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The Hurdles Veterans Have To Jump Over
or How The Military Order of the Purple Heart Treated One Veteran by James Glaser March 30, 2010 Just to start things off here I must tell you that I have no ax to grind with the Military Order of the Purple Heart. In the past, I have been the Commander of both a VFW and an American Legion Post. Even being in those two organizations, I have always thought of the Purple Heart as kind of the premier Veterans Service Organization. That is why I chose them to be my "accredited representative" when I have had problems with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Years ago the Purple Heart helped me many times, and I always held them in the highest regard, but now that has changed. On March 25, 2010, I had a hearing with the Board of Veterans' Appeals at the VA Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida. That would be 260 miles from my home. Mark that down as one "hurdle" Here is a little primer of one reason a veteran and the Department of Veterans Affairs interact. If a veteran disagrees with or complains about the treatment or lack of treatment or lack of reimbursement for medical treatment by the VA, the Department of Veterans Affairs has a hearing to listen to what the Veteran has to say. This hearing takes place after pages and pages of paperwork, months and months of letters going back and forth, and a series of higher and higher hurdles the veteran must jump, and if the veteran perseveres, he or she might get that hearing... several years later. If the veteran drops the ball anyplace in this process or is a day late getting the proper paper work to the proper place, his or her claim is dropped. Also, if they miss the hearing for any reason, the claim is dropped. Let's say you have an accident, or your daughter dies the morning of your hearing or the day before, you can't call up and reschedule your hearing. In fact, if you want to reschedule your hearing date, it has to be in writing "within 30 days of the date of the letter" that tells you about the hearing date. In that letter, in bold print and underlined, it says Telephone requests will not be accepted. These rules are just the last minute hurdles a veteran has to jump, to cut down on the number of vets that actually make it to the finish line and have a real hearing. Now, on to my hearing. I did all the paper work, and I jumped all the hurdles. This is not the first time I have attempted to get the Department of Veterans Affairs to listen to my side of the story, but it was the first time I made it all the way to the Holy Grail, an actual appeal hearing with a Federal Veteran Judge. In the past, after months and months and letters back and forth, I tended to get mad and just say F>>k it, and blow the whole thing off. Then one day a doctor, actually a shrink at the Minneapolis VA hospital, explained to me that getting mad and walking away from the frustration was what the VA wanted me to do, and that is why the whole system of hurdles was set up. Aggravate the vet so much that he or she would get mad and drop the whole thing. That doctor said it saved the VA Billions of dollars every year. He also said that many vets, out of that frustration, ended up committing suicide, and that saved even more money. Maybe it is because I am older, ( I know it isn't because I have more patience now) or wiser, (same explanation) that this time I decided to swallow my pride and see this appeal process all the way to the end. So, I jumped every hurdle. I answered every question. I put all my ducks in a row with evidence, and I sat back and waited. Then on February 12, 2010 the Department of Veterans Affairs wrote me a four page letter informing me about the date of my hearing. (See attached letter) Of course they didn't mail the letter until February 17th, and they didn't mail it to my current address, but to my old address. Here is a little hurdle I never knew about until I went to this hearing. I moved my place of residence last year and informed the VA about that move. Well, I found out that even though I informed the VA about my moving and all my medications and hospital appointments are sent to my new address, the address change does not go to the office where your appeal is handled. In fact, while I was at the VA in St Petersburg, I asked a VA Representative about this, and he tried to change that address for me but the computer wouldn't let him. He had to call that Appeals Office and ask them to make the change. He said he had worked there for decades, and this has happened to many, many vets. If you move and you don't leave a forwarding address with the post office or if the year is up that they forward your mail, you the veteran don't get notice of your hearing. Then, when you fail to appear, you lose your appeal. Mark that down as another hurdle. Anyway, I got the letter, and I map quested how to get to the VA Regional Office in St Petersburg and found it to be 246 miles one way. Now here are a few more last minute hurdles. If you don't have the gas money, or if you don't have a good car or any car, or if you can't drive, or any of a million other reasons that a 500 mile trip with this kind of notice will make it impossible