Fear of the VA Reopening Your Case

Episode 27 of The Veterans Voice podcast features exciting discussions every veteran needs to hear about the VA confiscating weapons, the non-adversarial process and much more.

Brought to the air by Veterans Law Group and our very own managing attorney, Amanda L. Mineer as the host, this episode of the podcast starts by welcoming a regular caller that listeners of the last episode will surely remember, Mel. [7:35]

Mel joins us again to discuss further the VA confiscating his means of self-defense and his desire to have them returned to him. Yet, the fear of having the VA reopen his case and consequently decide to revoke his benefits is weighing on him. Due to that, he asks for Amanda’s opinion on his situation. 

Even with her limited knowledge of his exact circumstances, she does her best to provide him with thorough information to lead him in the best direction possible. 

She explains that the VA most likely deemed Mel incompetent to handle his finances. And with supporting evidence, that opens them up to take his firearms. She continues to explain that if Mel genuinely wants to have his firearms returned to him, he must fight the incompetency rating. [9:10]

After more discussion between Mel and Amanda, sharing some healthy cynicism towards the VA and their processes, the podcast takes a break. And it returns to speak about how one can be compensated for their military career. [18:00]

Amanda tells us that the three options are retirement, pension or disability benefits, and she describes them. 

1. Retirement is the most straightforward of the three. After you’ve served 20 years of honorable service, you are entitled to your fund. 
2. And then, separate from that, there’s Pension, which can be confusing since most people think of retirement when they hear the word. However, the word pension doesn’t carry the same meaning for the VA. And there are a lot of ways to qualify for it. 
3. Lastly, there’s compensation (disability benefits), where the expertise of Veterans Law Group falls. 

Following Amanda’s explanation of all three, she goes on to say that despite what many veterans believe to be true, you cannot receive pension payments and disability compensation simultaneously. 

Later, we discuss effective disability dates. [22:30] 

Then welcome another veteran who shares his recent experience with the VA, turning him away, even claiming that they had no record of his injury. He shares the story behind his parachuting accident and more. [32:30]

To catch all of the nuggets of information between these discussions and hear Amanda’s insightful explanations firsthand, please tune in and listen to the full podcast!