Gimpy

[Andy]

OK, I give up, Gimp I?ve come over to your side. Today I got a phone call from a back water source telling me to call the VA and demand to know what I will be receiving in my VA check on July 1st. I called, I?m taking an $1,100 cut, while my case is still on appeal. They told me before that until a final decision is made I wouldn?t be cut. The VA civilians have decided my cancer is ok, even though I?m currently taking treatment. (Treatments like chemotherapy, but VA doctors haven?t discovered this stuff yet.) Apparently I was supposed to be officially notified in August that my appeal was denied.

June 1, a guy I went to high school with, a man who was in Vietnam in ?68 as a grunt, a guy who came down with cancer 6 months after I did was informed he was being dropped from 100% to 10% for cancer and 30% because they had to cut out his left lung.

June 1, a guy who was in our 3rd platoon (I was in 2nd) was reduced from 100% for cancer, lymphoma like me, to 40%. Does any of this seem like a trend?

All three of us have doctors who are saying, ?This boy?s got cancer which can?t be cured.? each of us are getting ?downsized?. As a result, I?ve called the offices of both of my senators. Never thought anyone would hear me say I called the office of Ted (I don?t drive well) Kennedy, but I did. Also called a democrat candidate for governor whom I know.

The VA and DAV both told me how busy they were. Made contact with my MOPH representative, contacted the State Treasurer saying I?m no longer eligible for a $1,500 check the state gives all vets who are 100% once per year. Every person I spoke to, and followed up with an e-mail, is a democrat. I?m ashamed of me, feel like a whore. But I am getting screwed as are a number of us.

Gimp, I know you have done well fighting the VA. Share your wisdom with a dumb Yankee who is going to change his voter preference tomorrow.

Stay healthy, we better,
Andy

[Arrow]

I am just sick. Griz and I are both sick. No use me cussin' . Andy are the guys from your area? Is this a regional thing or are they from other parts of the country?

[phuloi]

I`m donning my investigator`s hat at the onset of the work day tomorrow.I won`t mention any names(to protect the innocent)but a few people will hear from a real grouchy ole bear.I have never heard of anything so absurd in all my life!..GRRRRRRRR

[Arrow]

What about a petition to your reps Andy? I'll type the letter and send it out to some of the guys to sign. If we sent it express to one another we could get it to you pretty fast. I think they are more impressed with real signatures. What ever you think is best. We just want to help..

[Andy]

Sis: Eddie, the man who I went to high school with lives in my little town. Ron, the guy from our 3rd platoon lives in California.
Ron is also taking some serious meds for PTSD which makes be even more concerned for him.

Griz: I make a lot of calls yesterday and want everyone to know. Getting cut is not a good thing, getting lied to is unacceptable. I spoke to a reporter yesterday. Wednesday the guy from a local news paper will be writing a story after he reads the letters I've thus far received from the VA and my doctors. You can mention all the names you want.

I've never been shy about getting into a fight. They started this by slyly lying to me. Hence, all bets are off.

Stay healthy, don't get mad get even,
Andy

[SEATJERKER]

...GET EVEN WORSE"...
...not back tracking, but did you receive any prior notices of the proposed cut, and now that it's going "into effect", is this situation limited to your case, or others lumped into ones such as yours...
...can we write to the powers at be knowing of your plight to local media, and cause a ruckus, we all know we can write fast, and hard...
...squeekey "wheels" will get more attention...
...I found out the only way to get them to listen is raise your voice, loud, not enough to yell, or scream, but LOUD, LOUD like the saying goes
"I'M SICK, AND TIRED OF IT, AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE ANYMORE" LOUD....
...EMBARRESS THEM into having anyone in earshot know that they are not doing their job, with ethical, and moral responsabilites
...FACTS, weather medical, or verbal should prevail...
...is it a paper snafu?

...go get um' pesky...(PS don't wear the dress)

[Keith_Hixson]

Bureaucrats live in a world of black and white pages. They try to enforce the "law" as those little numbers and letters reveal it to them. Having been a law maker and supervisor of Bureaucrats I was often surprised how they interpret the laws we made. Often they missed the entire intentions of the law. This should have been expected because they live in that tight little world of black and white letters and numbers. It is not the real world.

