Posted by Alan Morton on 6/28/2007, 12:27 pm
75.83.113.51

The US Department of Veterans Affairs provides patient care and federal benefits to veterans and their dependents. Sixty-five years ago when WWII ended, Xerox machines had not been invented yet. The consequence, in 1945 it was difficult U. S. Armed Forces personnel to obtain copies their military service and health records for their personal retention. Accordingly, Veterans had to depend on the Government repository in St. Louis, MO to validate individual Service Personnel ... alas the fire in 1973 wiped out most of these records. See: http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html Today, WWII Veterans sixty-five (65) years later are in their 80's plus. Additionally, Korean, Viet Nam, Desert Storm and now Iraqi Wars are on the books. Additionally, military injured personnel are overwhelming the VA and Government Hospitals today. The purpose of the above is to alert all current Military Personnel (present and past) to build up their military records with copies thereof BEFORE they leave the Services. Here's an example of problems I personally ran into with the VA: It might be worth reminding any and all servicemen and servicewomen currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces to make copies of any and all military records, especially Health records before you leave the services and return to civilian life. Why? Because you'll need copies of these records to validate your claim that your impaired health to the Department of Veterans Affairs ... was Service Connected! Odds are there will not be another devastating fire; and you won't be challenged! But, it's nice to have your own personal records to back up your claims 40 or 50 years from now! Many of we WWII types didn't. The process of preparing a detailed "Health Claim to the VA" is laborious and slow ... once you have collected and validated your claim data." I remember eight year ago the individual in the VA telling me ..."it will be approximately two (2) years before your claim is looked at because of the back-log of claims being considered by the VA."  Just to make certain I would have some recourse after this long wait, I sent my Claim to the VA by "Certified Mail" AND asked for a "Signed Receipt." Why all the above trouble? Because, after waiting over two years, I called the VA headquarters in Los Angeles and was told ... "We have no record of your Claim." My reply was, I do, I have a signed and dated receipt from the Los Angeles VA district office." The cost of this signed USPostOffice receipt is pennies AND it was a life saver. I was asked to FAX my VA-signed receipt and lo and behold, the filed two year old Claim was FOUND.  Cheers, the best of health and good luck to ALL former and present United States Service Men and Women! Alan Morton

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