The EAGLE - Indiana CVSOs · A member of the Executive Board of the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers (NACVSO) has agreed to speak to Indiana CVSO’s about

The EAGLE The Newsletter of the Indiana Veterans’ Service Officers’ Association

Edition 2002-005 October 1, 2002

VA Secretary Principi visits

IndianaPresents Korean WarService Medal to 230

Hoosier veterans of theKorean War

Saturday, September 21, 2002 was a big day for Hoosier veterans and for the Indiana Veterans’ Service Officers’ Associ-ation.

In a ceremony arranged by Congress-man Steve Buyer (pronounced “Booyer”) and his staff, VA Secretary Anthony Prin-cipi was on hand when a representative of the Korean government presented 230 Indi-ana veterans of the Korean War with the Republic of Korea’s Korean War Service

Prior to the program, INVSOA president, TomApplegate finagled his way next to VA SecretaryAnthony Principi for a photograph.

Medal.The story actually begins in early Au-

gust, 2002, when the office of Congressman Steve Buyer telephoned INVSOA President Tom Applegate. They had been referred to Applegate by IDVA Director Bill Jackson.

Buyer’s representative, Kurtis Moore, asked if Applegate would solicit the support of Indiana’s County Veterans’ Service Offi-cers. Applegate said yes and the rest is now history. What Buyer’s office initially

thought would bring a response from 50 to 200 veterans, quickly grew into an event of major proportions. The involvement of the CVSO’s ultimately brought in well over 400 applications and the event had to be moved from the Grissom Air Reserve Base’s small museum to Hanger 200, tak-ing up the entire hanger which can accom-modate two KC-135 aircraft. An estimated 700 to 800 persons attended the event.

One of our own CVSO’s, Loran Rutledge from Montgomery County, himself a veteran of the Ko-rean War, was a recipient of the Republic of Korea’s Korean War Service Medal.

The pre-program music was provided by the 38th Infantry Division Band, head-quartered at the Indiana Army National Guard Division Armory in Indianapolis. After the National Anthem of the United States, followed by the National Anthem of Korea, there were some remarks from the 50th Anniversary Korean War Commemo-rative Committee Deputy Director, Colonel Harold Neal, whose committee arranged for the hanger and the decorations.

The Honorable Kyu-ho Choo, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Chicago, conveyed his government’s gratitude to U.S. veterans.

Congressman Steve Buyer, himself a Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves, told of his family’s involve-ment in the military and expressed his gratitude to the County Veterans’ Service Officers and others for their help in making this program possible.

VA Secretary Anthony Principi eloquently ex-pressed the appreciation of his office and the office of the President of the United States for the sacri-fices made by the men and women honored.

The presentation of the medals took a surprisingly short period of time and there were closing remarks by Major General Bob Tanguy, USAF (Ret.), a personal friend of Congressman Buyer’s. VA Secre-tary Principi also presented 50th Anniver-sary Korean War coins to the major general and to Congressman Buyer’s father. The program concluded with the 38th Infantry Division Band playing a medley of service songs.

The Indiana Veterans’ Service Offi-cers’ Association is extremely grateful to Korean Consul General Kyu-ho Choo and to VA Secretary Anthony Principi for tak-ing time out of their busy schedules to travel to Indiana to honor these Hoosier veterans of the Korean War. You could tell by looking that these men were pleased and honored to be remembered in this way.***

care for Life had something to do with concurrent receipt.

He also stated that one third of retirees who would gain from concurrent receipt are officers in the top 10 percent of income distribution.

Backers of concurrent receipt reply that Chu is simply trying to apply a needs test to earned benefits, and that his claims ignore the fact that the law authorizes ser-vice members to be awarded disability compensation and to earn military retire-ment.

Jarboe comments, and I agree, “This guy certainly doesn’t want the support of veterans.” Ed.

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2

The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced that the Fall Conference will be held on Friday, October 11, 2002.

It will be held at the MDI Headquar-ters building at Stout Field from 9 a.m. to noon. CVSO’s are asked to try to be there early enough to sign-in before the meeting.

A member of the Executive Board of the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers (NACVSO) has agreed to speak to Indiana CVSO’s about the advan-tages of becoming a member.

If we have an opportunity, there will be a short meeting of the INVSOA to dis-cuss some important issues concerning DD214‘s and other matters.

See Page 6 for the agenda.

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will fund the additional cost. Following are a few of the conditions which must be met to qualify for this benefit:

1. Veteran must have a verifiable ap-pointment.

2. Call PrimeLife Enrichment (formerly Hamilton County Senior Servic-es) at 815-7005 to schedule transportation. At least two weeks prior notice is mandato-ry, but does not guarantee service at a spe-cific time. PrimeLife will make every effort to accommodate your needs but scheduling is subject to availability of vehicles.

