, PN in all four extremities, PTSD, gee did I miss anything? Yep. OSA, a bunch of musculoskeletal shit and loss of use (LOU) of all four extremities. He got his wheelchair driver’s license almost a decade ago.

I filed him for the LOU of the uppers and lowers and rolled one last Hootch popper in low on the floor- aid and attendance for the CLL. I figured that would get their attention the most. It did. Mark’s been pursuing an old Legacy claim for the PN in his lower extremities and one hand since 2010. It’s now in the second SSOC iteration and headed back to the Board. So, in our new AMA world, a claim for LOU of the extremities cannot exist in space at the same time as an antique request for a higher rating concerning your legs (due not to Parkie’s but to DM II) from 10% to 20% for the finite period of 2010 to 2014 when they increased it to 20%.

So I sat back and began to contemplate my navel. The first thing was VA declared a CUE over the old award for a&a back in 2023. They suddenly decided to start “gifting” us the bumps under §3.350(f)(3) and (f)(4). Instead of a&a, Mark was gifted a bump from SMC L for a&a to SMC M for his 100% CLL which VA said didn’t need a&a. Actually, they screwed up and gave him M 1/2 but who’s counting anyway. It wasn’t R1- that’s for sure.

How do you make lemonade out of these lemons? Adding vodka would be one method. Get drunk and give up on ever seeing R1? Oh hell no. I came from the Win or Die™ Combat School of VA law. With the Barry precedence and Mark’s code sheet, I cobbled together what I thought was a pretty good backdoor way to sneak up on the chowderheads. This was almost as fun as dropping CBU 26-49 (cluster bomb unit with 665 individual bomblets- half of which were 45-minute delayed fuses) up in Laos where… Togetherweneverserved.©

SMC M plus another 50% or greater rating , separate and distinct from the index need for a&a (Parkie’s) equals SMC M 1/2. Lather, rinse and repeat three times with three ratings that are different from Parkie’s and you have SMC N 1/2. Add in SMC K for loss of use of Winky and you have what we refer to as the ‘maximum rate of SMC at the P rate”. If by some offbeat chance you arrive as the maximum P, you automatically “jump” to SMC O.

Col. Sgt. Major with the CIB in the wrong place and the medals upside down.

Now, here’s the sleight of hand that allows you to bump up to R1 with only one SMC between the rates of SMC L and N. §3.350(h) permits you to utilize your original a&a for the Parkie’s as the entrance ticket (with the O) to get to SMC R1. Who ever said you can’t pyramid your VA ratings?  We’ve discussed in earlier blogs how you could be blind and get an L. Then you could have mega bent brain and need a&a to get a second L. Two Ls equals O. As long as one of the Ls is for a&a, you advance to Boardwalk and collect R1. Here, the second L is that mythical, formerly unattainable maximum rate of SMC P which converted to O.

Now, I realize the above is about as clear as the Mississippi River to most Veterans. SMC is like trying to learn Greek and Latin at the same time. Relax. You don’t have to understand. There are SMC Jedi Knights out there just waiting to lead you to riches-assuming you qualify. And by SMC Knights, I am not referring to a very large swath of folks who profess to be VA law gurus. There aren’t exactly a shit ton of us out there.  This is an art form- like waiting until you get all the gooks into the kill zone before the three pumps on the clacker. But the results are every bit  as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow morning.

So, here’s my opening gambit

redact a&a filed 10.14.2024 –

Here’s the bag of lemons they handed us .

redact CUE Retro for M 5.09.2025

Here’s the Barry bump flanking maneuvre to go around them and do it with only one SMC at the L rate;

redact BVA 10182 Filed 5.17.2025

I really expected I’d pancaked on this one because it was distributed to a Judge about a week or two after I sent it in. Usually, it’s gonna be a denial and get done in no time flat like this. Big Ticket items like SMC are analyzed like a Rubik’s Cube® from every angle to find a way to legally poke holes in it.  Turns out it was nothing more than my old friend Veterans Law Judge Jon Hager just itching to write a good Barry Bump decision.  I like Judge Hager. Him ‘n me are like peas and carrots.

Redact R1 Barry style

So… another happy ending here in the unicorn world of SMC where everyone’s a winner except for the chuckleheads down at the corner of 810 Delay and Deny Ave. NW. I wish to thank Mark for allowing me to be the one to make a speshull flavor of Lemonade for him. This is better than Leroy MacKlem’s adventures in CUE. Today’s teaching lesson is “Be careful when you declare a CUE because it can provoke unexpected downstream complications.”

P.S. We’re doing a Zoom TV show this Thursday evening at 1900 Eastern Time with John  Stacy and Ray Cobb of Exposed Veterans if anyone is interested.

Here’s the link:

https://riverside.fm/studio/exposed-vet-productions?token=3a179102156285a045fa8cab9afe461599a346b9

Posted in Aid and Attendance, AO, Barry Bumps in SMC, BvA Decisions, CUE, SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VA special monthly compensation, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

PACT ACT–AO=PRESUMPTIVE HYPOTHYROIDISM

Posted on August 3, 2025 by asknod

Contributor and reader Brian from the easterly reaches of our great state of Washington, also called the “other Washington”, asks me to bloviate on hypothyroidism à la Agent L’orange. Of course, there are other ways you can develop hypothyroidism and I’m currently doing one for reader and current client Calvin. He had the misfortune of undergoing a year of Interferon treatment to “cure” Hepatitis C. It was successful inasmuch as he no longer has Hep C. The downside is the long list of secondary conditions caused by the Interferon therapy to include arthralgias., occasional nausea, Hypothyroidism– status post hyperthyroidism with enucleation surgery to remove the thyroid, Diabetes Mellitus type II, PN etc. etc. etc.

The short thirty six-year history of  Agent Orange in the judicial news stems not from a Veterans Court (CAVC) decision but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in San Francisco in 1987- two years before its (CAVC’s) inception . Say what you will about them, pro or con, but, like a broken clock, the 9th gets it right some of the time. Like the recent holding throwing out California’s background checks for ammunition. In this case, Beverly Nehmer and nine other Veteran’s wives or surviving spouses sued the VA to comply with the 9th Fed Circus class action lawsuit over what AO does to you and won a huge victory for all of us Vietnam Vets and their surviving spouses. Even I am a Nehmer-class member and have hypothyroidism at 30%.

They’ve been adding to the AO list ever since 1989. 2001 saw VA add DM II. 2010 saw IHD, Parkie’s and hairy b-cell leukemia, and in 2021 they added hypothyroidism, bladder cancer and Parkinsonism (a different diagnosis of Parkie-like symptoms).  Unfortunately, they’re also handing out 0% ratings for it  (hypothyroidism) with no c&p exams. To them, it’s a nothing burger like hypertension. Unless your blowing a continuous 210/180 on the BP meter, you get a 0%.  I’ve found, if you bring your prescription bottle of Levothyroxine in and are wearing a heavy sweatshirt in July, that they award 30% as a default setting.

