James on de bayou

[Packo]

I get what your saying!

If it helps us, I have no problem sending the gov. money!

ABU BRO!

Packo

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by Paco
I get what your saying!

If it helps us, I have no problem sending the gov. money!

ABU BRO!

Packo

Well, I'd rather they sent me money, no error--for a change, I been sending em for a lot of consecutive quarters now..
thats why I filed the claim a year ago last January--which, by the way has gone nowhere, glacially. Thank God i don't need it. I'm thinking about going seeing the Congressman, (G Miller, ranking member, Hse Armed Svcs Cmttee)

Abu, dude

James

[Packo]

NOT YET!

All that will do is delay your claim! Once a Congressman gets involved they flag your case, pull it OUT of the pile, look at it to see what's been done, write a letter to him, and put yours on the bottom of the pile.

You will just recieve a letter from the Congressman showing you a copy of the letter from the VA. Then he/she will say, "here is a copy of the answer to my inquirey. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me", blah blah.

Congressional inquireies basically do NOTHING but hold up your claim. Your better off with having your representitives, DAV, VFW, MOPH, who ever you are having represent you, check on your claim. It usually takes at least a year on an initial claim.

If your not being represented, GET REPRESENTATION!

Packo

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by Paco
NOT YET!


If your not being represented, GET REPRESENTATION!

Packo

Oh, yeah, got the DAV hot on the trail(sarcastic snicker) Ive had 6 different people to talk to in the last year, none of whom had the facts of the case in front of them. This indicats a high turnover and probly no one's taking care of bidness. But I talked to the PTSD counselor--still going every week-- and he said best not to change.
I already talkd to th Congressman's aide-- I told him I wanted my records--that Ive applied for them twice, once Jan 2001, once jan 2002 and never got them --so I asked the aide to get them for me--that was 2 months ago and nada yet. I wasn't going to ask them to do anything about the VA yet but at least they know me--I gave a strategic campaign donation earlier this year.

I wouldn't be doing this without the feeling that it couldn't do much worse--Its 18 months and they only asked for the evidence in Feb. I started out thinking ths would take 2 years and I still spect it will, maybe longer. I'd hire a lawyr this minute if I thought it would do any good.

james

[Packo]

and they have to work for free......try and find that. Unless things have changed, you can't use a lawyr unless you go to the Court Of Veterans Appeals, or something like that.

When you thought 2 years, at least, you were on the right track.
Hang tough trooper, these bastards take their good ol' time but can't imagine you being turned down and your just accumulating back pay every month. You will probably be able to buy your own plane and fly to Texas for the party next year.

Packo

[xgrunt]

Request a freedom of Information claim from the VA on your claim. If you state that you need it for another gov agency such as Social Security the VA has a time limit 30-60 days I believe to get you all the info on your claim[internal memos etc.] I did this myself in order to find out where I stood, As far as the DAV I can only state that I am a life member but due to the turnover of the people and the HUGH amount of caseloads everyone handled I found that I did better fighting my claim myself. I had the time and the experiences of a lot of vets that had been thru the wringer to help me. So my reccomendation is to try thr FOIA route first. your recon bro xgrunt