Joe was scheduled to have his video conference hearing on the 3rd of December in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Unfortunately the NSO dissuaded Joe to withdraw his hearing after reviewing Joe’s medical records while in service. After leaving feeling in total disbelief, and that he was blind-sided by the DAV national service officer, anger quickly set in.
I proceeded making phone calls to Markwayne Mullins’ office to no avail, so we drove over to the office in town to find no one there. The following day I called his office in D.C. telling the secretary exactly how things played out in the DAV office. Needless to say I received a call from Jason Self, Mullins’ advocate for veterans, and explained to him what had occurred. Keep in mind we have been fighting for Joe for three years. In response, Jason gave me the phone number for the DAV adjudicant in Oklahoma City.
Enter the “Magic Window”. It is defined by Veterans Affairs as the year after leaving service for your country. You have to have records of a condition worsening after you left. Doesn’t matter that the terminal illnesses you have present day are slowly killing you. IT DOESN’T COUNT!!
It also doesn’t matter if you bring scientific evidence of chemical exposure to your hearing. IT DOESN’T COUNT!
These exposures are the new Agent Orange. Like Agent Orange, any attention to address the issues our veterans and civilian workers are facing with their health will take decades to resolve. My husband will be deceased well before he will be vindicated for these Superfund bases he was stationed at.
And a side note to this – the Veterans Affairs department changes the book every year on their C.F.R.s. laws. I ask for continued prayers, everyone. This mountain of red tape is worse than I could have ever possibly imagined.
- Author resides in Oklahoma
Note from the Editor: The account/editorial is verbatim from the author without edit, with only the omission of their name to preserve anonymity.
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