Veterans
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U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) announced this week that the Headquarters Building of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky will be dedicated in honor of Colonel Robert Howard.
Colonel Howard served with the 5th Special Forces in Vietnam, and was Thompson’s company commander when Thompson was an airborne instructor at the Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Thompson requested the Army establish a memorial honoring Colonel Howard and worked with the Army to identify the facility at Fort Campbell.
“During this week where we celebrate America’s independence, it’s fitting that we honor a man who fought and sacrificed so much for the freedoms we all enjoy. I had the honor to serve under Colonel Howard while I was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia,” said Thompson. “He is one of the most decorated soldiers in American history and he has earned the honor of having 5th Special Forces Group Headquarters forever named in his honor.”
Colonel Robert Howard, a Green Beret, was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, a Defense Superior Service Medal, four Bronze Stars for Valor, eight Purple Hearts, four Legion of Merit awards, three Meritorious Service Medals, and more than 40 other awards and decorations for his service.
Colonel Howard enlisted in the Army in 1956 at the age of 17 and served in the Army for 36 years. He served five tours (54 months) in Vietnam during the Vietnam War in the Army Special Forces and was wounded 14 times.
After his retirement, Colonel Howard worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs, combining for more than 52 years of government service on behalf of veterans and members of the Armed Forces. During his retirement, he traveled to war zones to speak to and inspire troops several times during the current conflicts.
Colonel Howard died of pancreatic cancer on December 23, 2009, at the age of 70, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on February 22, 2010, with full military honors.
Thompson represents California’s 5th Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Megan Hale has graduated from Navy boot camp.
Hale's graduation took place on May 24.
She is now in A School to become a Sea Bee. Once done with her schooling, her occupation will be heavy equipment operator.
Hale is the daughter of Joe Baldwin and Jody Baldwin, sister of Joseph Baldwin and wife of Jeremy Hale.
She is a 2011 graduate of Lower Lake High School.
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Long-pending benefits claims submitted by California veterans and caught in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) processing “log jam” could soon see the light of day.
The newly signed governor’s budget has authorized $3 million and 36 limited-term positions that will allow the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) to work with USDVA to help alleviate its massive veterans’ claims backlog.
The money will be used to hire a “Strike Force” team of 12 Veterans Claims Representatives (VCR) for each of USDVA’s regional offices in Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego to focus on backlogged claims, ensuring they are properly developed and have all necessary documentation needed for adjudication.
“We appreciate the leadership of the governor and the speaker on this initiative as well as the Legislature’s continued support of CalVet and its efforts to ensure the well-being of California veterans and their families,” said CalVet Secretary Peter J. Gravett. “Helping them get the benefits they so richly deserve after their honorable service to our country is the very least we can do for them.”
CalVet has already begun advertising to fill the limited-term positions and is looking to hire VCRs with previous veterans’ benefits claims processing experience.
The USDVA will provide office space, computers, phones and other equipment for the strike teams which will work under the supervision of CalVet regional office staff.
The governor’s budget also includes a one-time augmentation of $3 million in support of California’s network of 56 County Veterans Service Offices (CVSO).
Working closely with CalVet, the mission of the CVSOs is to connect veterans and their families with the state and federal benefits and the local services available to them.
“The CVSOs have proved time and time again that they are affective advocates for California Veterans and this budget recognizes their hard work and provides them with the additional resources they need to better serve our veterans,” said Secretary Gravett.
In other areas, the budget provides for a general fund loan of up to $1.5 million for the preliminary plans and working drawings for the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery. The cemetery will be built on the grounds of the former Fort Ord U.S. Army post located on Monterey Bay.
The budget also provides funding that will allow the Veterans Home of California, West Los Angeles to convert 84 beds from skilled nursing level of care to independent living, thus allowing the department to serve a broader population of veterans.
Funding is also included for the Veterans Homes of California in Fresno and Redding, which will allow CalVet to begin admitting residents in the Fall of this year.
Additional details of the budget may be found in the attached governor’s office news release or at www.ebudget.ca.gov .
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Disabled American Veterans Lake County Chapter 83 has changed the time and location of its meetings.
The group now meets on the second Thursday of every month at 10 a.m. in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2337 meeting hall, located at 3980 Veterans Lane in Clearlake.
Directions: Take Highway 53 to Lakeshore Drive, follow Lakeshore Drive then turn right on Howard Street, turn right on Robinson, turn left on Veterans Lane.
The July 11 meeting will be an election to replace retiring Commander Harry Graves.
Commander Graves has served the DAV with honor and distinction since 1979. Current members are encouraged to attend and vote for the offices of commander, senior vice commander, junior vice commander and treasurer.
