On today's episode, we had an engaging conversation with a Veteran Service Officer, Mike Wyatt. We uncovered the layers of the PACT Act, a game-changer that expands VA healthcare and benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits, agent orange, and other toxic substances.
Mike explores the significance of documenting these toxic exposures for future claims and the crucial role of clear communication with Veteran Service Officers (VSOs). Mike also shares his personal experiences navigating this complex system and emphasized the importance of self-advocacy and accessing community care.
Join us in this enlightening conversation to broaden your understanding of the PACT Act and its impact on veterans' health.
Tune into our CHW Streaming Radio and the full lineup at cominghomewell.com
Download on Apple Play and Google Play
Online-Therapy.com ~ Life Changing Therapy Click here for a 20% discount on your first month.
Donna’s Links
Website: www.rebel-llc.com Consulting/Coaching
Book: Warrior to Patriot Citizen (2017)
Blog: Taking Off The Armor
IG: @thetransitioningwarrior
Twitter: @wtpc
FB: The Transitioning Warrior
Jay’s Links
Website: https://j2servantleadership.com/
Book: Breaking Average (2020)
Thank you for listening! Be sure to SHARE, LIKE and leave us a REVIEW!
On today's episode, we had an engaging conversation with a Veteran Service Officer, Mike Wyatt. We uncovered the layers of the PACT Act, a game-changer that expands VA healthcare and benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits, agent orange, and other toxic substances.
Mike explores the significance of documenting these toxic exposures for future claims and the crucial role of clear communication with Veteran Service Officers (VSOs). Mike also shares his personal experiences navigating this complex system and emphasized the importance of self-advocacy and accessing community care.
Join us in this enlightening conversation to broaden your understanding of the PACT Act and its impact on veterans' health.
Tune into our CHW Streaming Radio and the full lineup at cominghomewell.com
Download on Apple Play and Google Play
Online-Therapy.com ~ Life Changing Therapy Click here for a 20% discount on your first month.
Donna’s Links
Website: www.rebel-llc.com Consulting/Coaching
Book: Warrior to Patriot Citizen (2017)
Blog: Taking Off The Armor
IG: @thetransitioningwarrior
Twitter: @wtpc
FB: The Transitioning Warrior
Jay’s Links
Website: https://j2servantleadership.com/
Book: Breaking Average (2020)
Thank you for listening! Be sure to SHARE, LIKE and leave us a REVIEW!
Welcome to Beyond the Frontline podcast, where your hosts, US Air Force veterans Donna Hofmeier and Jay Johnson, will help you transition from the frontline to the home front. Listen every other Wednesday, as they will bring great conversations, resources, tips and feel good stories that will resonate and relate. Now here's your hosts, Donna Hofmeier and Jay Johnson.
Speaker 2:So let me get this straight. So you did business, you tried business, you tried human resources, education, aviation technology and pre-med, the medical and your degree is what and what?
Speaker 3:So I was a dual major in college. I was a engineering and a medical. So originally I went to college. I was wanting to be an orthopedic surgeon. I saw the way medicine was going, so, even though I got my pre-med degree and my engineering degree, I decided to stay with engineering.
Speaker 2:Then Wait your dual major was engineering and pre-med together. Holy shit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was an honor student way back when Then I actually was offered a GM position. So when I was in ROTC I was supposed to be a missile launch officer in the reserve.
Speaker 2:That would have been kind of boring compared to all the other stuff you just did.
Speaker 3:So I went in and a guy I worked for part-time offered me a general manager's position in this company, which means he was a franchisee but he had multiple locations. I took those businesses and I actually wound up turning them into 15 of the top 20 in a period about 18 months, as the GM and then corporate saw. And so I went to go work at the corporate side in HR as a VPN marketing, development and human resources. So I led the expansion of the company into China back in the 80s.
Speaker 2:Oh see, we can blame you for all a Timu and Sheen, and it's your fault. You started all this. Your background is beyond extensive. You need to write a book. I mean, you seriously do so. Hey, I'm gonna start this, and I'm sure people are wondering who we're talking to right now and who's this person that has a double major in pre-med and in engineering, because I'm not sure who takes that on. One of them alone is challenging enough, but this is beyond the front line, as you all know, and I am part of a team of two except a missing one. So Donna's here today, jay's out a little bit of a family emergency, so I said that's all right, I'll take it on, because we know the guest that we're bringing on. He's actually a good friend of mine and this is Mr Mike Wyatt. Hi, mike.
Speaker 3:Hi Donna, how are you today?
Speaker 2:As good. Like every time I talk to you it's like a whole new. Like I can't even keep straight all the stuff that you've done and so I just crack, I don't even try to keep up. It's just like a new story. And I swear to God you and I have talked and then you're telling me this stuff. I didn't even know you had a double major. I'm like holy crap.
Speaker 2:But even though he's super interesting and I swear we could bring him on just for like super interesting people, we're actually bringing him on for a reason because Mike is a VSO, a veteran service officer, and he's a very good one.
Speaker 2:And Mike and I met randomly through a mutual friend. Actually, his chiropractor is a friend of mine and calls me up and says, hey, some gentleman and his wife came in and they were talking about veteran stuff and I said they should talk to you and I was like, okay, and that's how Mike and I met and so I've actually worked with him on a case here and there and he comes to our veteran breakfast and every time he comes and talks, everybody wants to keep talking to him because he holds all the knowledge about disabilities and what I wanna talk about today, the PACT Act, right Cause that's the new hot thing that's out there. The VA finally came to be and said all right, we're opening up for the PACT Act and we want people to apply and they have and it has absolutely flooded the VA and they are months and months behind. So if you're all waiting for your medical records or you're waiting for responses, you just keep waiting. It's gonna be a while, right, mike?
Speaker 3:That's true on the record side for the VA. They're actually running about nine months behind and getting people's records. God, they're just now up to January 2023.
Speaker 2:And we're in October, right? So it's gonna be a while. That's gonna be a while, see, and the joke is that he has I'll tell you why he's got on me about the PACT Act because I had a reason that I needed to apply, of which I didn't know, and then he's like, hey, you need to do this. And so, after a couple of prompts, I finally did, and then I've sat on it because it's a big delay, and so I told him, like, see, procrastinators like me are helping people like you. I'm waiting for the wave to go by. So let's start with PACT Act, what it is. We keep throwing the acronym out, but, just in case, there's somebody living under a rock there, what is it?
Speaker 3:So what the PACT Act is? It stands for the honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxics act of 2022. That's a mouthful yeah. So that's the new law that basically expanded VA healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, agent Orange and any other toxic substances and exposures that you've been exposed through throughout your career. So it's not just war-related Agent Orange, radiation, asbestos, things like that. But the thing that it also did was it opened it up to spouses, independent.
