Vietnam Vet finally gets paid what he was owed, thanks to a reporter

Vietnam vet finally gets benefits

HALFMOON - More than four years of delay and red tape has finally been cut for a Halfmoon veteran facing foreclosure.

Joseph Tannenbaum has been paid more than $60,000 in back benefits.

There doesn't seem to be any question the Vietnam vet deserved the increased benefits. But for nearly five years the Veterans Administration wasn't paying them.

The health battles began for Army PFC Tannenbaum in Vietnam where he lost his left leg. Then it was 15 months recovery in Valley Forge Army Hospital.

As he aged health problems developed. A stroke in 1999 paralyzed his left side. His $1,700 monthly disability check covered less and less.

Tannenbaum was entitled to double that amount, but from 2003 until just a few weeks ago the federal government was not paying.

Tannenbaum says the problem was the bureaucracy of the VA's regional office.

Finally, after help from a newspaper reporter and Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, Tannenbaum got his back benefits.

"A lot of our veterans, both from these wars, Iraq and Afghanistan and previous wars, have been having trouble with the VA system. Because the VA system is backlogged. There's extraordinary amounts of paperwork, long waits and inefficiencies in the system," Gillibrand said.

The congresswoman believes there are other vets in the area with similar problems not receiving the benefits they're entitled to. She urges them to contact her office.
http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S363603.shtml?cat=300

The reporter is a hero in this but they don't say who it was. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand was too.