Helping Veterans Navigate VA Benefits with Michael Zehr

In this episode of M.M.R.E.S. (Mortgages, Military, Real Estate & Stuff), hosts Joshua Mayer and Beatriz Villalobos sit down with Michael Zehr — a U.S. Army Veteran, DAV-certified service officer, and one of the most dedicated volunteers at the Warrior Healing Center. Michael has made it his mission to guide fellow veterans through the often-confusing world of VA disability claims, benefits, and resources.

From filing your very first claim to appealing a denial, Michael breaks down the process in plain language, sharing insider tips on how to prepare a fully developed claim that gets processed faster, what documents you’ll need (and why a DD214 is just the start), and how to avoid common pitfalls that can slow down or even reduce your rating.

We dig into:

• How Michael went from front desk volunteer to full-time benefits advocate.
• The importance of documenting everything during service — and what to do if you didn’t.
• Understanding service-connected vs. non-service-connected disabilities.
• Why tinnitus claims might be changing soon.
• How to file for an increase years after your initial rating.
• What to expect from the appeals process.
• The truth about PTSD claims, employment concerns, and security clearances.
• Benefits for surviving spouses and dependents, including DIC.
• What resources are available for homeless or at-risk veterans — and why local help often beats the federal system for speed and results.

Michael also shares powerful real-world stories from veterans he’s helped — moments that keep him motivated even on the toughest days. From Vietnam vets finally receiving long-overdue benefits, to younger service members who thought they didn’t qualify, to survivors of military sexual trauma finding the courage to file — his passion for helping shines through in every conversation.

Whether you’re a veteran wondering where to start, a spouse trying to understand what’s available, or someone looking to support veterans in your community, this episode is packed with practical, actionable information.

About Michael Zehr:
Michael served in the U.S. Army from 1977–1980 and has been a tireless advocate for veterans in Cochise County, Arizona. As a DAV-certified chapter service officer, he helps veterans file claims, navigate the VA system, and access benefits they’ve earned. He’s also deeply involved in multiple community organizations, including the Warrior Healing Center, the DAV, the Knights of Columbus, and the Elks.

Resources Mentioned:

• Warrior Healing Center – Sierra Vista, AZ
• Disabled American Veterans (DAV) – Chapter 14
• VA.gov – Benefits & Claims Portal

💙 Join the Mission — $22 a Month for 22 a Day
Every day, an average of 22 veterans take their own lives. At the Warrior Healing Center, we believe that number is unacceptable — and preventable. For just $22 a month, you can help us connect veterans to the community, services, and support they need to rebuild their lives. 100% of donations go directly to our mission, and as a Qualified Charitable Organization (QCO code 22467), Arizona residents can receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit.

📲 Learn more and make your impact today: 22toEnd22.com

🎧 Stay Connected
📍 Recorded at the Warrior Healing Center in Sierra Vista, AZ
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Warfighter Tested. Warfighter Approved. Warfighter Recommended.

Transcript

Hey, guys, welcome back to M.M.R.E.S. It's Beatriz here. Josh and the awesome Mike Zeher.

Well, I don't know if we would say awesome. Thank you for the introduction.

He's amazing.

The brilliant, the amazing.

Please. I already have a big enough ego. Well, uh, so tell me, what does the MRE M stand for?

Mmm.

Mmm.

Res.

Mm, Mm.

M R E S. Mortgages. Military real estate and stuff.

Uh, I love how you guys put that together.

I like to say real estate and educational stuff. Uh, I like to provide value to people if I can, especially veterans. Thank you for being on the show with us today.

My pleasure. Thank you for asking me.

Yeah, so let's just dive right in. Hey, Mike, what is it that you do at the Warrior Healing Center? What's your job?

Well, I started off, like, in 2020. I was just working the front desk. And then I started that, uh, livestream show that I was doing for a while, interviewing other veterans about their service to our country. And as Josh, uh, can attest to, he was one of my guests, and I love sharing his story.