Speaker 3:So everybody's probably heard the Camp Lejeune. Oh, the water, water contamination. So that came about as well because of a whole lot of lawsuits for stillbirth, the amount of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and dementia in veterans. So with those lawsuits, the push went to the VFW, the DAV and the American Legion to get Congress to act and then they passed this and it finally got signed into law in 2022. So this now it's the largest comprehensive change to VA healthcare in the history of the VA. Yes, so the goal was to get more veterans into healthcare. They created three new categories to phase in so veterans can receive more hospital care, medical services and nursing home care. So people don't realize is that their dependence also qualify. So and I know we've talked a little bit about it but to get that done. So example would be for the contaminated water sources. There is a separate legal couple, legal agencies. So the DAB has one, the VFW has one and the American Legion have one that they all work with to help the dependent's file for any defects or things that happen due to contamination.
Speaker 2:So when you say okay, so when you're talking spouses like spouses that were at Camp Lejeune and drinking the water, having issues, anything like that- Correct Children.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. Yeah, well, children. That's the one where you caught me on is you know we have a son that has ADHD and you know I didn't think anything of it happens, you know. And then you kind of bopped along and started asking me questions and you were like, hey, were you ever on a flight line? And I'm like, yep, I was 30 and a half years and my husband most of his career sucking lots of fumes. And you're like, mm-hmm, yep, you need to apply now, because what was it?
Speaker 3:There was a connection between toxic exposures. Somebody that's been on the flight line is familiar with TCE, trichlorothelin, pce, which is perfluoroclorethelin, and DCE, which is tetrachlorothelin. So, or MEK, methylethylketone. There are actually toxic chemicals that were used on aviation and electronics, and even the hospital used them in biomedical engineering. So under Camp Lejeune, just like most military bases, there are toxic plumes of TCE, pfos, pfoas, so that's the, as you would commonly hear, a-trip-l-f or aircraft firefighting foam. So that's the other point that's out there as a contaminant in the soil.
Speaker 2:That's the fuel. Right like the JPA and the JP4, jp4,.
Speaker 3:JP7, JP8.
Speaker 2:I mean we suck lots of that.
Speaker 3:Correct and people think that that does not count towards their exposure. But that is now part of the PACT Act, so those are all part of your toxic exposures. It's not just burn pits, your exposure to asbestos. Every time you go out to the range and you're firing a gun, you're exposed to lead, right. So everybody in combat is exposed to a high volume of lead as well. So lead can lead to neurological issues. So that's why it's important to make a list of the bases you've been at TDY station deployed, a list of ships if you're in the Navy, marine Corps or Air Force, because there are Air Force folks that are on ships, as well as any port calls. Every military installation worldwide is considered a toxic environment.
Speaker 2:Well, that's comforting Now, isn't that?
Speaker 3:Right. So what you have going on right now is DOD and the EPA and Congressional Affairs Water sources mandated that they look at all water sources on every installation to look for TCE, pfos, polyphoric carbons, pfas and provide that. So one of the things I try to tell all active duty if you're still active duty every year you have an industrial hygiene survey. That's done. That also covers your hearing conservation, your mask.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 3:Right, so you can get a copy of that from Public Health and that is a viable source to use as a source document if you file for your future toxic.
Speaker 2:But where do you go for Public Health? I mean, like you know, for our medical records we go up to Illinois for the central, but what about your?
Speaker 3:So you can go back to the Public Health Department at the local base or you can go to each respective service has an environmental command and you can fill out a FOIA request and request those industrial hygiene surveys.
Speaker 3:So for the active duty folks that are getting ready to retire, I brief them on that and I tell them hey, go get a copy of your industrial hygiene survey. You keep that so and that lists everything that has MSDS, VOCs, SVOCs, those types of things. So then you keep that till you die. Same thing with your medical record, Hopefully not sooner than later.
Speaker 2:Gee. I mean the way, the list. I'm like thinking of this list and I'm like Laura, I see the years ticking off. I'm like, damn, 88, 87. True, like, say, the one that caught me. You said to me the statistic, you told me, and I don't remember the exact stat, but it was about people on the flight line and the increased risk of Alzheimer's and cancer.
Speaker 3:So cancer is hearing loss. So the DOD released several studies that they've been doing that span 35 years. They released those six months and nine months ago. So people that work around the flight line or have been around the flight line are 70% more likely to have hearing loss and 80% more likely to have cancer.
Speaker 2:And what?
Speaker 3:veterans don't know is just like with Agent Orange that can affect you three seconds after exposure or 70 years down the line. So most everybody in the military has been exposed to asbestos. So if you've been on a base that has asbestos or you've been living in quarters or barracks that were built prior to 1986. Army bases Correct Air force bases.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The aircraft, anything B-52s, 135s, f-4s, 15s, f-4, all that stuff that was F-16s were actually built ships. We're all built with asbestos in it. So mesothelioma again, that's a toxic exposure. It can affect you one minute after exposure. It can affect you 70 years down the line. Oh, go ahead. So it's no different than Agent Orange three seconds or 50 years later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I heard a squeak. I looked back and I think my dog found a squeaky toy.
Speaker 3:All good.
Speaker 2:So well, the reason why I was joking about Army was because it brought me back. So when I was stationed in Germany, my parents came to visit and we went to Freberg, freberg, freberg, freberg, freberg and we went up there, because that's where my dad was stationed when he was drafted. And so we went up there and I kid you not. So this is what 30, 35, 40 years later, he knew his dorm room. It was still there. So when you said it was the bestest in the building, it was like uh-huh, yeah, because, he was like, yeah, there it is.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, we forget the lead paint. So you know. So it was good that the PACT actually came out, because it actually did add more presumptives, you know, for burn pits and other exposures. So one of the things I always ask when I'm talking to somebody about disabilities is what I just said. I want to see every base you've been TDY station deployed and the shifts and the fault calls.
Speaker 3:So I actually look all that stuff up and I look at each one of the environmental commands. I go into the EPA, I look up every community, including bases that are closed.
Speaker 2:Do they have? Do they have, like, central areas that you can go into, of metadata that you can go in and research? This Is that where you look. Is it open to the public? Is it?
Speaker 3:Most of it is open to the public. So it's funny you asked that because I sent that to you on the links.
Speaker 2:Good, I was just going to ask you Is? It good, that's perfect. See everybody, it'll be there. If you want to know about your base and all the toxins on it, you can look there.
Speaker 3:So the other thing that's on, there is a way to request your records. Oh good, and that seems to be the biggest thing. The VA also does have something called quick submit. So you fill out a SF 180 and you can actually upload it online to the National Records Center for the VA. One of the things I ask people to do is, if you've already filed claims, also request your C file. That's your compensation file. So that has everything that the evaluator, such as QTC, lhi, these companies that are doing your DBQs at your disability questionnaires- Right.
Speaker 3:Every decision process is in that compensation file. Oh, it's a good thing to have that compensation file as well as any military and civilian medical records.
Speaker 3:That is good information so and that is very, very important, especially if you have a lot of denials and referrals or deferrals, because what happens is is those aren't done on a 526, which is the normal application form. They're actually done on a 996 because we're adding additional information. So there used to be you could all do it on a 521, 526, but now you can't. But the VA is, as everybody knows, is complicated. It's the biggest battle we, as a veteran, face. It is fighting the VA system.