Let me give you an example of the retro capabilities of  Nehmer law. I got a client back in 2020 named Harry. He augered in last August but I got him everything and the DIC for his wife. He came down with something in 1998  that appeared to waddle like Parkie’s, quack like Parkie’s and for all the world exhibited all of the plumage of Parkie’s. His civvie doctors were all over the map about the diagnosis from restless leg syndrome to some kind of residuals of a cerebrovascular accident. In 2002, he filed for Parkie’s and VA told him to piss off-politely, of course. TY4YS. Next?

He came back in 2010 after Parkie’s was added to the Nehmer list and after a 2-year battle, got his service connection. He came to me for SMC R mostly. But, under §3.816(c), I also got him a 60% rating back to his 2002 filing for it. But, if it were for hypertension due to AO under the PACT Act, if you had filed for hypertension back in 2002 and lost, and you won service connection in 2025, you cannot avail yourselves of the Nehmer retroactivity clause in §3.816.  Your absolute earliest effective date, absent a previous CUE, will be the date of claim. Period. Now let’s talk about what you -Johnny Vietnam Vet- can get for your hypothyroidism as a VA rating.

If you look at the top of my widgets above, you’ll see 38USC/38CFR LINKS.  If you go to 38CFRs and click on Part 4, Schedule for rating Disabilities, §4.119 Schedule of Ratings-endocrine system shows hypothyroidism under DC 7903. To qualify for 100%, you’ll need:

Hypothyroidism manifesting as myxedema (cold intolerance, muscular weakness, cardiovascular involvement (including, but not limited to hypotension, bradycardia, and pericardial effusion), and mental disturbance (including, but not limited to dementia, slowing of thought and depression))

Let’s parse this in Veteranspeak. Any time you see an ‘and’, it means you need all the ingredients to get the 100%. We call that conjunctive as in you need everything listed to win. If you see the word ‘or’, then any subset mentioned is the only requirement. We call that dysjunctive. Here, to qualify for 1oo%, you’ll need not just myxedema (well-diagnosed with some of the symptoms mentioned like cold intolerance or cardiovascular shit etc.) but also mental disturbance. Again, mental disturbance can include at least one of the symptoms listed such as slowing of thought and depression. You might have dementia or you may not. But you will need, at the very least, slowing of thought and depression diagnosed.

So, you see the parameters for 100%. It’s what I’d call a multifactorial requirement much like DM II. If you have it (DM II) and can manage to steer clear of McDonald’s™ most of the time, you get 10%. If you can’t avoid McDonald’s and use Metformin or have to shoot up Insulin at least once per day, you get to 20%. If you need to be supervised on your diet (like getting your jaw wired shut), have your activities regulated and are using Insulin, you get to 40%. Etc. etc. etc. to 100%. Each increase in rating is due to a higher level of complication of the index disease and progressive medical intervention. So too, hypothyroidism.  Just kidding about wiring the jaw, guys. But that is not the end of the matter. Look at Note (1).

After six months, just like a heart attack, or as the regulation says, “crisis stabilization“, VA is going to call you in for a new c&p exam to measure what you still have wrong after massive infusions of Levothyroxine-also called Cytomel®. If your eyes are still bugged out, they have a rating for that. If you are having major digestive issues like GERD or mild Crohn’s/ulcerative colitis read as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or the mental disorders mentioned above, they’re supposed to rate on those at that time. VA always seems to disremember the 6-month review unless you’re getting 100%. If they gave you a 0%, you’ll have to ask for your 6 month check up most times.

VA is required to rate each and every one of these remaining conditions based on the residual symptoms separately under the §4.25(b) guidance. Sadly, you will probably have to be your own advocate to get any meaningful traction. Most c&p clinicians don’t have a clue what hypothyroidism does to you other than to look for a scar and give you 0% under DC 7802. To most of these FNP wannabe doctors, Myxedema probably brings to mind an iced Hispanic cocktail involving a shit ton of Tequila and coconut rum and a bar full of 6’2″ buff NFL dudes with six-pack abs. Well, that or the medical condition known as the ‘illness for which there is no sympathy’ the next morning (hangover).

So, moving on, the only other possibility offered under DC 7903 is a potential 30% compensation-wise. This is important to note because VA is almost monolithic about handing out 0% ratings when you win. Uh-oh. There is no 0% rating offered on 7903. VA is guaranteed to always fall back on §4.31 and say

§ 4.31 Zero percent evaluations.

In every instance where the schedule does not provide a zero percent evaluation for a diagnostic code, a zero percent evaluation shall be assigned when the requirements for a compensable evaluation are not met.

But then again, look at Note (2). Even the 30% rating has this requirement for a follow-up c&p to re rate you…

Note (2): This evaluation shall continue for six months after initial diagnosis [of 30%]. Thereafter, rate residuals of disease or medical treatment under the most appropriate diagnostic code(s) under the appropriate body system (e.g., eye, digestive, mental disorders).

So, the logical interpretation of this is twofold. If… if you have a diagnosed mental condition that encompasses any of the terms dementia/slowing of thought/ depression… AND you also have a diagnosed cold intolerance  with a touch of weird, quasi-serious cardiovascular symptoms- post-thyroidectomy or not-then, by definition, you have a diagnosis of myxedema. And, if so, it follows that you are entitled to 100%… unless you get better as mentioned in the above “crisis stabilization” protocol. For the record, to me crisis stabilization would be a thyroidectomy or the radioactive poison isotope route to nuke it. Either way, you’re going from hyper to hypo permanently. But if you never get the Cytomel, you’re gonna be 100%… or way worse.

So, being the Veteran’s advocate that I am, let’s drag out an old CAVC decision I’m fond of. Remember Jones v. Shinseki, 26 Vet.App. 56, 63 (2012)?

The Court held that the veteran is entitled to a rating based upon his unmedicated condition – that is, the higher disability evaluation – if the effects of medication are not explicitly mentioned under the applicable diagnostic code of the rating schedule  condition.

The Secretary has demonstrated in other DCs that he is aware of how to include the effect of medication as a factor to be considered when rating a particular disability. See, e.g., 38 C.F.R. § 4.71a, DC 5025 (2012) (10% rating for fibromyalgia requires symptoms “[t]hat require continuous medication for control”); 38 C.F.R. § 4.97, DC 6602 (2012) (rating criteria for bronchial asthma). The Secretary’s failure to include the effects of medication as a criterion to be considered under DC 7312 while including such effects as criteria under other DCs must therefore be read as a deliberate choice.

