One Vet's Advice on Successful VA Claims

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One Vet’s Perspective (and his attorney’s) on the VA Claims Process…readand consider!The Dirty Dozen
This is a list of 13 things that you must do ormore importantly, not do, while you attempt to win your compensation benefits. These aren't in anyparticular order, each is as important as the next. I know these are important. I see themistakes every day and I know the results of making simple errors.
Following these simple rules won't win your claimfor you but it will help ensure you don't lose it.
(1) Don't call the toll free number.Don't email the VA Regional Office. Don't use the electronic system to file your claim. Do not ever,under any circumstances communicate with the VARO except by certified mail, returnreceipt requested. If you break this rule, you are sure to get the wrong information. When youcall or email you aren't contacting your VA Regional Office, you're in touch with a callcenter.
The call center has access to a computer systemthat is rumored to be powered by kerosene and data is stored on IBM punch cards. Theemployees are under orders that you are allowed 3 minutes and not any more. Theywill tell you anything you want to hear to get you off that telephone. If you insist, trycalling 3 days in a row. Ask the same question each time. It's likely you'll hear 3 completelydifferent answers, all wrong.
(2) Know who is representing you. Everyday I get at least one email that tells me, "The VA representative called me to tell me I was goingto receive 80% on my award." I always ask, "Who is this VA representative and whatis his title and who does he work for?" The answer is always the same, "Oh. I just thoughthe was a VA representative. He works for the VFW. I'm not sure what his last name is but hisfirst name is Jim...I think. I've seen him around for a long time."
You hand over the future of one of the mostimportant legal moves you'll ever make where the stakes are counted in the hundreds of thousandsof dollars and you aren't sure who the person works for?
Before you go out and buy a new washer-dryer combo,you'll scout the ads in the papers, do some research on the Internet, go to Sears, BestBuy, and Home Depot and you'll spend hours making a decision that will cost around$1000.00.
On the other hand, you'll walk into any office thatlooks official, sign over a power of attorney (!), complete financial paperwork thatexposes your weaknesses to the world and walk away not knowing what to expect or when toexpect it.
If you'll spend as much time thinking about yourclaim and who that representative works for as you did that big-screen  plasma TV youhad to have, you'll be a lot happier down the road.
(3) Be patient. Take 2 hours ofquiet time early in the process and read from all the stuff that is available here and at other web sites. TheVA site itself is a wealth of information and will answer a lot of your questions completely.
Your application for benefits will follow aprocess. If you've done your part that paper you submitted is going to slowly wind its way to thefirst step in the process, then the second step in the process, then the third step and so onright through over 100 steps that must be accomplished before it is adjudicated.
Whether you think all that is necessary or notdoesn't matter. It's the process that counts and you need to accept that very early in the game.
Once you've submitted your paperwork and you'reconfident that you have given VA all the evidence that there is, you're done. There isnothing else to do but wait. Calling the VA (see #1) to ask where your folder is is a waste ofyour time. Don't write any more letters to VA. Don't call your VSO to ask if she has heardanything about your claim. She hasn't.
Read War & Peace. Build model airplanes. Watchall the Jerry Springer shows you can in the year that you're waiting and score themaccording to the types of family values they teach us. Get a salt water aquarium and watchexpensive fish die. Buy more fish. Do anything at all but think about your claim.
Your claim will be adjudicated when it getsadjudicated and not a minute before. Live with that.
(4) Don't ever display any anger to a VA employee. Yeah,OK...we're all pissed off. Every last veteran I know can feel their bloodboiling at the mention of how the VA treats those it's supposed to serve.
We were trained to be angry. From day one, before Ieven got off the bus at Ft. Benning, Georgia on that miserable hot and humid summer day,I had 3 guys in heavy boots and stiffly starched combat fatigues screaming theirlungs out at me. I was called everything but a child of God.
I was promptly informed I no longer had a mom, shehad been replaced by a guy with 3 Vietnam campaign ribbons who was going to teach mesomething called 'jungle warfare'.
I had to yell "KILL KILL KILL" for weekson end, beat my friends to a pulp with a big stick, stab a lot of things with a mounted bayonet and Ilearned that ultra-violence was the answer to every problem I would encounter as asoldier. Extreme pain was a sign that weakness was leaving my body. My most basic andmost important  job was to kill people and destroy their stuff. We were not emissaries ofpeace, we were warriors.
