My recent experiences with VA

[Kinman]

Like most things in life I believe you get out of it what you put in. With a good attitude I have gotten through most of the downsides in my life. I had one of the nurses early on in my VA exposure tell me about "people trying to get over on the system." She had a very negative outlook and saw the dark side in everyone, I did not know her story or why she developed that attitude but it was abrasive and I was overly sensitive about applying for VA benefits in the first place as my people never accepted any help from anyone. There were enough positive, helpful people in my VA experience to see me through my initital process and I am thankful for the outcome. I won't give credit where credit is not due, I believe the VA and our veterans are a pawn for legislators. They like to wheel a few of us out for some dedication or another like bears in cone hats on unicycles. I am glad to see a few fellow veterans running for office and succeeding am can only be hopeful that they will continue to fight the good fight, in the same manner that they served this country.

 

[Golddollar]

Jimmy: Lots of veterans have gone through this. It is usually possible to reconstruct your military service history by archived records of the units in which you served (or ships, etc) combined with any records you may have (DD214, discharge certificate, etc). VFW and American Legion have resources to assist, and many local or county governments have a veterans service office.

My maternal grandfather was a World War I veteran who served in France. When the VFW Auxiliary was opened to men I wanted to apply right away. Unfortunately his service records were destroyed in the big fire.

As a last hope, I called the county clerk's office at the courthouse in the county where my grandfather lived about all his life. The people at the courthouse couldn't have been nicer. It turned out that PawPaw had the foresight to record his discharge and service record (this was long before the DD214 form was created) in the books at the courthouse dedicated for these records. The clerk's office mailed PawPaw's record to me and now I am a Life Member of the VFW Auxiliary. The lesson here is that if the veteran's records were destroyed in the big fire, the county courthouse in any county in which the veteran resided after his or her service may provide the necessary records.

Just for fun, I have attached pictures of my grandfather. The first is him as a doughboy in World War I. I haven't encountered many members of the Sons of the American Legion, American Legion Ladies Auxiliary or VFW Auxililary whose qualifying ancestor was in World War I. The picture of the older gentleman holding the baby is of him holding me.

 

[Sistema1927]

I have an audiology appointment at the VA this coming Tuesday. Sure hope that they can come up with some hearing aids that actually work for my level of hearing loss.

 

[sigp220.45]

Thanks for posting this.

When I got out in 1991 I had a bad neck from a drunk’s roundhouse kick during an arrest and tinnitus from the range and the flightline. I knew I was going into law enforcement and didn’t want anything associated with a disability to follow me out.

Now it seems like everyone getting out is drawing disability for something. I knew a supply guy in the FBI who spent most of his day trying to up the percentage of his disability. He said he had a knee injury from stepping off a curb. He was at 40 percent was all excited he might get a raise. He weighed at least 375 pounds.

In 2015 I figured it doesn’t hurt to try, so I filed one for my neck. It has legit hurt for decades. I never went to the hospital and didn’t claim anything when I was discharged so they rightly told me to go have a conjugal visit with myself.

I always figured the system was meant for guys who got shot or blown up, anyway. Those guys deserve it all.

 

[SMSgt]

My experience with VA disability is not good. Further comments would get me sent off to the netherworld.

 

[straightshooter1]

My first time at the VA, as a patient, was '97 or '98. I married a Critical Care Nurse who worked there at Bay Pines in MICU/SICU and who then got her Master's and became a Nurse Practitioner.

All the docs and patients spoke highly of her (I'd run into them at parties or in the community) and I was sure that she was very competent.

Nonetheless, I despised the VA, I hated it when her car was in the shop and I had to take her or pick her up from work. I had not been very fond of the Military or those we called lifers back in the day and wanted nothing, at all, to do with them in any form, VA, American Legion or VFW.

Then, finally, my wife talked me into going out there (it sure took a lot more than one conversation, but...).

And, I never left.

I have received the best medical care I've ever gotten. I get what I think of as a very nice disability pension, tax free, and they have saved my sorry life two and, it looks like, three times now. They've given me two sets of hearing aids, no charge. I get all my scripts there, no charge (that depends on your disability rating) and I have always been treated with kindness, courtesy and respect.

I always set my appointments as the first one of the day, the last one of the day or rarely, but sometimes, the first one after lunch.

It's a very rare occasion when I am not finished and in my SUV, headed out the gate, at my appointment time . Never happens like that at a non-VA doc's appointment. So, I no longer use any non-VA docs except for eye care and that only because I have had some weird eye surgeries.

Maybe it's because the VA Hospital here and in Tampa are the two largest in the country-I don't know. They are the only ones I've been to, so YMMV.

I've seen some problems there-but the ones I've seen were always preceded by some jerk and, sometimes, with this wife, coming in with a real bad attitude before he ever checks in with the clerk. It never ends well, for him. Starting one's appointment off screaming at the reception clerk seems kinda foolish, but....

I don't have any idea what the VA is like where those of you live who have had problems, it's just that my experience has been different and great.

Bob

 

[Smoke]

Related to the Fire of 1973.

My last duty assignment was as a Medical Records Clerk at Fort Carson. I don't know why or how but I received a packet from St. Louis containing partial copies of my father's military records and a notice that they were incomplete due to the fire.

ETA: To clarify my father's records showed up on my desk at work and they came through distribution not the mail. It was either right before or right after my father died. I never requested them and I have no idea who did.

I never knew who requested them or why. I never requested anyone's medical records from St. Louis but I did help pack a bunch up for shipment TO St. Louis when I worked at Evans Army Community Hospital.

THE VA

I've said all this before but Colorado Springs has a good VA.

Appointments are about a 6 week wait which is comparable to any private medical practice I ever worked at.

They provide my hearing aids and related accessories as part of my disability compensation. That alone has vastly improved my quality of life.

I've also told this before but a guy I served with now works for the Department of Veteran's Affairs. I never intended to apply for disability until he contacted me.

He reviewed my records.. He submitted my claim. He arranged for me to be evaluated by a third party. All I had to do was show up for the Appointments.

It took two years to process my claim and my disability compensation is enough for me to retire on, something I never thought I'd be able to do.

 

[jscheck]

I'm glad to hear that you (and hopefully many more) veterans are receiving what you so richly deserve for your service related injuries! While never having served on the battlefield I do have some medical problems from my service. I contacted the VA some years ago and was turned down because my job afforded me medical coverage. Since then I've felt too guilty to try to get help for my minor issues when so many war time vets with real health issues are in urgent need of help. Still trying to decide if I should try again now that I'm retired.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Update:

Dec. 10, 2021 I received a letter outlining my updated status. Service-connected disability rated 70%. No more co-payments on any services or prescriptions. Two medical conditions required additional information, which I have provided.

Cost of living adjustment of 5.9% effective December, 2021.

It really is a new Veterans Administration! Barely 10 weeks from date of application to a check in the mail, then another check in the mail a couple of weeks later. Increase in benefits before I received a letter to announce a decision. Open-ended request for further information that might influence a further increase.

The most difficult part so far was responding to their very nice request that I select a direct deposit option to allow them to send future payments to my checking account. Probably took me ten minutes on the VA website. Sure, I had to drive to several appointments for medical evaluations, but they paid round-trip mileage for each trip.

I give the modern VA an "excellent" rating.