Nowhere in the four corners of DC 7903 can I find the word ‘medication’. “Crisis stabilization” is so broad a term that it could encompass Tuesday night 1900 Hrs Kumbaya meetings with fellow PTSD/MDD Vets down at the local Vets Center in town.  You all get together and help stabilize Bob who’s going off the deep end again ’cause his pet tarantula died. Perhaps it could it be said that if you had a brain fog (slowing of thought) condition secondary to hypothyroidism that was impervious to treatment and ratable at 70% wouldn’t that mean you have not yet reached their defined plateau of crisis stabilization? Or put another way, what percentage of rating is normally commensurate when you finally achieve crisis stabilization? To VA, that will always be 0% from where I sit in the cheap seats. But boy howdy you could drive a three-trailer semi through that definition with plenty of side clearance. Regardless of whatever crisis stabilization entails, the absence of the word Cytomel or levothyroxine is fatal to the diagnostic code. No Cytomel = no stabilization…ever.

So, having disassembled this rating code to its components, you can see the potential for a higher rating percentage for hypothyroidism building off its separate components identified in the regulation is easily attainable. VA heart disability ratings are now predicated on METS measurements- not LVEF. Major depressive disorders are arrived at by psychological c&p exams (§4.130) by folks that have more OCDs than you do. Arthralgias and muscular weaknesses are rated under §4.71a. Think of it like baking cookies- you need ingredients (read symptoms) to get the ratings percentages. A doctor has to say it. You can’t just say you have it.

In the real world of PACT, if you set foot in Viet Nam (not stepped foot in Vietnam), you are entitled to any of the Nehmer diseases listed in §3.309(e)-assuming you are diagnosed with them, of course. But, if you suffer any of the most recent additions to the AO such as hypertension or Monoclonal Gammopathy with Undetermined Significance (MGUS), you do not get the Nehmer consideration.

I’ve advocated for years to get Thailand and Laos added to the AO presumptive list. A guy stationed at Tan Son Nhut would be granted presumptive and they never got near AO because it was forbidden by President Ky to spray around Saigon back then. Jez, even he realized this stuff was lethal. But we hosed the shit out of the perimeters of every base, operating location, Firebase and LZ for a clear line of fire in Thailand and Laos-usually with Orange, Blue or White-or combinations of them. Getting these Vets in under the PACT Act is an insult but I’ll take it. As my buddy Wes says “Half a watermelon beats the pants off a whole grape any day.”

In reality, some of the nastiest flavors of AO like Pink, Purple and Green, and even the nuclear-strength version (1.5-2.0 parts AO to 1.0 parts petroleum distillate) we called Super Orange were sprayed in Eastern Laos along the HCM Trail all the way down to the Parrot’s Beak area of the HCM trail in Cambodia as late as 1968. Sure, vegetation will eventually return- and has- but the soil, like pretty much all of the Indochinese delta- is that nasty, sticky red clay and the induration rate for dioxin thereabouts is measured in centuries-not months or years.

One day, they’ll clear  the Trail and build roads and rice patties. Just imagine how much unexploded ordnance must be in there. And a toilet, too. Bummer.

 

 

Posted in Agent Orange, AO, PACT ACT, research, VA Agents, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Route 20 EAST–THE GREAT BIG BACATION

Posted on July 26, 2025 by asknod

Rich Scott

I’m nigh on to positive sure everyone is looking at the title of this one and scratching some part of their anatomy. No, it’s not a musical title like Hotel California and there are no pork bellies involved. This is Cupcake’s and my first getaway road trip since the Covidemic™ snuck up on us back in ’20. I’m gonna trademark that word because I just invented it, too. Now to the subject- the Great Big Bacation. When Buckwheat junior was knee high to a 9 inch bottle of Schlitz back in ’92, we went on a Carnival Cruise to Mexico. His diction was a mite off so, at about four,  it came out as a ‘b’. I don’t think most parents would be alarmed unless their younguns were still saying bacation when they reached 15. But with the youngest generation now, I might be wrong.

Buckwheat Junior on the great big bacation to Mexico

Right. So I’ve lived in our great state of Washington since moving up here after the Cal Jam at the Ontario Speedway in April 1974. Great Concert. It was my first sighting of Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath. In all that time since, I’ve always had a hankering to drive across Route 20 (the North Cascades Highway) and see what everyone was oohing and ahhhing about. Rarely does Mother Nature exceed my expectations and leave me in awe. This was kinda like going to Yellowstone and having one of those “Holy shit, Batman.” moments. Or perhaps the first time I was coming left on final and saw those Titty Karsts at the end of the one-way runway up at Alternate (Long Tieng) in ’70. They didn’t call it the Vertical Speed Brake for nothing.

Right off when we finally got aimed onto Route 20 heading East off of I 5, the first thing we saw was the “Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway” sign (above). How cool is that? Considering the fact that it took 50 years or so for America to wake up to the rudeness visited on us in the 60s and 70s when we returned, I’m almost glad I waited that long to accomplish this odyssey- if only to see that sign.

Now, the second reason, at the symbolic end of this Route 20 East rainbow, is Curlew, Washington (pop. 49). I do mean it’s at the end of the goat track. Another 12 miles and you’ll be in Canada. Curlew is akin to that mythical town of Bugtustle where Jed and Granny set out from back in ’62. It’s absolutely bucolic; a general store (sometimes), a heavy equipment repair place for farm gear, a church or two… and Scott Brothers® Coffee at the foot of Scott’s Mountain. 

Richard (Rich) Scott and his daughter Satya buy beans from all over the world and roast them to order. They may have clients on multiple continents for all I know. It stands to reason. I’ve begun sending their beans as presents to some of my clients and good friends. Rick and his brother Dave began the business years ago but Dave retired from it. Together they built a Tim Allen Home Improvement ‘Binford’ version of a coffee roaster with “more power”. This thing has enough electric elements in it to heat four 1500 sq. foot homes simultaneously. It literally can roast 3 pounds of beans in ten minutes.

We were gifted some of these magic beans by one of Cupcake’s real estate agents (Nivan) way back when and I swore I was gonna add this to my bucket list- to go shake that ol’ boy’s hand and tell him how much I enjoy his coffee.

Job site dog.

Now, the kicker to this is they don’t actually roast your beans until you order them. Then they USPS Priority Mail them (3 days) to you moat lao (Laotian for “with great celerity”) so you get them fresh. When I go down to the mailbox to retrieve them, I can smell them through all the wrappings outside the box before I even open it. I’ve heard tell that some folks swear Rich’s beans are still warm when they arrive- but I’d allow as I’ve never seen that.

I sure don’t want to make this seem like an advertisement for Rich and Satya’s business but there it is. When somebody has a superior product, it’s said the world will beat a path to your door- even if it’s 75 miles to hell and gone past East Bumfork, Egypt.  Truth is, I’d give my left kidney (or what’s left of it) to be able to live there. The Kettle River runs right out in front of the Coffee Grindery/Roastery there on Route 21. Rich says there’s so many trout you can dang near walk across the water on top of ’em in summer. We saw more Mule deer than you could shake a stick at, too. We’re talking big boys sporting some serious Boone and Crockett headgear.