That was then and this is now.
If you show your angry side to a VA employee byyelling, expressing your displeasure at waiting, slamming a fist down on a desk, cursing,storming out of a room and slamming the door or making a direct or veiled threat...you havecreated trouble for yourself and all those who have to follow in your footsteps…and theVA security may just be hurrying youalong with your footsteps!
Most, not all but most VA employees at the clinics,hospitals and regional offices want to help you. They're usually every bit as frustratedas you are at the bureaucracy they work for. They have the same problems of paying bills,raising teenagers, flat tires and headaches that you have. Many of them are veterans.Many others weren't born yet when you injured your back. The bureaucracy wasn'tintentionally made tougher for you by that 23 year old student intern sitting across from you.
A lot of these people are afraid of you. I was bornwith a scowl. At my happiest, my brow is furrowed and my eyes narrow down to slits and Isigh a lot. I've been told often that I intimidate people so I work hard to overcome that.
Before you interact with a VA employee...in person,on the phone or by letter...take a deep breath and let that anger go. The amount ofcourtesy, respect and smiles you give is directly correlated to what you'll receive.
Otherwise, you may find that your record is flaggedto warn others about your erratic, threatening behavior and if you think you haveproblems with getting things done now, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Worst case...the VA police are serious. Most VApolice officers are real cops, not 'security guards'. The handcuffs they use are pretty muchguaranteed to show you what they think of your attitude.
Think before you open your mouth. You'll be gladyou did. The rest of us will appreciate it too.
(5) A well written letter is your best friend.I hear it every day. A veteran sends me an email that begins, "The VA lowered my benefitsbecause I didn't show up for an exam. I didn't know I had any exam scheduled. They say theysent me a letter but the idiots mailed it to my old address. I changed my address bytelling my VSO and I also called the VA toll free number and I emailed them too. Now what do Ido?"
Now you try to get the train back on the tracks.
When you moved and changed your mailing address, itappears you told everyone but the VA Regional Office that handles your folder.Neither the toll free number or the IRIS email system is at your regional office. Your VSO can'tbe relied on to run errands for you.
If you had written a letter, mailed it to thecorrect address and used certified mail with return receipt requested and kept the receipt alongwith your copy of that letter, it is very likely the address change would have happened justas it should have. If it didn't, you have good evidence that you did your part correctly andtimely. Without that little green postcard, you got nothing.
This applies to every action you take with the VA.
Any time you want VA to accomplish anything foryou, you must put it in writing and you must be precise in telling them exactly what it isyou want. When you put your request in writing, you've just created a piece of evidencethat can be held in the hands and reviewed by another person months or years down the road.It's real, it's solid and if it disappears from your folder, you have a back up copy and thatlittle green post card to prove it was delivered.
A telephone call is a faint memory the moment theconnection is broken. An email may roll up and off the screen, out of sight and out ofmind. Emails are often purged whether by accident or intent.
Your letter and your copy of that letter are themost powerful tool you have. A single letter that is brief and tells the reader just exactlywhat you want is more potent than a hundred phone calls.
I've provided a number of templates for you to usein other articles. There is just no reason for you to communicate with VA by any other method.
(6) Don't call your Congressperson or a Senator.I get a lot of email telling me how the veteran got frustrated at delays so they decidedthat their Senator would storm the walls of the VA for them and tell those bad people tostraighten up and fly right. Most of these emails end by telling me that months later theyreceived a form letter telling them that the VA is still working on their claim and that endsthat.
Your elected representatives in Washington makelaws, they don't enforce them. Each of them maintains a number of very busy officesstaffed by a dozen or more people. In that mix are "Military & VeteransLiaisons" or an individual with a similar title and responsibility.
When you write or call to complain about the VA andyour claim, your call is routed to that person. He or she will ask you to completedocuments that allow them to view your folder...privacy issues must be addressed as you havemedical records in there.
Then they send a "Congressional Inquiry"to your VARO. The VARO maintains a team of people to respond to such inquiries within 45 days.Your folder is located, pulled out of line and examined for any particular glitches or errors…strictlytheir “CYA” process. Then it maybe sent to the Representative's liaison for areview.
