The Press Enterprise: Veterans turn to Congress for VA help
In recent years, Congress has been blasted repeatedly for not getting much done.
But some area veterans say the Department of Veterans Affairs is even worse, and a default solution for an increasing number of veterans is to turn to their congressional representatives for help.
The VA came under fire — not for the first time — in March, when the Government Accounting Office released a study showing that the average wait for a veteran disability claim to be processed was 318 days. In recent Congressional testimony, VA officials have admitted to a backlog of nearly 900,000 claims; VA Secretary Gen. Eric Shinseki has promised the current backlog will be eliminated by 2015.
Congressional representatives in the Inland region said veterans looking for help with the VA come in at least a couple of times a week.
Sometimes the problems are simple, such as a typographical error in a veteran’s name blocking them from the system. A service record may have been misplaced, keeping a veteran from basic health services. And then there are appeals for disability claims that are years, sometimes decades old. A telephone call seeking comment from the VA was not returned.
Herberto Eddie Garcia, 65, of Riverside, said it took help from Rep. Mark Takano’s office to break loose a decade-long delay and get him approved for disability payments based on his exposure to Agent Orange. He also was awarded $113,000 in back payments.
Garcia, who served in the Marine Corps, said the biggest challenge was trying to prove to the VA that he had been exposed to Agent Orange during his 1969-1970 tour in Vietnam. He was an artillery gunner, he said, and his unit guarded one of the roads into Da Nang.
“Nobody ever told us about Agent Orange,” Garcia said. “The first time I saw it was in a fire base called Big Shooter. We were there for a couple of months protecting an entrance into the city of Da Nang. Nothing grew there even during the monsoon season. We just breathed the dust and bathed in the water. I’m pretty sure the guys probably thought, ‘What the heck, nothing’s growing here.’ It was all brown.”
He said he had a hard time understanding why the VA wouldn’t approve his claim when other veterans with less exposure were receiving payments.
“They even give it to guys on ships,” he said. “Here I am on land and they’re saying, ‘Well no, you weren’t exposed.’ I had pictures I had to send to the VA as part of my proof. I’m going, ‘Come on.’”
Garcia’s ailments include coronary artery disease, coronary ischemic disease, post traumatic stress disorder, diabetes, a skin condition and erectile dysfunction. He said it took Ignacio Romero, who works in Takano’s office, to make headway with the VA.
Romero said that, based on the number of veterans he sees seeking help, he thinks VA staff members are telling people to go directly to congressional representatives.
Takano hired him to focus on veterans’ issues, he said. Since the congressman took office in January, Romero said, he has dealt with 30 cases and has been able to resolve 16 of them.
Romero said he has repeatedly heard stories of lost files, ignored inquiries and long delays.
“There’s no sense of organization or leadership,” he said. “Why are paper documents being lost? Why are (veterans) requesting documents over and over? I think the culture within the VA really has to change and adapt itself to our world today.”