Speaker 2:I agree, that's the thing that kind of drives me a little bonkers is, you know, when I applied and I submitted, I remember that everybody and their brother was theirs was getting done. I mean, I had people that were retiring after me, applying after me and they're like, oh, like two months it's done and I'm sitting here. Mine was like nine months, eight a year somewhere around. It was like forever. I know enough of the system to be dangerous because I worked in it a little bit and I knew my case was not a complex case. I didn't have very complicated things going on and so I was really lost in that and it's frustrating. And I was a lucky one in the sense that I didn't need that money at that time. You know it wasn't like I need to have this to kind of keep going. But there are people that that is helping them financially to sustain themselves. So when they're taking eight months and nine months and 12 months and you know it's very frustrating yeah years and years and you know, and then, and then I see people.
Speaker 2:It's a little off topic but I find it interesting. There's the VSOs, right, and so VSOs are free to the service members. The veterans, right, and you you already said you can go to the DAV and find them the VFWs have them. Pav, do they do it? The paralyze, Do they have VSOs?
Speaker 3:Paralyze Veterans of America. Pva, Yep, they have it.
Speaker 2:And then your counties have it. So there's county VSOs. And Mike, tell me a little difference, the, because I did not know this until actually not long after I met you. There's county VSOs versus are you like federal? I don't know what the difference, but VSO and county VSO.
Speaker 3:So the state departments of Veterans Affairs and the county VSOs they're, they are paid Yep and they are considered accredited. So they can actually you can actually do a power of attorney and they will get your records for you.
Speaker 3:Versus those of us that are in the VFW, american Legion, dav, order of the Purple Heart, the other veterans service. We are not accredited so we cannot have you sign a power of attorney so we can get your medical records and do it for you. We depend on you to provide the the records so we can actually do it. That's one of the battles I'm fighting right now nationally. I'm a lifetime member of American Legion, dav and VFW, so and I've actually been doing stuff like this a VSO position for about 15 years, so a little bit of experience.
Speaker 2:Just a little.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so with the accreditation process, it allows us to contact your doctor and get your records, instead of you having to go and then us waiting. So the average wait time, like right now, as I said, it's about nine months for somebody to get their records, and so I have like 80 people and a backlog and I pick up five to 10 a day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you were telling me you're like referring to others that you trust, and and I will say you know that it is important that you have a good communication with them. You know, my husband had a great VSO. Well, he went to the DAV and so the VSOs there were phenomenal with them. I had a horrible VSO when I was coming out of the military and I was warned too that the person said, well, or somebody that knew this person, said it's either going to be amazing or horrible. He cherry picks what he wants to do. Well, he didn't cherry pick me, got the short end of that stick and so it was a struggle. It was during COVID. That didn't help anything. So in his defense he's trying to battle, you know, paddle uphill with all this chaos. So that connection is important for that clear communication.
Speaker 2:And there's another piece, and I'm kind of leading you down a road, and I know it's a little bit off a packed act, but I think it's important for people to understand that finding a VSO, a solid one, and the different types of people, so it's a different types of VSOs county VSO why is that different than, you know, a another VSO that's not paid by the state, right, and so you're kind of clearing some of that up. There's also people that will go to I don't really know what their term is, is it? They're paid VSOs are not county VSOs, but you pay them. And then there's also people that go to attorneys to have this done. So would you kind of pick apart the what happens when you pay for VSO and you pay for attorney? Do you have any knowledge of those or what you've seen in your experience or whatnot?
Speaker 3:So first, one of the first things I'll say is for anybody that's on active duty and they're getting ready to separate, do BDD, which is benefits delivery on discharge, before you get out, so that your disability is done when you get out.
Speaker 2:And that's six months out, right, they can start 90,.
Speaker 3:Three to six months out, right Right Two years out. You need to start and to ensure that you have all your medical issues documented.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I'll tell you why. That's extremely important, because this happened to me is that I had been in the military 12 years. I got out and then I came back in and anything that's not continuous in the military or any abnormal DV, it can mess things up. And so I went to the records department and I said, hey, I need a copy of my records on a CD. And they're like yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2:And so they hand me it and it went back like two years and I was like I'm retiring I have a couple more years than this and they couldn't find my record. And they're looking and looking and looking and they're like, oh, you have to go up to the central, which is Illinois, right, and I was like, okay. And then, before I ended up doing that, I don't know, we had a discussion and they said let me look one more place. They said, let me look down at Lackland. Apparently, my record was in the basement in Lackland, somewhere my entire career was sitting hard copied, not uploaded, in a basement in Lackland and I was very lucky there was no flood or some randomness. That happened that actually happens quite a bit.
Speaker 3:So because of a lawsuit and because of the things going on at the National Records Archive, a lot of this. Some of your records are at the National Records Archive and some is now at your service.
Speaker 2:When you say some, what does that mean? 6040?.
Speaker 3:I like to say it's a crap shoot. So, yeah, some of it can be all of it or none of it. So the National Records Archive is supposed to. If they don't have it, they're supposed to contact your service.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:To get your copies, gotcha, if you live close to base, it's easy for you to just go into the hospital and try to get a copy, if you can. So trial to your records go back about 30 years so. But to get back to your other discussion, yes, sorry. No, that's fine. The difference between the county BSOs. They're paid by your county or state, same as a veteran BSO, so that service is free but they're paid.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So the veteran service officers, we're all free you volunteer.
Speaker 2:Right, that's the thing.
Speaker 3:You volunteer, we're all volunteer.
Speaker 2:The county. Bsos are paid by state. It's still free to the service member. That's the whole thing. Veteran service is still free. Then we get into, go ahead.
Speaker 3:So then you get into. There are a lot of extraneous agencies, so legal firms can be accredited. So you can go out to the vagov and find a list of accredited BSOs and then you can actually do the power of attorney, get your records and process it. The lawyers can charge you. So it's not like if you get a Medicare disability lawyer where they're capped at $6,000, a lawyer or whoever can get whatever a percentage of your back pay. So it's whatever's negotiated.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:I've seen some people pay as much as $20,000 and only come back at 50%. So and I work with some of those to get them to 100% If you don't do it right the first time, it's harder to get it. So, as you know, the closer you get to 90 or 100, the smaller the percentage is.
Speaker 2:Because it's that crazy math.
Speaker 3:And more. Yeah, the VA math. So you see a lot of that and people sit at 90 for a long time and they may have 50, 10%. Well, those 50, 10% are barely gonna get you to 100%. So you have to look at whether or not your VSO whoever's doing your pay or also lists your residuals or the additional things that count towards that. So let's say you have sleep apnea, but you also have anxiety and depression or sinusitis. So if you have all those, then you wanna put all those down as a disability and you have to be able to put the puzzle together.
Speaker 2:Because that's what it is. Well, that's it. It's a medical puzzle, it's a holistic look, but we're breaking it down into each little. It's like operation, right, Like you gotta look at all the different pieces there.