If the folder and your application are merely goingthrough the usual routine of numbingly slow progress, that's what you'll hear. If there ismissing evidence and VA can't find records or something is lost, they'll assure the Representativethat they're doing all they can and that message will be passed on to you.
Your Congressperson or Senator won't be aware thatyou've done any of this with their office. They each have hundreds of these requestsevery year. Almost every one of these inquiries I've seen are initiated by a veterandisplaying impatience. Often enough, the impatience is rooted in ignorance. The vet doesn'tunderstand the process and nobody told him that his claim may take as long as 18-72 months.
Some requests and complaints are filed with theseoffices because the veteran is in dire financial straits and is depending on acompensation benefit to save the day. The wolves are at the door, the car is being repossessed, thecredit cards are maxed out and the vet needs the money right now. This is probably theworst reason to call as an inquiry may cause even more delays. Your folder could have beennext in line to be distributed to the desk of a Ratings Veterans Service Representative(RSVR) and you caused it to be pulled out of its place in the line.
(7) Don't ask advice from everyone you meet.Once you begin the journey to that compensation benefits award, you should soondevelop a plan and stick to it. An integral part of the plan is where you'll get guidance from.
Have you decided to use a Veterans Service Officerwho you trust?  Are you going to DIY? Are you in an appeal and you've signed someagreements with a lawyer? Whatever path you choose, stick to it.
There is no one perfect answer to any of the thousandsof questions that may come up during the course of your claim. Different peoplewill have different experiences and those experiences will shape the way they will advise youto handle your claim.
I'm often contacted by a veteran who will tell me(for example) that his VSO has advised him that he should not submit another claim for anew condition until an existing claim is finished. The vet will ask my opinion. Most of thetime I'll agree with that advice as long as it isn't completely out in left field.
A day or two later that veteran will write back totell me that he checked with his friend, the one with a wealth of experience in VA claims, andhe has a different idea about it all. He now wants my opinion on what his friend has to say.I'm a bit more cautious in my answer because I can see where this is going.
Sure enough, I'll usually get a set of emails fromthe veteran and he will have contacted his Congressman, looked at other web sites andsometimes even called the VA toll free number.
This happens in appeals too. The veteran speakswith a lawyer who agrees to take him as a client. Papers are signed and the lawyer beginsthe process by notifying VA of the new POA and requesting a copy of the folder. Six monthspass and the veteran hasn't heard anything so he calls the lawyer to discover theVARO only delivered the copied folder 2 weeks ago.
The veteran once again starts looking for adviceelsewhere and the result is always the same...this vet is lost, confused and unsure of whatto do next.
Changing representation in the middle of theprocess may be one of the worst actions a veteran can take unless there is a very good cause.That the claim is taking too long or the lawyer isn't calling you every week to tell younothing has happened isn't good cause.
You should only change your POA in a circumstancewhere you've discovered and can prove incompetence, your representative is on anextended leave or the representative dies. Even then, you will want to give a lot ofthought to upsetting the flow of progress, as slow as it may be. It's perfectly reasonable tobelieve that it's better to allow the claim to proceed to a denial than to try to make a coursecorrection during the process.
There's a good reason for that old saying,"Too many cooks spoil the broth".
When you make the decision to file a claim, give alot of thought to how you're going to proceed and choose your representative carefully.If you've done your homework up front, when you hit those bumps and delays that come withworking with VA, you'll remain confident that it's just the routine and you'll behappier for it.
(8) Prepare for the worst. Approachyour claim as if it is already determined that you'll lose and have a lengthy appeal.
There are no reliable, precise statistics thatallow us to predict which claims will be approved or the ones that are doomed to failure. Weknow that even when you submit a perfect claim with perfect evidence there's a goodchance that you will be tied up for a year or more and then receive a denial letter.
When you get that denial, you'll be stunned as youread along. In the required explanation from VA you'll see that it's almost as if not onesingle person actually read your evidence and/or they just ignored it all. The language theyuse might make you think that they're speaking of someone else’s claim, not yours. Youmay read incomplete sentences, pages that don't seem to connect from one to the next orthe date on your letter may be days, weeks and even months previous to the day you getthe documents.
The truth is that it's entirely possible that yourcomplete folder was never examined for all the evidence. It's possible that evidence youdelivered wasn't ever matched to your file. It's not rare for papers from one file to be accidentlyincluded in another file and your denial may be based on a single page of a report fromanother veterans medical record.