Author, Rich, Satya and Cupcake

And right at the end, ol’ Rich allowed as he was an Army Veteran who’d served up in Fort Wainwright, Alaska during the war. How cool is that? All in all, it was a great getaway and well worth the wait. We’re FNGs. We’ve only been buying Scott Bros. Beans for about 5 years. Fact is, if Cupcake and I had gone much before that, we’d never have known to make the Hajj to Curlew. Like Roseanne Rosannadana once said “It always goes to show it’s somethin’.”

As a closing comment, I’d like to apologize if I scared any of my readership with my prolonged absence away from writing. All is well. No heart attacks or inpatient horror stories to report. Just a shit ton of briefs to write. One thing you all have to understand though is it’s summertime, which in Washington, is one of those rare times we can go outside and witness there actually is a Sun and warmth. Well, that and go cool off when it gets hot down at the cement pond out back we put in for Pickles. You see, folks up here don’t get the opportunity to tan too awful much.  We sort of tend to rust mostly.

Posted in Food for the soul | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mental Health Petition PSA

Posted on July 10, 2025 by asknod

Here you go folks. This just came in from a client I’m repping. Please read and sign… or just sign it to support getting more help to those Vets who are experiencing pushback from VA over their access to Mental Health counseling. Let’s try to whittle down the number of Veteran suicides the old fashioned way- by voting with our voices.

https://www.change.org/p/give-veterans-a-real-choice-in-their-mental-health-care?recruiter=762242083&recruited_by_id=638a18d0-8434-11e7-b4ce-9ba86869b480&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_message&utm_term=7f3501e036fc49079131a66ecfae5c35&utm_medium=email

Posted in MST, VA Health Care, Veterans Choice card | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

7/04/25–NOW YOU SEE IT-NOW YOU DON’T

Posted on July 3, 2025 by asknod

I was going to write one of those gooshy National Holiday articles about how wonderful America has become in the last five or so months but hell, everyone knows that unless you’ve been holding your breath and are turning blue in the face. Our sacred homeland is now secure on the southern border and we’re vacuuming up America’s carpet (figuratively, of course) after a long pause of neglected housekeeping. Meanwhile Uncle VA has been up to their usual mischief. Of course, that will never change without us finding new ways to skin the cat. 

 

Towards that end, I’ve developed some nouveau techniques on the SMC subject. Unfortunately, every time I reveal them here, it seems VA reinvents the law and finds a way to defeat me and my client. The only way I stay ahead of them is to continue to reinvent the wheel and get one step ahead of them again. Which brings us to my boy Danny ( name changed to confuse VA). VA thought they could fix Danny’s wagon the way I filed this.

This began when Danny showed up last spring and said his attorney had kinda hit the wall, said he was 100% + SMC S and there wasn’t a whole lot more he could do. Well, shoot. As we all know, a SMC S is just a SMC L waiting to be born. Especially when your 100% schedular rating is for the nastiest combo of them all- Bent Brain syndrome with a heapin’ helpin’ of TBI on the side. Or worse, vice versa…

The Navy gave him a MEB for the problem and he marched smartly over to Denis the Menace and asked for his promised guarantee he received when he raised his right hand. Denis hemmed and hawed a spell and sent him over the Walter Reed for some extra strength Brain superglue but they were fresh out of anything strong enough.

 Seems the Danster had caught a chunk of 1/2 inch rebar in the noggin when he was 4 and VA was desperately trying to escape the inevitable TBI claim just waiting to happen. But we have a law that says if the Navy takes you, then you must be good to go. Dan was accepted as excellent and served ten years until he disintegrated. Nobody could find any records showing he’d had headaches, anosmia or loss of executive functions (apraxia) from 1992 to 2016 so that came up as a dry hole.

VA doesn’t give up easy. If you have a dearth of records, you just go get a pliable VA-contract doctor, offer him enough pieces of silver and bingo- instant medical opinion saying he never had a diagnosis of TBI and if he did, it was when he got clobbered with that chunk of rebar. He just hid it to get into the Navy. Everybody knows Vets are Welfare Queens. Right?

He finally won the combo of TBI and PTSD. VA wrote up the code sheet here with DC 8045 in front of the 9411 for PTSD indicating the predominant disability was the TBI. But when they upped the TBI/PTSD from 70 to 100% in July ’24, a strange thing happened. The TBI became a secondary of the PTSD and the DC 8045 evaporated. I didn’t catch on to it initially because the code sheet still says PTSD w/ insomnia disorder and Traumatic Brain injury. But always remember. If VA does something that looks innocent, move your wallet to a front pocket and watch out.

CS 11.11.23

CS 7.01.2024

Sure as shit, along comes Alex and files him solely for the PTSD. VA initially said “No!” and thought we’d  put our tail between our legs and walk away. I wanted to go straight to the BVA but Dan says -what the hey, let’s try a HLR. We did and I dumpster-dived the c file and came up with all the dirt saying his noggin had more charcoal in it that a brand new bag of Kingsford™ briquets. Besides, the narrative even stated “Dude, you need a&a.”

526 PRELIM a&a

a&a RD 2.20.2025

CS 2.20.2025

So Miss HLR grants the a&a but sure enough, that missing DC 8045 suddenly came to life and fenced us out of any hope of SMC at the T rate. Back to the drawing board. Denis the Menace also gave us more ammo when he first denied because he proposed incompetency while denying the a&a. That just added more napalm to the future a&a/ SMC T campfire.

SMC L 6.02.2025

CS 6.02.2025

So here we are-July 3rd. We’re getting ready for the festivities tomorrow and chillin’ the brewskis. I just finished Danny boy’s legal brief and I’m kinda proud of this one. I actually kept it down to sixteen pages-no small feat for me. We’ll probably be hearing from the Board about next spring or so on the outcome but again- I’m not worried. I’m still batting a thousand on SMC. I speak of it (SMC Claims) analogously as like fishing with hand grenades- but then I know because I have fished the upper reaches of the mighty Mea Kong with M 26s in my youth and know whereof I speak.

BVA 10182 filed 7.02.2025

I hope you all have a loud, bright, noisy celebration of our Nation’s 249th Birthday and I look forward to next year’s even more. We can still buy the good four-stage mortars up here in the United Soviet Socialist Republic of Washington- and even if we can’t, we can always vote with our feet and go over to an Indigenous American Reservation and buy even better stuff cheaper. We have more reservations up here than you can shake a stick at and probably about as many casinos as Reno.