And it was an amazing story to share. And what was so passionate about that is those stories stay up on the website forever. So as your kids get older and they have questions like, hey, what did dad do in the military? So that was my original passion.

I love that.

And then somehow benefits coordinator job opened up. And I don't really remember how I ended up getting in there and doing that, but I've been doing that since October of, uh, 2023. And I have to say, it's not something that I wanted to do. It wasn't even on my radar.

It just kind of fell in my lap. And I love it. I love it because I'm meeting and I'm helping these veterans and to get the feedback from them. Like, Mike, you helped me. Thank you. Just the words thank you just means so much to me. It's just, I mean, that's why I love the volunteering.

I mean, yeah, I get a little self satisfaction out of it. I'm not gonna, uh, lie about it, but oh, my gosh, knowing that you affected somebody else's life, isn't that amazing?

Absolutely.

I just love how, and I'm religious. God just places us where he wants us without even us having thought of, uh, oh, I might do that one day. Nope, this is where we're supposed to be. And I don't think we could have had a better helper for disability benefits inside the Warrior Healing center.

Because you're patient, you're kind, and you're stubborn and you like to get down to how can I help this Veteran? And so I want to thank you on part of helping everybody here too.

Well, you and I are both fellow Catholics. I'll put that out there. I'm not ashamed to, to admit that I love being, uh, Catholic. And one of the things that I do it for is in service to God and in service to others. So you're right about that. There is the religious aspect.

And when people come into my office and they're sitting down, I've got this big beautiful American flag on my wall and I got this, uh, old field jacket, the kind that I used to wear when I was in from 77 to 1980. But I never had anything in my office that showed that I was Catholic and that I had faith in God and that what I was doing was like you said, it was like God just provided it, made it happen.

So that's amazing that you pointed that out. And so I got the poem, the cross poem from St. Andrews. So that's in my office. And then one of my brother knights, Dale Hammond, gave me a Catholic cross.

Mhm.

So that's on my desk.

Perfect.

But, uh, not. I started out doing, uh, claims with the DAB Disabled American Veterans. And I am a DAB certified chapter service officer. As a matter of fact, we're getting ready to have our training here in a couple weeks. So we have to be certified every year. Okay, that's a good point.

When I help veterans and I file claims to the dab, I file them to the National Service Officers up in Phoenix.

Why do you have to be certified every year?

Because there's a lot of changes within the VA, like when they, uh, change the forms. So they go over the forms with you, new guidelines. Right.

Okay. So it's like the whole tax season, essentially. Like every year it's new, things change. So you guys gotta be.

Well, it's good to keep up on your craft, you know.

And then you always hear about changes coming down the pipeline.

Mhm.

But until the VA actually says this change is happening, and this is really, for example, tinnitus, ah. Is um, an issue that most every single Veteran I've ever met has, which is the ringing in the ear. And it does not have to be constant. So if you're thinking that, you know, you want to file a claim, but you don't think that you qualify for tinnitus because it's not constant.

Tinnitus can come and go. It doesn't have to be constant. Um, mine comes and goes, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I can go, like, weeks without it. And then all of a sudden, it.

Just takes our son to yell loud enough in his ear and it'll flare up.

Yeah, my son, he'll get it going. I'll be like.

So their VA is getting ready to make a change on that, but they haven't actually officially put it out. And right now it's just if you have tinnitus, because there's really no test for it. It's just a 10%.

Yeah.

But they're going to be changing it to where if you have a more severe case, you might be able to apply for a higher disability. So we're kind of looking at that and waiting for that to come down the pike. But until the VA actually says, this is what's going to happen, this is the new rating, then again, this is why the training is so helpful.

Because when the VA does make changes like that, then it lets us, as, uh, service officers know. Because here's how it works with the dav. You come into the DAV chapter, uh, and you sit down with the service officer and talk about filing your claim. We, the chapter service officer, we do all the grunt work.

We do all the wording, we do all the typing of the forms. We do everything like that. Then once we're done, we scan it into an email. Well, of course, the Veteran has to sign all the forms, scan it into an email, and we send it directly to the national Service officers in Phoenix, Arizona.

