Texas Vietnam Vet waiting 684 days so far for claim to be honored

Central Texas veterans face nation's longest wait for VA disability claims
By Jeremy Schwartz
The Statesman
Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012

GEORGETOWN — Three decades after he left the jungles of Vietnam, Richard Sivage's life began to unravel around him. The frequent rages snapping car antennas, punching walls were punctuated by uncontrollable crying jags that left him increasingly isolated.

He left the restaurant business and went into home repair, where he wouldn't have to interact with people. He cut himself off from friends and rarely left the house. "The last decade has been hell," he said.

But he didn't connect his debilitating emotional problems to the war until recently. In 2010, he filed a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs, seeking disability benefits.

That was 684 days ago. Because of a historic backlog of VA claims, Sivage, 70, and nearly a million other veterans have yet to receive a ruling on their claims. The problem is severe across the nation, but it is particularly acute in Texas, which is home to the second-largest veteran population in the country behind California.

The Waco claims processing center, which serves Central Texas veterans, has the nation's longest average wait time for claims processing: roughly 393 days, according to the VA's most recent numbers. That's 139 days longer than the national average and more than three times as long as the nation's fastest claims processing center in St. Paul, Minn. During the claims process, VA officials evaluate medical, service and financial records before determining a disability percentage, or rating.
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