 

Posted in 4th of July, PTSD, SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, TBI, VA Agents, VA TBI, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

EXPOSED VET ZOOM SHOW 6/26/2025 @ 1900 (EDT)

Posted on June 24, 2025 by asknod

John and Ray have invited me on again for an in-depth gander at how we are doing the new §3.350(f)(3) “Barry Bumps” as we call them. For the uninitiated, Mr. Barry, via a great VA Agent and litigator (Jim Perciavalle) drove this claim all the way to the Fed. Circus and won it. Seems VA has been funnin’ us ever since 1946 and tellin’ us we only get one scoop of (f)(3) on our SMC ice cream cones. The Feds disagreed and said VA needed to use SMC Phonics and sound it out. 

So here we are a year later and VA is still dogging it and only handing out about half of what we are entitled to. I’m going to take one of my client’s code sheets and break it down for all to see how we argue it up at the Board. Arguing it at the local yokel level at the Fort Fumble’s across our fruited plains hasn’t exactly produced stellar results yet. Seems they just discovered after 6 years that their SMC Ratings Calculator was broken. Worse, it broke back in 1946…

Try letting this sink in. There are a veritable shit ton of you folks out there with SMC Ls for a&a or Loss of Use who are entitled to these bumps. If every one of you rose up and filed a CUE and demanded the retro bucks they owe you, VA is going to be hurtin’ for certain on payback ’til the Second Coming of Christ. The effective date will be the date you filed for and won your claim. Holy Shit Batman doesn’t even come close to describing this fustercluck.

California Jam April 9, 1974. That’s me in the top hat in the upper left.

So tune in on you computer in living color come Thursday evening at 1900 Hrs East or 1600 West and let’s scratch off your VA lottery tickets and see if you won anything. Here’s the link. Remember, this is a live Zoom type show so you’ll need video and audio to tune in.

https://riverside.fm/studio/exposed-vet-productions?token=1093e0029abf4094b42cd16bf405165b918ea562

We look forward to seeing you there.

Operating Location C / Tango 11 in NW Thailand. Circa 10/1970. Asknod in lower right in camo with no rank or insignia.

BVA 10182 Filed 5.17.2025_Redacted

CS combos._Redacted

 

Posted in Aid and Attendance, All about Veterans, Barry Bumps in SMC, Exposed Veteran Radio Show, VA Agents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

BVA-35 YEARS TO WIN–RIDE MY SEE-SAW

Posted on June 22, 2025 by asknod

Great song by the Moody Blues.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog here, a PIC (pilot in charge) I often flew with was fond of the group and that particular song. He flew into a mountain one morning up north and we had to go pick up the pieces. Flying takes balls, unflinching confidence and incredible luck. I reckon he forgot to pack one of them that day. But let’s talk about my boy Orville. He did survive the Southeast Asia Olympic games- sort of. Grab a brewski or a g&t and some chips and listen to this incredible luck… or should I say, perseverance. He suffers greatly from PTSD and one thing all who do suffer is a desire to “get it right”. Some take it to the level of obsessive compulsive disorder; some not. Orville’s obsession was driven by medical necessity-not so much Bent Brain Syndrome. Read on.

As usual, the Pig jams just when you need it.

Orville ain’t very tall by a long shot. In fact, by Marine Corps standards, he was hard-pressed to convince them he was gonna be up the job. Pun intended.  Being’s as the Viet Nam “conflict”, as the VFW called it, was in full swing, acceptance for any branch of service was a foregone conclusion. If you could turn your head to the right and cough, and your balls didn’t jump, you were good to go for the next exciting adventure in you new life.

Orville aspired to be a Machine Gunner and pack a Pig. He simply wasn’t big enough to make it so he tried harder, volunteered for the dirty jobs and tried to become the nastiest Marine 0311 Rifleman ever manufactured at Parris Island. In the Marines (not so much the Army), Infantrymen are taught how to march to the job site, affix a bayonet to their M 14s and run around shooting and stabbing shit. Especially any shit that stabs or shoots back.  They’re like Neanderthals. They’ll continue doing that until they get finished shooting and stabbing everyone or somebody tells them to cease and desist. I suspect Orville suffered short people syndrome so this was an opportunity to excel. Oo-rah.

 

Army (Air Cav) guys fly into battle on their rotary wing stallions. They’ll wander around shooting the shit, smoking Marb Reds and making a racket until the shit hits. When they lose their point man, they fall back while calling in arty or an air strike. After the napalm ceases burning and the last 45 minute delayed-fuse CBU has gone off, they advance and see whazzup. Lather, rinse and repeat. Welcome to Viet Nam.

About three quarters through his first tour in country, he best friend caught a sniper round through the noggin right beside him. Killed that dude deader than shit. Understandably, that pissed Orville off no end. Up to then, he’d been average gung ho. Now, he began that reckless streak we have come to associate with severe PTSD. Orville began volunteering for long range patrols and ambush missions west of Khe Sanh -most in the general vicinity of the boundary with Laos. The Nam Sam River is the line so it isn’t like you could get confused as to your location. Orville said they saw a lot of rivers and streams and they all looked alike. He said if you go deer hunting, logic says you have to hunt where the deer are. In Viet Nam, there were no border entry stations or signs saying “Welcome to Laos. Please check in with the Immigration Office.” Rules of Engagement were whatever you said they were.

I suppose this will offend someone but it’s my “lived experience” as they say in California.

Also about that time, Orville signed up for a second tour, made E 5 Sergeant and  took to this ambush business like a Labradog to water. Not so strangely, Orville’s platoon began to have an incredibly poor track record on capturing any prisoners. Nobody found that strange. South Korean (ROK) Army “Tiger” Units and SOG never seemed to capture anyone either. War is Hell. Combat is something entirely different. Shit happens. At some point during his second tour, Orville began to go”bugf**ky”. Somebody had to start supervising him and explain that when the enemy puts their hands up, Geneva Conventions Rules dictate you’re supposed to quit shooting and stabbing them, get some baling wire off a mortar box to tie their wrists and take them back to the LZ for interrogation.

Orville didn’t much cotton to that procedure and wouldn’t have it. Sadly, like all too many of us back then, he had a blood score to settle and continued with his “the only good gook is a dead gook” philosophy. His superiors finally couldn’t ignore this any longer and they decided maybe he needed a break. Mind you, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Hell, they’d already given him a CAR for his numerous actions in combat. Besides, My Lai and Lieutenant William Calley were in the news and the USMC didn’t need that kind of black eye. They were still smarting from that Khe Sanh shellacking they got in Tet ’68. Sayonara Orville.

Orville was sent back to Fort Lewis’ Madigan Hospital in Tacoma WA for a quick overdue R&R and why his check engine light was on. The shrinks didn’t like what they saw. While they were all jaw jacking about how big a Thorazine suppository to shove up his butt, he requisitioned a shiny new Plymouth Duster in the hospital parking lot and set out for Virginia to go see his girlfriend. They caught up with him a few days later in Indiana. The Marine Corps sent an escort to collect him and back to Seattle he went.

