This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Veterans’ Affairs Department

  • On that caregiver aid from DVA

    I know, I’ve been beating the remarkable incompetence drum of the Shinski administration of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs especially in regards to the caregiver aid bill that is months late at this point. Some guy named Mothax at The Burn Pit draws a timeline of the uneventful events that got us to this point.

    The poster children for this law, Sarah Wade testified before Congress as to the need for it so that families like theirs could be helped. They both stood behind the President in the Oval Office last May as he signed the bill. They’re finally going to get the need Congress intended for them.

    Um…actually they apparently don’t qualify for the benefit.

    How does Shinseki remain at the head of the VA? Apparently, Obama has finally found someone so incompetent that he can’t even fire him. That would make Obama a little too much like Bush, I guess.

  • Shinseki, the incompetent boob, “accelerates” program already late

    See, this is why I like writing in a blog. I can call the DVA Secretary, Eric “Black Beret” Shinseki, an incompetent boob when he’s being an incompetent boob. The Associated Press writes that he told a Senate committee that he’s going to accelerate a program that already a month late in being launched. That program is the one which is supposed to get severely wounded veterans out of long-term care facilities and send them home to be cared for by their families instead;

    President Barack Obama on May 5 signed a law instructing the VA to provide a monthly stipend, health insurance, mental health help and other aid directly to caregivers to help keep the veterans out of nursing homes. But the VA missed a Jan. 31 deadline for implementation. And The Associated Press reported last month that when the VA did announce its plans to help these caregivers soon after, it helped fewer families than had been intended by Congress.

    Not only is the program late, it’s only on track for providing support for less than a quarter of it’s intended beneficiaries. When is someone going to realize that Shinseki just isn’t up to the task of leading the DVA? I mean they should have known before this when he screwed the Black Beret pooch, but he was unable to implement the 9-11 GI Bill in a satisfactory and timely manner so it wasn’t a gigantic cluster fuck of borrowed money shooting to and fro and now this.

    I liked him when he was sitting at home collecting his retirement check, but not so much now.

  • Shinseki apologizes for being an incompetent boob

    Continuing his long stream of apologies for being an incompetent leader, Eric Shinseki apologized that he’s been unable to influence his subordinates to begin paying out to caregivers who treat the troops, according to the Stars & Stripes;

    Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki apologized Thursday for delays in the new caregivers benefits plan, pledging that families of wounded troops remain a top priority for the department.

    Under legislation passed last year, the VA was mandated to begin awarding caregiver benefits — living stipends, medical training, and counseling support — to select families of wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans by Jan. 31. However, that deadline passed without officials even presenting basic details of how the program would be administered.

    When those details were released last week, veterans groups criticized the department’s narrow interpretation of the rules, which as written now would not cover many families caring for troops with traumatic brain injuries.

    Yeah, he’s a real leader.

    It seems to me that this administration is real good at signing ceremonies for veterans’ programs, but absolutely retarded when it come to delivering the benefits of the programs to veterans, and I hold Mr Black Beret personally responsible.

    If you wonder why I despise Shinseki so much, the story goes back about 11 years when the Army Times quoted an open letter I published on paratrooper.net in regards to the black beret issue. Reportedly, the Army Chief of Staff, Eric Shinseki expressed to his staff his surprise that an infantry platoon sergeant knew how to use the internet.

    Now who’s the fucking retard, Eric?

  • JP Morgan-Chase answers before Congress.

    It looks like all the people that were taken advantaged of got to have their say including Captain Jonathon Rowles.

    Under terms of the SCRA, provisions are made to cap interest rates on home mortgages for active-duty military personnel. In a lawsuit filed on behalf of Jonathon Rowles and his wife, Julia, JPMorgan Chase is accused of continuing to charge the couple mortgage rates that exceeded the cap after Rowles joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and was called to active duty.

    What I also liked was that in the session it was called for those that represented to take personal responsibility rather then corporate responsibility. But what comes next is priceless.

    In her oral testimony before the HVAC, Mudick said JPMorgan Chase assumed “full responsibility” for the SCRA violations, characterizing the alleged 4,500 cases of mishandled interest rates and 18 wrongful foreclosures as products of human error. She said lack of internal training left many Chase employees with little, if any, knowledge of SCRA regulations and the intricacies of military documentation, saying that “military orders are sometimes hard to comprehend.”

    In response, Rep. Tim Walz, I-Minn., produced his iPad, upon which he exhibited a simple one-page set of military orders. In contrast, he held up a Chase credit card agreement spanning dozens of pages. He called Mudick’s statement “the weakest testimony I’ve ever heard in this committee.”

    Yea, you cannot say what is complicated when then things that you give out to your customers is more complex.

    Committee Chair Jeff Miller, R-Fla., summed up the proceedings. “Our nation’s war fighters and their families should not have to fight to keep their piece of the American Dream, while they are on foreign ground defending that fundamental right for all of us,” he said. “While I am heartened that JPMorgan Chase Bank is attempting to fix these errors with respect to wrongful foreclosures, and is refunding over $2.4 million in excessive interest charges, more must be done to ensure that this never happens again. I hope this is a wake-up call for the entire financial services industry.”

    Hopefully this is the last that we hear about this, but I am afraid that it will not be.

  • Privatize the VA?

    From the CATO Institute:

    If you listen to Democratic campaign ads in Colorado, Nevada, or Delaware, among other places, you will discover yet another perfidious plot by evil Republicans — they want to “privatize the VA.”

    Which makes one respond, “This is a horrible thing because … why?”

    I know that even the mention of privatizing certain functions of the VA causes heads to explode at VoteVets and IAVA, which means the idea must have some merit. Personally, I am open to the idea. Jonn, myself, and others frequently post horror stories about the VA healthcare system in addition to using VA benefits ourselves. Despite a 11 percent increase in demand as a result of the GWOT and 95 percent budget increase, wait times are actually getting longer, quality of care isn’t improving, and almost every veteran I know who is attending college has to battle with the GI Bill office over something every semester. At least trying a pilot program where certain health benefits are paid for using debit cards like the ones they use for Health Savings Account is worth a shot.

    For those of you who use VA benefits, what are your thoughts about this?

  • DVA video; What lies ahead

    Our buddy, Alex Horton formerly the blogger at Army of Dude now head blogger guy and new media guru at the VA (and infrequent commenter at TAH) sent us this video from the DVA designed to reach out to veterans;

    I’d rather see the DVA spend their money on fixing the myriad problems that are inherent in the bureaucracy, but it’s nice to see them take the time to let the younger troops know what’s available to them. I see Alex’ fingerprints all over this. How do you eat an elephant?