3. Roudebush VA Hospital appoint-ment must be scheduled between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., Monday thru Friday. Trans-portation is not available on week-ends or holidays.

4. Each veteran will pay $10.00 per round trip regardless of the number travel-ing.

5. Transportation arrangements must be made through PrimeLife Enrichment, and not the Hamilton County Veteran Ser-vice Office.

6. This arrangement is for trips to Roudebush VA Hospital, and does not ap-ply to transportation to other VA hospitals and clinics. However, PrimeLife Enrich-ment provides transportation free-of-charge to any Hamilton County resident 55 and older traveling outside Hamilton County. Call 815-7005 for more information.

Call Dianna Lynch for additional de-tails at 776-8493.

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IDVA FallConference

DateAnnounced

Hamilton County Will

BeginTransporting

VeteransWayne Long, Veterans’ Service Offi-

cer of Hamilton County, informs us that the Hamilton County Council has approved an important new benefit for county veterans: transportation to the Roudebush VA Hospi-tal in Indianapolis.

The press release reads:

Effective September 1, 2002 the Ham-ilton County Veterans Service Office will begin transporting Hamilton County veter-ans 55 years of age or older, through the services of PrimeLife Enrichment, to the Roudebush VA Hospital in Indianapolis. One round trip per day from Hamilton County will be provided to any 55 year old veteran or older who qualifies. The cost to the veteran will be a nominal $10.00 and the Hamilton County Veterans Service Office

DoD OfficialLabels Military

Retirement ‘Generous’

Allen County VSO, George (Bo) Jar-boe, shares this article from the September 6, 2002 Armed Forces News.

Defense undersecretary David Chu has asserted that concurrent receipt ignores the ”generous“ retirement that members earn after 20 years of military service. He added that VA compensation was designed for veterans unable to complete careers due to disability.

He also cited a 1996 survey indicating that military retirees with disabilities had the same average income as those without disabilities. He suggested that repeal of REDUX retirement and enactment of Tri-

Glen Vogel in Serious

ConditionLagrange County Veterans’ Service

Officer, Glen Vogel, is in a local nursing home and is in very serious condition, re-ports Gary Whitehead, Elkhart County VSO.

Allen Connelly, a Vietnam War era veteran has taken over for Glen and will be attending a training session in Elkhart in the near future.

Hope to see Allen at the fall confer-ence. And also hope Glen gets to feeling better.

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We’ve learned that Maude E. Sulli-van, 80, of Solsberry, died on Tuesday, August 13th, 2002.

She was born July 30, 1918, in Greene County, and was a member of Sols-berry United Methodist Church, Solsberry American Legion Auxiliary, and the Cin-cinnati and Hobbieville Homemakers Club.

Mrs. Sullivan was the mother of Greene County Veterans’ Service Officer, Norm Sullivan, who is also the INVSOA Secretary/Treasurer.

We grieve with Norm and wish the best for him and his family. ****

Norm Sullivan’s Mother

Dies

I’m going to need some help at the War Memorial on that day, so I’d appreci-ate some VSO’s from those counties giving me a call and volunteering to help out.

FrenchThank-You-AmericaCertificates for 2003

I’ve suggested three more Thank-You-America presentation programs in In-diana next year on dates yet to be deter-mined, so veterans who live closer to those sites should wait until those programs. VSO’s should encourage applicants to for-ward their applications through the VSO office so the VSO can keep a list of those who apply. The French Embassy will want to know who will be honored at each event.

The locations are:1. Evansville (Vanderburgh County)

for southwest Indiana. Mark Acker coordi-nator. Late April or early May 2003 for counties: Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Gib-son, Greene, Knox, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spen-cer, Sullivan, Vanderburgh and Warrick. This program will also include counties from southeastern Illinois and northwestern Kentucky.

2. Logansport (Cass County) for all of northern Indiana. Resto D’Andre coordina-tor. July 19, 2003. Counties included are: Adams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, Dekalb, Elkhart, Fulton, Grant, How-ard, Huntington, Jasper, Jay, Kosciusko, Lagrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Miami, Newton, Noble, Porter, Pulaski, St. Joseph, Starke, Steuben, Wabash, Wells, White and Whitley.

3. Corydon (Harrison County) for southeast Indiana. October, 2003. Ernie Emily coordinator (but he may retire next May). Counties included will be: Bartho-lomew, Brown, Clark, Dearborn, Floyd, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Ripley, Scott, Switzerland and Wash-ington. This program could also include some northern Kentucky counties and some southwestern Ohio counties.

The coordinators at these locations will confirm locations and dates and ar-range for color guards, dignitaries, and ad-vertisement.

I’m very excited that the INVSOA is able to become so involved in these events throughout the state and am looking for-ward to meeting VSOs and veterans from all of these counties during the events.

