Veteran Unhappy to Be Informed She is Dead

Georgia veteran receives letter telling her she's dead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ben Brasch
Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Channel 2 Action News

Cobb County veteran Dorothy Evans

A Cobb County veteran’s life has been a mess ever since she got a letter from the government telling her she was dead, according to Channel 2 Action News.

“We are sincerely sorry to learn of the death of Dorothy J. Evans” is how the letter started when Dorothy J. Evans read it.

Since then, the Powder Springs woman said she has gotten dozens of letters she never thought she’d see. One notice came from her credit union telling her they were pulling money out of her account. Another said her pension had been terminated.
read more here

Villain and Vultures Want Veterans To Pay for Having Served?

POTUS wants to take away something that veterans were promised going back to WWII. Congress wants to pretend they had nothing to do with the mess at the VA, also going back to WWII. With all the crap in the news, it is a good time for a little history lesson. This way, no one can pretend they actually intended to keep their promises to our veterans.

First, if you think Concerned Veterans of America is actually putting veterans first, they aren't.

CVA wants more aggressive cuts to the fiscal 2018 VA budget

WASHINGTON — Like other advocacy groups, Concerned Veterans for America have problems with the president’s proposed Veterans Affairs budget. 
But unlike most of the veterans community, they think it doesn’t cut enough. 
The conservative group, which has ties to prominent Republican donors and several members of President Donald Trump’s administration, is releasing a policy memo this week calling for more belt tightening and increased scrutiny of the president’s $186.5 billion budget proposal, which has already drawn criticism from groups like the American Legion for too many trims. 
“We recommend that Congress aggressively seek out more savings within the VA’s budget, especially in its construction, medical facility operations, personnel, and medical compliance accounts,” the document states.

The cut against older veterans announced right before Memorial Day and all the speeches made about how much our veterans mean.

History lesson on the VA and the growing number of veterans seeking care.

On Feb. 1, 1946, Bradley reported that the VA was operating 97 hospitals with a total bed capacity of 82,241 patients. Hospital construction then in progress projected another 13,594 beds. Money was available for another 12,706 beds with the construction of 25 more hospitals and additions to 11 others. But because of the demobilization, the total number of veterans would jump to more than 15 million within a few months. The existing VA hospitals were soon filled to capacity, and there were waiting lists for admission at practically all hospitals. In addition, there were 26,057 nonservice-connected cases on the hospital waiting list. Until more VA hospitals could be opened, the Navy and Army both made beds available. To handle the dramatic increase in veterans claims, VA Central Office staff was increased in two years from 16,966 to 22,008. In the same period, field staff, charged with providing medical care, education benefits, disability payments, home loans and other benefits, rose from 54,689 employees to 96,047. When he left in 1947, Bradley reported that the VA had established 13 branch offices and 14 regional offices, and set up 721 contact offices. He noted that 29 new hospitals had been opened

Yes, it all happened before and considering 2 wars were added to the list of other war veterans in the backlog of claims, waiting for care as elected officials were attempting to push privatizing the VA, it makes sense the mess got worse. After all, if they had actually honored their promises to veterans, they'd never be able to get rid of it.

Currently, veterans eligible for the program have a 60 to 100 percent disability rating through the VA and are unable to secure a job because of their service-connected disability. The program allows them to get paid at the highest compensation rate. For 2017, the monthly rate for a 100 percent disabled veteran living alone is $2,915 per month. 

And this "unemployable benefit" goes back!

The benefit was a safety net for veterans who couldn't work because of health problems that began in the military and whose disability ratings, based on a formula combining their conditions, fell shy of 100%.

In 1945, as disabled World War I veterans continued to fall out of the workforce, the VA adopted a regulation ensuring eligibility to veterans of any age. That decision underlies much of the current growth.

More than half the 137,343 veterans approved since 2010 were 65 or older, including 13,684 who were at least 75, according to VA statistics.

The largest share served in the Vietnam era. Many joined the disability system over the last decade as the VA expanded eligibility for PTSD and diabetes, heart disease, prostate cancer and other common conditions on the presumption they were caused by exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange, used to clear jungle vegetation in the war. 

Once in the system, veterans are eligible for the unemployability benefit if their ailments are deemed too severe for them to work and their disability ratings reach a certain threshold, usually 60% or 70% depending on their mix of conditions. 

Pretty much sums up what this is all about. It is about paying to send veterans into private healthcare and treat them like everyone else. You know, the same healthcare they complain about being oh so bad for the rest of us! All these years of them saying how they want to kill "Obamacare" but now it is good enough to send veterans into that mess? Top that off with the fact that now they want our senior veterans to pay for what they do not want and you have a villain and a bunch of vultures!

Claim backlog not new and Congress promised to take care of it...New York Times reported this in 2007,

The agency’s new plan to hire at least 150 new appeals judges to whittle down the backlog, which has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000, will require $100 million more than the president requested this year and still more in the future. The plan has been delayed by the standoff between Congress and the White House over domestic appropriations.

By the following year, there was this report from Army Times

Peake wants to reduce wait times from roughly 180 days to 145 days by the start of next year. He cited aggressive efforts to hire staff, noting the VA will have 3,100 new staff by 2009. VA also is working to get greater online access to Pentagon medical information that he said will allow staff to process claims faster and move toward a system of electronic filing of claims.
Peake promised to “virtually eliminate” the current list of 69,000 veterans who have waited more than 30 days for an appointment to get VA medical care. 