I believe that one the big mistakes is that the hearing boards should not be comprised of "professionals" but of regular Joe citizens. People who have common sense like a jury. They would do a much better job of looking at the common sense issues than bureaucrats.

I don't know if it is feasable but sometimes it is easier to just start over from scratch and not confuse them with new paper work.

It happens all the time everywhere. I have found it extremely helpful. To write logical sensible letters to every Public elected official in the Frederal Government from the President on Down. They often respond much faster when your Senators or Congressmens intervene. Also, if you have friends in the local media that will air your story on the local news and in the local paper: now that really works.

Been through it with many other agencies not the VA - yet.

Keith :rolleyes:

[Arrow]

Good for you Andy. Man you have been a lot more patient than I could have been but now it's time to take off the gloves. If you need back up put up the name of your paper. I'll write a letter of support for you and a plea in general for all vets. Maybe what you are doing will inspire some others. I pray for your friends also. And God knows how many others are out there going through the same thing. Maybe alone. Keep us posted. sis

[Gimpy]

Sorry I haven't been able ta answer yo REE-quest fer assistance. Me an mah sweet-thang (JJ) has been down yonder tha Florida Keys spendin sum uv thet thare $$$ I dun got frum them thare VA rascally, scalawags! Ya knoes whut, it shore does fell gud spendin them SOB's muny! Anyways, we been outa town fer near-bout a week now and I jest got around ta checkin all this stuff.

Now lookee heanh, mah deah frand. I dun't X-speck y'all ta think I b'lieve ALL them ol democrats ere a WHOLE lot betta than them thare DEE-spicable republican types. But, I kin say fer SHORE thet yer prolaby gonna git more frum sum uv ol "Teddy's boys" than y'all will frum tha likes uv ol "Jessies' boys"----Ya knoe??

THa "trick" is in YOUR PERSISTENCE---and YOUR TENACITY!!

You GOTTA---WRITE---CALL--E-MAIL--PICKETT---EVERY damn newspaper, TV station (local & national), Congressman's office (every damn one of them in your state---not JUST yours), Senators offices, AND MAKE sure you TELL the MEDIA that you've contacted them PERSONALLY and use their name EVERY DAMN chance you get! Try and find OTHER vets that they've helped and USE their experiences in your assault on the media.

It's hard, totally exhausting and very, very depressing to keep up the pressure old friend. But, YA GOTTA DO IT!

Give me your local TV and newspapers names and address along with your congressman's and I'll start giving them sumthing to think about from a mad-ass (bad-ass) butt-kickin REBEL that they'll DAMN sure remember!

God bless ya old friend----fight the good fight!

[PHO127]

Andy, I have just got into this thing but Doc gave me a little history. I will write Max Cleland, Senator from Ga. Maybe if all of us just take a few minutes to Write a letter to Max the volume will be pretty sizeable. For those of you who do not know him Max lost both legs and an arm in RVN. has been a VA advocate.

[DMZ-LT]

Keep movin , Andy .St. Chris , me and a lot of others here got you covered. Kick ass !

[SEATJERKER]

... We will send letters to the effect of what ever you direct us to ask, simple as that....
... when I had a run in with my congressman here a bit back, "Bits" e-mailed him a letter, along with some others I know,, and when they start getting letters supporting "ANYONE", from, "ANYONE OUT OF STATE", It draws more attention....

...10-15 letters start showing up asking why has this happened, when everything was going "ok" before???...
...WE CAN MAKE AS MUCH NOISE AS YOU WANT, OR NEED ON PAPER...
..."stay pesky"

[Packo]

Andy,

Post the Newspapers letters to the editors email and snail mail addresses. I mean Boston, Springfield, and anyother town you can think will help.

Since Doc and I will be with you in a few weeks you need to get a press conference set up for the Moving Wall. I will be more than happy to talk about what I saw for 13 years working for the VA. The main thing will be to get your story and the others out at a place like the moving wall. The media usually eats that shit up.

You are not a whore.......well maybe not in the context you used. Hell to win this battle I'd use Kennedy, Clinton, Gimpy, and James! (lol) I'm with Gimp on this one. It's time those Yankee papers heard some Suthin wisdom.

PissedoffPacko

[Andy]

Sis: ?A Petition to your reps?. I don?t know. If I need to go that way there are some local organizations that need to be contacted also, but I don?t know if that?s the route that should be taking, just yet.