God bless America.

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The presentation of the Korean War Service Medal was truly a mo-mentous event for the INVSOA and there are some people that need to be thanked.

To begin with, I’d like to thank Mr. Bill

Jackson, Director of the Indiana Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs, for giving the Indiana Veterans’ Service Officers’ Associ-ation the opportunity to show what we can do as a combined force in the veterans’ community.

Secondly, I’d like to thank Congress-man Steve Buyer and his staff, especially Kurtis Moore, for arranging this great pro-gram. In this day and age, when the number of veterans occupying congressional and senate seats are few, it is refreshing to find a representative who publicly appreciates the contributions made by the men and women who served or are serving in the armed forces.

I certainly want to thank the many County Veterans’ Service Officers who, on very short notice, contacted their veterans, and their newspapers and television stations and swelled this event to the magnitude which it became.

Most of all I want to thank the veterans of the Korean War for the sacrifices they made to help prevent the spread of commu-nism in a country so far away from home. Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, once remarked that America’s success in the Korean War may have been the single most important event which stopped the spread of communism to Western civilization. High praise from such an important figure in history. They went when their country called them and went where their country needed them. They ex-emplify everything meant when anyone says the word “Patriot”. They are America’s sons and we are very proud to honor them with these medals.

FrenchThank-You-AmericaCertificates for 2002

Now it’s time to look forward to the next INVSOA sponsored event. I have co-ordinated with the French Consul General in Chicago and we are arranging to present the French Thank-You-America Certifi-

cates (they call them diplomas) to eligible veterans in the middle of the state. Date and time is November 23rd at 1:00 p.m. at the Indiana War Memorial, downtown India-napolis.

CVSO’s throughout Central Indiana should contact their local media and make their veterans aware of this event and dis-tribute applications. Check the applicable counties below. Living WWII veterans who participated in the Normandy landing and/or the liberation of France anytime between June 6th, 1944 and May 8th, 1945 are eligi-ble. No posthumous presentations will be made. The French Consulate in Chicago already has many applications from Central Indiana, but it would be great if we could get even more eligible veterans the certifi-cate.

Applications must be in the mail to the French Embassy in Chicago by No-vember 8th to insure the certificate is available for presentation on the date of the program.

A blank application is included with this newsletter. Eligible veterans should attach a copy of their Report of Separation

3

From the PresidentBy Tom Applegate

INVSO President Tom Applegate, left, stands next to Honorary French Consul Alain Weber, his wife Nancy, and reunion organizer, James Anderson, at the Sept. 14, 2002 reunion of the 94th Medical Gas Treatment Battalion held at the Marten House Mo-tel, Indianapolis. 44 WWII veterans received the Thank-You-America Certificates.

(what we now call DD Form 214), or a notarized letter from someone who served with them, acknowledging they have per-sonal knowledge that the veteran partici-pated in the liberation.

Indiana counties included in this event are: Boone, Clay, Clinton, Decatur, Dela-ware, Fayette, Fountain, Franklin, Hamil-ton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Union, Ver-million, Vigo, Warren and Wayne.

VSO’s in these counties should en-courage their veterans to forward their ap-plication through the VSO office, because the French Embassy will want to know how many veterans are to be honored. VSO’s should maintain a list of honorees.

Copyright 2002 David H. Hackworth. Used by special permission received 9/27/02. Check out Col. Hackworth’s website at www.Hackworth.com for the latest on his new book STEEL MY SOLDIERS' HEARTS.

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September 18, 2002

Back in 1990, a few months before the bombs started dropping on Bagh-dad, an Army pal slipped me a Pentagon study based on World War II

experiences estimating that U.S. forces would suffer 50,000 casualties during the projected six-month campaign. Gen. Nor-man Schwarzkopf's staff later predicted a still-staggering 20,000 dead or wounded. Because Stormin' Norman's forces bril-liantly zapped Saddam Hussein's mob in a record-breaking 100-hour ground war, ac-tual U.S. casualties were a mere fraction of these two estimates – 147 KIA and 457 WIA. At least at first look.

But within weeks after our warriors took off their boots and hung up their rifles, dozens, then hundreds, of Gulf War vets became casualties. And as the years tick by, this figure has already grown to tens of thousands.

It wasn't bullets that took them down, but a casualty-producer the experts didn't count on called Gulf War Illness. So far, according to an April 2002 Department of Veterans Affairs report, an additional 7,758 Desert Storm vets have died, while 198,716 vets have filed claims for medical and com-pensation benefits. Of the claims filed, 156,031 have been granted as service-con-nected, with more vets being designated casualties as each day passes. The 198,716 figure represents a staggering 28 percent of the vets – 696,579 – who fought in the Gulf War conflict!