Speaker 3:So the VA got sued and about five months ago the VA IG went into 20, they looked at 23 of the regional offices and found that a lot of those VSOs that were submitting paperwork were not looking at the complete records and so they were denying people's claims based upon saying that there's insufficient evidence. So they have to go back and actually look at 500,000 records for people that were denied.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, on top of PACT Act right, correct, pact Act coming in, they get sued. Now they're like oh man, and I'll add another factor on this. I have somebody I know that works for one of these I don't know which one, but the subcontracts where they do the medical exams, and I'm not gonna name any of them, but they do the medical exams and whatnot and anybody knows them, that's been through it and she does their quality check kind of thing and she looks at the cases to make sure all the information's ready to go. And told me straight up she's like so we work, she goes. They get mad at me all the time because they want us to spend five minutes per case and I was like spend what? And she goes and they get commission, like sort of like commission, like how many cases they get bonuses there we go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if they meet the quota, then they get more bonus, right? So it incentivizes them to go fast and she goes, and you know what that turns into. I'm like, should it show? She's like, yep, and so they're missing stuff, you know, they're sending in incomplete stuff or whatnot, because they're not even given the time. And she's like they get mad at me all the time because I take longer, but I've been on the other side of it, so I'm not gonna compromise. You know, like damn. That was eye-opener for me.
Speaker 3:Well, there's been a couple undercover investigations that have actually been done. Nbc published some stuff here about a week ago, so where you know, they said, yeah, we're in a quota system. So if we find one thing that we can deny it, we just deny the whole claim.
Speaker 2:That's yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because they have the quota system. So I know there's a lot of people that have also had their disabilities and appeal so in February of 2019, so there was a change. So anything that was submitted after February of 2019, they're gonna try to have that done within five years, so but there are a lot of claims that are still open prior to February of 2019.
Speaker 2:So there are a lot of different things that go on and it's so complicated to be because it's so massive and I don't know if a lot of people know this and this is how I read it the VA, but they're like a franchise, so every hospital is on its own. I mean there's an overhead, but I mean they. So every time you go to a different VA, the whole different set of rules, you know what they're doing. I've seen it, I've dealt with it. I, when I played in the system and working, I was like how did they not know this we don't know anything about? I'm like, isn't that common knowledge? Well, at that VA?
Speaker 1:it's not.
Speaker 2:And it's mother right. So I'm like, I'm like, I'm like oh, my Lord, and that was an eye opener for me that they are. Their continuity is not there, because they don't all run together, they don't all communicate, they don't have the same discussions, so every, every vision is different and you know what's going on like right now in the San Antonio area.
Speaker 3:my previous vision, which actually happened to be in Louisville, kentucky, was actually 10 years ahead of what's going on here in San Antonio, which is military city USA. So you know, they've only been doing acupuncture and chiropractic here for about three and a half years. Yeah, versus, I've been doing acupuncture and chiropractor through the VA since 2009. At which VA were?
Speaker 2:you at before? Yeah, which VA were you at before that was doing it?
Speaker 3:Eluable. Oh wow, Kentucky.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so each vision is different.
Speaker 3:So now that's part of the whole health. So if you want acupuncture or chiropractic, enrolling the whole health program through your primary care at the VA and they'll get you in the system. It's a process. It's like still a three to four month process, but you know that's the, so you know for the audience here.
Speaker 2:You're brought here on like PACT Act. We're talking PACT Act and there is a lot to talk about with PACT Act. But I also like to bring around, like to have Mike central one, to get him as rare so if I can nail him down for an hour that's like amazing and to get this knowledge out of him. So I kind of want to tap as much as I can off you. But when you're looking at, when you talk about whole care right, the whole care that they have now, that is I'm glad it's coming on board. It has a long ways to go in their capabilities, you know, but it's a start and you got to start somewhere. So that's a really good thing. But for the audience, I'm going to kind of tie these things all up together a little bit.
Speaker 2:When you're getting into that system to get care, what is the recommendation? If there are weights, right. So what are you doing in the meantime? That's one thing. And how are you maintaining yourself during those weights? Like, what are you seeing people do? It's a little off topic, but like, if they're waiting that long, is there other places people can go to get care that you see there are? So there are a couple of things you know.
Speaker 3:So one thing I'll say is you are your own advocate, thank you, and you have to you're the only person that's going to take care of you Right Period.
Speaker 3:So you need to become involved. The other thing to that is you earned it. The VA is pre-funded for disabilities, so you're not taking any money or anything else from another veteran. Right, you're actually putting, but the VA is the largest socialized medicine for the community. But the VA is the largest socialized medicine program in the world in the history of the world. So you need to fight for your own care and they're supposed to be able to get you a primary care physician within 30 to 45 days. If that's not happening, call your congressman, chip Roy, tony Gonzalez, whoever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whoever your state is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wherever your state or your local area is and say, hey, I can't get in.
Speaker 2:So you, you answered where I was going, so that's what I wanted, without saying it straight out. You answered the question was that if you can't, if you're struggling to get those appointments that are and they're like, oh it's a four month wait, sorry, the answer is like, you need to refer me out because that that is what they're supposed to be doing Right Under community care.
Speaker 2:So when you are in the system and you're being told, oh, I'm sorry, it's two months, three months, whatever, whether it's mental health, whether it's physical health, whatever it is you're like, okay, well, can I have a referral through community care to get my mental health care, what not? The answer should not be no. The answer should be yes.
Speaker 3:It's supposed to be 20 days for um uh you can't go in within 20 days to see a GP, a PCN? Uh, then they're supposed to refer you out. It's 30 days for specialty care, Got you?
Speaker 2:Okay, so those are good numbers to right so remember there.
Speaker 3:So, um, there there are a couple more things. So, for survivors, um, you know, spouses, independence of veterans, have died um of a service connected disease and had DIC, that's the dependency and indemnity compensation Um, or uh survivor's pension or accrued benefits denied. All that stuff is now re-looked at underneath the PAC that and uh, the VA is supposed to be contacting you as a if you're the dependent, but, as we know, that doesn't work that way, right? So it would be who of you? If you know a dependent or survivor who had somebody that passed away, that's the case Um.
Speaker 3:But if you have somebody that's had somebody that was in the VA and they're not, they're not dependent on you, Um, they're not dependent on you, but they're dependent on you, um, they're dependent on you, um, they're dependent on you to actually get them to contact the VA and re have them re look at their uh dependency and indemnity compensation, as well as um possible accrued benefits or survivor's pension, accrued benefits, and that's the case Um, I think that's the case Um. I think that's the case Um. As example, if you are one of those people that has a claim that's Earlier than 2019 and you die, that claim becomes part of your state and the executor Is Is obligated to close your state, the fall for the accrued benefits.
Speaker 3:So in some cases that could be a hundred $200,000. But in some cases that's not a good thing and there's a couple of folks here in the in the this region that have just um One individual got a hundred and 20,000 and one got 275,000. Uh, just recently in accrued and DIC compensation Is that taxable? Income. Is that? No, it's all non-taxable.
Speaker 2:It's no different than your disability.
Speaker 3:And that's not a good thing. The other thing that does is when that goes into play. Um, let's say so, you got out at 12, let's say and you did not retire. That also allows the disability, the certificate of eligibility for housing, the chapter 35 for education, all that stuff to cross over to the spouse and the dependents.