Seatjerker: ?Did you receive prior notification?. YES. From the VA - Personal Hearings. ?You can request a personal hearing?? ?If we receive a request for a hearing within 30 days we will continue payments at the present rate until the hearing is held and we review the hearing testimony.? In a letter from the VA dated June 11, 02 they say, sorry for the delay we are still processing your application.
This is a one on one situation, however it?s odd that several others I know are also getting cut at the same time and in the same manor.
?Embarrass them?. Chemotherapy is in fact poison. Every time you do a chemo treatment it?s supposed to take 5 years off your life span. After each treatment my hand
(where the needle is for 4 or 5 hours), turns black, blue, yellow brown. I was thinking of a picture of my hand to go with the news paper article.
?Is it a paper snafu.? NO, The VA?s letter to me from back in March, in part says: ?Dr. R. S., dated Feb. 2002 indicates that the veteran has been through many cycles of chemotherapy. In 12/99 he received CHOP chemotherapy and Rytuxan, which resulted in a remission of his NHL. Veteran has residual disease, however, and his infectious complications are related to his altered immune system.?
They sort of forgot to say the remission did not begin until July of 2000. They also use the term ?residual disease? as though I had a cold. My doctor refers to residual effect of an incurable disease. But I guess those are just details.

Keith: (Start over re: the paperwork). I?m thinking about doing that. The DAV and VA keep telling me how busy they are. I?ve contacted the Military Order of the Purple Heart. They say they are not too busy for me. However, being an experiment; this time the doctors are pumping all the drugs into me once a week for 8 weeks, as opposed to the usual 5 to 7 months. By the time the MOPH gets going I may be finished with this round of treatments and be told I only have ?residuals? again.

Gimpy: Thanks, I would never have thought to tell the reporter that Kennedy, Kerry and others have been notified. This is an election year for all the Reps of course and Kerry wants to run for Prez in ?04. I wouldn?t mind being someone?s poster boy. Also contacted my Rep, John Olver who?s secretary said she?d contact the VA today and get back to me by Friday with answers.

I will also call the DAV and MOPH as well as politicians asking for names of people who have been through this. Don?t want to sound morbid but I wonder how many Agent Orange guys are dead? Wonder how many of them are too sick to fight?

Don?t know if contacting local TV is that good an idea. This area can be a little cold and not just the weather. If you don?t have tubes sticking out of you, most people don?t get sympathy. I look fairly healthy, it?s hard to see cancer cells.

Pho127: Thank you. I?ve never hear anything but good stuff about Max. (Except that he?s a democrat. Oops, sorry that was the old me.)

Lt.: You got it right, St. Chris, the Big Guy and J.C. What a team!

The address for the Daily Hampshire Gazette is PO: Box 277, Northampton, Ma. 01061.
Did an interview with them today, the reporter said this matter made no sense at all. (I agreed.)
The Springfield Union is PO: Box 2350 Springfield, Ma. 01102
I?ll contact the Union After the Gazette article runs, a sustained attack seems like a good idea.

Stay healthy, please,
Andy

[SEATJERKER]

...that covers what we need to say in order to open some eyes, I can cut, and paste, and print off my upstairs com-u-tater, and if it's written in "more" offical terms then I would use, it prob would be a little more credible then my "what the hell are you idiots doing now to another veteran to screw up what he rightfully earned protecting your sorry asses"...
...otherwise I'll just have to use my own gentle/subtle tact to deliver the message, and make some waves...
...draw it up, and I've got stamps....

...and something else, being that I am a service officer in chapter #38 of the DAV here, and being one of your really close nearby neighboring states, I'm wondering if I should just happen to mention that our voting constituents reach across the borders to your nice little state....

[Andy]

The moving Wall thing is being done in conjunction with doing a tribute to the men who died from our town during the war. It's their day in the sun, even if they can't enjoy it. To draw attention away from them would be less than honorable.

Once the tribute to the locals is concluded, I'd be happy to talk with any news people. AND it would be fun listening to you talk with news folks, I could be the interpreter. 30 years ago, remember Sam Irvin as the Chair of the Watergate hearings. Up here we liked him cause he could talk and dust the desk with his eyebrows at the same time. But due to the fact he spoke a dialect which we assumed was a lower form of Okiephanokie, we never had a clue what was going on. But he did look sincere so we all know Nixon was guilty.