And then they are in the same building as the VA, same hallway as across the hall. So it really streamlines the claim process, because back in the day when it was snail mail, it took m a very long time. Yeah. So with all the changes and everything, that's why it's really good that we get certified every month because of changes of forms, changes in rules and stuff like that.

And by keeping us informed, then we can help better advise and help the Veteran who comes in and has an issue or needs to file a claim.

That's awesome.

I remember when I went to go get my claim, 2012, I had started it way before my ETS date, and I went through the DAV in Colorado Springs, Fort Clarkson, Colorado, and they went through my medical records and pulled out stuff that I was like, what are you talking about?

You know, like, I don't recall that. Uh, for example, like, they said that I had asthma, and I was like, I've never had asthma. What are you talking about? And they're like, well, right here on this page, right here when you were stationed in Fort Huachuca, it says that this lieutenant said you had asthma.

That was bronchitis. That was when we were all in the barracks. Right. And you get that bronchitis, the barracks. Bronchitis and pneumonia. And everyone gets sick some. Lt had written down possible asthma. And because they had written down asthma, then I had to go and actually get a. The asthma test for.

Through the VA. I, I guess I failed the test because I don't have asthma or I passed because I don't have asthma.

Okay.

But I thought that was interesting because I was just like, like so many years ago. Like. And they found it and it was just the. LT had just written on a doctor's no possible asthma. And I got tested for it to get a claim. I didn't get it, but I thought that was really interesting like how, you know, in the weeds you guys kind of tend to get.

When you go through some of those medical records, you guys do your due diligence and search for everything.

Right.

You know, I think that's pretty impressive. That's why I always tell young soldiers now document everything. You never know. You never know.

Right.

Especially with now the new things that are getting changed. Agent Tinnitus. All those new things. That's even crazy.

It's always evolving.

Yeah. That's awesome.

And I can't tell you how many times it's touched my heart almost to the point where I wanted to cry or sometimes I don't know how to react. And I have to get somebody else that has dealt with PTSD and military sexual trauma because some of these cases that we get, people feel shame.

Mhm.

There should be no shame in wanting to file a claim for something that you suffered in the military or. I didn't think I would be eligible for that. Of course you're eligible if you were on active duty. And especially if you're a, uh, what we call Gulf War Veteran or Persian, uh, Gulf War.

Um, anybody that's been in like Iraq, Afghanistan, and then there's just a whole bunch of other areas including Somalia and stuff like that under the presumptive. So we had soldiers over there that were exposed to burn pits m. Sand dust and particulates because sand is always blown over there.

You never know what you're breathing in. I did a, A claim for a Veteran that had exposure to the sulfur mine fire in Mosul.

Uh, uh, what year was that?

Huh huh.

No, we had flooding. We were always worried

It was a sulfur mine, so there was all of that. You Know, chemical and stuff.

Uh, I didn't know that was.

But there, there's all of these, uh, combat things that happen to a Veteran when they're over there. And especially when you're in fight or flight risk and you're like, trying to just survive like incoming mortar attacks or, uh, IEDs or. And oh my gosh, we're not even talking about traumatic brain injuries that can happen from some of these things.

But, uh, I talked to some of these veterans and their story just touches my heart because the suffering and the. They put their lives on the line.

Mhm.

You know, to protect our country and our interests over there. And the government needs to do right by these veterans and they need to step up and say, you know, and I think that the VA is getting a lot better with the mental health and the PTSD and stuff like that, and with the military sexual trauma.

But, uh, I think that there could still be. There's always room for improvement.

Yeah, I feel like that's been a long time where they've kind of lacked in that area. And I feel like nowadays it's being brought more to like, this is what's happening. Help us, uh, with this problem, which PTSD is a huge one. Especially you bring up sexual abuse or whatever it might be.

Sometimes these people had this and they never even brought it up because they were embarrassed or they were ashamed. And so the fact that they're able to say, hey, I, you know, I went through this and I don't know if I, if that counts. And you're like, what? Yes, it does.

