Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. This week’s roundup of Veterans news and resources:
The US Chamber of Commerce initiative, Hire Our Heroes, will debut online toolkits to help Veterans pinpoint growing job markets and find credible employers, among other features. In the meantime, check out their rolling list of hiring fairs across the country.
We often mention the Veterans Crisis Line and how it has saved lives, but this video really drives home the enormous effort from dedicated folks to staff the call centers day and night. And as always, the Crisis Line can be reached at 1-800-273-8255, online through chat, and now by text at 838255.
Even in an age of fiscal restraint, VA is in the midst of the biggest infrastructure improvement since the end of World War II. That means more hospitals, clinics, and technology to better serve Veterans.
We hear from a lot of Veterans about the disability claims process, and we get that it can be daunting. Our most popular post on this blog was a collection of tips and advice for filing a claim. Check it out if you’re about to begin the process.
We’re all about Veterans who leave the service and go on to lead successful lives. We profiled 12 of them for our portrait project Strong at the Broken Places—an effort to show the nation what resiliency looks like. The project is ongoing, so if you’d like to participate, drop us a line.
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VA remains open for business and is closely monitoring the Change Healthcare (CHC) cybersecurity incident.
Carry The Load, an organization dedicated to remembering the fallen, will visit 34 VA National Cemeteries traveling 20,000 miles along five separate routes covering all continental 48 states known as the National Relay for Memorial May 2024.
Over the five-year program, more than 14,000 VET TEC beneficiaries completed their program and nearly half have reported finding meaningful employment with an average starting annual salary of $65,000.
The VA process is broken. I have been in the process for almost 9 years. I finally got legal representation last year (2011) and had a BVA hearing in Albuquerque, NM on June 30th, 2011. I was told that I should hear something within six months of that time. It is now almost 16 months. Even President Obama wrote a letter on my behalf – per the recent letter from the Board saying that I would hear when it was my time according to the docket. Yet the BVA cannot tell the veteran where he is positioned on the docket. Recently, there was a report that said there was 1 million cases in a backlog and there are 64 Judges – the process is broken just looking at the numbers. I believe that the VA is set up to discourage the disabled Veteran not because of any logical functioning of the process. The VA errects strawmen arguments to bog the Veteran in the tar baby and quagmires the Veteran in hopes of discouraging the Veteran from continuing or in hopes that the Veteran will just die. It has been especially difficult in my claim as the Doctor attempted to side-step the diagnosis while I was still in the military and thereby obfuscate the issue to deny me any benefits that I should have received years ago. It is an intransigent bureaucracy that makes money for those who occupy the paid positions but has no realistic ethic for assisting the Veteran. I am so frustrated that it has prompted me to become involved in counter-political philosophies.
Given that thousands of DOD Unit Records from Iraq and Afghanistan were destroyed, disability and other claims for vets and family members will be increasingly difficult for veterans to prove, especially some 10-20-30 years down the road. This follows on decades of incomplete, inaccurate, misfiled 201 file records. It is time for VA leadership to begin to consider moving the burden of proof from individual veterans to the VA. My guess is that such a move would result in savings to VA, reduce the backlog, and positively impact the number of veteran suicides.
The funny this is how ‘accepting’ we veterans are of these slow processes to include the length of time it takes the VA to process education claims. I have been in the process of writing a program for the last four years that would assist expedite the process starting at the school level, but no support from the VA. The problem is the VA doesn’t believe their process is broken and will not listen to anyone telling them it is or offering a way to make it better for anyone.
Hi Alex:
Long time no see. I see you still continue the happy talk, while the Vets that write in are growing more desperate. How long does it take for a Compensation Claim now?
Mine is from 10/ 2010 with requests for already submitted info, not a good sign.
The new guys are clogging up the works. I guess it’s a surprise if you send a couple of million men to war, there might be some claims for injuries.
I’m not surprised that there are not enough resources to keep up, Veterans, once they come home are a liability and not worth funding properly. Time is on your side.
The funny this is how ‘accepting’ we veterans are of these slow processes to include the length of time it takes the VA to process education claims. I have been in the process of writing a program for the last four years that would assist expedite the process starting at the school level, but no support from the VA. The problem is the VA doesn’t believe their process is broken and will not listen to anyone telling them it is or offering a way to make it better for anyone. Bottom line here Is folks the VA just doesn’t care. I challenge them to prove me and my fellow veterans wrong here and take the time to invest in this program, or continue the failures to those it claims to serve. I know my brothers and sisters can afford the long wait times just like me……oh wait no they can’t and neither can I! Nor do we deserve to!