Former Tennessee National Guards-man Adam T. Smith, whose unit fought alongside the U.S. Army's storied 1st Infan-try Division during Desert Storm, says: “The American people seem to have forgot-ten or don't know how sick many of us are and how the DoD and VA have given us the same runaround they gave Vietnam veter-ans. It's a crime.” Totally disabled, Smith adds, “Out of my 150-member unit, close to 70 are or have been treated for some sort of illness related to Gulf War service.”

For five years after the war, the Penta-gon and the VA refused to admit that our troops had been exposed to chemical weap-ons, via the same sort of despicable delay-ing tactics our Vietnam vets were subjected to over their Agent Orange claims. For ex-ample, the Pentagon brass were unwilling to admit U.S. Army culpability in blowing up captured Iraqi chemical munitions that caused the biggest friendly-fire incident in the history of warfare. To date, not only has no one responsible been punished – instead, in typical fashion, all those who were in charge have been either promoted or knighted.

After scores of studies costing more than $150 million, a definitive cause for Gulf War Illness has yet to be announced. Investigators and researchers have targeted a number of things, including: the unproven vaccines and drugs our troops were forced to take; the U.S. depleted uranium muni-tions used against Iraqi armor that exposed our soldiers to radiation; pollution from the oil-well fires; local diseases; even the clouds that blew over our troops when cap-tured Iraqi chemical-warfare weaponry was destroyed by Army engineers.

Gulf War vet Michael Woods, presi-dent of The National Gulf War Resource Center Inc., says VA Secretary Anthony Principi is hiding the truth by not releasing the up-to-date “death and disability” statis-tics on Gulf War veterans as required by law.

Woods tells me he's concerned the VA is stonewalling because the unreleased ca-sualty statistics could undermine the case for war that is being made by President George W. Bush and the noisy platoon of war hawks – who've never stood anywhere near a hot battlefield – pressing for an Iraqi “regime change” from the safety of their Washington bunkers. Woods' organization is also adamant that our forces get the right protection and detection gear and the right training before we march back into Iraq.

“President Bush shouldn't order our warriors into another Gulf fight until we know what happened 11 years ago,” says Robert McMahon, president of Soldiers for the Truth. “The VA needs to tell the truth regarding the suffering of thousands of vets.”

Before we commit to another Gulf War, our government must come clean on what happened to our Desert Storm heroes. Congress and our media must hound the president and the VA until they tell the nation what caused the enormous casualties in the first place and what's been done to reduce the hazards facing our troops this time around.

4

Hackworth: The Hidden

Casualties Of Gulf War I

Gordon Mans-field, right, assistant secretary for legisla-tive affairs at the De-partment of Veterans Affairs, was sent to test the ability of the VA to care for dis-abled veterans, and the system failed.

Mansfield, in a wheelchair with his legs paralyzed from a combat wound, was turned down by four of six clinics in Florida and two more in Colorado, because they were fully booked, said his boss, VA secre-tary Anthony Principi.

Before October 1998, most VA pa-tients had service-connected disabilities or low incomes. Then, by creating a priority 7, the VA opened treatment to all veterans regardless of disability or income. Principi hopes to arrange scheduling so that enroll-ees with service-connected disabilities will move to the top of the appointment list.

According to Principi, more than 132,000 veterans are on waiting lists just to request care. Another 178,000 are waiting for follow-up appointments, which may be six months or longer.

Armed Forces NewsThe FREE Weekly Email Newsletter for Armed Forces Personnel & RetireesFriday, August 9, 2002 Issue

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AssistantVA SecretaryRefused VA

Care

those decisions," Adm. Cooper said. "If the veterans cannot easily understand, then they will not be satisfied and they will believe that we are not serving them proper-ly."

More than 90 percent of veterans or survivors accept VA's initial decisions for disability compensation, pension and other benefits. When a veteran writes VA that he or she disagrees with a decision, VA then supplies a more lengthy explanation, called a "statement of the case." This statement may include legal references and citations to regulations.

Under a policy enacted last year, when VA receives a letter appealing a decision, officials automatically reconsider the case. An official not previously involved in the case provides a top-to-bottom review of the claim.

VA hopes that fewer claims will ad-vance to an unnecessary appeal if VA ex-plains clearly to veterans why an application for benefits did not meet legal requirements. For example, for disability compensation, generally there must be evi-dence to show that the veteran's serious chronic condition today can be associated in some way with the time the veteran was on active duty.

Thousands of pages of laws, VA regu-lations and court interpretations guide VA's regional offices in making decisions on claims. Medical judgments routinely are requested from physicians to determine the severity of a condition, and a VA claims representative must evaluate how the medi-cal findings, records and other evidence mesh with the regulatory schedule used for disability ratings.

VA makes such rating decisions in about 700,000 applications a year. With veterans typically claiming two or more medical problems in each filing, VA claims representatives will decide more than 1.5 million issues affecting veterans' incomes this year.