And so I, I think it's a good thing that the VA is slowly starting to, uh, in my opinion, slowly starting to get to that point where, okay, this is a huge epidemic, really, if you will, the ptsd, because far too many people, especially soldiers, are suffering from PTSD and suicide and all that stuff.

Um, so, yeah, I don't know where I was going with that, but yeah, I think it's a good thing.

Well, I did you know too, that a PTSD diagnosis does not have to be combat related either. For example, one of the most interesting claims I did, I won't mention the veteran's name, but they were deployed to Hawaii, uh, and they were on a mission where they were. There was, uh.

I don't even know what year this was. I'm going to say maybe sometime in the 70s when they had to war on drugs and stuff like that and they were deployed somewhere down there and the Veteran uh, witnessed these attacks with machetes and people getting dismembered and stuff like that.

So yeah, I mean ptsd, if you get a diagnosis, because that's the big thing, you need to have a diagnosis of the condition whether it's PTSD or uh, if you've suffered sexual military trauma or any condition that you're claiming with the VA, it's good to have a diagnosis on ah file.

And I wasn't really sure he was, I could say he, because I still haven't mentioned name but um, I didn't think that it would fly. But you know the saying, let's run it up the flagpole and see if it gets saluted. So we did and it got saluted and the Veteran got a rating of 90% from 0% to 90% and was just.

That's a game changer in someone's life financially. Uh, because it gives them money.

Yeah.

And then their benefits are medical. You know, they get the medical care, the medications that they need. They're not having to pay for that stuff. And it's just, it's a game changer.

That's amazing. Mhm.

Uh, so speaking of diagnosis and you said that they had to make sure they get that. What are the documents that a Veteran should bring in when they're working?

So, so if they've never ever filed a claim.

Mhm.

We need a DD214 for proof of service. Okay. So that's where we get the ball rolling. And then uh, to my knowledge the DAV is really the only game in town right now that is actively filing claims. So there's some other service organizations that you can go through. Um, but I'm not sure what their procedures are and a couple other service organizations and I'm not going to mention correct who they are anything but are no longer doing claims.

So to my knowledge the DAB is the only one. So I would recommend either, um, contacting me here at the Warrior Healing center and getting an appointment and I can sit down and tell them everything that they need to do, what they need to do to file a claim, stuff like that, and then I can uh, direct them to the right, you know, person over the dab for help or depending uh, on, on the situation.

I've. In the past I've uh, done a, done a few claims myself, uh, because here's my thing, right. I'm filing it through the dab. And I'm not a person who. Oh, well, so and so. Needs to get credit for it or so. And so a Veteran comes in and they're in need, they're in crisis, right.

Mhm.

Shouldn't a veteran's needs be the most important?

Yes.

Shouldn't their needs come first over. Oh, well, this service organization did it or this person did it. I mean, the Veteran needs to come first.

Just take care of the damn Veteran.

Right. That's. That's my, My opinion.

Mhm.

So if that gets me in trouble with my local chapter, hey, I'm good with it.

I think we got blessings from your local chapter to do it here. Yeah, yeah, we. We got blessings because you're here knocking it out.

You're.

I've sent you quite a few veterans here that you've worked with and gotten your.

Yeah.

Their stuff.

A handful of people that we know, let alone the ones we don't know. So, uh, that's amazing. So say Mike's camera is crazy.

Oh, it goes dark and black.

Yeah, it's bad.

I don't know because I'm not moving around enough.

It's like auto focusing. Sorry, Sorry.

It's that big head. It can't focus on it. Yes. You're doing all this without Tim? Check you out, he's here right on time.

Man of the hour. We just.

I just took. It can't be Tim because I just said you're doing good without Tim.

Good job.

But now I'm having. I think it's the auto. Just like how we said, hello, we.

Did a good job.

That lighting makes you look super young, Mike.

What's that?

The lighting's making you look super young. You Look. You look 10 years younger than me.

My shirt is definitely not that color green, but that's all right.