DAV Chapter 83 has served Lake County by providing transportation vans to shuttle Lake County veterans to the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
This is one example of the many activities done by DAV. Member participation is vital to maintain these activities. The DAV offers excellent representation before the VA, Congress and the White House.
Disabled American Veterans is a congressionally chartered veteran service organization that is celebrating 93 years of veteran advocacy.
DAV has an outstanding reputation for strong, effective and efficient local and national support of disabled veterans, advocacy for all veterans, and leadership regarding legislative affairs at state and national levels.
The mission of DAV is simple: help veterans and their families. If you were hurt or disabled in the service, discover what DAV is doing for you.
For more information, call Dean Gotham, 707-350-1159.
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A new online application from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) enables disability compensation claims to be processed faster in a more end-to-end electronic environment, and VA is urging veterans and their veterans service organization (VSO) representatives to make full use of its capabilities to receive speedier decisions and reduce the backlog of claims.
The availability of the joint VA-Department of Defense Web portal eBenefits, which now integrates with the new internal Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) electronic claims processing system, marks a major milestone in VA’s transformation from paper claims records to a fully digital operating environment, one of the keys to VA’s goal to eliminate the disability claims backlog by the end of 2015.
VBMS has now been fielded at all 56 Regional Offices across the country, ahead of schedule. VA will continue to upgrade and improve VBMS based on user feedback, and add features and tools that make it faster and easier to process claims.
Instead of filling out and mailing paper forms to VA, veterans can now use eBenefits to enter claim information online using a step-by-step, interview-style application, with prepopulated data fields and drop-down menus similar to popular tax preparation software.
“There are so many advantages to making this move from paper to digital – for both Veterans and VA” said Under Secretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey. “Veterans can now file their claims online through eBenefits like they might do their taxes online.”
By filing electronically, any compensation benefits that are awarded will be effective back to the date the veteran started entering their claim information in eBenefits. From that initial claim establishment date, each veteran has up to a year to gather all necessary records and hit “submit” to preserve their original date of claim.
The eBenefits allow veterans to upload digital images of records and evidence to support their claims, bypassing the need to physically mail in personal records and wait for confirmation of receipt.
VA is advising veterans to gather and submit all relevant medical records and file a fully developed claim (FDC) in eBenefits, which entails entering all available evidence at the time the claim is submitted and verifying to VA that they have no more evidence to submit.
Veterans filing an FDC will receive priority processing over the traditional claims process. VA can typically process FDCs in half the time it takes for a traditionally filed claim, and there is no risk to veterans in filing an FDC.
If VA finds that there is a piece of relevant evidence that was not submitted by the veteran, but is needed for a rating decision (like private medical records), claims processors will work to obtain that evidence on the veteran’s behalf and process the claim in the traditional way.
Once logged into eBenefits, veterans can also choose to have an accredited VSO representative assist with their claim submission by filing an electronic power of attorney form.
Using this new system, the chosen VSO representative, with proper authorization, will be able to see the contents of a veteran’s claim, track its status, and add additional information when needed. A veteran and his or her representative can even work a claim simultaneously while both are logged into the system, enabling VSOs to assist more veterans in their homes or even remotely.
VA will still accept claims in paper form, though processing may take longer than for an electronically-submitted claim.
As of this summer, VA scans all new paper claims and uploads them into VBMS so they too can be processed electronically, though without many of the benefits provided when Veterans initiate the process in eBenefits such as guided questions that help ensure complete and accurate information and the immediate receipt of information without having to wait for the scanning and processing of paper documents.
In addition to filing claims online, registered eBenefits users can track their claim status and access information on a variety of other benefits, like pension, education, health care, home loan eligibility, and vocational rehabilitation and employment programs.
A free Premium eBenefits account is required to file claims electronically. The quickest and most convenient method of establishing a free premium eBenefits account is to complete the remote verification process through the eBenefits home page, or use DoD’s common access card (CAC) to register for and/or upgrade to a free premium account.
Veterans also can establish an account by telephone at 1-800-827-1000, option 7, if they are in receipt of VA benefits via direct deposit, or by visiting a VA regional office or TRICARE Service Center (if they are a military retiree).
For the location of the nearest VA regional office, visit www.va.gov and search the VA regional benefits office locator.
While compensation claims are pending, eligible veterans are able to receive healthcare and other benefits from VA.
Veterans who have served in recent conflicts are eligible for five years of free healthcare from VA. Currently, over 55 percent of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are using VA healthcare, a rate of utilization greater than previous generations of veterans.
