Morning Muster : County Compensation Reports Released ; VFW Calls Informal Claims "Draconian," 40 - As - The - Crow - Flies Ends, Sy Hersh Revisits My Lai ~ THE 5TH ESTATE ASIA

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Morning Muster : County Compensation Reports Released ; VFW Calls Informal Claims "Draconian," 40 - As - The - Crow - Flies Ends, Sy Hersh Revisits My Lai

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Americans - especially Veterans, must get over and past politics and politicians that want them divided; they are all the same - Congress traitors, the White House criminals want to STEAL OR TERMINATE YOUR BENEFITS be it Social Security, Medicare, or VA

VETERANS BENEFITS GUIDE DAILY
03/25/2015

Veterans of Foreign Wars issued a statement yesterday calling the new formal claims process “draconian.” The partners at Bergmann & Moore are available for comment on this. We believe it will negatively affect hundreds of thousands of new claims in 2015.

VA released county-by-county veterans’ compensation and pension numbers for fiscal year 2014. You can download the report here. It reports how many veterans are receiving what percentage of compensation by age and gender. Great quick-hit story for local reporters.

Jon Stewart took out Congress Monday night for not properly funding Veterans Affairs, reports Mic’s Kevin O’Keefe. Stewart said the country manages to find money for war, but not for veterans, and that oversight could prevent backlogs, outdated systems and long wait times.

He also berated Veterans Affairs for its 40-miles-as-the-crow-flies rule, even if that means driving around the Grand Canyon to get to a VA facility.

Probably not in response to that—but one never knows—VA announced Tuesday it would loosen that rule to veterans who live more than 40 driving miles from a VA facility may seek private care, reports the Arizona Republic’s Paul Giblan.

VA has also asked for a new law to make that change formal, reports Military Times’ Patricia Kime.

Syria is in talks to release American journalist and Marine Corps vet Austin Tice, who works for McClatchy, reports McClatchy’s Hannah Allam.

Philadelphia VA is being investigated for accusations of mismanagement of disability claims, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jessica Parks and Jason Laughlin.

Charges include employees cherry-picking easy claims to process quickly, shredding records and changing dates on old claims so they look new. Changing dates is especially important as VA launched a new claims process yesterday, and any claims dated after March 24 must follow the new procedures.

The Senate approved a measure sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, that would allow VA to hire more mental health workers, as well as one from Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, boosting the Veterans Choice Card, reports The Hill’s Jordain Carney.

The Montgomery Advertiser’s Josh Moon wait times at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care Center have improved, though they’re still one of the slowest in the country.

The Washington Post’s Josh Hicks connects a 2009 executive order from President Obama directing the federal government to hire more veterans to the lowest veteran unemployment rate since 2008.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported one-third of the federal government’s new hires were vets.

A Vietnam Veteran talks about his volunteer work helping veterans through a therapy group, calling veterans’ trust a “gift,” reports the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Tom Pfingsten.

Vietnam Veterans of America says VA has been too slow in its response to an Institute of Medicine report that found Air Force veterans who flew on planes contaminated with Agent Orange after the Vietnam War would likely face the same health issues of vets exposed during the war, reports WYSO’s Lewis Wallace.

Spraying Agent orange, Vietnam

VA said three weeks ago it would make an announcement about the finding—presumably that those vets would be eligible for service-connected benefits—but has not done so.

Denver veterans have asked Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado, to help save the Aurora VA hospital, reports The Denver Post’s David Olinger. The hospital’s budget has grown to five times more than original estimates.

Stop Soldier Suicide, an advocacy group dedicated to stopping soldier suicide, says 441 veterans will kill themselves during the NCAA tournament, reports WNCN’s Phil Sanchez. The shocking number is meant to educate people about the suicide crisis.

Some veterans are taking on the epidemic themselves, calling on the same brothers and sisters with whom they served to stop suicide within their own units. In a novel approach, after losing friends to suicide, members of the 1-26th Infantry Regiment who served together in Iraq in 2007 are creating a secure website with lists of all members’ information so they can reach out to each other if they’re hurting. Through social media, this is something that can easily be done by other units. And while VA has a suicide hotline and there are many resources available, it’s hard to imagine anyone who could better help than someone who remembers and understands. The new communication has turned into an outpouring of shared experiences—from difficulties with alcoholism and PTSD to dark moments when it seemed best not to continue—and love: Call anytime. I’m here for you. I’ve been there. The 1-26th was the hardest hit Army unit to serve since the Vietnam War.

An Iraq War vet, Phillip Carter, is part of a program that uses data about veterans to try to determine how best to take care of them, reports The Hill’sMartin Matishak. For example, Carter says the G.I. Bill has been a “great intervention,” while ignoring homelessness and mental health issues when Vietnam War veterans returned showed the government did not act quickly enough.

Veterans who helped clean up the Enewetak Atoll long after the United States tested atomic and hydrogen bombs there say they face numerous health issues, reports the Bangor Daily News’ Abigail Curtis. They do not, however, fall within range of the years VA awards presumptive status for those ailments.

WE must always be there for each other and to hell with politicians, politics and those that would see fit to divide us in their never-ending quest to strip us of our rights, benefits, our dignity and humanity

Confederate soldiers were not inducted into the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame after VA found they were not eligible because they did not serve with the U.S. military, reports the Tallahassee Democrat’s Bill Cotterell.

Long Read: The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh, who broke the story of Lt. William L. Calley’s unit’s massacre 504 villagers at My Lai, visited Vietnam 47 years later to report the aftermath of the tragedy.

Katie Orlinsky made photographs of the trip for The New Yorker.

Bergmann & Moore, LLC, is a national law firm dedicated to serving the needs of veterans in compensation claims before and against the Department of Veterans Affairs. The firm’s partners are former VA attorneys who are very familiar with the VA system. Bergmann & Moore handles all kinds of cases, but has a concentration in claims involving PTSD, military sexual trauma, Gulf War illness and complex medical issues, such as brain cancer or degenerative issues, veterans exposed to Agent Orange often face. For more information, to submit news or to sign up for an email version of this blog, contact Kelly Kennedy at kkennedy@vetlawyers.com.

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