VA Programs Don't Communicate

Veterans' advocates: '99 programs that aren't talking to each other'
MyFOX Alabama
By Charles Molineaux
Updated: Jan 08, 2015

Advocates say besides complex bureaucracy and some redundancy, the biggest issue for vets is tracking down the help they need and signing up.

Advocates say besides complex bureaucracy and some redundancy, the biggest issue for vets is tracking down the help they need and signing up. (Source: WAFF)

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF)
At this point, disabled Navy Veteran Nancy Eason declares herself an expert in the veterans' benefits paper chase.

Her career ran all the way from the Vietnam War to the first Persian Gulf War, but when she retired, she recalled a confounding bureaucratic maze of forms and records.

“Well, it took me 12 and a half years to get my claim settled,” she said. “In DC, even though I took (my paperwork) there in person twice, they lost it both times within six months. And then Baltimore, they sent me a letter and I took a copy of everything to Baltimore - and they lost it too.”

A new report from the Government Accountability Office found a vast number of programs to help veterans transition to civilian life offered through the Veterans Administration or the Defense Department, 99 of them ”to help address the effects of combat on… service members, their families, or both,” and 87 to help “servicemembers and veterans transition to civilian life.”
read more here