Uh, so then you're trained through the dav, right? To help people file claims. Right through the dav.

Correct. So because we're volunteers, so we don't get paid.

Mhm.

And the national Service officers, they're. They're paid. So they are the ones that wants to claim is submitted to the VA. Mhm. And then they go in and will act on the veterans behalf to find out what's going on and claim and stuff like that, so. And they've been pretty successful getting veterans increases.

Well, they got good volunteers.

Time out.

Time out.

I got to fix Mike.

All right.

Does that look what you're thinking of?

Yeah. There we go.

Hi.

How are you?

I am good.

How are you?

Good. Good to see you.

Um, good to see cuz it likes you bloops.

Good.

Why you get a hug, I get a fist bump.

Yeah.

Better get used.

All right.

Look at that. It's actually an interesting. My green saver vibrating.

Oh, I think that's the best I've looked. Look at all those pores.

All right, uh, so next we're on the question on whether they're eligible.

Yes. But I have another follow up question to what for the.

Okay. Yeah, I didn't want to cut it for one second. He was like. Looked like normal white and then he was like just shadow like red. I was like, I can't.

It's reading your aura. Ah, yeah. Hopefully not.

And the good thing about. Because we're recording. Edit all the sound, act like you're rolling. Oh yeah, it's been recording.

Y like hopefully.

Yeah, hopefully it's been recording.

It's good. So. Yeah, that would be interesting.

We need you back in the studio.

Right.

It's funny.

All right, well. All right. All right, cool.

Are you happy with that look?

Yeah, yeah, that's. That works.

I don't know why followed did have.

The auto face the face track. All right, back.

All righty, Mike. So to follow up with the VA benefits, if I come in and say I've never filed a claim, here's my DD214, does it have to be honorable discharge or what's. Because I know for home loans if you're not honorably discharged, there could be a problem. So really is that the same, uh, for.

Actually In June of 2024, the VA changed, uh, all of that because it used to be back in the day if you had a bad disconduct charge or other than honorable, uh, you couldn't file a claim for benefits. But the VA changed all that. I was doing a little bit of research on the VA website just in case you asked me that question.

And uh, for example, there was a Veteran that came in that uh, had been injured in basic training and then, uh, was released from active duty, uh, with a general discharge and something about administrative. But there was nothing that said that we couldn't file a claim on it.

Oh, cool.

So I haven't, uh, heard back from, from the Veteran or anything yet. But I mean there's no. Just like there used to be like a limits and stuff. And I think a lot of that stuff is changing with the VA now.

Oh, good. It's changing for the better, it sounds like.

I hope so.

Yeah.

B Learned a trick a couple weeks ago about the VA loan that I thought was pretty interesting.

Oh yeah. So I took a, another VA lending specialist class because that's right, that's just who I like to help is the veterans get into homes. And turns out that if you have a dishonorable discharge or less than honorable, but you reenlisted at least one time honorably, you still qualify for a home loan.

Oh wow.

People out there, if you were bad, bad girl or bad boy, uh, but you had re enlisted one time, you can still get your VA home loan. So I did not know that I was just under the.

Because in order to reenlist you have to have a honorable dischargeable discharge, right?

Mhm. So as long as you have it.

Once, that's all that matters.

That's all that matters. You just need that DD214 showing honorable at one point and then you can get a home loan. So that class taught me a whole bunch of new things and I'm excited to help more people get into homes. Um, but yeah, let's stay on the topic of helping people with their claims.

Okay.

Um, how does a Veteran know if they're eligible for VA health care?

Anybody that has served in the country, uh, is eligible for VA health care. They do at the clinic or at the hospitals, what they call a means test. And so depending on what your income is, uh, some people make too much money and therefore maybe they're not qualified for it.

But most people that are qualified for it, you do not have to have a service connected disability in order to get treatment from the VA healthcare system. Uh, I know of a couple veterans right now that have gotten like hearing aids and stuff like that and have a 0, uh percent rating while their claims are in the process of being adjudicated right now.