If you are already in need of the financial helpthat you deserve when you take that first step towards compensation, you must begin todevelop your budget as if you aren't ever going to see any help from the VA.
I meet way too many vets who are suddenlyunemployed or underemployed due to their service connected disability when they decide tofile for a benefit. They hear from friends of the retroactive pay and that monthly deposit andthe free medical care and they file and sit back and wait for it.
Six months later, I hear the panic in their voicesafter the car was repossessed, they're behind on the rent and their marriage is introuble.
This is when the veteran writes to me and asks,"Jim, how can I speed this up? Things are really bad in my life right now. I need themoney."
I always have the same answer; there isn't any wayto speed things up. In some very rare circumstances, a veteran may ask for an expediteddecision due to an unusual hardship. Most often this will only be approved if there is asudden critical illness that would easily appear to be service connected. An example might bea catastrophic illness that results from a complication of diabetes in a Vietnamveteran.
It's very unlikely that you're going to find anysympathy for the knee injuries that you've asked for and been denied 3 years earlier. Even ifyour claim is valid and you're unable to find work, unless you have a situation that is lifethreatening, you probably won't see any help at all from VA.
No matter what your situation, after you'vecompleted your filing of the paperwork for your claim, you must then address your long termfinances. You should involve your family in the discussion so that everyone understands thatyou're facing a long road ahead.
If you start the process knowing how you'll paybills each month until the point that you are awarded your deserved compensation, the time youwait will be less of a stress on you as well as your family.
(9) Read the fine print.Each time the VA writes to you you'll find a page that applies to your claim and a number of pages of boilerplateinstructions regarding your rights to appeal and other matters.
Too many of us get to the part that reads, "Wepropose to reduce your benefits...", or "Your claim for compensation isdenied...", or any one of a number of messages that we didn't want to receive and we never read past that.The blood boils up in the brain, eyes cloud over and we get tunnel vision and we neversee the instructions that can save us time and trouble.
The fine print included with a VA letter is as goodas it gets. Often enough it will detail why a particular action is taking place and once youunderstand that, you can correct the problem in short order. In a denial letter you maysee that they didn't consider an important piece of evidence that would have supported yourclaim and you have an instant reason to appeal.
The most important detail you'll find is that oftiming. Your VA is obsessed with timing...yours, not their own. That fine print will tell youthat if you wish to halt the apportionment of the money your ex is trying to withhold from yourcompensation, you must take certain actions within 30 days or 60 days.
If you reply 'timely' you can request a personalhearing that can halt proceedings for months while VA makes room in the schedule for you.This can give you valuable time to gather evidence or get advice on how to fight aproposed negative action by VA.
Reading those pages of legalese will provide theveteran with almost never-ending routes of appeals, hearings and opportunities to preventdecisions from going against us or to reverse decisions that aren't favorable. Using thelaw to enforce your rights is smart. Getting smart beats getting angry every time.
(10) Get involved. Youserved your country. You wore the uniform, took the oath and you agreed that if ordered to do so, you would lay yourlife on the line for the principles we believe in.
That isn't enough. You aren't done yet.
When you were active duty, you could vote and thatwas about it. Now you're a veteran and you have the knowledge and experience requiredto understand how our military forces need the support of the civilian leadershipthat control them.
If you haven't ever written to your electedrepresentatives before, don't embarrass yourself by thinking that they should jump up to help you whenyou have an issue with the VA.
Your Congressional representatives want to hearfrom you on an ongoing basis. Your Senators each have an easy, simple section on theirweb site for you to write them a note to let them know how you feel. Once each month, itmay take all of 5 minutes of your busy schedule to write to say that you support somepiece of legislation for veterans.
If you do that on a regular basis, if you aren't aranter and if you are contributing your thoughts to them even when you don't need theirhelp, they'll pay more attention when veterans’ issues come before them.
Today, the younger veterans need your wisdom, yourguidance and the benefit of your experience. When you returned to the world in 1969,there were few people who were willing to offer you a hand up.
If you haven't lifted a finger to help our newestveterans but you have time to bitch and whine and cry about your own benefits, you need toreassess the situation you're in.
Giving your time to assisting these warriors willgive you something to do while VA muddles around with your claim. You won't get the sort ofreward from the VA that you'll discover helping a young veteran rebuild a life.