Speaker 3:So there are magic numbers that always go into play and that's a lot of things that I've seen. I've seen that 70, 70%, um, one of the things I am seeing and it's a battle is we have a lot of older veterans that have dementia, alzheimer's and that that have never filed, and then their spouse is their caregiver. But you can't get caregiver unless the veteran has a disability, so you have to file for the disability in order for the spouse to get uh, to get a medical care program. Um, and I'm talking about assistance. So one of the things I've been doing is actually going out in the communities and trying to get uh healthcare practitioners to actually, in some cases, take tri care or take Medicare or become enrolled in the VA community care program, because a lot of people are tired of driving an hour and a half into the city.
Speaker 3:Yes, and then, um, you know I'm getting a little bit here, a little bit there. Um, there are some agencies that are grant agencies. So if you're, on the example, the West side of San Antonio, up in Dallas, el Paso, um, throughout the U? S, there's a, a group called endeavors.
Speaker 2:I thought you were talking about yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the Stephen eight Cohen foundation, uh, that also does mental health. They have flagship health in there, so that's actually a primary care. That's no cost to you the veteran.
Speaker 2:And they do a. Uh, they actually have a transport.
Speaker 3:They do trans, so so many miles. It's a beautiful facility.
Speaker 2:I've toured it before.
Speaker 3:So the other part of that. There's another one on the East side, uh, or actually downtown San Antonio on Flores street. Uh, those of us that have been around a little bit probably remember the old American GI form magazine that used to help have jobs and things in it back in the 90s. Well, they also have a national veterans outreach program, oh, neat. And so they have, uh um hotel, um, they put up homeless, they do a job education. They have actually having a job fair November.
Speaker 3:Second and third Um they're having a stand down and it's it's for veterans and civilians on the second and veterans only on on the third. They have a mental health as well. They also do telehealth. They um actually have a they're all manufacturing plant and um they employ the veterans Um, so they work with flagship health Uh, so I was actually able to do that tour as well, um.
Speaker 3:The other thing is there's Elmo veterans network. So the 13 counties that surround bear County all um put money into a cog. People have heard a cog Elmo area council government Um, and there's a veterans network within that and it also deals with um about 200. 30 nonprofits, and so you can actually call them up and they have a counselor, intake specialist that will actually work with you and actually put you off. So I work with them on because I get calls from everywhere. So I kind of help everybody across the US. So I've had calls for suicide, spouse suicides, attempted suicides. So when I'm working with a veteran that's married, that's got a Alzheimer's, dementia or whatever, the spouses have what's called vicarious trauma.
Speaker 3:It used to be called vicarious PTSD or secondary trauma stress, and that affects them. Your PTSD and actions affect your spouse and your kids. So if I'm able to talk to a spouse and a kid one of the things I do again, from the education side of my background, it's also clinical psychology so I do a little bit of analysis and I ask the same thing. It would be like hey, donna, are you feeling depressed, anxious? You know, I kind of go through the same DSM-5 questions that psychiatrists would use to let me see how you are and then I try to get you help as well. So not every VSO does that.
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say I'm like we got a VSO plus here and you know, not every VSO does that, but really that is especially in the paid ones, and Mike and I know this. That that's what they're supposed to be also helping with is connecting to resources. That is a big part. So let me ask this question. So a lot of what Mike was talking about was actually local with Texas, like ACOG and endeavors is actually in different places and the Coen Clinic we just happen to have the flagship, a big one here in San Antonio, and so we've seen it. It's really nice, great facility. But if they are not here and they're nationally, where do you recommend let me tie this back towards like the PACT Act when do you recommend people start Like they're like holy crap, my kid has ADHD. I sat on a flight line for 20 years. There could be a relationship here Like how do I start with the PACT Act? What's the first step?
Speaker 3:So if you're the veteran or the spouse of a veteran or you have kids, I would say you can contact the local VA environmental coordinator. Some of them will tell you no, others will tell you yes. Or you can go online and do a search for VA or actually go talk to a Medicare disability attorney.
Speaker 2:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 3:Because some of those actually are accredited.
Speaker 1:And they can help with. Do they know about the PACT?
Speaker 2:Act or are they?
Speaker 3:With the PACT Act. Oh interesting, that's it Wow.
Speaker 2:But they can apply online right. They can do what they call intent to file right Intent to file.
Speaker 3:And the intent to file actually basically gives you up to one year to get the information into the system and will guarantee you a back pay to the date that you file.
Speaker 2:Right right.
Speaker 3:So if you're, not even sure.
Speaker 2:And here's the nice thing If you're not even sure, like I think I want to, but I'm not really sure just file, file it and if it pans out yeah, if it pans out that you're like that's not it, I don't have it, or you're not doing it, or whatever, it really is no harm, no foul, it'll just sit there and then I think after a year they'll just close it Close it right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's no big deal. If you're not sure file, do an intent for file and then work on it from there. Like I am, extremely slowly but it's in the back of my head.
Speaker 3:You know, one of the things I get is, especially when I talk to people is well, you know I wasn't, I didn't do that, or you know I was, I'll use medical. So a lot of medical people wind up being security forces. Augmentees, right. So what do they do during exercises or when shit hits the fan or something? They become security forces on the garden of planes, on the flight line.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So you are exposed to that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:You know people in the hospital that work in the OR, nicu, icu, anesthesia, oxygen, nitrogen all those stuff are in mass quantities or considered toxic exposures. Yeah, we're around it all day.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's what we're doing all day and a lot of people like you say that's a very common thing, like, oh, I'm not really that broke, oh I'm not, oh, I don't wanna take from someone else I'm glad you said that like, hey, you're not taken from other people, that is congressionally funded for every person. And Congress said, hey, we're gonna open this up now and VA, you gotta handle this because you know there's a lot of. We're realizing that we stick people on bases that, after everything you just said, they're very toxic.
Speaker 3:Like Right and you know. The other thing is is you know, according to the August 2nd 2020, change to the May 21-1, which is the VA adjudicators manual, covid and the COVID vaccine are viable disabilities. Okay, and it's supposed to expire January 5th of 2024. So how do they already have an explanation date on it?
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I don't know. But if you, you know, that's another thing Like if you know, people ask me all the time like should I get it, should I not? I'm like you know, you get away a lot of stuff, right? So if you are somebody that did receive it and you notice afterwards that there's some effects, then apply. I mean apply, just put it on there, it's not a problem, you are not taking from anyone else. And so when the PACDAC came down, it just finally acknowledged all this stuff. Like how long did it take for just burn pits to get acknowledged?
Speaker 2:I had service members that are like I just get diagnosed with asthma at 35 years old. I've never, ever had a problem. And now I can't shake the cold. I get pneumonia real easy. I wheezy at certain times. I mean there's just a matter of time that the evidence becomes overwhelming that we had to start acknowledging and fortunately it was a tiny bit faster than Agent Orange. But I am telling you, my father-in-law passed away and we are pretty confident that it probably stemmed back to his Vietnam days, you know.