Under the new policy on clarity, field offices will summarize the facts pertinent to a decision and explain clearly how they evaluated the information provided by the veteran.

In addition to providing reasons for the decision and a summary of the relevant evidence, VA field officials provide veter-ans with information about a right to a hearing and to representation. They also explain the procedure for obtaining a re-view of the decision so that the veteran may make a well-informed choice about whether to appeal.

(continued on Page 6)

WASHINGTON -- Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) collections from in-surance companies that reimburse the gov-ernment for some veterans' health care reached record levels in recent months as the number of veterans seeking care at VA facilities continued to climb.

In each of the last five months, collec-tions topped $100 million. In May, VA received a record $123 million. Since 1997, VA has collected $3.8 billion, all of it re-tained by VA to enhance medical care.

"Because of the hard work of VA staff nationwide, as well as their use of improved technology, we are sending more accurate claims to insurance carriers and getting bet-ter returns on our medical expenditures," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "Veterans and other taxpayers can be assured that we are getting as much reimbursement as we can, as efficiently as possible, and it's all put back into medical care."

Since VA gained authority in 1986 to seek reimbursement from third-party insur-ers and assess copayments for furnished care to certain veterans with annual in-comes above an amount set by law, collec-tions have increased from $24 million to an estimated $1.2 billion this fiscal year. Be-fore 1997, collected funds were deposited with the U.S. Treasury. Since then, VA has been able to keep the money to enhance patient care.

VA does not make collections for the treatment of service-connected conditions.

VA facilities have begun sending bills electronically to insurance firms through a national clearinghouse. These electronic data exchanges result in faster claims to insurers and faster payment to VA because the software edits the claims for errors, often eliminating time-consuming rework-ing.

VA plans to replace its current billing and receivables software systems with a commercial off-the-shelf software package that will streamline processes at medical centers by removing the potential for hu-man error. As a result, medical centers will be able to generate more accurate claims to health insurance companies.

"These technologi-cal improvements and some new processing methods should result in even greater reimburse-ments to VA, and ulti-mately improved health care services for veter-

ans," Principi, shown at left, said.

VA News Release, August 19, 2002

You may recall our editorial in the August edition of The EAGLE when we asked “What is this money going to be used for?”All I see in this news release is that all of it will be retained by VA to enhance medical care. I don’t think that really answers the question. We keep hearing that the Veterans Health Administration doesn’t have the money or the staff to take care of all the veterans already enrolled, and we keep hearing that the VA medical centers have been advised to stop advertising for new enrollees and that the VA medical centers are stressed almost to the breaking point with all the new prescriptions they must fill. Yet they tell us this $3.8 billion dollars is being retained by VA to “enhance medical care“. So, we ask again, what is the VA doing with this money? Ed.

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5

InsuranceReimbursements

to VA ReachRecord Levels

WASHINGTON - To improve com-munications with veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has told its field facilities to write decisions on applications for financial benefits with minimal jargon and legal citations.

"It is vital that veterans get good, quality decisions on their claims that they can understand," VA Under Sec-retary for Benefits Daniel L. Cooper, left, told employees in a nationwide satellite telecast.

"Clarity and readability of claims de-cisions are as important as the accuracy of

VA Moves To Simplify

Communications On ClaimsDecisions

Tilford not “Former” VSO

One of the first cere-monies in Indiana to award high school diplomas to World War II veterans who were inducted from or quit high school to enlist in the armed forces will be held in Huntington on Veteran’s Day, November 11th.

Eighteen World War II veterans, will receive their diplomas in an assembly at Huntington North High School with the entire student body in attendance. Veterans like Loy J. Eppard, pictured above, who, after his induction into the Army from his senior class at age eighteen, went on to earn, along with five other medals, the Bronze Star Medal with Bronze Arrowhead.

The ceremony was arranged by Hun-tington County VSO Tom Applegate, who will share planning and implementation ideas with other VSO’s at the Fall Confer-ence. *************************

VA Moves To Simplify (continued from Page 5)

If the VA's evaluation of a condition results in less than the maximum payment rate for a disability or has an effective date for payments that is less than full retroactiv-ity to the date of separation from service, VA will explain what the veteran would need to get the next highest rating or an earlier effective date for payment.

VA News Release, August 19, 2002*****************************

6

I received an e-mail from John Tilford on Au-gust 10th, informing me that he will return to his position upon demobili-zation, and that he is not the “former” Monroe County Veterans’ Ser-vice Officer.

John noted that was the title I gave him in the article on page 3 of the August edition of The EAGLE.

Due to his knowledge and expertise, John was mobilized after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and has spent almost all of that time in the Washington, D.C. area.

I apologize for the goof and don’t worry, John, they’re holding down the fort for you in Monroe County.

