National Disgrace
Preston sends us this video in which the media notices what we’ve all known and been complaining about for years – that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs isn’t living up to it’s name;
At NBC, they quote Paul Reickhoff and Republican Jeff Miller as they call for president Obama to get personally involved in the process. My question is this; what in Obama’s past makes them think that 1) he’s at all interested in veterans, and 2) he can do anything to clear the logjam.
They need someone with a history of successful personnel management to kick some ass at the Veterans’ Affairs Department. Shinseki was a failure as a general, and there was no indication that he’d be successful at this job, and I’d remind Reickhoff that he was emoting in his jeans about Shinseki’s appointment initially, while we warned that he was a walking abortion. Everyday, this situation gets worse and the longer veterans wait to get into the system, the more veterans are lost.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
Loved the manchild spokesman for the VA. “This problem has been decades in the making…” Translation: Don’t blame obama or the current VA administration. What a jerk. Tommy Sowers. I used his name so that when the software program pulls all references to hi, there’s a chance he’ll see it.
I am not affected by this debacle personally but I am outraged that those of you who are have to put up with this BS. When you march on D.C., I’ll be there with you. That much I promise.
Did you see where DAV came out and blasted the criticism of Shinseki that appeared in Time magazine? Not sure what they are thinking, or what VA they have been dealing with, but it is not the same one I have been dealing with lately.
If our files looked like that, there wouldn’t be one person in this office who had a job tomorrow. Every one of those files represents a person. Whoever walks in that room, adds to that pile, and walks out again, should be ashamed. And FIRED.
Rieckhoff is a shill for the Dems and a former(?) voice of Operation Truth. One more reason I’ll never join the IAVA. Having said that, the CT VA system has been great to both and many Soldiers I know.
What the hell is up with the PAPER FILES? Get the tree huggers a look-see at that and THEY–not the Veterans–will get action. You can bank on it.
For any of you out there on active duty: THIS is why you should listen when folks tell you to (1) keep a copy of your medical records, and (2) keep copies of all your official records. Goes for both military and VA stuff.
When you get out, the good folks at the VA may lose the former. And they may well have trouble finding stuff they’ve sent you in the past, too.
Easy fix, get some of the top business big shots together, tell ’em they have 6 months to get it running correctly and offer a cash incentive.
More bureaucracy, or new bureaucrats…won’t fix it.
I watched this when this report came out last year. Was disgusted then and disgusted now. Only less so now since I finally finished my wait for my VA disability claim was from July 2012 to March 2013.
Promises, promises… the rhetoric and ‘passing the buck’ has gotten real old!!! As a combat wounded Iraq veteran and former Veteran Service Officer, I’ve had to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare that is the Veterans Benefits Administration. And with Shinseki at the helm, nothing has changed. I, and many of my fellow vets of the current conflicts, knew that with the end of OIF, the VA would be woefully unprepared to handle the massive influx of claims inundating the VBA, and now with Afghanistant winding down the problem is only going to get worse.
The average claim is , “…100 plus days.” Really? I can attest to the fact that this is complete and utter B.S.! I have a simple Individual Unemployability claim that is fixing to hit two years wait-time, come next week. Considering I haven’t worked in two years and have already been approved for Social Security Disability, you would think that my claim would be a slam dunk. Alas, this is not the case! I can only imagine what current veterans are having to deal with, whose claims are far more complicated than my own.
The constant promises of our elected officials as well as the empty promises from those running the VA have continued to fall on deaf ears. Where the hell is the outrage! The VA is still hanging on to their standard operating procedure of ‘Deny, deny, deny until they die.’ Disgusting!
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.”
– President George Washington
I would look for about 2,000 people who were HUNGRY to work, and then call all the VA supervisors in a room, determine who the best ones were, and then announce “…the rest of you fucks are fired.”
Then I’d go to the 8th and 9th floor of the VA HQ (where they process the claims), gather all those people, and make the same announcement.
Then I’d put the other 2,000 people to work with clear expectations that they’d better process 50 claims a day until they’re all gone – and keep doing that all across the country until the backlog was finished.
This seems appropriate:
http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2013/03/22/108031
Hondo, I received that advice when I first came in. I still have copies of everything to include LESs that I recieved when I was a Private in 1994.
Find a hungry one or two star from ADMIN branch. Throw them the bone and tell them VETERANS HIRING PREFERRED.
well if the VA wasn’t so busy trying to strip Vets of their Civil rights, perhaps they might have more resources to do their fucking jobs.
what in Obama’s past makes them think that 1) he’s at all interested in veterans
Didn’t his grandfather serve with the Red Army in WWII?
DO NOT Call the VA Helplines saying anything about depression of bad thoughts, you will lose your civil rights. They will show up with officers, take anything that might be a weapon and potentially haul you off to jail.
They don’t want to help you. they want you to go the fuck away
Im going to speak up and defend the va. I retired, 24 years active duty. The va sent a representative to ACAP at fort huachuca. Briefed us all on va benefits and how to apply. The va hospital in tucson followed the rules and got me in for a physical 30 days after receiving my application. They blew my phone up making sure I’d be there. They gave me a physical exam that was more extensive (and far from enjoyable) than my army retirement exam. I had 1 paperwork glitch, but I was receiving disability benefits within 6 months of retirement. I think its a localized problem. The va system here jumped through hoops for me. My retirement date was 1 may 2012. Fairly recent. Your milage may vary
I’ll tack on a bit of a thumbs up. When you exit the army at huachuca and request your medical records, they give you 2 copies, in my case, NYC phone book size. 1 for you, 1 for the va.
@17. Many a Ford Pinto owner had years and years of carefree driving. That really didn’t help those who were blown up in rear-end collisions. I’m glad things went smoothly for you. That’s the way it ought to work for every Veteran in need of VA services. But just Google VA Baltimore office for pages of horror stories.
SFC D: the VA in SE Arizona is known to be among the best in the country. But others suck the Grand Wazoo.
2/17 Air Cav is right about Baltimore. Hampton VA doesn’t have a particularly good rep, either.
We Vets are told to “suck it up and deal with it” while the pols in DC splurge on themselves and hand out all they can to the freeloaders, dropouts, and illegal aliens. GOD help America.
The American Legion also came out in support of Shinseki:
http://news.yahoo.com/american-legion-defends-va-chief-against-columnists-charges-205200893.html
My experience with VA is there are people trying to do the right thing, but the (dis)organization is a bureaucratic monstrosity. smh
Hondo, I get that. The va rep from phoenix even said that. I’m saying its broken on a regional basis. Maybe the demand is lower here. Maybe it’s been traditionally higher here and they’re ready. Just calling it as I see it. I can’t see it through someone else’s eyes
ANY Vet that goes to the VA with anything related to mental health, risks losing some of their Constitutional Rights.
Don’t do it. Seek help outside the VA, unless you don’t care about having your rights taken away.
To you, #24, and all who say the same thing, DITTO! The same Government we Vets have gone in harm’s way for, the one that many of our Comrades in Arms have lost life or limb for is now doing its best to spit, urinate, and defecate on us while they make every effort to give themselves every luxury and perk they can as they give every handout they can to all of the dropouts, welfare flunkies, and illegal aliens they can.
Can’t stand Reickhoff. He’s a sellout using IAVA for personal gain. Anyways, VA really needs to get it’s act together.
@#15. That was Baracka’s uncle, he liberated Auschwitz.