Speaker 3:And so one of the questions I always ask is did you have a vaccine reaction?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And when people give me a lot of symptoms, especially a lot of these younger people that are in the process of getting out of the service now, I will ask them did this happen before or after you were vaccinated? So, and the records when I review the records, the records I actually tell me so by virtue of the dates, and I actually see a lot of that that a lot of them have vaccine reactions, they all have. A lot of them have cardiac issues, a lot of them have fertility issues, and these people are in their 20s, 30s. They have joint issues body aches, sinus what's the one?
Speaker 2:is it conversion? God, I'm gonna get the name wrong, but essentially you will have symptoms for a certain amount of time. I actually had a student in college not a veteran. It was interesting. She had this where one day she could walk and one day she couldn't. So some days she'd come to school in a wheelchair, just like, oh, it's one of those days, and then other days she'd walk in the door.
Speaker 2:It's conversion or I cannot remember the term, but there's an actual term with that and there was a high association with the trauma and burn pits and all that other stuff going on with veterans that they were having all these symptoms, like they'd have the symptoms and then it'd be gone, and they'd have this and then it'd be gone. So there's I've seen so many veterans that would have a compilation of these symptoms, of different things, and they can't get any traction. So I'm really thankful that the PACT Act came in when it did and that these people now are getting recognized. Because here's the other half of it is there's one thing for the VA say hey, this is the Vassard, you know, that's the rating system. This is the criteria you meet or do not meet, right Black and white, like you meet it or you don't.
Speaker 2:But it is another thing when you know that you are not who you are, you are having these symptoms, you are having these issues. And then there's the psychological component. When somebody says sorry, we don't believe you quote unquote, or you don't meet criteria. Maybe it's that you don't meet criteria and so there's that mental component that just weighs on it. So when you're increasing stress levels, you're not getting better, right, you're getting worse, right. So it's not behooping the VA or Congress or anybody to deny all this stuff, because essentially the people are just gonna decompensate more mentally, physically, and now you're still gonna pay for it. So why don't we just get on the ball, which hopefully the PACT Act is doing, and start compensating these people and taking care of them like they should have been taken care of a long time?
Speaker 3:ago. Well, and you know, veterans will couple of things veterans need to look at. So basically, the disability is 38 CFR, part four, the Code of Federal Regulations, 50 and 54 CFR and DSM five, which are the three things that deal with mental health. So if you were actually to look at those and kind of I know it's kind of technical for a lot of folks, but just look at it and that'll say, okay, well, these are the disabilities that you're gonna be able to do, the disabilities that the VA looks at. Now, if you're 100% right, I get this question a lot. Should I apply for the PACT Act? The answer to that is yes, because you're not just helping yourself, you're helping a fellow veteran.
Speaker 2:So why? It's funny. This comes up a lot, right when somebody's 100% permanent and total too. Right If they're, whether 100% or 100% permanent total, there is a nervousness about reapplying for anything because there's a fear that they could take it away.
Speaker 3:So I've had that conversation with a lot of people too. So the way that the system is set up is they don't want you to do a lot of claims within a five-year period. So that's why it's important that you do all your claims, the majority of your claim, the first time. So because by the time you get to your third claim, you have to tie everything back into the first claim. That makes sense.
Speaker 2:So it almost like red flags, you you know, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:So you don't want to file three things and then file three things, then file three things, file nine things, right, because what they'll do is they'll award it. And then if you wait, if you do two years later and you do another one, then you look at it and you're saying, oh wow, well, I was 70, now they dropped me to 50. The VA is all about money.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So they'll drop it down and adjust it and still keep you at the same percentage you were before, on average, versus if you do it right the first time. So on average I get about. When I look through my screen, somebody's records, and talk to them, I come up with about 60 disabilities on average per person, and that's after they've seen somebody that and that person could already be at 50, 60, 70%. So the other thing is as soon as within one year when you get out, be sure that you go to the doctor and get stuff documented Well that's critical.
Speaker 2:You know, yes, that's critical when you're in also because we're all guilty. We are all guilty of this. But you know, we're like I'm fine, I'm not going to worry about it or whatever, and blow it off and I get it. I did it myself. But as we're maturing and we're getting on in our years, and then things, that little niggly knee, that was really no big deal. You could slap a brace on and just go to town and do your squats and everything.
Speaker 2:Well, now you've got more overuse injury and it's really hurting now and you have no proof that that started five years before and people always have the like, oh, we're just being whiny, like it's really not. If you can reframe it and I say this as a standing hypocrite on this because I was just as guilty but if you can reframe your mind, that you're, you're just getting this documented and don't worry, you know they're all just going to give you a motrin. I mean, if your legs hanging off or it's just a twinge, it's all the same treatment, it's motrin, right and so. But at least it's documented. And then when that knee hopefully doesn't, but if it worsens, then they can follow the trail. But if all of a sudden. The first documentation is you need a knee replacement and there was no acute injury. Like where do they go from there?
Speaker 3:So I tell people, you know you have to get out of. I tell them you have to get out of good soldier attitude. Yeah, you know you also have to get out of the suck it up buttercup, you know, while you're on active duty.
Speaker 2:That's how we're trained. Yeah, we're not trained. We're not trained as an individual, we're not trained as this person. You're trained to be part of a team, and if you're failing, quote, unquote your team in any level, then it wreaks more havoc, right, and so we all just like I'm fine, I'm fine, everybody's fine, until we're at like 17, 18, 19 years of real like how, why am I so broken? Why can't I sneeze? And something's pulled, you know. And now we have to look back and go oh, we're all guilty. So we're trying to tell the young ones wake the hell up, don't be stupid like us.
Speaker 3:Right and you know. So. You know, people look at me and they're like well, nothing's wrong with you.
Speaker 2:You look intact yeah.
Speaker 3:So, but you know, on the inside I'm jacked up, you know, broke as a joke. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So and you look at a lot of veterans and you'll see that, but you know, the older we get but the less mobile you know. So you know I always have to carry a cane in the car because I never know if the back or the hips are going to go out or whatever.
Speaker 2:I thought that was just your singing telegram routine that you were doing. Oh sorry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you know I'm kind of working on that. You know, there's just been a lot of changes that have been happening here lately and, you know not, it's not just the packed act. You know, again there was another lawsuit and I was going to put this out anyhow, but it came about because the veterans that were kicked out for PTSD, anxiety, TBI related issues and they got a other than honorable.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:In that right so which made them ineligible for benefits and things like that. Well, supposedly the VA is supposed to be looking at the 250,000, sorry, dod is supposed to be relooking at 250,000 of those to correct those as far as upgrading to at least a general discharge which makes you eligible for benefits. So if you're a veteran and you're listening to this, or you know a veteran that got out because of PTSD, anxiety, depression or TBI related issue, then they need to contact and actually appeal their discharge character to the board of correction for military records.
Speaker 2:If they were less than honorable right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, If they were less than general. Yeah, other than honorable Other than honorable right. Yeah, yeah, the BCDs are pretty much going to stay as a BCD.
Speaker 2:What's a BCD?
Speaker 3:You can't have bad conduct.