As you can expect, ol’ Orville got the standard 258 Big Chicken Dinner for his mistake. Well, that and a demotion to E 1 to go with it, a stint in the Brig waiting for his Courts  Martial and the snail’s pace of outprocessing. They sure didn’t want to be rude and not give him that one last physical so they could say he was alert and oriented in all three planes, didn’t have any sexually transmitted diseases and was mentally competent for legal purposes. Bye bye Orville.

3 214s_Redacted

Orville began taking extended, all-expenses-paid vacations to the Seattle VA hospital afterwards. You know. The sixth floor suites-the one you need a key in the elevator to get to. VA began stuffing Orville with all manner of medications when he came to visit… and in huge doses. It didn’t have much effect. At one point they were hitting him three times a day with enough Thorazine to take out an adult rhinoceros.  From there they began experimenting. At one point, they had him on 15 different mood remodeling drugs. By then, his psychologists were convinced that Orville was suffering a wee bit more than a personality disorder. But nobody at the hospital filed him for it.

By now (1981), they’d come out with the DSM 1 and invented  Bent Brain Syndrome (PTSD). The Marine Corps weenies finally agreed Orville wasn’t in his right mind when he took off for Virginia. He got his DD 214 changed to honorable and received his 0% for his shiny new bent brain. VA fought long and hard to keep that rating low. Orville fought right back like a banty rooster. Finally, in 1988 or thereabouts, they conceded he wasn’t going to run for President and gave him the 100%. In the interim a weird thing began to happen…seizures. Lots of them. Orville ain’t no doctor but he married a LPN. She read the PDR and noted that certain combinations of mood-altering drugs were contraindicated for use with each other because they caused…wait for it… seizures. Duh.

Naturally, Orville quit taking all of them and VA said ” Hold the phone, Ramone. If you’re not going to take our meds, then you must be healed. Praise the Lord for this miracle and here’s your new 70% rating.” Orville filed his objection to this and threw in a claim for seizures secondary to all them VA drugs for the bent brain at his DRO hearing for the reduction. That went over like screen doors in submarines and they pretty much ignored it all.

 Things got all monkeyed up together after that and he ended up testifying at the November 1991 BVA hearing about the seizures. The Board gave him back the 100% for the mental but referred the seizure gig back to Seattle because the chuckleheads had never cranked out a Statement of the Case after he complained. His Viet Nam Vets of America VSO had moved on and forgotten to leave a forwarding address. Orville never did get his SOC and eventually realized he needed to get a VA 9 in muy pronto. By then it was too late to file and the nascent appeal was final. Sort of. Orville didn’t give up completely. He tried again in ’96 and ’98 to reopen it but didn’t have any ammo.

Then he met me in 2010. I showed him how to win or die and he finally scored the big 100 for seizures and SMC S in ’14. As many of my clients know, about this time, I  usually pop the question-Hey bubba. In for a penny. In for a pound. Wanna keep going for 1990?  Orville was all ears about that and the fight began. I handed him over to an attorney friend and explained my theory of how to win the earlier effective date. I hung my whole argument on the fact that the BVA Board had accepted testimony and thus had taken control of it for adjudicative purposes. In Legacy, if you testified at the Board on disability X before the local RO had issued your SOC and VA 8, the Board owned it. All they could do is remand it down to be “cured” of the defect, given a new decision , and if denied, return it to the Board to be given the “one decision on appeal” promised in §7104(a). I still think my argument was valid but it pancaked at the Board as you will see.

My buddy attorney retired in 2019 and handed Orville back to me before we had reached the new AMA process. I plugged him in and began deeper research as I waited for the Board Hearing date to arrive. Sure enough, the light bulb finally went off. §3.156(b) evidence is anything that arrives in the file during the course of the claim. If new shit is introduced, a new decision has to be promulgated. When Orville’s seizure claim came back from DC in 1991, the jackwads forgot to include the Hearing testimony as part of the new evidence. Bingo. A pending claim…but not without a fight to the CAVC thirty five years later.

Appeals Brief 7.8.2023

I took that to the Board and they wouldn’t hear of it. In fact, they never even talked about it even though I poured my heart out on the §3.156(b) evidence theory. We lost and I immediately contacted my secret weapon (Chisholm, Chisholm and Kilpatrick) and Amy Odom agreed to take it up to the CAVC. VA chieu hoi’d at the Rule 33 conference and agreed to a remand to address this little error in not looking at the hearing evidence. Bingo.

BVA denial 12.19.2023

Orville CAVC 24-234

The Board granted using my exact §3.156(b) logic as originally presented. If you’re gonna hang someone, there are three essential rules for success: a) Make sure it’s a strong rope; b) The horse doesn’t have a lame leg; and c) The tree branch is high enough and ain’t rotten. VA is notorious for forgetting one of these rules and now Orville wins what’s behind door Number  3 which just happens to be Doug Collins’ Cookie Jar. He’s gonna get a check for SMC S from June 18, 1990 up to when his 2010 win for SMC S kicked in on June 16, 2010. Not bad for a hare-lipped VA Agent, huh?

BVA Grant 6.09.2025

Just think of that. 34 years, eleven months and 356 days to win a claim. What’s wrong with this picture? Thank you Orville for having confidence in me to unravel this sucker and win it for you. I also want to thank Amy for her expertise at the Court. She’s a real firecracker of a legal beagle. If I worked for OGC, I’d really hate to argue against her.

I don’t usually do this but many have asked just what Orville’s entitled to and what 20% looks like. Since VA characterizes us all as bloodsucking VA ambulance chasers, I want all of you to take a gander at what 15 years of research and work pays. The fact of the matter is that I would have done it for free and was prepared to before I became accredited. I’m unsure what that works out to but I’m guessing you can make more per hour at McFluggles Burger joint over 15 years.

 

Posted in BvA Decisions, CAVC/COVA Decision, Earlier Effective dates, Special Monthly Compensation, VA Agents, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

UNITED FOR VETS POST- READ IT!

Posted on June 6, 2025 by asknod

My fellow VA agent and good  friend Wes just wrote a great article about one of my fellow Vietnam Veterans who deserves the medal. This is a great article and hopefully will induce the Vet’s congressman to get off his poor bonus-calloused deriere and get to work on a worthwhile project- making sure he gets a well-earned Medal of Honor.  

Very few of us are left who served in Viet Nam. Last count was “about” 650,000. I’m not buying it. I’m losing my Viet Nam clients at an alarming rate.  Everyone considers us 70-ish folks as the core of the combatants. What most fail to grasp is that many who had enlisted, were commissioned or were serving prior to the onset of the Vietnam “Conflict” as it was then known, also were sent to RVN as well. A good example was my own father who arrived in June ’66 at age 48 and returned in May ’68- just two years before I left for the war.

