Tag Archives: The VA

THE VA … PAGE TWO


Question: would it make you angry to find out that your widow who has no income will have to wait a year to maybe a year-and-a-half or LONGER to get compensation from the VA that she legally is entitled? Would you be angry to learn that your widow had snide comments delivered to her by VA staff while filing her claim for benefits for which she is entitled? This country is upside down. Get pregnant and the government will fall all over itself to give you money. The more kids the more money. Come into the country illegally and the country will provide you with Social Security Benefits, house you, provide medical for you. pay for your kids to go to school, provide you with transportation and more. BUT if you are the widow of a disabled veteran and you have no income well,,,, you are just going to have to wait a year to a year-and-a-half and maybe LONGER before you get anything even if you don’t have any income and were dependent on the income your spouse had received because he was a disabled veteran who fought in a war has 16 air medals, a bronze star, and a purple heart. But, go get pregnant out of wedlock, be an illegal, and the government falls all over itself to provide you with everything you need. DOES ANYONE OUT THERE THINK THIS IS WRONG???????

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THE VETERANS’ ADMINISTRATION DISASTER


I accompanied the widow of a friend of mine to the Regional Office of the VA located at Bay Pines, Florida. She had been a widow for just one week. We had the long form death certificate and she had already filed for the DIC claim through the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs. All was in order. All that is except the VA.

Chuck had been disabled permanently and totally by the VA for over 10 years. Brandy and he had been married for many years past the ten year requirement to obtain compensation from the VA upon the death of the veteran.

In this case, Brandy is to receive DIC payments for life following the death of her veteran husband. Brandy has spent years taking care of her husband. She has no income other than what her husband brought in from his VA pension and some Social Security. None meaning …. none. She expected and expects to receive a benefit package from the VA which is about 1/2 of the money paid to Chuck monthly as disability income from his service and injuries while serving in Vietnam.

Well, guess what? She was told that she would have to wait up to maybe a year-and-a-half before she would get a check from the government. WHAT????? She will have NO income from the VA for one to one-and-a-half-years.

That is what we were told at the VA Regional Office.

She sat there crying telling the man she had NO income. NO INCOME means NO INCOME. Oh, the guy said, but in a year-and-a-half you will get a check for the full amount covering that time. EXCUSE ME….. Between now and then what is she supposed to do to pay her bills and provide herself with food. SHE HAS NO INCOME. Well, in case they turn off her utilities or she becomes homeless there is another form she can fill out and file for hardship…..WHAT????….. She has to file another form and then wait for that form to be processed which could take how long? A few months.

Excuse me but this pisses me off. The widow of a 100% totally disabled veteran with no income has to wait up to possibly one-and-a-half-years before getting any compensation which by law she is qualified to receive.

WHY? Because the VA is so backed up with claims that she will have to wait for her Dependent Income and if she starves to death well, that is just too bad. If she has to live in a house with no electricity well that is okay. If she loses her home well that is just the way it is.

I say bull shit. This is governmental bull shit.

Second Followup on Dan.


I learned just a few days ago that Dan had originally been given six to nine months. That was only a month back. Then the time was shortened to three months. Sadly, on Tuesday this week, Gina called to tell me that Dan was in the VA hospital and had been given three weeks to live.

How can this be?

This is a man who survived being exposed to Anthrax and has been followed by the Centers for Disease Control following that discovery. That federal department and the VA have tested him over and over again. They have gone from the top to the bottom of the man and then done it again on several occasions. How can it be that no one discovered the cancer destroying his pancreas and how is it that it is so extremely fast-moving.

There comes no answers.

I will visit with him tomorrow at Bay Pines. It may be the last visit that I have with him. I will sadly meet his wife and daughter for the first time. Both have had recent medical conditions that have caused pain and concern for their own lives and now they face the loss of the man who has helped them through their own problems and there is nothing to do but watch him be destroyed by a cancer that suddenly appeared. And no one has an answer. No one.