National Veterans Foundation

Same Old Problem

... This truncated history begins with an old Photostatted pre-computer-age document, dated December 27, 1978, back when the GAO's fore-runner congressional watchdog entity, the General Accounting Office, was investigating the Department of Veterans' Affairs' pre-cabinet forerunner. "The Veterans Administration Can Reduce the Time Required to Process Veterans' and Survivors' Initial Claims for Benefits," was the optimistic yet yawn-evoking title. The 40-page report noted that the average delay for processing disability claims was147 days; delays for death pension claims were 80 days.

Repeatedly through the 1980s, 1990s, and into the new century, the VA's delays, backlogs and wastefully redundant appeals process was documented and decried. There was one good news blip the GAO delivered to Congress -- a 1986 report of "timely delivery" of military service records. How did the GAO analysts know the progress was so good? The VA told them so; and nobody checked to verify.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS FROM…
CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 10, 2008
Contact Kristal DeKleer at (202) 225-9756
http://veterans.house.gov or Jennifer Smith at (310) 667.4070 Understanding the Journey of War Veterans:
Screening of Documentary “All the Way Home”
Injured Veterans Focus of Inspirational Documentary

Washington, D.C. – Bob Filner, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, will hold a screening of the documentary “All the Way Home” on Wednesday, July 23 at 10 a.m. in Cannon 334. The documentary follows a Montana fishing outfitter and his team of volunteers while they take severely injured Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from Walter Reed down an isolated river.

GAO faults training for VA claims processors

AirForce Times By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 28, 2008 11:39:20 EDT

Although the Veterans Affairs Department has added thousands of staff to help process disability claims, a new study finds those new employees face no consequences if they don’t attend mandatory training.

And because the caseload is so heavy, instructors aren’t always available to provide on-the-job training for new employees.

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By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 16, 2008

A psychologist who helps lead the post-traumatic stress disorder program at a medical facility for veterans in Texas told staff members to refrain from diagnosing PTSD because so many veterans were seeking government disability payments for the condition.

SFGate
Patrick Campbell
Saturday, May 3, 2008

I still laugh when people ask me whether the military paid for my education. When I tell them how meager the actual education benefits are, their shock always make me feel like I just told a child that there is no such thing as the tooth fairy. Unfortunately, many of my battle buddies realized the hard way that the GI Bill isn't what it used to be. The education benefits for troops are so low that they either never enrolled, or dropped out of school because they couldn't handle working two part-time jobs or living back home on Mama's couch to afford to attend school.

My fellow veterans are struggling because the current GI Bill is woefully inadequate. Service members are forced to take out loans just to start classes, and then wait months to get any reimbursement. Even then, the benefit only covers 60 to 70 percent of the cost of a four-year public university. For expensive private schools, the GI Bill is barely a drop in the bucket. And every year, the GI Bill is losing value because education benefits have failed to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of education.

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VA Media Relations (April 24, 2008) – On May 1, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will begin contacting nearly 570,000 recent combat veterans to ensure they know about VA’s medical services and other benefits.

“We will reach out and touch every veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom to let them know we are here for them,” said Dr. James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “VA is committed to getting these veterans the help they need and deserve.”

By JASON WITZ
Assistant Englewood Editor

Eric Hall would often pinch his lapel to his lips and whisper, as if a microphone was transmitting the cryptic message.

No one knew what to make of the gesture.

A friend would ask the baby-faced Marine whether he needed anything. Hall would release his shirt and smile, downplaying the episode. Nothing more was said.

"During the last seven years, this administration has nickled and dimed our vets," said U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-FL . "It seems to me if we are going to continue to call on people to serve, we need to treat them like gold."

Since the Iraq War started in 2002, Marine, Army and National Guard troops have faced extended deployments, with little rest in-between. Mahoney believes the additional tours increase the risk of soldiers developing mental stress later.

"We have put a burden on them that we have never asked soldiers to do before, and we are seeing the repercussions of it," he said.

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Vet: VA Psych Ward 'Worse Than Hell'

April 16, 2008
Dallas Morning News

The voices in Jack Edenburn's head began soon after he returned from Vietnam. They told him to end it all.

He ignored them for almost 40 years, until the day he stood at the railroad tracks near his Lancaster home, fantasizing about stepping in front of a train. That's the day he went to Dallas VA Medical Center. And some days, he says, he regrets that decision.

"Imagine hell," he said of his five days in the psychiatric unit, "then think worse."

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I am a 22 year old disabled Army veteran from Frederick, Maryland. All my life I grew up with the dream and ambition of following my family's traditions and join the Armed Forces. That chance came for me in October of 2002. I was in my junior year of High school at Thomas Johnson High school in Frederick, when I was contacted by my Army recruiter. Not long after we had first spoken I was signing papers and preparing for the service. Though I still had over nine months in the Delayed Entry Program I was dedicated from day one. I would spend my mornings before school doing physical training with my recruiter. And afternoons assisting at the office, and learning the Army Values. After my Graduation in 2003 I spent the two months of summer with family, preparing myself for the life I was about to take on.