But still they can get healthcare.

I thought you always needed some sort of rating to get healthcare.

Nope.

I was gonna say that's the misconception I think is, uh, you need a rating and that you need to serve a certain period of time in the military.

Correct?

That's not correct.

No. You don't. Like for example, uh, in basic training people get hurt.

Mhm.

You know, and then they can't carry on to do their duty and then they get a, they can either get a medical discharge or administrative discharge. Um, what exactly an administrative discharge is, I don't know because I don't, I'm not a DD214. Experts.

I'm hearing more of those are coming around now, the administrative, uh, I've seen A couple veterans that made it through basic and AIT and then were discharged instead of sent to their units, because.

I think they were using that for Covid, too, weren't they? Administrative M. I guess a soldier didn't want to get the.

And it's been very weird because, you know, being old school, like, you always just send them to the unit and let the unit deal with them when they would have an issue. Especially coming out of ait, I can't tell you how many soldiers we would get. They were barely making it, and they come straight from AIT to the unit, and it'd always be like, they just push it on.

But now, uh, I know a couple that they got sent home on sensor. Hey, you know what? You've made it through basic. You've made it through ait. Give it six months and then join again and come back.

Right.

And that's like, wait, what? Yeah, I mean, um, you have an mos. You have an identifier. Why would I come back? Yeah, like, I could go get a job with the civilian market now that I have the mos. But that's the thing I've been seeing more and hearing more is administrative discharges.

I don't know if that'll. How that works for benefits and home loans. Interesting.

I don't know how it was when you were active duty, Josh, but I served from, uh, 77 to 80. And when I went in basic training, we didn't know what injections we were getting. Oh, yeah, no, they just had two lines, one on each side. Air guns. And you just walk down and it was like, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap.

Yep. Roll up your sleeves. And then the last one. Drop your trails. Drop your trousers, because they got you in the butt. Yeah, same thing. It was. And then you just kept on walking. I remember one of the times before, uh, I went to. I think it was Iraq or Afghanistan.

I think it was Iraq. Um, we were doing our pre deployments and, you know, getting all our vaccinations. And there's this one soldier that as soon as the nurse pulled out the needle, you know, popped it off and stuff, and it was like, doot. Did a little squirch. You saw this soldier go and just full down, pass out.

And I. The nurses are all looking at me like, what are we doing? I was like, you pull up. Give him the shots. It's your best opportunity. So that's what they did. They gave them the shots and then we got them up and woke them up and like, hey, you're good.

Way to go.

You made it.

So I googled administrative leave from the military.

Administrative leave or discharged?

Oh, yeah, Administrative discharge. Administrative leave. That's more of the officers.

Yeah. Okay. An administrative discharge in the military is a non punitive separation from service, typically for reasons other than a court martial conviction.

So I think those have been, uh, back in the day, they didn't call them those, they would just give them the article. Yeah, it was always like the failure to adapt.

Common reasons include performance issues, failure to adapt, misconduct, medical conditions, or violations of military policy. So I think you're right. Spot on.

Yeah.

They used to call it one thing.

I think they just called. Yeah, it was instead of calling failure to adapt because that puts a negative stigma on the individual. Now they're calling it this and trying to lump it under.

So I'm going to continue with another question. I love asking questions because I love learning. Um, what's the difference between service connected and non service connected benefit?

Uh, service connected would be anything that, uh, any disability or any injury that you got while on active duty. So for example, you could be, let's say, um, in supply. Right. And you're doing a lot of heavy lifting. And so you get out and you know, when you're young, when we're young, our bodies, we figure, yeah, we can handle it.

So a few years down the line, M. You know, you start. Your back starts hurting.

Yeah.

Why did my back start hurting? It didn't bother me before I enlisted in the military. What'd you do? Oh, I did all this heavy lifting. Ah, well, that's why. Because that's, you know, so that would be like a service connected disability. Uh, another one would be like a lot of military.