And that was followed up by a backlog of claims by GovExec

VBA's pending compensation and claims backlog stood at 816,211 as of January 2008, up 188,781 since 2004, said Kerry Baker, associate legislative director of the Disabled Veterans of America, during a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Baker said VBA must have the funds necessary to upgrade its IT infrastructure to handle the backlog and a growing caseload. Anything short of an increase is "a recipe for failure," he added.
Carl Blake, national legislative director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America, said VBA needed $121 million in its fiscal 2009 budget for its information technology. According to VA budget documents, VBA requested an IT budget of $109.6 million for its compensation and benefits programs, down $23.8 million from $133.4 million in 2008. VA requested an overall 2009 IT budget of $2.53 billion in 2009, up from $2.15 billion in fiscal 2008, with the largest portion earmarked for the Veterans Health Administration. 

As foolish as it was to actually trust the press to get any of this right and put it all together so that all veterans knew exactly what Congress thinks of them, now is the time for them to make it up to all of our veterans and families!

Over the weekend, I'll do the same with the suicide numbers. Oh wait, I don't really have to since I already wrote a book about it!

Top Customer Reviews5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome bookByJames G. Youngon May 14, 2013Format: Kindle Edition|Verified PurchaseIf you have not read anything Kathie has written you are at a major disadvantage when discussing PTSD. She has a first hand account of dealing with this herself as the wife of a Nam vet, but then devoting her life to understanding the dilemma and helping others understand it as well. I consider Kathie a highly knowledgable contact with regards to this subject and have consulted her many times.
Kathie truely has the inside pulse in understanding the issues here, the denial of our govenment and the failures of the administrations to come to grips with how best to deal with it. Our govenment is trying to find a series of magic bullets (medications) that some practioners hand out like candy because they have nothing else to give and lack the compassion needed.
Straighforward, if you haven't read this book or spoken to Kathie you are at a major disadvantage. Great Book Kathie, well written and researched, should be made mandatory reading for anyone dealing with or discussing PTSD. ....

Veterans "Emotional Support" Dog Bit Passenger?

Before everyone starts to think service dogs are to blame, we need to know who trained this dog!

NC veteran's support dog bites passenger on Delta Airlines flight
ABC 11 News
June 06, 2017

Mundy Jr., a veteran of the Marine Corps, was worried that his dog would be put down following the incident.

A passenger on board a Delta Airlines flight was mauled by an emotional support dog Sunday.

Marlin Jackson was described to be very bloody after the incident took place.

The owner of the dog, North Carolina resident Ronald Mundy Jr., and his dog were involved in the frightening episode moments before take-off.
read more here

Fort Campbell Attorney Spouses Can Get to Work!

SUPREME COURT AND FORT CAMPBELL CELEBRATE MILITARY SPOUSE RULE
Tennessee State Court
June 6, 2017

The Tennessee Supreme Court and 53 members of the 101st Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces Group, stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, recently celebrated the Supreme Court’s Revised Military spouse Rule (Rule 7), which permits attorney spouses of those in the military to obtain temporary law licenses to practice in Tennessee while their active-duty spouse is stationed in Tennessee at a military installation.

Members of the 101st Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces Group on the stairs of the TN Supreme Court Building.

Brigadier General Todd Royar, Deputy Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division and members of the 5th Special Forces Group were welcomed by Secretary of State Tre Hargett. Hargett is the son of Major General Gus Hargett. The group toured the State Capitol and experienced the Bicentennial Mall along with the architect and visionary for the Mall, Kem Hinton. Major General Andrew Poppas, Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, was attending D Day commemoration in Normandy, France.

Following the Court’s official arguments, all five justices participated in the ceremony to recognize four recently admitted attorneys to the Tennessee Bar through the revised Military Spouse Rule. Chief Justice Jeff Bivins opened the ceremony by discussing the meaningful sacrifices made by military and their military spouses.

“Our country has approximately 650,000 active duty military spouses and the unemployment rate within this group currently stands at approximately 20 percent,” he said. “By comparison, the national unemployment rate provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has remained between 4.4 and 4.8 percent in 2017.”
read more here

Older Veterans Outlived Trumps "Forever" Speech

Donald Trump Honors Fallen Soldiers In Speech At Arlington Cemetery On Memorial Day

“Words cannot measure the depth of their devotion, the purity of their love or the totality of their courage,” Trump said. “We only hope that every day we can prove worthy, not only of their sacrifice, but of the sacrifice made by the families and loved ones they left behind.” “Their legacy will endure forever.”

Except veterans over 62 outlived the promise of "permanent and total" disability as soon as Trump was elected.

Donald Trump is giving us all a big middle finger. And his supporters love it.

That was last year,,,and this is this year!

 Trump budget an attack on veterans

This is no small cut. The average veteran will immediately lose 35 percent of his income along with loss of dental benefits, survivor benefits for spouses, and property tax exemptions/deductions depending on his state. The cut will be immediate for those over 62 and as others reach 62, they too will be cut.

This plan will affect about half of all totally disabled veterans which means about 300,000 elderly veterans will take a major hit immediately. They all fall under a program that goes back to prior to World War II and is called Total Disability for Individual Unemployability (TDIU). It is for veterans whose service connected injuries or illnesses have become so severe that they could no longer work. Because of these medical issues their working lives were cut short thus earning less and building up less Social Security benefits and were unable to purchase commercial life insurance to protect spouses. With these veterans being in their 60s to 80s or more their chances of reversing their financial lives is slim.

But hey, while we're being honest here is one more thing senior veterans are getting wrong. Some think that Trump is the one who declared Vietnam Veterans Day, but it wasn't his actions. It was Senator Pat Toomey and Senator Joe Donnelly who made it official. It only took them 5 years to do it!

Former President Barack Obama declared March 29 Vietnam Veterans Day in 2012. This new law will make the date a commemoration of Vietnam veterans every year.