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9:00 - 9:10 Pledge of Allegiance and Wel-coming Remarks (Director, Bill Jackson)

9:10 - 9:50 New Remission of Fees Form (Jon Brinkley)

9:50 - 10:00 Break

10:00 - 10:45 VA Medical Center (Deputy Director, Thomas Mattice)

10:45 - 11:00 Break

11:00 - 11:30 Diploma Program (Jim Kiser - Tom Applegate)

11:30 - 11:50 NACVSO (Doug LeValley - NACVSO 1st Vice President)

11:50 - Indiana Veterans’ Service Officers’ Association Meeting (Tom Ap-plegate, President)

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Letters andE-Mail

to the Editor

Dear Tom, I would like to briefly address a sub-

ject you brought up on page 4 of the August issue regarding VBA claims backlog and the inaccurate reporting of information. As you know, our office and all other Regional Offices are under pressure to produce a certain amount of work per month, while at the same time providing quality services to our claimants. These new production tar-gets significantly increased, and in some cases doubled, the expected amount of work production from most Regional Offic-es. I am very proud to state that the first nine months of the year, Indianapolis produced our monthly quota in 8 of those months, and we were significantly ahead of our cumula-tive goal for the year. Indianapolis is one of the few offices across the country that can lay claim to this accomplishment.

At the end of your article you men-tioned the fact that you have no reason to suspect our office of any misinformation, nor that we neglected remands from BVA. Thank you for those kind words of support. I can assure you that those of us at the Indianapolis Regional Office are very aware of the data integrity issues that have been alleged at some of the offices nation-wide. I can assure you that we take all possible care to ensure our numbers are accurate. We have always prided ourselves in being truthful, up front, and most of all, working diligently to serve the veterans of the State of Indiana.

We ask that you help us do a quality job for our veterans by providing us with as much information as you can, by helping veterans and their dependents respond to our requests for information in a timely manner, and also letting us know where and how we can improve services when you identify a material weakness in our opera-tions.

Thank you for giving me the opportu-nity to respond. As always if you need any assistance or information, please do not hesitate to contact me.Sincerely,

Jeffrey M. AlgerDirector Note: Due to space restrictions, only por-tions of this letter were used. Ed.

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IDVA FallConference

Agenda

Bob Linden’s Mother DiesRandy Fairchild, Tippecanoe County

VSO, informs us that the mother of Bob Linden, Indianapolis Regional Office Vet-erans’ Service Center Manager, passed away on Saturday, September 28th.

Our thoughts and sympathy are with Bob and his family.

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Huntington to Present High

School Diplomas

Jay County VSO, Roy Leverich, sent us the follow-ing article from the Septem-ber issue of the Navy Times.

State Disability Dipar-ity BlastedBy Rick Maze TIMES STAFF WRITER

Rep. Lane Evans, R-Ill., wants to know why disabled veterans in his state receive less money, on average, than disabled veter-ans in every other state.

Armed with a report from the Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs showing a $3,600 difference between the states with the high-est and the lowest annual payments per ben-eficiary and a report by congressional auditors questioning whether all VA offices use the same criteria in awarding benefits, Evans said something doesn’t seem right.

A Vietnam veteran and the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Evans said disabled veterans in Illinois get an average annual payment of $5,783 in disability compensation, the low-est of any state. Disabled veterans in Maine receive the highest average payment of $9,444 a year, according to the 2002 annual report from the Veterans Benefits Adminis-tration.

“I cannot believe that Illinois disabled veterans are so significantly less disabled than Maine veterans,” Evans said in an Aug. 24 statement as he ordered the release of a congressional audit of disability benefits.

That report, by the General Account-ing Office, the investigative arm of Con-gress, found no immediate explanation for the substantial differences among states in the average disability benefit. It could be that veterans with severe disabilities are more likely to live in certain locations, or it could be there are inconsistencies in how VA’s 57 regional offices decide disability rates that determine the amount of compen-sation received.

VA officials told investigators the dis-parity in average payments could be the result of factors such as the average age of the veterans in a given state. Investigators said it is also possible “the regional office in one state may tend to give lower disability

ratings than the regional office in another state.”

The report, dated July 31 but not re-leased until Aug. 28, says VA does not try to determine whether regional offices are reaching similar decisions about similarly disabled veterans. One way to find out, the report suggests, is for each regional office to be given an identical hypothetical exam-ple to process. This would provide a quick answer as to whether all cases are being treated the same, investigators said.

VA is resisting that idea. In a written response to the congressional report, Secre-tary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi said he agrees that “consistency is an impor-tant goal and the department has work to do to achieve it.”

But rather than comparing how each regional office handles a hypothetical claim, Principi said VA believes the best way to improve consistency in decision-making is to provide comprehensive train-ing to employees and annual performance assessments.