This is the latest effort in support of the secretary’s plan to eliminate the backlog. On May 15, VA announced that it is mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices through the end of fiscal year 2013 to help eliminate the backlog, with continued emphasis on high-priority claims for homeless veterans, those claiming financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients and veterans filing fully developed claims.
In April, VA announced an initiative to expedite compensation claims decisions for veterans who have waited one year or longer.
On April 19, VA began prioritizing claims decisions for veterans who have been waiting the longest by providing decisions based on evidence currently in hand that allow eligible veterans to begin collecting compensation benefits quickly while waiting for their final eligibility decision.
For more information about VA benefits, go to http://www.benefits.va.gov . For more information on VA’s Transformation, go to http://benefits.va.gov/transformation .
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WASHINGTON (June 20, 2013) – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday that as a result of the initiative launched in April to expedite disability compensation claims decisions for veterans who have a waited a year or longer, more than 65,000-claims – or 97 percent of all claims over two years old in the inventory – have been eliminated from the backlog.
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) staff will now focus their efforts on completing the disability claims of veterans who have been waiting over one year for a decision, while completing the final batch of oldest claims in progress.
“Over the past two months, VA has been dedicated to providing earned benefits to the Veterans who have waited the longest,” said VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. “Thanks to our hard-working VBA employees, we have completed nearly all claims that have been pending two years or longer. We’ve made great progress, but know much works remains to be done to eliminate the backlog in 2015.”
“The success of this phase of the effort was due in part to the implementation of mandatory overtime for the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) claims processing staff, as well as the dedicated support of physicians from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), who expedited exams to provide medical evidence needed to rate these pending claims,” said Under Secretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey.
The remaining two-year-old claims will be finalized in the coming days except for those that are outstanding due to unique circumstances, such as the unavailability of a claimant for a needed medical exam, military service, vacation, or travel overseas.
In May, VA announced that it was mandating overtime for claims processors in its 56 regional benefits offices to increase production of compensations claims decisions, which will continue through the end of FY 2013.
Today, VA has the lowest number of claims in its inventory since August 2011 and has reduced the number of claims in the VA backlog – claims pending over 125 days – by 10 percent since the initiative began.
Under this initiative, VA claims raters may make final or provisional decisions on the oldest claims in the inventory, which will allow Veterans to begin collecting compensation benefits more quickly, if eligible.
Veterans are able to submit additional evidence for consideration a full year after the provisional rating before VA issues a final decision. If no further evidence is received within that year, VBA will inform veterans that their ratings are final and provide information on the standard appeals process, which can be found at http://www.bva.va.gov/ .
If a veteran disagrees with a final decision and chooses to appeal, the appeal is entered into the appellate processing system, and is not reflected in the claims inventory.
VA continues to prioritize disability claims for homeless veterans, those experiencing extreme financial hardship, the terminally ill, former Prisoners of War, Medal of Honor recipients, and veterans filing fully developed claims, which is the quickest way for veterans to receive a decision on their compensation claim ( http://www.benefits.va.gov/fdc/ ).
Claims for Wounded Warriors separating from the military for medical reasons will continue to be handled separately and on a priority basis with the Department of Defense through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). Wounded Warriors separating through IDES currently receive VA compensation benefits in an average of 61 days following their separation from service.
VA’s inventory is comprised mostly of supplemental claims from Veterans already receiving disability compensation who are seeking to address worsening conditions or claim additional disabilities.
Regardless of the status of compensation claims, veterans who have served in combat since Nov. 11, 1998, are eligible for five years of free medical care for most conditions from VA.
This eligibility was enacted through the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008.
Veterans can learn more about disability benefits on the joint Department of Defense/VA Web portal eBenefits at www.ebenefits.va.gov .
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson’s (CA-5) bipartisan provision requiring every American flag purchased by the Department of Defense (DOD) to be 100 percent manufactured in the United States, from articles, materials, or supplies that are 100 percent of grown, produced or manufactured in the United States, was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this week.
Thompson’s provision passed as part of H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2014.
“Every American flag the DOD buys should be made in America, by American workers with American products,” said Thompson. “At a time when our manufacturing sector is struggling and millions in our country are out of work, it is a slap in the face to all Americans to have their tax dollars spent on U.S. flags that are made overseas.”
Specifically, the provision applies the Berry Amendment to the American Flag.
The Berry Amendment, originally passed in 1941, prohibits DOD funds from being used to acquire food, clothing, military uniforms, fabrics, stainless steel, and hand or measuring tools that are not grown or produced in the United States.
Thompson’s provision applies the same rules for the DOD’s acquisition of American Flags, which previously, were not listed as a covered item.
Precedent already exists for such a provision. Currently, the Department of Veterans Affairs is required to only purchase U.S.-made American Flags for serivce members’ funerals.