to get there... you lose your appeal. I don't know how much further some vets have to drive to these hearings, but it is easy to believe 800 miles, maybe over a 1,000. From past experience I would say that one in a thousand who start an appeal actually make it all the way to a hearing, but if somebody told me it was really one in ten thousand, I wouldn't be surprised. So, this past Thursday morning I got up at 6:oo AM, ate something, and headed out the door with my letter, some backup evidence, and my Map quest driving directions. It took me about five and a half hours to find the place, and when I did, I learned where a lot of the Veterans Administration funds go. This building is nice in every way—from the looks of the building, to the setting, to the landscaping, and the furnishings. I've seen VA hospitals and clinics that are real dumps. Not real dumps in comparison to this building, just real dumps compared to any building. Of course those buildings are for the veterans to use. This building in St Petersburg is for the VA staff to use. I parked and head in. It was like going through an airport. I had to show a picture ID, remove everything from my pockets, go through one of those scanners—a metal detector, and then, after all that, a security guard checked me out with a yellow wand. I passed. What do you know, no bombs and no guns. I can go into any VA Hospital or clinic and they might have a security guard at the door or not, but if they do, the guard just says, "Hi." The security at the Department of Veterans Affairs, tells me they are pretty worried about the way they treat veterans. In fact, they are afraid of veterans; I wonder why. So, I jump through that security hurdle, showed the guards my letter, and asked, "Where do I go?" There is nothing in the letter giving a floor or room number. They didn't know. They told me to go to the second floor and ask somebody. I said, "Who?" They said, "Anybody walking around." I'm not making this up! I get up to the second floor and ask a guy wearing a name badge where I should go. He was really nice and walked me over to room 222. In there they have me fill out this piece of paper and wait. After just a short while they call my name and tell me I am at the wrong place, and I have to go to room 206 to the office for the Military Order of the Purple Heart. I get there, and they have a paper "out to lunch" sign on the door. This is about noon and my hearing isn't until 2:30 so I have time. I walk around looking at photos of vets on the walls and admire the building and head back after a while. This time the sign is gone, but the door is closed. I try the handle, but it is locked. I knock, and a guy opens the door and lets me in. There is a red headed woman behind the desk, and I show her the letter. She looks surprised and tells me my hearing has been cancelled. I asked if she would check that out because I had driven 250 miles to get there. All the time I am talking to her, the guy that let me in is hitting on her and telling her how nice her hair was and how nice her smile was. No, I am not making this up either! She looks on her computer and says that my hearing has been cancelled. I'm pissed, but surprise, surprise I don't lose it. I ask , "If it weren't cancelled, where would it have been?" She points down the hall and says, "Go past the men's room, keep to the right, and you will see hearing rooms." I head down that way thinking all sorts of evil thoughts and can feel my stress level peaking when I see a young guy in a nice suit sitting at a table with a lot of folders stacked around him. He looks up and asks if he can help me. Nice as can be, he says he will if he can. I show him my letter, and he looks through his list. While I am not on it, he says his is not the only list. He takes me down the hall to another office with the master list, and the woman there tells me I am on the list, and I do have a hearing. She could not believe that the Purple Heart Office would have told me my hearing was canceled, because if I left, I would have lost my appeal. This woman was nice. She took me down to a waiting room and said she would call me when my hearing started. So, there I am waiting for this hearing, and my lawyer, the Purple Heart Service Officer is no where around. I've never been to one of these appeals, and I had no idea of what to do. In my letter it states:
I checked in with the VA Police. They had no idea of where to send me. I found my Service Officer's Office, but they told me my hearing was cancelled and that there were no Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Officers in the building. They were all in training this week in I think Orlando. So there I sat, waiting for a hearing that I had jumped through every hurdle to get to and was now at the finish line, and my lawyer or my coach, the service officer from the service organization I thought was a step above all the rest, the Purple Heart, was no where to be found. Yes, I was nervous, and like going to any court hearing, I was a little bit scared. What if I said the wrong thing or what if I didn't say the right thing? I asked what would happen if if I asked for the hearing to be rescheduled because I didn't have a Service Officer to represent me. I was told