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 Vallarta Living | Veteran Affairs | April 2006 
VA Retroactive Benefits
 David Lord - PVNN
| | I practice veterans law at no charge. Some say you get what you pay for - I like to think you get a lot more than you pay for. |
The VA sometimes awards large amounts of retroactive benefits because a claim that should have been adjudicated was ignored. When the VA finally adjudicates the claim that was ignored, it generally awards benefits effective the date that the VA should have first recognized that the claim was raised. This usually results in an award of years of retroactive benefits.
"Our Nation has long recognized its great debt to those veterans and their families who have suffered physical or psychological injury because they answered their Nation's call. Yet our countries institutions too often fail to provide these veterans (or their widow) the help they have earned through their dedicated service."
I will help with preparing and presenting a claim for benefits to the VA. I describe programs and benefits available to veterans and their families, including VA compensation and pension eligibility requirements, then provide the contact at Houston Regional Office, for the management of claim even when living in Mexico.
I practice veterans law at no charge, some say you get what you pay for, I like to think you get a lot more than you pay for. Who else do you know that will work for months sometimes years for free and as a result of my work the VA puts a monthly check in your bank account for the rest of your life, and then I prepare a new claim for care for the surviving spouse with more checks and medical care when your dead and gone.
Veterans law is very confusing if you do not know Title 38 (Code of Federal Regulations.) The laws are changing everyday, making it impossible for the average veteran to keep up.
The Military Order of the Purple Heart sponsors me as a National Service Officer Volunteer to assist in Mexico and Latin America all veterans and their dependants. You have benefits that are as a result of Service not because you fought in a war.
While it is true you must have served at least one day during a period of war, it does not require that you served in war! Widows who have low income, meeting the established by government guidelines are entitled to benefits of pension, as long as they were married to a veteran that had more than ninety days of service on active duty.
Organizations here in Puerto Vallarta that are serving the general population can assist the widows of veterans (regardless of the nationality of the surviving spouse,) if she is a widow of a veteran she may well have pension benefits paid directly to her, unlike Social Security survivor benefits there is no requirement to return to the U.S.
I can provide information on Gulf War Syndrome (for your family members living in the States, by using email) these returning veterans are home from the war in Iraq, but often do not understand medical problems they may have incurred there.
I can aid the Vietnam era vet with Agent Orange and the many complications that have manifested into medical problems, such as Diabetes (and soon Parkinson's Disease) to be included in those disorders due to exposures to herbicide while serving in country Vietnam or the waters off the coast of Vietnam.
Note that in 2002 the VA began to deny claims of Navy Veterans aboard ships, saying that they were not directly exposed to Agent Orange, having no physical contact in the areas sprayed.
HOWEVER; (The fact that the initial examination for exposure were conducted by the government and that the test for herbicides used only the Navy veterans aboard ships off the coast of Vietnam) the veterans drank the desalinated water aboard ship, taken from the ocean which was contaminated by runoff of the rivers into the ocean.
The dioxin was concentrated by the desalination process resulting in many cancers, skin disorders, etc., and the list continues to grow even after forty years. (The latest ailment, not yet included but likely, is Parkinson's Disease.) Meaning that if you were in service near Vietnam and you can show by your military record that you were in country or aboard ship and someday develop Parkinson's you have a service connected disability for claiming compensation from the VA. This rule applies to any disease on the presumptive list for Agent Orange.
I use the training and the expertise of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, which is a non-profit organization devoted to increasing national understanding of the difficulties facing America's veterans and their families.
 David Lord served in Vietnam as combat Marine for 1st Battalion 26th Marines, during which time he was severely wounded. He received the Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation for his actions during the war in Vietnam. In Mexico, David now represents all veterans south of the U.S. border all the way to Panama, before the V.A. and the Board of Veterans Appeals. David Lord provides service to veterans at no fee. Veterans are welcome to drop in and discuss claims/benefits to which they are entitled by law at his office located at Bayside Properties, 160 Francisca Rodriguez, tel.: 223-4424, call him at home 299-5367, on his cell: 044 (322) 205-1323, or email him at mophmx@@yahoo.com or david.lord@yahoo.com.
Click HERE for more Veteran Affairs with David Lord »»» |
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