On August 10, VA Secretary Bob McDonald spoke via video to the AMVETS National Convention in Reno, Nevada.
In speaking with AMVETS, McDonald highlighted the importance of Veterans service organizations in working for the nation’s Veterans.
“AMVET’s united front with other Veterans service organizations is critical to Veterans First,” McDonald said. “That bipartisan omnibus includes many of the legislative solutions for Veterans that we’ve been after, and nine of our top legislative priorities.”
McDonald also pointed out that when he became secretary, he traveled across the country, meeting with Veterans and VSOs to help develop the MyVA transformation that is now underway across the department.
“Across 23 cities, I consulted thousands of Veterans, VA employees, other stakeholders, and VSO leaders—AMVETS among them,” McDonald explained. “We talked about how to shape our MyVA transformation strategy so VA would best serve Veterans. I tell you this because it’s important you understand: this isn’t my strategy, it’s yours. It’s not about me, it’s about all of you. It reflects your ideals, your insights, and your innovations.”
Chartered by Congress in 1948, AMVETS has more than 250,000 members today and is a leading advocate for America’s Veterans.
Watch the video below for the Secretary’s full remarks.
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When I needed assistance with my VA Claim many years back, I was fortunate to have an AMVETS VSO who was very knowledgeable in what I needed to provide, forms necessary for the claim and most important, the follow through until my claim was processed and a decision was made in my favor.
However, in 2013, I filed an “Individual Unemployability” claim with the AMVETS VSO at Bay Pines, St. Petersburgh, FL, it was a continual hassle to obtain updates regarding this claim. This was also the period of time when Bay Pines had an audit and numerous claim supporting documents were found in the basement. It was over 13 months when I finally had an argument with the VSO for not following through and I ended the phone conversation with, “Do I need to hire a lawyer?”
Three days later, I got a letter from the VSO stating that the claim was in his hands and that I would be receiving a package from the VA within the next few days. Well, the package came and my claim was denied. I attempted several times by email and phone to work with the VSO to determine why the VA made this decision only to get no where.
Personally, I do not believe in coincidences, as the VSO was only a hop, skip, and a jump from the VA Adjudicators offices!
I am currently putting together all my emails and details and will be discussing this matter with my Congressman as it is my belief that my civilian doctors support was never submitted either by AMVETS VSO or the VA conveniently mis-placed this support. There will be more to this story once I have gathered the necessary information,
By the way, I was attempting to look at my original support for this claim on EBenefits but wasn’t able to find the actual documentation. Contacted the VA EBenefits support line only to be told that the VA Stopped uploading support awhile back and that also included my support. Sounds very convenient to me that the VA has done this to protect itself from being further subjugated to further scrutiny!