it would take years to get another hearing. So, I had the hearing, and I don't know how I did. Truth is, I can't really remember what I said, but it was all under oath and recorded, so the Judge knows. I have to wonder how many other veterans were told this week by the Purple Heart that their hearings were cancelled. Also I have to ask, what right does the Purple Heart have to cancel any veteran's hearing—a hearing that the veteran might have waited for years to get? I waited almost two years for mine. What about the vet, who on being told their hearing was cancelled, just got pissed and left, frustrated and confused. Well, those vets lost their appeal forever, because they didn't show up for their hearing. By the way, the judges that come to St Petersburg for these appeal hearings are from Washington. They stay a week and hear all the scheduled cases and go back to Washington. So I don't know if this is a once a year thing, or if they wait until they have enough cases in one district before they come back. Either way it is a hard wait for any vet, and to lose their chance because the Military Order of the Purple Heart didn't want to leave even one Service Officer there is a crime. The real crime is that this kind of thing happens all the time. In fact, it is built into the system. You can't believe that I am the first person in the whole veteran community to figure out that an address change given to the VA is not made to the VA's Appeals Department. This has been going on for decades and who knows how many veterans have lost their appeals because of this? They would never have received a letter with a notice of an appeal hearing. So they would never know they even had a hearing. Maybe some vets years later would write and ask what happened to that appeal, and the VA would say, "You missed the hearing, so you lost your appeal." If like me, they are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, they probably can't remember much anyway and would kick themselves in the ass for being so stupid as to miss that hearing. That way the VA wins again. They don't have to have the hearing, they don't have to pay the vet if he would have won, and a lot of times the vet blames himself for not going to a hearing he never knew about. So the VA is blameless. For me, after the hearing I went back to the Purple Heart Office and told the lady there that yes, I had my hearing. All she could say is, "I can't believe it; your hearing was cancelled." I then went back to Room 222 to find someone at the VA to complain to. That is where I found out about how address changes don't go throughout the VA system. I must admit that that VA representative was nice. I told him about my day and how I was just venting on him. I think that is why he tried to get my address changed with the appeals department. At least then I would hear how the hearing judge ruled. I took the long way home, up the coast to the town of Perry, and then through to woods to Madison and home. I needed that drive to calm down. Friday morning I called the Purple Heart National Headquarters to complain. I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone and kept trying numbers. Finally I called their Public Relations Inquiries number (352.753.5535) and the man there apologized profusely, but told me he was not the person to talk to. He gave me the number of Frank Van Hoy (703.354.2140). Mr. Van Hoy is the National Service Officer, the man in charge of all service officers. I called that number, and a woman answered. She told me that Mr. Van Hoy and the whole national staff was in Orlando having a week of training sessions, but there was one woman service officer I could talk to. I gave that woman the short version of what happened to me. She did not apologize, but told me it was the VA's fault for scheduling my hearing when the staff of the Purple Heart were having their training week. I told her that I couldn't believe that she could be passing the buck like that, and how I worried about all the other veterans who had their hearings, hearings they had waited years for, only to have them cancelled by the Purple Heart. She started off with some new excuse, and I hung up the phone. Then I sat down and started writing this. I wrote this, not because I just happened by the grace of God to get to my hearing, but because I worry about all the other vets young and old who have been cheated out of their hearings by the hurdles the VA puts up for them to jump over, and the cavalier way I now know the Military Order of the Purple Heart treats veterans when those vets need them the most. At the end of this column is a copy of the first page of the letter I got informing me of my Board of Veterans' Appeal Hearing. I blacked out my file number. The address is my old address in Tallahassee, where the letter was first sent.
I plan to send this column in the form of a letter to the Senate and House Armed Services Committee, the President, and Senator James Webb, and anyone else I can think of. Other that Senator Webb, I doubt any politicians have any idea of the hurdles Vets have to jump over. I imagine if you are a veteran and a Senator or a Representative, those hurdles disappear for you.  |
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