This is a great read and an excellent attempt to bring honor to a loyal Veteran who more than deserves it. Enjoy.

https://unitedforvets.us/spectator/jamescapers?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=6843194e20eb0b130329af65&ss_email_id=684319e020eb0b130329b986&ss_campaign_name=Hometown+Heroes%3A+Featuring+Major+James+Capers%2C+Jr.&ss_campaign_sent_date=2025-06-06T16%3A40%3A19Z

Posted in Food for the soul, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

THE MYSTERY OF FIGURING OUT BARRY “BUMPS”

Posted on May 29, 2025 by asknod

I’ve received more correspondence on the subject of Barry v. McDonough (May 16, 2024) that a body can believe. The more it’s discussed on Reddit and the other “Expert” venues (names withheld to protect the right to remain stupid) the more conflusticated Veterans become. Thus, in the interests of clarity, I proffer this article to dispel the confusion.

Ever since the most modern inception of SMC in 1945-46 and probably since right after the War of 1812, VA Poohbahs have always tried to read a statute as narrowly as possible and grant the least they can get away with. A glaring example is to read §1114(L) and notice there’s nothing in there that says you have to have a 100% rating. But that’s not what the M 21 says. Back in the military days, you and I used to call it Mission Creep.

Well, think of Mission Creep in SMC. But first, let’s identify the AO (area of operations) we’re dealing with. The effect of Barry is strictly within §3.350(f) or what VA calls SMC at the P rate. If you were just awarded SMC at the L rate for aid and attendance (A&A), you’re still in the general “lane” and available to head towards O and up to R1-R2 or… into SMC P.

Failed perimeter breach. Circa 1967

However, the moment you’re granted a K for loss of use of Winky,  or another rating like OSA for 50% for using a CPAP, you begin to split off the path heading towards R1 and will eventually get railroaded into SMC P. SMC P is what we call poor man’s R1. It is not the preferred path to the highest rates… but it can be and I’ll explain that directly.

§3.350(f)(3) is the ground zero of Barry. §3.350(f)(4) will give you one (1) (uno) (nung) full-step bump up from your basic L to M. Then the ½ step, or “intermediate” bumps can be applied. If you don’t have any 100% ratings above what got you to L, then you begin adding up all the ½ step bumps to equal 50% or more and apply them on top of the L. Thus an L for a&a due to your Parkinson’s residuals is the index disease. All  the Barry half -step bumps you use are going to have to be for diseases or injuries that are not related to the reason you got a&a, loss of use, blindness or bedridden in the first place.

Semtex, Det Cord and a Marlboro.

However, it’s not that easy to understand. First, don’t confuse the term “condition”. The “condition” of the need for a&a is for residuals. Think hypophonia (reduced speech volume), face sag (bilateral), swallowing difficulties, resting tremors, et cetera. But the “condition” of loss of use of the upper or lower extremities- even though they are due to Parkie’s- is not pyramiding. §3.350(b) lists the four ways you can get an L which gets this Chutes and Ladders Game rolling. Loss of use of lowers or hand and foot; blindness, need for a&a and bedridden are the four possibilities to choose from. Period.

Cheiu Hoi candidate

So, let’s begin. Imagine you have Parkie’s and they give you an L for a&a residuals. But when they do, let’s say you already have OSA for 50%, asthma for 30%,  bilateral bum  knees for 20%, bilateral pes planus for 10% each and tinnitus for 10%. Right off, the 50% for OSA bumps you from L to L ½. Boom- you’re in SMC P now. If you had a K when they awarded you the L, you would have been pushed into SMC P at that point. So, you’re now L ½ (+ K). VA will record that as SMC P -1.  Add in the bilateral knees (42%) and the 10 for the tinnitus and you’ve created a second Barry bump from L ½ to M. Technically, if the VA bozos actually knew how to do this, the added bump would be P-2. Add in the asthma for 30 with the B/L flat feet for 21% and you’ve got 45 which rounds up to 50 and another ½ step bump to M ½ (P-3). Total score? SMC P (M½+K).

But that’s not the end of the matter. What happens if you get the L for the Parkie’s and you can conjure up five ½-step bumps separate and distinct from anything related to Parkie” and that K for the broken winky  ? Five bumps takes you to N ½. The K pushes you to the maximum rating you can get in SMC P-i.e.,  N ½ +K. When that happens, your maximum SMC P is automatically advanced to SMC O. Or, should I say, VA is supposed to advance you to O. Since they run out of fingers and toes when they try counting to 21, you can understand why that never happens.

Waterproof Marb helmet carrier

But put on your SMC safety belts, kids. This ride isn’t over yet. Think back to that original L for the Parkie’s. If you have reached SMC O via SMC P this way, and your L is for a&a and not blindness, loss of use or bedridden, you advance to Boardwalk and pass Go! for $200- i.e. R 1. Again, this isn’t voodoo SMC. It’s the law. Since VA illegally forbids getting more than one ½ step bump, your chances of ever getting to N ½ (with or without a K) were about the same odds as winning the Powerball Lotto. But with the Barry decision, this isn’t impossible now.

 Allow me to share one of my client’s Code Sheets. Johnny Vet here has been a prolific, frequent filer. He believed the more ratings you had, the more money you got. We know that’s a faery tale from experience. After SMC S, it makes no difference. However, with the changed interpretation of §3.350(f)(3), after you get that L, the sky’s the limit -the sky being R1, of course.

Attached is the CODE sheet as a .PDF. Take your Protein Pill and put your SMC helmets on. The bumps are carefully identified in blue to “see” each of them better.

SMC P to R1

In wrapping this treatise up, I want you to know that SMC is one of the hardest parts of VA law to grasp. You’re taught never to pyramid and then when you get to SMC, you discover it’s perfectly legal. The biggest obstacle is the VA’s M 21. Well, that and the OIG article a birdie sent me several weeks ago. They published it this morning so I’m not breaking any laws showing you the original findings that shook the foundations of 810 Vermin Avenue NW for a few weeks. Fortunately, since VSOs have never heard of SMC, it’ll take a few decades for this to cause any financial problems for VA.

OIG Draft Report – VBA’s Special Monthly Compensation Calculator in the Veterans Benefits Management System for Rating Did Not Always Produce Accurate Results

Because VA has been doing this wrong for 80 years and nobody caught it until now, every screwed up SMC rating where they short-sheeted you in the past can be CUE’d and you can get a retro backpay for it. Holy Shit, Batman. Just think what kind of hole that’s going to put in VA’s future budget. The only hang up I see is you have to still be alive to file the CUE. Surviving spouses, as usual get screwed.

Thumpers. God’s gift to Infantry platoons.

Of course, if you had an extra 100% rating like Bob does above, there’s no need to go down the SMC P road and get umpteen hundreds of percentages for other shit. You should be filing for additional a&a entitlements for the diabetes or the CLL. But that’s another class for another day. I don’t want to confuse you any further.

