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 Vallarta Living | Veteran Affairs | April 2007 
Laws that Every U.S. Veteran Should Know
 David Lord - PVNN
| | Delegates of countries which participated in the Korean War salute the United Nations flag-covered coffins of six U.S. soldiers from the Korean War, during a tentative repatriation ceremony at a U.S military base, in Seoul April 12, 2007. New Mexico state governor Bill Richardson and former U.S. Secretary for Veteran Affairs Anthony Principi came to Seoul from Pyongyang on Wednesday via the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone, with the remains of the soldiers. (Reuters/You Sung-Ho) | 
| | Korean War veteran James Ward salutes during the repatriation ceremony of the remains of U.S. soldiers from the Korean War that were discovered in North Korea, at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 12, 2007. (Reuters/Hugh Gentry) |
Most American Veterans that have been in service during a period of war are unaware of the many benefits that have been passed into law since the 1970's. Other than the G.I. Bill for Education and/or the V.A. Housing Loan Guarantee, most Veterans don't know that there is a full insurance and welfare package offered to them, or their survivors, which may include medical, pension, compensation and even survivor benefits.
These laws work most of the time for those who have applied, and when it is done right, some fourteen million Veterans living at home or aboard could receive additional help.
Especially those World War Two, Korean and Vietnam Veterans over the age of sixty five. If low income or medical bills are reducing their take-home income after expenses, Veterans experiencing any age-related medical or mobility problems, (even if they are NOT a result of their military service,) are entitled to benefits.
Millions have now switched from costly insurance premiums to the relatively free VA medical and/or prescription program. This allows Veterans to save thousands of dollars each year in medical costs - saving dollars they would otherwise be paying out of pocket.
Since wars have been a continuous event in one form or another over the past sixty years, we have, by virtue of surviving, the right to limited medical care. We did not know, it was beyond our ability to comprehend, the affect the war would have on our futures.
I assist you Veterans with the laws that have been passed during the years since your service in the Military. This month I have been away has been, in part, spent with other vets at the Annual Veterans Training program sponsored by The Military Order of the Purple Heart.
I am proud of their desire as a Veterans Organization to provide National Service Officer Staff with the best of legal case training. Much of this year's seminar was spent meeting the Department of Veterans Affairs new testing requirement for proficiency, but be aware that not all Congressionally Chartered Veteran Organizations apply this accreditation guideline as they should.
However, unlike some of the other Veteran Organizations, I'm happy to report that the Military Order of the Purple Heart works with diligence to maintain staff that are qualified to present a Veteran's claim, and do it with the expertise it takes to win the claim for the Veteran.
This year, I believe more than ever that your rights and the laws must be repeated over and over to bring awareness to you. This year presents a more difficult task of understanding what is written into law because the VA is not employing plain language standards, preferring to interpret laws in a strange combative position designed to deny clearly awardable claims.
The fellow the VA sent to us for training purposes was the coldest fish-eyed human anyone of you would shudder to endure for an hour. But I spent two days enduring his dry-as-toast presentation on amputation, artificial limbs and head trauma.
Had he ever served in the Military? No way! I doubt he even knew which end of a firearm to point toward an enemy. I tremble to think of the claims that crossed his desk over the last 13 years. God help the Veterans.
Demonstration of my point is a "plain language rule" in recently passed laws that are to protect veterans from mistreatment at the hands of the VA. This has become a battle ground within the highest Veterans Courts in America.
Issues this coming year may well leave your mind a little numb from the double speak, the outright contradictions within the laws themselves that give us a chance to laugh at the stupidity employed against Veterans, but should be taken very seriously.
These written laws are supposed to be administered in a non-adversarial process giving "benefit of the doubt to Veterans" for benefits they do not receive in most cases.
I promise not to bore you with the details meant for attorneys, but by letting you know that everything within the system is being set against you from the beginning, you'll be better prepared to fight and win within their maze of laws.
If you think that these laws are straight forward, think again. One example of what the VA does to trip up a Veteran, and thereby deny an initial 21-526 Claim for Pension application, is that you were previously required to submit this application for benefits on the 526 form.
I wish to make it clear that it is now better to make a pension claim without any supporting medical evidence - age alone is enough. This is exactly the opposite of what I have seen in the past. Since the new pension law was passed in 2001, this is the previous policy.
The VA recently issued their adjudication officers with new guidelines that detail four variations of what to do with the 526 (pension) application forms they receive. Now, a claim submitted with evidence supporting the claim will be viewed as grounds for a more stringent application of the law, which works against the Veteran.
The exact same claim submitted without any supporting medical evidence gives the Veteran "the benefit of the doubt." So different results are obtained depending on the original form and how it was filled out by the Veteran.
 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 VA 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 david.lord@yahoo.com.
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