Wounded and Waiting for VA

Nine months for one claim and then 18 months for another? This happens way too often. As bad as it is with nearly a million claims tied up for "at least 125 days" you need to really understand what is happening between the time a veteran is wounded and the time he is receiving what he or she earned.

My husband, a Vietnam vet, took six years worth of torture before his claim was approved. This was in the 90's. Back then it was not so much of a backlog of claims as it was correcting paperwork and finding records no one seemed to know where they were. In his case it turned out to be an error on paperwork for a Bronze Star. Once it was corrected his claim was approved. He is well cared for by the VA. The problem is, we remember all too well what the experience took out of us and our marriage.

When the VA doctor read the diagnosis of PTSD we assumed that the term "service connected disability" applied to him. After seeking help everywhere else, we thought the long nightmare was coming to an end and he would begin to heal. We didn't know it was about to get worse.

With each denial on his claim, a piece of him was killed off. The PTSD knife in his back was being twisted and turned. It grew harder and harder to restore hope for him that sooner or later they would approve his claim. After all, we knew why he was the way he was, where he went in his nightmares and where his flashbacks took him too. I was watching him die a slow death and the only hope I had was that the VA would take care of him. Everyone at the VA hospital knew it was PTSD because of Vietnam but the VA itself.

What happens is that once the veteran decides to finally go for help, there is a glimmer of hope restored to them. They have faced the enemy in combat, faced the wound still trying to take their life from them, faced the stigma realizing had they not been there, they wouldn't be carrying this pain and then they had to face the VA, their only hope, turning them down.

They have bills to pay, just like everyone else. For them, they are unable to work the same way they would have if they did not serve in combat. For more, they cannot work at all. Flashbacks drain them, nightmares wear them down and then there is the self-medicating, using drugs and alcohol to kill off feelings they cannot tolerate. The stress of the wound itself is deadly as it tries to finish what combat started. Added onto the emotional toll is the pain that comes when they are suffering helplessly watching everything they have slip away.

Bill collectors call and they cannot pay, because they cannot work, because they served the nation. Think of what that would do to you if you had been in their boots.

They served for the sake of the nation and each other, but return to where their homes are in jeopardy of being taken away went the mortgage can't be paid or the rent is too late.

All of this adds to the stress PTSD has already fed.

And then comes the stress on the family adding to what PTSD started.

These are not just claims. These are not just veterans waiting for help when they never asked us to wait for them. These are men and women, along with families, waiting for hope, waiting for honor, waiting for someone to say "this is not right" and do something about it.

Watch this video and maybe you will be able to send a letter to your own congressman/woman to make sure no veteran has to wait for the result of what was asked of them to be taken care of. Since this video was created, the only thing that has changed is there are a lot more waiting for their wounds and welfare to matter to the rest of us.

Wounded and Waiting

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 14, 2009

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Rep. John Hall speaks about the proposed federal budget Monday at the Orange County Veterans' Service Agency in Goshen.
Times Herald-Record/KEITH GOLDBERG

Claims backlog for veterans' benefits could shrink
By Keith Goldberg
Times Herald-Record
Posted: February 09, 2010 - 2:00 AM
GOSHEN — Damian Todd's first claim for veteran disability benefits took about nine months to process. His next claim, for post-traumatic stress disorder, took 18, and was resolved only when he got Rep. John Hall involved.

"I think the people at the VA (Veterans Affairs) do the best they can with the resources they have," said Todd, 34, who lives in Highland Mills and served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1998 to 2007. "There's just not enough of them."

Right now, the VBA has nearly a million backlogged claims — the definition of a backlogged claim is one that hasn't been processed for at least 125 days.

"I don't think we'd be satisfied with that (backlog) with our private insurance company," said Hall, who hopes that number can be knocked down to 30 days.

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Claims backlog for veterans' benefits could shrink