Speaker 2:Oh well, yeah, I mean, that's the. That is a big deal. We did a whole series on veteran treatment court and that's a phenomenal program and if you guys don't know what I'm talking about, go back. We have like a series of four or five. It was just an amazing learning experience.
Speaker 2:And and to one of the things I asked the court coordinator, laura, I said how she goes? She's actually still in the Navy reserve and I said how many of these people do you see that are getting out? She's a paralegal that were getting out, that had PTSD and were being separated for like conduct issues or or they were leaving on their own accord, whichever, and she's like almost all of them. She's like in the treatment court. All of them have PTSD. And it infuriates me because they weren't diagnosed, properly diagnosed. They weren't caught, so to speak. They weren't given the tough love to get this treatment, or hopefully, I've seen this too. They're just like I'm fine to worry about me. And then it led on to bad choices and here they are out with no benefit and in some cases, bad conduct and and less than honorable, and now they cannot get benefits. And where, where does that leave them? You know?
Speaker 2:I mean that's horrible.
Speaker 3:And the other thing I'll tell you with these folks is when you get out there's there's what they call an RE code. Re code, that's your re-emissment eligibility code. So if you tell somebody that you're in the service and you could have got out with a general discharge but had an RE code of four, an employer can turn you down because they'll look at that DD 214 and say you're RE code of four.
Speaker 2:Which is what less than honorable or less than?
Speaker 3:No, it just means that the service really won't take you back in.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, right, right, right right, I know Right.
Speaker 3:So so re-enlistment eligibility codes play a major factor on your DD 214. So be sure when, if you're getting out that you understand everything that's on your DD 214. Yeah, and that is especially the re-enlistment, the RE code.
Speaker 2:I hope mine's like a two or whatever. The worst one is that they'll never take me back. That's the one I want.
Speaker 3:So the other thing, too, that I want to just touch on real quick is I have a lot of folks that are they asked me about medical discharge versus MEB, versus retirement, versus just getting out. So if you're given a medical discharge and a 30% disability and a severance pay, then that severance pay has to be paid back to the VA in order for you to get care from the VA. So and that's a separate disability If somebody says that we'll give you a choice medical discharge or an MEB medical evaluation board, take the medical evaluation board.
Speaker 2:What's the difference? When you said that I would between medical discharge, just for the audience to understand the difference between medical discharge and an MEB.
Speaker 3:There's a difference, so Right, so the medical evaluation board, they have a PEB, a physical evaluation board, and they have the formal medical evaluation.
Speaker 2:That's all in the medical evaluation board. Right? That's the formality that says we're going to pay for whatever it is when you get out, but a medical discharge what's the difference?
Speaker 3:So the difference is with the medical discharge you're in some cases you're not necessarily eligible for certain benefits when you get out.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So, and then you know, so I give you 30,000 and you're actually going to get 21,000. So people think that's a big deal.
Speaker 2:Right, well, let me, let me add, let me. There's one more level to it, and the only reason I'm jumping in is because I know this was my job for way too many years. But when you're less than 30%, it's severance, right, they do not do the medical. That's the severance Right, medical retirement, that is that. So if you're less than 30%, you are not getting a monthly check. You're not getting any of that. You're getting. They're going to say, here's that severance, but there's also being separated for medical. You get nothing.
Speaker 3:Nothing, that's correct.
Speaker 2:Nothing and what that. What the military is saying is hey, you're like broke enough that we can't retain you, but none of those are service connect, they're not like nothing to do with us. You see this in the garden reserve side, this is where you see it. You don't see it in active duty. But these people can get sent out the door because they have conditions that do not meet retention standards. But the military is saying they are not military connected, we didn't cause that, which that's a whole other story. But anyway they say OK, you're not worldwide, you're not retention eligible, have a good day. And then they send you out the door with zero, no severance no nothing.
Speaker 3:And that's where so the DOD directive and each service directive actually mandate that the respective services follow the same disability guidelines as what's in the VASRID, the 38 CFR, the.
Speaker 1:VASR right.
Speaker 3:So what? They don't always you as a service member. They're supposed to provide you legal counsel when they're talking to you about medical discharge. So I think this is informal Right.
Speaker 2:So there is some DOD guidance on that Now. It could have changed since I got out, but here is the rule as supposed to be. Now. I said please go validate all your information because it changes all the time. But my last understanding is and this is what we used to advise them when they were going through an MEB I think it's by DOD or even NDAA. I'm not sure which level they are supposed to be provided a lawyer at the time that they are told they're having an MEB Now.
Speaker 3:DOD.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ok. So DOD, navy does it, army does it Air Force? They get to the formal and Air Force is like, oh, we don't have enough staff, and I know, I literally worked with these guys we don't have enough staff, so get some. Because if the Army and the Navy can do this, yeah, can do it. So what they do is say, oh, we don't have enough staff, so we do it at the formal level. We do it when it's a formal board, which is the step after the informal. So when you go through an MEB, you go through the informal and that's the first rating. And then you say, oh, I like it or no, I don't. And if you don't, you get to appeal to the formal board. And at that point, when you say I'm appealing, then they give you the disability lawyer. Right, the attorney, that's right. So, which I think is crap, because they should be advising you before that. Now I will say from all my Air Force buddies you can call the area I think they're called ADC now Area Disability.
Speaker 1:Council.
Speaker 2:You can call them and talk to a paralegal and you can ask questions, even though they're not taking you on officially. They will answer your questions. They're good people, but there is that process that they are limited on for the Air Force. So, yes, Right.
Speaker 3:So part of that process and I'll tell you, because I was medically boarded 60 days short of 20. They offered me 30%. I turned them down. When I met the board here in San Antonio I came in with again, you have to understand the rules. So I understood the rules. You need to understand what the requirements of your job are. So that's your pulleys, if you remember your profile PULHES. So every job and every service has a minimum standard. And so by the time I got boarded I was over 20. And I had already tried to retire and they wouldn't allow me to retire, which was kind of funny. So I met the board and I met my PULHES requirement by the regulations, but my injuries qualified me for 100% medical retirement. How?
Speaker 2:does that work?
Speaker 3:The board's decision was to return me to duty because it would save them about 40% in retirement benefits.
Speaker 2:So that is a tactic. I will tell you that I personally fought that fight when I was in. It was one of the last meetings I had with I believe I think Afrik and I was shocked because for the community this might get a little technical, but there is certain codes that return you back to duty so you can get fully returned. Go get them, tiger, you're great. You can get an ALC one, two or three, and each of those will limit you a little bit more, three being the most limited, which pretty much says you can show up at work and that's about it. You can't deploy, you can't do anything else, but you can come to work.
Speaker 2:And what I found shocking was that I found stats that showed that the reserves who was the smallest of the three groups Reserve Guard and Active Duty had somewhere close to 10 times more, probably about eight times more, alc threes than the active duty. Active duty at the time had 44 active duty. I knew the person that was running. She was a friend of mine. I go why do you have such a low number? She goes well, it's more for cancer patients to get them back. I said, oh, that makes sense and give them that chance to recover and recuperate and everything. The Reserve had 347 or something like that.