Uh, one of the first things we did. Well, I don't know. Was one of the first things we did. One of the first things we did was got a haircut when in basic training. But, uh, when you went to the weapons range. Okay, so we're firing, uh, M. M16s and we're throwing uh, live, live grenades.

And the hearing protection that we had wasn't the best. Hearing protection.

Especially when you were in.

Yeah, think of the movie in the army now. Yeah, yeah.

So you get hearing damage. Right. Well, guess what, that's service connected to. But you can also have non service connected disabilities as well. You won't get paid for Them, you won't get rated for them. Okay. But you can still get treated for them by the VA, depending on, on like what your rating is.

So a, uh, non. And then there's also like secondary conditions, right?

Mhm.

So a secondary condition could be like. Okay, so again, let's stay with the back. You hurt your back.

Mhm.

Now your hips are hurting. Well why are your hips hurting? Why you did heavy lifting. Well, you can either claim the hips as pain on its own.

Mhm.

Due again to the heavy lifting. Or you could also claim it as a secondary condition to the lower back condition and that would also make it service connected. But service, a non service connection means that you're not going to get a uh, rating or paid for that, but.

You can still get it treated.

Right. And then the, the VA does, um, pensions as well. I haven't personally done one. No, I think I did. No, I take that back. I did do one.

Mhm.

And it was for a widow's pension, but it wasn't for a Veteran. But there are pensions that a Veteran can apply for and those are for veterans that are like maybe struggling financially, can't make ends meet, they don't have any service connected disabilities. Then they could go the pension route.

Okay, I did not know that. That's a new one for me.

I mean it's not a lot of money, but I mean every little bit helps.

A dollar's a dollar, Right. Especially nowadays, every little bit helps. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to ask some questions? I have all the questions in the world because I love to learn, but I'll let Josh do one or two.

All right, let's see our next one that we had.

Hit me.

Alright. This one actually kind of goes with my stuff a little bit. And I want to learn when a Veteran gets their stuff. Right. Initially, you know, they just got out either after their four, eight, however long years that they served active.

Right, Right.

But now they're 50, 60 years old and their rating was originally 10% but now their knees or their back has gotten significantly worse. They're 60.

Right, right.

Can you get an increase like once you get stuff like that, like how does one go around to get it increased after years of maybe not.

Right.

Going at it, you know, and getting it addressed.

Well, to answer that, number one, there's no time limit on claims that when you can file a claim.

Okay.

All right. I've had Vietnam veterans and if you remember, we just celebrated the 50th anniversary, uh, to that, to the end of the Vietnam War. 50 years. It's time, time goes by. Um, and for any of you Vietnam veterans that are happen to be watching, welcome home. Bill Beecher always told me that, that when I, whenever I talk about Vietnam veterans, he said make sure to, to welcome them home because they didn't get the best of welcome home.

So we need to welcome them home. So welcome home, uh, Vietnam veterans, uh, there is no time limit. So I have helped, uh, Vietnam veterans still to this day are coming in and having issues with Agent Orange and have never filed a claim. Um, I've had people come in and talk to me about filing uh, for an increase, what Josh was talking about.

And it's the same as if filing a new claim, uh, except that on the 526EZ, which is the claim form that you would use for that. So VA Form 21, 526EZ, in case anybody out there's. Because believe me, there are some really sharp people out there that have filed claims on their own.

Uh, including my niece and she did hers on her own and she went from like 0% to like 80 or 90% and she again did it all on her own.

So smart cookie.

But yeah. And there are veterans out there that can do that kind of stuff and they know the right wording to use and they do research and stuff. But um, so on the 526EZ, if you're rated for let's say like 10% on your left knee, you would just put uh, left knee, uh, reavowel for re evaluation and that lets them know that, uh, my left knee has gotten worse and I need to have it re evaluated and get a percentage increase.

Now obviously I wouldn't encourage anybody to do that if they don't really having issues because that's one thing you want to watch out because you never want to go in and file for something because they could decrease it.

That was going to be my question is I had a go ahead.

So hold uh, on before because I know where you're going to go with your question, but I had one.

So.