Thompson’s provision was originally introduced in committee as an amendment to the NDAA by Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ-02).
A similar Thompson provision was included in the draft Fiscal Year 2014 DOD Appropriations Act, which is scheduled to be considered by the full House of Representatives in the coming weeks.
“It is unbelievable and unacceptable that our men and women who wear the uniform in defense of our nation have fought under a flag that could be manufactured outside of the United States,” said LoBiondo. “I appreciate Rep. Thompson for his joint leadership in correcting this injustice and ensuring the honor of military service is reinforced by the pride of an American-made U.S. flag.”
The legislation will now go to the Senate for approval.
Thompson represents California’s 5th Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it has met the goal to hire 1,600 new mental health professionals outlined in President Obama’s Aug. 31, 2012, Executive Order to Improve Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families.
“Meeting this hiring milestone significantly enhances our ability to improve access to care for those veterans seeking mental health services and demonstrates our continued commitment to the health and well-being of the men and women who have served the nation,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Meeting this goal is an important achievement, but we recognize that we must continue to increase access to the quality mental health care veterans have earned and deserve.”
As of May 31, 2013, VA has hired a total of 1,607 mental health clinical providers to meet the goal of 1,600 new mental health professionals outlined in the Executive Order. Additionally, VA has hired 2,005 mental health clinical providers to fill existing vacancies.
VA also has hired 318 new peer specialists towards the specific goal of 800 peer specialists by Dec. 31, 2013 as outlined in the Executive Order. VA expects to meet that goal as well.
VA also recognizes that meeting the needs of veterans and their families requires collaboration and partnership between VA, other federal agencies, and local communities.
“Locally-driven summits provide a well-established method to strengthen our community partnerships, and they have been successful in support of VA’s goal to end homelessness among veterans,” said Veterans Health Administration, Undersecretary for Health, Dr. Robert Petzel. “The president is directing all VA health care systems nationwide to conduct locally-driven Mental Health Summits to further engage with local community partners and nurture community engagement to address the broad mental health needs of veterans and their families.”
Each VA health care system will reach out to relevant veteran service organizations, community based organizations, health care providers, and local governments to develop and conduct the summits.
VA provides a full range of comprehensive mental health services across the country. in fiscal year 2012, more than 1.3 million veterans received specialized mental health care from the VA. This number has risen each year from 927,052 in Fiscal Year 2006.
In addition to hiring more mental health professionals, VA is expanding the use of innovative technology to serve veterans in rural or underserved areas. VA expects to increase the number of veterans receiving care from tele-mental health services in fiscal year 2013, and has increased the number of vet centers, which provide readjustment counseling and referral services from 233 in 2008 to 300 in 2012.
In November 2011, VA launched an award-winning, national public awareness campaign called Make the Connection, which is aimed at reducing the stigma associated with seeking mental health care and informing Veterans, their families, friends, and members of their communities about VA resources.
More information on Make the Connection can be found at www.maketheconnection.net .
Mental health professionals interested in seeking employment with the Department of Veterans Affairs can obtain information at www.vacareers.va.gov .
Veterans and their families interested in learning more about the mental health services provided by VA can go to www.mentalhealth.va.gov .
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The California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) and VetFund Foundation join the family of Shirley Shaw in mourning her passing.
In 1965, Shaw graduated from St. Margaret’s School of Nursing in Montgomery, Alabama. Shaw was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
She did one tour in Vietnam where she helped set up the 12th Evacuation Hospital at the Headquarters for the 25th Infantry Division. Shaw described her time there as the most tiring, saddest, but most rewarding time of her life.
After leaving the Army to begin her family, she pursued a nursing career in oncology. Shaw was the first female to be admitted to her local VFW Post and was soon involved in running the organization. Later, she became the first female elected VFW Commander in the State of California and the first female nationally to win “All American” status at Post, District and State level.
This year, Shaw was honored by CalVet at the March 20th Women’s Military History Week Reception as a true trailblazer for women in the military and veteran community.
During her lifetime, Shaw distinguished herself as a strong advocate for veterans and was a role model for women veterans as well.
“On behalf of the Department, I offer my sincere condolences and prayers to the family and friends of Shirley Shaw,” said CalVet Secretary Peter J. Gravett. “We are saddened by her passing, but grateful for her service to our nation. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues, friends and family. God rest her soul.”
Shaw served as past chair of the VetFund Foundation and continued to serve on its board until her death.
“The VetFund Foundation Board of Directors is saddened by Shirley’s passing,” said Chair Philip Brozenick. “We remember her as a strong and courageous woman whose contributions helped lead the Board since its inception.”
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