Vets' claims found in piles to be shredded

Vets' claims found in piles to be shredded

federaltimes.com

Department of Veterans Affairs regional offices have been ordered to immediately stop shredding documents after an investigation found some benefits claims and supporting documents among piles of papers waiting to be destroyed.
Claims often include personal records supplied by veterans that are not duplicated in government files and might be difficult to replace, such as certificates for births, deaths and marriage.
In a statement, VA Secretary James Peake said only a handful of documents were found among piles of documents set aside to be shredded. But he is not pleased.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Ah, so our dear leaders can easily and magically make trillions appear out of thin air to help bail out our friends in the banking and financial sector, and they are more than happy to throw some green at Detroit even while the big 3 continue to lay people off, and they have no problem making tax payers foot the half million dollar bill so that those poor executives with AIG can go to a resort and try to escape for a bit from all of us yelling and gnashing our teeth over their screw-ups... but they by God draw the line at giving those greedy money grubbing veterans who have fought to keep us safe and their positions of authority secure what little reparation they have coming to them!

I'm sorry, veterans, thanks for all you did for us but you can't expect our current office workers to worry over a trivial little thing like actually shredding only the documents that should be shredded and treating the important documents that still need processing with a little bit of care now, can you?

federaltimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

As a veteran who has been victimized by the VA and its monstrous bureaucracy I can truly add this to the long list of complaints I have.

They make us jump through dozens of administrative hoops, they string us along for years, and just when you think you are about to see them do the right thing, they lose all your paperwork....

or maybe they just shred it so you have to start over.

Grrrr

Thanks for sharing this. Now I gotta go drink a half-gallon of Mylanta.

reply to post by Maxmars


Your personal dealings with said VA are truly outrageous and frankly, disgusting. No matter what the argument, it is truly sad to see the way our fighting men and women are treated as they are when they desperately need help the most. There is no argument and it simply continues to defy logic, other than WE, the American people simply don't care enough to make the idiots in office who obviously don't care take notice. Keep fighting the good fight and hopefully, through your experiences, you have learned there are good people out there willing to help.

Had to edit to throw in: Thanks for the OP - important info

ColoradoJens

[edit on 16-10-2008 by ColoradoJens]

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I am bad at posting - Thanks for the post. Seems like nothing ever changes no matter how low we go.

ColoradoJens

Originally posted by Maxmars
As a veteran who has been victimized by the VA and its monstrous bureaucracy I can truly add this to the long list of complaints I have.

They make us jump through dozens of administrative hoops, they string us along for years, and just when you think you are about to see them do the right thing, they lose all your paperwork....

or maybe they just shred it so you have to start over.

Grrrr

Thanks for sharing this. Now I gotta go drink a half-gallon of Mylanta.

Oh God this is so true!!, I fought them for 5 years over an injury I sustained in the army. all they had to do was look in my military medical records. when I hear one of our iraq soldiers being injured, I just shake my head because I know what other battle he must go thru afterward.....Veteran Administration.

Don't get me wrong, we have some excellent VA Hospitals, its just those 'bad' cookies that make or breaks VA.

Well, this is kinda on topic since it has to do with the VA.

My father and uncle both went into the Army in 1961..(I think). They stayed in for a certain amount of time and then were discharged. (there is a point to this...I promise).

Well, my father passed away in 2000 and we were expecting one of those military salutes (gun fires) and flag being placed on his casket..(along with some help with the funeral I think since he was a veteran). Well, as it appears, he was discharged 1 day prior to him actually being a veteran so no go with any military salute, gun fire or flag from his country which he served.

Imagine that....ONE DAY! So now my uncle will not receive any benefits either..

It is very sad that our government expects us to serve them, but give the shaft so they don't have to give benefits.

Sorry for going a little off topic...but this just got me thinking about my Dad.

Maxmars....sounds like you're getting the shaft too! Very sorry to hear that!

In the interest of truthful disclosure I have to tell you; I abandoned the VA entirely.

I don't use them for anything now.

It's all out of pocket or benefits from my employment. Frankly, I will have to be near death and desperate to go back to the VA for anything.

As an aside, after serving for twelve years (honorably discharged), I admit I was fully expecting some kind of 'perk' from the VA. Zippo, nada. And to gripe about it is to open oneself up to derision making you feel like your looking for an 'entitlement' (a bad word now) or a hand out.

I went in to serve (sincerely), all I got was a paycheck and a permanent service connected disability they won't own up to. Turns out it was just a job after all...