Today’s show is brought to you by the letters S, M, C and P.

 

Posted in Aid and Attendance, Barry Bumps in SMC, Special Monthly Compensation, Tips and Tricks, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

MEMORIAL DAY 2025-WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?

Posted on May 26, 2025 by asknod

I have been known to listen to different news sources not only to broaden my perspective on how dissimilar minds think but also to attempt to comprehend change. An example would be how (or why) a swath of America has become rabidly anti-Semitic when the aggressors in 2023 that began this latest tit-for tat were Hamas. Fox News, regardless of what one might feel about them, sends out a fellow named Johnny Monday through Friday who asks pointed questions about some of the most elementary of subjects. Who was America’s first president is one. Many are clueless.

This increasing ignorance (or indifference) is destined to eventually destroy our nation in my mind. America’s might-our collective existence- hinges on our greatest asset- Freedom. Freedom of speech. Freedom of travel without restriction. Freedom to own guns. Freedom to choose not to own guns. Freedoms too numerous to list here. It’s not “White entitlement”. It’s American entitlement brought to you by hundreds of years of folks who were afraid it might perish. That’s the essence of Memorial Day and why we celebrate it. Imagine where we’d be if we had never fought for our freedom in 1776. We’d all be talking weird like those people across the pond.

As a Nation, we are a bright shining light in a dark world. The statue gifted us by France in New York’s harbor is a symbol of that belief. Rather than preach about the growing ignorance afoot from sea to shining sea or why thousands of students at some of our most expensive and prestigious colleges support the genocide inflicted on innocent partygoers at a desert rock concert in Israel, I’ll refrain. Nevertheless, I submit something is horribly amiss.

A Google news item this morning iterates my point. The title? Explaining the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Dear God. Have we come so far from the Viet Nam debacle or the ignoble Iraqistan retreat that we are inured to all suffering engendered by war? Are we  literally one news cycle away from forgetting our history and condemned to repeating it all over again? Perish the thought.

Moving along, I read of  my fellow Viet Nam Veteran Phil Robertson’s passing yesterday. We now add him to the pantheon of America’s fallen who served in a thankless job and came home to equally thankless citizens who considered us to be cold, heartless killers. Patriotic Americans, and I certainly consider myself one, can only wonder how we could fight three major wars (WW I, WW II and Korea) and tie yellow ribbons around every available tree at hand but denigrate those of us ( my father and myself included) as baby killers and somehow lower than whale shit.

What does it forebode for the future of our great Nation if this is our inevitable future? Are some wars more morally acceptable than others? I was taught that we learn from our mistakes. How many times in the past have I heard some VA higher-up say ‘Boy howdy. We sure didn’t see this backlog thing coming when we revamped the decision-making  process in 2014’. But then again in 2022, hear yet another REMF  say exactly the same thing about the AMA. Or the Mission Act to allow Vets to go to a doctor near them instead of being forced to travel 90 miles to a VAMC only for the legislation to be ‘revised’ numerous times until it became a mere chimera of its original intent.

For the first time in my 36 years of dealing with VA on a personal note, I feel a change in the air. Say what you want about our current President and his aspirations to revamp VA but a sea change is afoot- or at least I hope so. How many past VASECs have promised us the world and left us in the lurch? President Trump attempted to rid us of the dead wood of VA employees who stole moneys used for Veterans. He got Congress to pass legislation allowing the VA to rid themselves of these vermin only to be blocked by the Courts and the unions.

Every day, I hear numerous Vets bemoan the coming changes to VA. Downsizing is bad. It’ll destroy VA as we know it. It’ll take forever to adjudicate my claims. Hello? Did any of you notice the system has been broken since 1930 and in spite of every new repair order, it just seems to continue to be more convoluted, slower and more complicated with every repair order? Name one President in the last 30 years who “fixed” VA. In spite of the crickets, all I hear is the doom and gloom at the mere prospect of ridding ourselves of all the participants of the orgies down in Tennessee or the malfeasance afoot  in Puerto Rico where they’re selling ratings again as they did in 1988.

I think back to 2010 when Shinseki allowed Congress to create two unequal sets of Veterans- those pre-2001 and those post. The post 911 Vets were granted entitlement to SMC T whereas those of us who experienced ‘organic brain injury’ in WW II, Korea and Vietnam  were somehow less equal than the those who experienced TBI. Granted, Congress righted that wrong later (2019) but it created a seismic shock wave among us that George Orwell’s ‘some pigs are more equal than other pigs’ in Animal Farm had even entered the VA lexicon.

I encountered something similar to this dichotomy when I separated in 1973. Granted, I parted ways with Uncle Sam under less than warm, fuzzy circumstances but it was under honorable conditions. To my horror, when I went down to the VFW and asked for membership information, I was told that Viet Nam wasn’t a “War” but merely a “conflict”. As such, I didn’t qualify for membership but I was free to toodle on down to the American Legion and they’d welcome me with open arms.

Memorial Day takes one day and sets it aside for those who died in uniform- not every Tom, Dick and Harry who ever served. Surprisingly, it’s not a small, cloistered coterie like Medal of Honor winners. Check this out:

To me, and perhaps I’m just old fashioned in this respect, I feel American History should be taught in our schools with the same verve it was in the 1950s.  Obviously, it’s not or you wouldn’t see those ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ expressions on 20-something year olds at Spring Break in Miami when asked who our first President was. Since when did learning about global warming or who invented AI upstage the history of America’s birth and her ascension to the greatest nation on earth?  Worse, why would we teach our youth to be ashamed of our history and our march to equality for all our citizens?

Memorial Day should not be a reason to don sack cloth and anoint our heads with ashes for participating in past wars or permitting slavery to  be introduced to our country. It should be a celebration of our ongoing efforts to rid the world of war and that all men (collectively including women) are created equal. You can’t continue to wallow in the 3/5 of a man logic of the past. That ship sailed 160 years ago and died with the advent of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Memorial Day should be a day to genuflect on our National progression from a dream to a reality of true Freedom and our genuine thanks for those who died choosing to make it so. Sure, throw in a barbeque and brewskis with your BFFs and enjoy the three-day weekend. Each National holiday has a theme. This one is just a wee bit more unique in that it encompasses a thanksgiving for those who made our freedom a reality or an attempt to ensure its continued success. Only the 4th of July rivals it in terms of Patriotism.

Capt. Sean P. Sims Sunrise 1972 Sunset 2004

Revel in the fact that we become better citizens (and Patriots) by remembering our past and taking one day out of our busy lives to commemorate those who raised their right hands and swore to defend this great country but never lived to reap the fruits of their labor; who never came home to parades, marriage, children and living peacefully to a ripe old age. Remembering their sacrifice is what ensures, in small part, keeping our country strong and safe. Neglect it at your peril.

God Bless America.

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

 

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