Patriotic Federalist

http://www.disabledveterans.org/

http://www.thevetset.org/

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2010
Notebook: Reporting on Disabled Vets
Wyatt Andrews and Jill Rosenbaum Describe How They Found Problems Within in a Key VA Program for Wounded Veterans
After eight years of war, you might think the system for delivering benefits to America’s most disabled war veterans would be well organized, efficient and as caring as possible. It’s not.

A two-month CBS News investigation of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs’ (VA) most important benefit program helping disabled vets return to work, a benefit most vets call “Voc Rehab,” revealed a program which is beset with contracting and staffing problems — which often throws needless roadblocks in front of eligible veterans, and which either tolerates or can’t prevent wrongful benefit denials for some of the nation’s most deserving former warriors.
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Veterans Find Getting Vocational Training Sometimes Means Fighting a New Battle.

(CBS) Former Army medic Jeremy Smith was wounded and paralyzed in Afghanistan. Clearly qualified for both medical and pension benefits, Smith was surprised when a Veteran’s Affairs counselor told him he wasn’t disabled enough for vocational benefits.

“How can I not be disabled enough? How much more disabled do I need to be,” Smith asked. “Should I go throw myself under a bus real quick?”

Brandon Frazier has a similar story. A veteran of the 2004 Marine assault on Fallujah, Brandon suffered hearing loss and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD.

But as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, a VA counselor wrongly told him the VA would not help disabled vets study pre-law.

Notebook: Reporting on Disabled Vets

“It didn’t seem like he was in there to find a way to help me. He was there to tell me I couldn’t,” Frazier said.

“Looking for a way to turn you down,” Andrews asked?

“Right,” he replied.

Then there is Kenny Lyon. A Marine sergeant, whose miraculous battlefield rescue in Iraq – and 2 year fight to recover – was profiled on “60 Minutes.”

60 Minutes: A Fighting Chance

Lyon had to fight the VA for five months – but after being finally told he would get vocational benefits to study at Gettysburg College, the VA called to say stop.

“I was on my way to classes and I got a phone call saying it was not approved,” Lyon said.

“You weren’t getting the tuition,” Andrews asked.

“Yes,” Lyon replied.

The VA benefits these veterans requested are from a program called Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, or Voc Rehab benefits. Separate from the GI Bill, Voc Rehab helps disabled vets get whatever training they need to live on their own or get a job. When it works, which is most of the time, Voc Rehab services range from sign language lessons to technical classes to Harvard Law School.
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Liberty”As we turn the calendar’s pages to yet another Memorial Day, I feel compelled to issue a … challenge, one I offer not as a clergyman but as an American. Simply, let’s not lose focus about what this most solemn of national holidays should really be about. Too often Americans view the Continue reading

Gates Suggests Pay CutsWeek of May 30, 2011U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, has long avoided using reductions in military pay and active duty benefits to reduce costs. However pressure from the White House to make $400B in cuts may have forced Gates’ hand. In the past Sec. Gates has sought to squeeze the excess cost from TRICARE, by asking to increase annual premiums and fees for military retirees and to tax their employers if retirees opt out of employer provided health care. Although unwilling to say where these compensation cuts may occur, the fact is Gates has now put military pay on the table.Read more in the Military Advantage Blog.

more via Military Report – Gates Suggests Pay Cuts.

President Barack Obama’s self-avowed commitment to transparency clearly doesn’t apply to Big Labor. With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Chris Mosquera, a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union member, filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for gutting union boss financial disclosure requirements. During the George W. Bush presidency, Foundation attorneys worked hard to strengthen the existing weak requirements, so employees could learn how union officials are spending their forced-dues money. In 2009, one of the first actions taken by Solis was to STOP these reforms.
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