Principi said changes in the rating schedule to make decisions easier and spe-cialized training time to help improve the claims process also “will undoubtedly pro-vide more consistent decisions through rep-etition in dealing with specific medical conditions.”

Aides to Evans said the congressman is just looking for a way to explain why veterans in his state rank at the bottom of the national average for disability claims.

“There may be a perfectly reasonable answer for the disparity but right now we don’t know, GAO doesn’t know and the VA doesn’t know how to explain the differ-ence,” one aide said.

DISPARITY BY STATE

State of residence Average amount(not all states included) per veteranMaine $9,444Arkansas 8,950West Virginia 8,738Oklahoma 8,668New Mexico 8,651Mississippi 7,895Kentucky 7,275 Tennessee 7,093 U. S. Average 6,779 Massachusetts 6,524Alabama 6,481Colorado 6,408New York 6,364Delaware 6,213Virginia 6,181Indiana 6,180Ohio 5,954New Jersey 5,921Michigan 5,870Illinois 5,783

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7

DisabilityPayments Vary

by State

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs is establishing priority access to health care for severely disabled veterans under new regulations recently announced. “It is unacceptable to keep vet-erans with service-connected medical prob-lems waiting for care,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. “These veterans are the very reason we exist, and everything we do should focus first on their needs.”

The new regulation is being imple-mented in two phases. Under the first phase, which is being implemented imme-diately, VA will provide priority access to health care for veterans with service-con-nected disabilities rated 50 percent or great-er. This new priority includes hospital- ization and outpatient care for both service-connected and non-service-connected treat-ment. VA will continue to treat immedi-ately any veteran needing emergency care.

In the second phase, which will be implemented next year, VA will provide priority access to other service-connected veterans for their service-connected condi-tions.

The number of veterans using VA's health care system has risen dramatically in recent years, increasing from 2.9 million in 1995 to a projected 4.4 million in 2002. An additional 600,000 veterans are projected to enroll in VA health care in 2003. Unable to absorb this increase, VA has more than 280,000 veterans on waiting lists to receive medical care.

Although VA operates more than 1,300 sites of care, including 163 hospitals and more than 800 outpatient clinics, the increase in veterans seeking care outstrips VA's capacity to treat them.

“VA provides the finest health care in the country, but if a veteran cannot see a doctor in a timely manner, then we have failed that veteran,” said Principi.

“I will work to honor our commit-ment to veterans," he added. "But when it comes to non-emergency health care, we must give the priority to veterans with se-vere service-connected disabilities.“

**************************See DISAGREE article on next page. Ed.

Severely Disabled Veterans Get Health Care

Priority from VA

Because of a revised transitional health care benefit plan, Reserve and Guard members who were ordered to active duty for more than 30 days in support of a con-tingency and have more than six years total active federal service are eligible for 120 days of health care following their period of active service. Members with less than six years service will get 60 days of continued medical care.

Under a worldwide demonstration project, family members are also covered under the plan. The program is retroactive to Jan. 1.

Eligibility will be determined by in-formation in the Defense Enrollment Eligi-bility Reporting System. Members and families who were enrolled in Tricare Prime while on active duty will automatically be disenrolled upon release from active duty. The Reserve component member or family must actively re-enroll in order to continue Tricare Prime during the transitional health care period.Armed Forces News, Friday, August 2, 2002 Issue

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8

Reserve, Guard Transitional

Medical Benefits Improve

Some CVSO’sDisagree with

Principi’sDecision.

Editorial

Some County Veterans Service Offi-cers are taking issue with VA Secretary Principi’s decision to give priority at VA Medical Centers to 50 percent service con-nected (SC) disabled veterans over low-in-comed, non-service connected veterans.

They point out that many 50 percent service connected veterans are so rated sim-ply because they have several unrelated disabilities which add up to 50 percent, and don’t actually fit the “severely disabled” label.

VA Combat Vet Medical Services: Combat veterans are now eligible for medi-cal services for 2-years after separation from military service even if there is insuf-ficient medical evidence to conclude that their illness is attributable to their military service.

This new statutory 2-year period also allows for the collection of basic health information to aid in the evaluation of spe-cific health questions such as difficult to explain illnesses. Veterans will be enrolled as priority category 6, and are not be subject to co-payments for care.

The 2-year eligibility period begins on the separation date of the service member from active duty military service.

Eligible veterans from National Guard and Reservist forces who were activated and served during hostilities are provided these services. VHA Directive (2002-049)

**************************

CombatVeterans &

CombatReservists to Get

Medical Care for 2 Years

They also point out that many of those 50 percent SC disabled have full-time, well-paying jobs and are earning more than enough money to pay for their health care, especially their non-service connected health needs, whereas the low-incomed vet-eran must use the VA for their health care because they can’t afford to go anywhere else. More than once we’ve heard from these low-incomed veterans, “If I didn’t have the VA to go to, I wouldn’t be able to afford my medicine or health care at all.”