The next few weeks will be interesting.

Stay healthy,
Andy the Resolved

[Packo]

my dear friend, I didn't expect you to be the main focus and agree it's the wall and what it represents that is. I do agree that afterward we need to talk with the press because your battle is one that millions of other vets from all era's are battleing....an uncaring, bullshit, burocracy that does not give an damn and hasn't since Korea. All vets since WWII have been looked at as undeserving cry babies because we were wounded mentally, physically, and exposed to agents that will just kill us later. The system of hospitals is failing......only those without the means use them, and the system of benefits is clogged to the breaking point. Being a VA nurse was the most prestegious position an RN could have. Now it's a position for those that would get fired from any private hospital. It's long overdue, and I used to say no to this propositon, but it's time to get rid of the VA hospital system and allow us to use our cards to get care where WE want. Welfare recipients have that choice.....we do not. I am just so disgusted right now I'm babbling.

Packo

[fnaWife2AFVV]

http://www.glocktalk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=823000#post823000

I also cross-posted the link to the above thread in Glocktalk's Coptalk forum, since Andy is a former LEO as well.
'Every little bit helps.......
m

[Andy]

Got a letter today from the VA. I've been re-instated as 100%, that's great but the letter sounds like something out of a comedy routine.
My 100% for cancer is temporary and I'll be re-evaulated six months after my current treatments are done. The letter indicates that I must receive chemotherapy, radiation or whatever, every 12 months or it's dropped back to 40%.
However, because I'll always have the "residual" effects of incurable cancer, I'm permanently unemployable. So, I'm permanently and totally disabled, which gives me 100%.

Gimpy: Do that mean what I think it do? Think I should appeal a decision that gives me 100%? I haven't heard this kind of convoluted logic since Clinton said oral sex isn't sex. (My wife explained that wasn't really true and she didn't care if he was the president. She even told me she out ranked him!)

I've come to the opinion someone in Boston is mixing their Scotch with water that comes right out of the Harbor. What a great country.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[Gimpy]

Must be a Republican in charge of that agency now, huh? Damn there is ! Ole Anthony J Principi hisseff---not a betta X-ample uv kornsurvative right-headed thinking up thare, ya knoe?

Anyways, all kidding aside----what I don't understand IS---why are they reevaluating after SIX months IF they are only going to reduce it to 40% after one year of no chemotherapy or radiation??? I believe I would take this "award" letter (or decision) to a knowledgeble service rep from the MOPH, DAV, VFW and any other organization you may be associated with for some confirmation of that 100% "permanent & total" my friend.

But, it sounds liker yer gonna be OK ta me!

Good luck & God bless,

[Andy]

The thought of a conservative being in charge of most anything in this state, that is funny. However, we are talking about the Federal Government so----.

The VA is saying my cancer is 100% if I am in treatment (or the 6 months following a treatment). After that pending an exam by a VA general practisioner it's 40% unless something new develops, like the cancer spreading to another area. I've explained and my doctor has verified that once you have small cell lymphoma which is Stage 4, it can't be killed. It can be fought and with some of the new civilian drugs, fought very well but a cure is out of the question.

By the VA awarding me 40% for cancer it gives me 70%. With the 30% for not being employable (because of the cancer) that makes it 100%.

I was going to appeal the 40% for cancer but felt I'd talk to a service rep first, as you know I have one year. Also planning on making a claim for loss of vision in my left eye (service connected due to grenade frags in '67). Also a claim for that annoying ringing in your ears you get after shooting a .50 cal. for days on end.

At this point I plan on being a real annoyance to the VA until I'm about 200%. That way if they want to revoke something, like saying, the shrapnel in my legs might have been from a lawn mower accident, I'm still collecting 100% while I fight them.

I don't hate stupid people but I do hate stupidity, that's what this is, clear and simple. Besides not only Southern boys enjoy a good fight. Fighting anyone has always been sort of a catharsis. So, no it will not stop here.

I keep thinking about the Korean or WWII vet who would read a letter like the one I got and just take it. Or be dead while he was doing the appeal. That's got to stop. Of course one man can't stop it all but maybe I can make the Boston office think, just a little.

Stay healthy,
Andy