I want my country back. Not this profit-driven Corporatocracy that bleeds money out of our social services for their financial empire building.

ooops [/rant] sorry again...

Originally posted by Maxmars
In the interest of truthful disclosure I have to tell you; I abandoned the VA entirely.

I don't use them for anything now.

It's all out of pocket or benefits from my employment. Frankly, I will have to be near death and desperate to go back to the VA for anything.

I to spent 13 years in and I to will not have anything else to do with VA.

I also want to say this to all the war soldiers and in the military out there and Please...Please listen to what I have to say concerning VA.

First off if you get even a slight cold or a slight pain, go on sick call, GET IT DOCUMENTED!!!, and whenever you can get a copy of your medical records before you get out to include your ETS Physical, and on your ETS Physical MAKE SURE you check yes to every injury or sickness you've had in the military.

I now if your in a line unit the chain of command kinda frowns on you going on sick call but its for your own good later in life. This also includes any medication that you are prescribed.

If you want more information about VA and thinking on filing for a claim here is an excellent site I recommend:




They are family oriented and vary nice people.

There was another story similar to the OP though, happened a few years back which one of the guys in VA stashed records in a hole in the wall and another story which having other veterans medical documents mixed up with someone elses.

If you intend on getting any compensation from the VA, best get an attorney who specializes & solely represents vets on a flat percentage basis. Just have all of your med records, including any civilian records as well. There are Veteran District Reps in each state who can give advice also. Most of these people are Vets/VFW's.

You will have a better chance of testifying before Congress as to the presence of Alien Beings as opposed to trying to prove your case by yourself. [ I strongly favor Aliens by the way. ]

As per job requirements, 99.9% of VA doctors have the word "NO" tattooed on the reverse side of their eyelids & fervently take SOB pills three times per day. They do not get paid by the hour, nor the number of patients, but rather by the yearly contract.

I know all about these "issues." I served in 2 wars. I got out with some unresolved military related health problems but was fortunate & able to enter the private sector. My health began to worsen over time & I lost my family, home, & job. I had most of my documents & got an attorney (as mentioned above), who helped me. I have recovered in some respect, but my health will never-never be the same. Sure I feel bitter at times, but I started over, albeit with some major adjustments. I just try to leave it at the alter marked "Freedom is not free."

I am proud to have served my country. It's the best place that I have ever been, and I've visited 5 continents & 29 countries. Can't say there are any people better than those here.

Just a word to anyone who has a problem with the VA. Don't ever let some smart SOB try to scrub off your health issues. Remember, you gave your part, & you have to live inside your body until it quits. It's the VA's mandated responsibility to make sure that you are afforded the best care for what's left of your days here on.

Oh & lest I forget, thanks Vets for "being there."

I hear and read so much about vets being denied care and benefits. Maybe I somehow slipped through the cracks. I have been fairly treated by the VA, both with disability payments and medical care. But there surely is truth to what these people say about their experiences with the VA system. But, when necessary and I feel like I am being slighted by the VA system, I become a loud thorn in their asses, and as you know. the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


This is atrocious, disgusting and someone should be held accountable for any problems caused by shredding any necessary documents.

I can't believe it, .. you know, in almost all cases people are wrongly employed, our whole system is messed up because of problems like the one in this thread; and the problem really is people working for a department/company etc.. and they really don't give a crap about the job, they have no idea the gravity their actions has, it's just a bunch of pieces of paper, who cares if they get misplaced type of attitude, these people working in places like this don't know or in some cases even care what becomes of the people whose documents they work with, it's sad, in some cases I imagine people have been denied benefits and or funds have been misplaced or not even allocated because of this.

The worst thing is it just shows what happens to soldiers once THEIR fight is over and none of the "new" soldiers see this or in some cases they don't see past the moments decisions and could care less about their distant future.

(Just a note to the OP, You should change the Topic Title to VETERAN instead of Vets' for those who might confuse it with a Veterinarian because this should be seen by more people)

On my note about workers who don't care about their job; There is so much wasted talent working dead-end jobs trying to get "educated" to do what they already know how to do or in the very least would benefit from job shadowing or working in a related field, ... People seem to think no one would want to work the "loser" jobs, but there doesn't seem to be a shortage on humans around planet earth here, and I'm sure there's a large majority of the planet that is unemployed, I think it would work out and the planet would be happier.

I still think that this thread/topic is a good cross section of the problems that exist in western culture.

[edit on 10/18/2008 by PuRe EnErGy]