It also seems a little strange why this decision was needed in the first place since the current priority system already places service connected disabled veterans in a higher priority than the low-incomed veter-ans anyway. VA specifically notes this new policy does not justify cancellation of a current appointment for a non-service con-nected veteran as a mechanism for accom-modating priority scheduling for service connected veterans.

Let’s see if it happens that way.**************************

Although insurance reimbursements are cascading into the Department of Vet-erans Affairs' coffers, Veterans Affairs De-partment secretary Anthony Principi is talking of suspending enrollment of lower-priority veterans into the health-care sys-tem, and capping the number of veterans who can enroll, or limiting annual open enrollment periods. The department floated the idea (rejected by Congress) of a $1,500 deductible for higher-income beneficiaries.

The VA has told its network directors to stop marketing for new patients. Here are a few reasons why:

Since 1995, the number of VA enroll-ees for medical care has shot up from 2.9 million to more than 6 million, with total beneficiaries heading to more than 8 mil-lion by 2006 and almost 9 million by 2012.

From 1995 to now, the VA's annual budget for medical care has climbed only 32 percent, from $16.2 billion to $21.4 billion.

Veterans with no service-connected disabilities and higher incomes are flocking in for 30-day prescriptions at $7.

With the addition of a lower-rung prior-ity group of non-service-connected veterans, such beneficiaries make up 33 percent of all enrollees, with a projected jump to 42 percent by 2010.

Armed Forces News, Friday, August 23, 2002 Issue. **********************

VA Chief Says ‘Enough’

The EAGLEis published by the

Indiana Veterans’ Service Officers’ Association

from theHuntington County Veterans’

Service Office354 N. Jefferson St., Room 2Huntington, Indiana 46750

The opinions expressed in this newslet-ter, which uses articles from various publica-tions, are those of the author of the article. Comments by the editor are followed by the initials Ed., and are strictly his own opinion and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Association unless so specified.

Comments, suggestions and articles can be sent to the Editor/Publisher at the above address. Articles will be edited for space and appropriateness.

Phone: 260-358-4863Fax: 260-359-4400

E-mail: [email protected]

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FRANCE ISSUES A CERTIFICATE TO HONOR U.S. VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II

APPLY TO PROJECT 1944-1945

THANK-YOU-AMERICA CERTIFICATE

1. Please complete the form in block letters and print legibly.

2. Please attach any document showing proof of service in

France between June 6, 1944 and May 8, 1945 and join a self-addressed envelope. The documents attesting your record of service will not be returned. Please send copies.

3. Please do not telephone. The review of applications may take several weeks. Veterans or their representatives will be contacted directly if necessary.

4. The decision to honor World War II combattants applies only to living veterans who served on French territory and in French territorial waters and airspace in 1944-1945. The certificate will not be awarded posthumously.

5. Please send the application either to your Veterans Association if so requested or the nearest Consulate General of France.

Fill the application form

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Prominence in Buckheak 3475 Piedmont Road, NE

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Island Vermont)

Park Square Building Suite 750

31 Saint James AvenueBoston, MA 02116

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(North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,

Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska,

Wisconsin)

French Consulate/"Thank-You-America"

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(Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas)


777 Post Oak Boulevard suite 600

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Mexico)

For California send to LA if your Zip Code is under

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West Virginia)

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Embassy of France

"Thank-You-America Certificate"

Please read carefully the attached instructions and return this form to your Veterans Association or nearest Consulate General of France

Recommendation For the Certificate to Recognize the Allied Soldiers Who Took Part to The Normandy Landing and Contributed to the Liberation of France

1944-1945

Last Name:

First Name: Middle Initial:

Date of Birth:

Birthplace: Country of Birth:

Street Adress:

Town:

County: State: Zip: Telephone:

Major Combat Unit (Army, Division, Naval ship, Coast Guard vessel, Numbered Air Force) :

World War II Serial Number:

Duration of armed services on French territory, airspace or waters during World War II and dates (year, month end day, please attach a copy of military records):

Dates of Service-From: Until:

Where did you serve in France?

Are you a member of a Veteran Association ? YES / NO

If yes, which one ? (Name, Address, Phone #, Email)

If this form is prepared by a third person, please indicate your name, address and phone number below:

To be completed by the veteran:

I, , the undersigned, declare on my honor that the information contained on this form and on the attached copies is exact.

Done at on ,2000/2001.

Page 1 of 2For the Certificate to Honor WWII Veterans

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Signature of the veteran:

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The EAGLE - Indiana CVSOs · A member of the Executive Board of the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers (NACVSO) has agreed to speak to Indiana CVSO’s about