Speaker 2:And I asked them I said, why do you have seven, eight times more ALC threes returns than the active duty who's two, three times bigger than you? And they try to come back and say, oh well, we don't know what denominator you're working with. I'm like, yeah, you do. You're looking at the total number of active duty and the total number of reserves. So they didn't have an answer for me, they didn't have an answer at all. So I was like, ok, well, I mean, I don't think it ever got resolved, but it is a tactic and I've seen it. When they're close to retirement, retirement-eligible, they do a return to duty with an ALC three or something like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, usually it's an ALC one, and then you have to follow.
Speaker 2:Ours are threes all the time. That's what blows my mind.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then you have to actually follow with BCMR, which takes a long time.
Speaker 2:Yes, and just for you guys that understand that BCMR is boarded a correction of military records and is the only entity that can actually change your military record. And it's a real quote. Unquote nice city. Right, it looks nice, it looks like a very non-threatening form, pretty easy to fill out, but it actually is a long, drawn out process and I will tell you my personal spin on it. For whatever it's worth, it is there on the front side to correct military records for an injustice or for any mess up in your records. What it really does is save the military from getting lawsuits. It saves them from not having to deal with one litigation after another, and so that's the other half of it.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying that there's not some level of goodness in it, because I have seen people get their records corrected, get compensated and good things happen. But I am telling you that is not the primary reason that exists. The primary reason it exists is so they can avoid having to deal with all these lawsuits and fix any corrections. It does not fix processes. Just so people understand that if the process was messed up, they are not going to go back and slap hands, they're just going to correct and they're going to move on. Hence again why it is there for them to get out of more lawsuits Because if it was really altruistic, they'd go back and fix processes, which doesn't happen.
Speaker 2:But yeah, unfortunately I'm a little too familiar with that stuff. All right here, Mike, we're winding down here, we're pushing that hour, so if we could talk.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2:It is a ton of stuff and we can talk for hours and every time you and I get within proximity of each other, we both are like, oh, we know it's going to be a while, like we either have to have time or we have to just scoot because we'll talk forever. So I appreciate you coming. This is awesome. Is there any final thoughts that you want to give to people regarding to the PACT Act or disabilities or applying or anything like that?
Speaker 3:Well, first of all, thanks for having me, donna. I think that veterans as a whole, when we get out, we kind of lose focus and we lose sense of purpose because we've lost that family, because we have our home family and we have our service family. And veterans are the largest family in the world. So any country you go to as a veteran say, oh yeah, I served in the military in the US. Oh, welcome, welcome. So I would say, if you know a veteran, talk to them about filing for their disabilities. We all have them. We may look good on the outside, but we're all broke on the inside.
Speaker 2:Really good maskers, aren't we?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we do need to get out of the suck it up buttercup and be more proactive in our own health care. Get your records, get your C file file. Don't be afraid, even if you're 100% file, because you're not just helping yourself, you're helping another fellow veteran. I will also tell you in the states that your tax exempt ie if you're 100%, texas, florida, tennessee, virginia, so there's about 17 states. If you're 100%, still contest your property tax every year. It helps your neighbors. It helps your neighbors. You don't want to gentrify your neighborhood and wind up with a whole lot of apartments so you can be in your own little castle of veteran and then wind up with 1,000 apartments right around you Right around the corner, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So and then if you're the spouse or dependent, well, first of all, you, as a veteran, owe it to your spouse to file for disability, because I also have a lot of veterans that are older, that their spouse never worked.
Speaker 1:They gave up.
Speaker 3:And if they never filed, when that person dies, all they're going to get is the disability benefits and no DIC or anything else.
Speaker 2:And that let me bring this up real fast before we wind it down is that because you and I ended up helping a lady that her husband passed away 10 years ago and through rent. I was just having a random conversation and I find out that she had the only benefit she had was tricare. That was it. And I was like, wait a minute, you're not getting. And the long and short of it was she tried to file for him after he had had a stroke and the doctor so kindly said oh well, since he's not verbal, then you can't file for anything, which was completely wrong.
Speaker 3:That's correct.
Speaker 2:And so now we're in the midst of trying to help her get compensation. So the only thing I say because we could talk about that the only thing I say to that is that if you are a spouse that has lost your partner and you do not have any benefits and they were in the military, you need to go talk to a VSO, a CVSO. You need to go talk to somebody and see if there wasn't a period where they should have been covered. You should be covered. You just need to check it out.
Speaker 3:And you can request your spouse's medical records.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So if you were married to the individual, the other thing is is when they die, you are eligible for CHAMP VA If you don't have insurance, and that in turn will assist you. So it's a little bit like Medicare in some instances and you could remarry, in which case it goes away. But then if you get divorced or that spouse dies, then you can apply for CHAMP VA again.
Speaker 2:Oh, so you're good to know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then to the certificate of eligibility for the home. Some states will transfer all disability benefits over to the spouse.
Speaker 2:Texas will do that.
Speaker 3:Right and some won't. But the VA will transfer the certificate of eligibility in your chapter 35 benefits. So if you're a spouse and you want to go back to school because your spouse died, then you can file with the VA and go to school. Great and so OK, yeah, so it's a lot of stuff. The VA programs are really vast and unfortunately I had to work with a lot of them while I was on active duty. So I worked with a lot of them for 13 years on active duty, so I'm familiar with a lot of them, which made it a little bit easier to do this All right.
Speaker 2:Well, mike, I said you are a wealth. You could do a whole college course on how to navigate the VA, and I mean it's intense and it's a lot. But for the audience just to break it down and not to be so overwhelming, just start at the beginning and if you're really not sure or it just feels overwhelming, contact your local VSO. You can go to the DAV, you can go to the PAV, you can go to VFWs.
Speaker 3:American Legion American.
Speaker 2:Legion and it does not cost you a thing, and that is where you should start, and that's really step one to look at everything. Yes, if you're 100%, I know it seems scary, but really evaluate everything. Look at the PACT Act. It really did open up. If you have children that have learning disabilities, things like my child with ADHD, then you really need to look at that, because that actually could benefit them in the future. So we're not just doing it for us, we're doing it for our family, and so I hope this provided just a little bit of overview. We did talk about a lot of different things and we did hopefully not wrap it whole too much, but I really wanted to highlight all those different areas that you need to take into consideration. And so, mike, I greatly appreciate you coming out and taking time and the fact that I got you for an hour and some changes a miracle, because I won't see him again for three months, don't worry.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I've got to. I was actually working on a bunch of disabilities as we, so I took a break. It's a good break.
Speaker 2:That's right, it's good. So, all right, everybody, it's beyond the front line and it's Donna here and we just give a big shout out to Jay and make sure everything's going well for him. I hope you guys like, share, comment, engage. We really want to hear from you guys what you want to hear about because this is all for you, our veterans and their families. So, from all of us here, from Coming Home Well and Beyond the Front Line, to all of you, we hope you have a great week.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Beyond the Front Line, a podcast of Coming Home. Well, join us every other Wednesday and if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others, post about it on social media or leave a rating and review. Thanks again, and until all our home and all our well.