(11) Learn how to use your computer.  Ifyou're reading this, the odds are you're reading it on a computer. It's often said thatfiling an application for disability compensation isn't a spectator sport. It's time for you to getin the game.
Hardly a day goes by that I don't get an email froma veteran who asks, "Jim, who do I call to get a form to file for disabilitycompensation?" or, "Jim, what are the rates that VA will pay if I have my rating increased from 20% to50%?" or I may even get a comment that says, "Dude, why won't the VA put up a web page thatwill tell us about benefits for our dependents?"
I confess that I have moments where I stare atthose emails in amazement and wonder.
What I wonder is, "How can a person whomanages to log on and use email not know about that phenomenon known as the Google search engine?"
The Internet is as amazing an invention as thewheel or sliced bread. To have Internet access is something most of us couldn't haveimagined in our wildest dreams as we entered our military service. Today's soldier can'trecall a world without the Internet.
If we take it in it's simplest terms, the Internetis nothing more than a library that houses information. We all access the same Internet. Itdoesn't matter if your portal is AOL or GMAIL,Bellsouth or Comcast, those are just doors thatopen to allow you access. Once you step through the door your Internet Service Provider(ISP) has for you, you are surfing along the same "Information Superhighway" aseveryone else.
Once you've arrived on the Internet, the"library" is full of billions and billions of pages of information. That information is piped up into theInternet from other computers, called servers, from colleges and governments and privatecitizens and even businesses that want to sell things to you. If you want to see whatthey have to offer, you have to be able to arrive at their Internet address and then view theinformation they provide.
To get to a specific place or find specificinformation on the Internet requires that you know the exact address of the place you're looking for.If you don't know where you're going, how on earth can you find your way among those billionsof addresses?
Thankfully, that was made easier for you years agoby the development of the "Search Engine". The first Internet search engine cameabout 1993 and has quickly evolved into today's Google. http://www.searchenginehistory.com/#early-engines
While there are plenty of competitors around, manyconsider that the Google engine is the best available. How do you use it? Simple.
If the Google search bar isn't already a fixture onthe landscape of the web page you're looking at, go to the address bar of your browserand type in http://www.google.com and you're ready to search.
The majority of questions I receive in my mail boxare relatively simple and are about basic facts from the VA. Let's say you want informationabout benefits for your dependents if you should die. It's a pretty sure bet that the VA is agood resource for that but you don't have any clue about where the VA keeps that information.In the Google search bar, type in "veterans administration" (leave off thequotation marks). The search engine isn't case sensitive so you don't need to worry aboutcapitalization.
Now hit the enter key.
Bingo, you're on a page that shows you the resultsof the search by the engine. It may tell you that it found hundreds of thousands of"hits" of pages that are relevant to your query. The engine, being as smart as it is, has listedthem in the order it thinks you'll want to see them.
You'll see the main page of the DVA site (http://www.va.gov) and also the main page ofthe VBA site (http://www.vba.va.gov)
Congratulations! You've just learned how to use asearch engine. You entered a "search term" and then directed the engine to find alikely page of information for you.
Once at the DVA web site you'll see links to almosteverything the DVA has available. A "link" is a word, phrase or symbol thatyou may click on that will take you to another place on the Internet or within the pages of the siteyou're on.
To find the facts about dependents benefits is easyonce you're on the VA site. Look around, you'll see links to benefits, from therelinks to dependent's benefits and so on. I recommend the DVA web site as a first stop foralmost everything you need to know about the VA. The site is massive and it can be complexbut with a little time, you'll soon discover all you ever wanted to know about VA.
The search engine responds to "keywords". In the earlier example we found the DVA web site. If you're seeking information about your timein Vietnam and you need details about the dates your unit was there, go the Google searchengine and type in your unit name and numbers. Did you serve with the 9th MarineAmphibious Force? Type in those words. Were you in Germany? Try "US ArmyEurope", again, without the quotation marks.
Play with your search terms. Use a combination ofwords to find information on the condition you're claiming, Agent Orange, benefitsand almost anything else you can think of. If you see an interesting site, go ahead andexplore it, it probably has links embedded that will lead to other sites of interest to you.
