I am convinced that no live human beings are employed at the
VA. I have been attempting to pursue an
application for benefits with them for nearly three years now, and have yet to
interact with a live person. Their rules
require that a veteran go through a Veterans Service Organization (VSO) just to
initiate an application. The employees
of that VSO do not interact with the VA, either. All of the paper correspondence that I have
received from the VA during this very long and drawn out process is either
computer-generated or simply a form letter.
Never once have I received any written document with a signature on it.
The most recent document I received from them has this
closing:
Sincerely Yours,
Regional Office Director
Regional Office Director
Really! That is just the
way it is printed! No real human name,
but perhaps the person's name is Regional Office Director, and he/she actually
writes in a Brush Script font! After
all, why would they need to put the same "name" below in a more conventional
font?
Now, one reason they have me upset again is that this latest
communication that I received includes some 22 pages of additional
documentation, which is mostly a quoting of the applicable laws to apparently
justify why they continue to deny me.
There is a recap of the case's activity to date, and it represents their
idea of evidence and "adjudicative actions." According to their chronology, my application
began with my application, via the Texas Veterans Commission, dated Feb. 9,
2015 (they apparently did not receive this until 02/26/2015). They then took five months to
"consider" my claim, and six additional days to notify me that they
were denying the claim.
They then received my formal "Notice of Disagreement"
[with their decision] on 07/28/2015.
This was followed by them sending me a Appeal Election Letter, and my De
Novo Review election back on 08/06/2015 & 08/18/2015. They then took fourteen months to "review"
my less than two page disagreement, before informing me as of 10/26/2016, that
they have again denied my application.
Now, without going into too much detail, I will share that my
application to the VA is based on two different things. One, I do have marked hearing loss, and the
Audiologist who performed my first hearing evaluation referred me to the VA,
saying that she suspected my hearing loss began when I was in the Army all
those years ago, and that made me like many other men she had seen. The VA sent me to another local Audiologist,
who told me that she saw no reason why they should deny my claim, but then
wrote in her report to them that she could not say whether or not my hearing
loss is due to anything service related.
Her point to me was that the records show no hearing evaluation prior to
discharge, so they cannot prove that my hearing loss is NOT service
connected. Unfortunately, they took the
opposite position, and concluded that there is no proof of anything service
connected.
I also thought that I would try to bring to the attention of the
VA something else that I have thought about over the years having to do with my
teeth and the dental care I received in the Army. I was drafted in November of 1965, and the
only time I saw a dentist between that time and January of 1968 was an initial
evaluation. There is no documentation of
me seeing any dentist, or complaining of any dental problems from that point
until I began a series of visits in January of 1968. I distinctly recall being told at that time
that the crowns of my teeth were too small, and that if nothing was done about
that, I would develop problems later in life.
I went to the dentist in January of 1968 because I was ordered to go
there. I do not recall complaining of
any problems prior to that date. I have
researched as best I can since I began this application process, trying to find
anything anywhere that would confirm or deny the possibility that there might
exist such a real dental diagnosis as "crowns too small," but have
found nothing.
At any rate, I wrote on 07/13/2015, that an Army Dentist had told
me that the crowns on 13 of my teeth were too small, and that I needed to have
them all drilled out, and fillings put in.
I did point out that I had already been in the Army for more than two
years at that time, with no dental problems.
And, I stated, in my own words, that this was unnecessary work.
I did my best to explain this to the VA in that Notice of Disagreement
in July of last year, with a bit less detail, and after fourteen months, their
Statement of Claim summarized my statement as saying, "You contend that
you had several flilings[sic] in service, that you were told that you might
need additional work, and that the fillings may have been unnecessary."
Fourteen months?! To
totally misconstrue my words?! How can
that be? To add insult to injury, the
VA's letter to me on that same date, informing me that my claim had been denied
was addressed to a Ms. Dungan.
Now, it appears that my only option is to request either a
televised hearing, or a hearing in person.
Supposedly, a hearing with a live person will take longer to arrange,
since their "judge" must travel from Washington, D. C. I have decided to request the televised
hearing, just so that I can finally tell someone just what I think of
them. I think it is simply
unconscionable that they cannot provide any face to face contact with any of
their employees, and that they have reduced their process to such a degrading
and belittling experience for veterans.
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