Now that you've mastered the Google search engine,learn how to use the search engine that is provided on VAWatchdog. (http://www.yourvabenefits.org) It worksthe same way but will restrict its search to the published articlesof the site. You can use the VAWatchdog search engine to find articles that you may havemissed on a particular topic or you may find comments from readers in my Mailbag columns.
The search engine is another of the powerful toolsyou have to use as you seek the disability compensation benefits you've earned. Take a tutorial and you'll be an expert in no time. You'll be glad you did. Finally, if you’re “of a certain age” you’recertain to findcomputer help at the senior center, library or fromother veterans. Maybe…your kids?
(12) Retrieve and then organize your own documentsand evidence. It happens every day. I open my email to read, "Jim; Ihave been treated by a number of civilian doctors ever since my honorable discharge. I gavethe VA the names and I thought they were going to get those records for me. Well, theydidn't and my application has been denied. Isn't the VA required to assist me and helpme get my records? Can I sue them for this harm they caused me?"
The VA has a duty to assist you. The obligation tohelp you includes a reasonable effort to track down records and to notify you of yourrights. The word you want to pay attention to is "reasonable".
If ten years have passed since you were treated atthe infamous Our Lady of Pain and Suffering Medical Center, located in beautifulDog's Breath, Georgia and you want those records, you better work on getting them yourself.The first mistake I often see is that the veteran provided the name of the hospital and thecity but no street address or direct telephone number. The VBA Veterans ServiceRepresentative who is trying to gather your records is under no particular obligation to gorummaging through a directory to look that up for you.
That VSR may fire off a letter in the direction ofthat hospital and include a copy of your release but there is never any guarantee they'regoing to respond. He may even try again. After that, it's your problem, not his.
Many hospitals have medical records outsourced to avendor in another city and state. If the VA writes to the hospital asking foryour records they may get a message to contact the vendor. In turn, that vendor mayrequire a fee to research and copy records...yes, they can do that. The vendor mayrequire a photocopy of your driver's license or other identification for security. Theirrules may require all of that and then they send the records back to the hospital to release themto you...or the VA.
Upon encountering those kinds of barriers, the VSRat your VARO will note his attempts and move on...without your important records.
If you were treated by a handful of differentphysicians over the years, practices may have changed hands, doctors may have moved on. If youwere teated by Dr. Quackenbush 9 years ago and his notes will prove your disability,you've got problems if he gave up medicine and is now a ukulele player in a southseas band. Your file may be in storage, it could be that the entire practice moved to anotherbuilding or that the practice, including your chart, was sold to another group of doctors.
The VSR may send a letter and might even make aphone call on your behalf. If that isn't productive, he'll move on.
In the circumstances above, had you taken theinitiative yourself, you may have been able to track down your record. Yes, it may have takenyou 30 phone calls and days of frustration but if you are persistent and you findthe right person, the one with the keys to the storage facility, you may get that single pieceof paper that wins your case.
(13) You’re not in the military anymore. Youno longer have to accept answers you get as if it was handed down from authority and, orthrough the chain of command. Question everything. If the answer or decision is notfavorable to you, disagree with it.
Our government’s agencies do not always get thingsright, do not have your best interests in mind, and will not always tell you everythingyou need to know. If you think your claim has merit, and your belief is based on facts, law,and evidence directly on point to your claim, then appeal and persevere. Do not shrug yourshoulders, give up, and think the VA must know better and, or must be right. They makewrong/bad decisions all the time; hence, the incredible backlog that exists in theVBA claims process today.
The disclaimer: These tips are provided to you todescribe general processes and procedures that occur during the application for disabilitycompensation and pension and other benefits within the Department of Veterans AffairsSystem. Any author you find here is not providing you with legal advice. Any informationprovided by this Knol or any contributor to this Knol is not intended as and should not beconstrued as legal advice. You should always consult an attorney to help answer specificquestions regarding how VA laws apply to you and/or your situation. The summariesprovided here are incomplete, and the DVA laws and regulations are subject to change. We donot guarantee and we are not liable for the accuracy or completeness of any of theinformation provided, or any results or outcome as a result of the use of this information.
This article was written by Jim Strickland of VA Watch Dog, a US Army Veteran and Veterans Advocate and Katrina Eagle, a lawyer who specializes in Veteran-Related Legal Issues.  

What to Do (& Not DO!) When Filing a VA Claim