Okay, so again we're going to keep going with this Veteran. It's been 30 years since he's got this claim and all of a sudden he goes in after 30 years, hasn't been to the VA or anything and all of a sudden to start asking for maybe assistance. I've heard that that's not good because like if the VA, they can cancel your not cancel, but they can remove your disability if you're not like actively trying to manage it.

I guess. Or just still be in the system after so many years, they'll look at you and be like, hey, you know what? You haven't been in 30 years to the VA, and all of a sudden you're saying that your knee still hurts and you want to increase, like, ah, that's not gonna happen.

I've heard that, like, you're supposed to if you're going through the VA for.

Things kind of like routine maintenance.

Yeah, routine maintenance. That way it'll prevent the VA from, um, touching your disability.

Well, the thing with that is there are, uh, some veterans that are retirees that don't want to use the VA health care system. So they'll use their tricare and they'll get treatment outside the VA. So if they were to go in and file for a increase on. Again, let's use their left knee.

Mhm.

And they've had treatment outside the VA on that knee that the VA is not privy to, then we can still file for that reevaluation. But also, I would encourage the Veteran to get those medical records themselves and provide them to the service officer so that we could send them in with the claim.

Because without those records, they aren't gonna do anything because the VA, like Josh said, they're looking at it like, we have nothing here.

I went from 80 to 70 when I had my neck surgery. Cause I was trying to get my increase. I was like, I just had my neck fused.

Right.

Um, my discs were replaced between C4, C5, C6, C7 vertebrae. And I went to the VA and I was like, hey, like, this is my notes. And I submitted everything. And they came back and like, oh, you're fixed. We're gonna get rid of it.

Exactly.

I was like, that's, that's not how that happens. You know, and luckily I came here to the center and we got it taken care of. And you know, but, uh, that's why I was like.

And to be honest with you, you can never predict what the VA is going to do because there's so many different raters and so many different things that happen within the VA. I have helped veterans m file for a hearing and they'll come back with brand new hearing aids service connected hearing.

Uh, granted, zero percent. I'll have another Veteran come back. New hearing aids service connected fertile bilateral hearing loss, which would be both ears, 50% rating. So there's, there's really no, uh, way to predict how the VA is going to act because depending on who the rater you get.

Yeah.

And that's why? There's all of these appeal processes.

You can appeal. Is there a limit on how many times you can appeal?

No.

Okay.

Because you could do, like, a supplemental claim. Like, let's say, like, for example, you file, uh, for lower back pain. Again, we'll stick with lower back, since that seems to be working for me. And, uh, you're denied and the VA doesn't know that. Maybe you had treatment at a urgent care facility or something like that.

Get those records. You can do a supplemental claim because that's called new and relevant medical information, because that means the VA has no knowledge of those records. And it's so much easier for the Veteran to get the records themselves. Because if you. There is a form that you can fill out, uh, it's a VA Form 21 4142A, and you can request the VA to get the records, but that's going to take your claim out of the, like, fully developed status, and then that'll put it in, like, the standard process, and it's going to slow it down because then the VA has to go out and get the records, and that's time consuming.

Almost backs it down. Yeah, that makes sense. Right.

Whereas if the Veteran provides all that stuff and it goes in and they've got everything they need right then and there to make, uh, a determination.

Go in your face, make my decision.

Yeah, exactly. Tell you.

So I'm going to lead into a little bit different area.

Curveball.

Uh, well, you're probably prepared for it because I'm sure you've heard all the things. Yeah, likewise. Um, so I've done a few loans for border patrol and other. Service members.

Uh-huh.

And they're afraid to file for a claim because they are working for the.

Federal employees and they're afraid that the PTSD will affect.

Yeah. So have you seen that ever happen to.

Yes.

Okay.

I don't want to name M names or again. And I'm not even going to say what, what branches or anything like that. I'm just going to give a very generic answer. Sorry for that. But, um, it seems like people feel that if you're diagnosed with PTSD that it's astigmatism and that, that once you get rated with ptsd, that you're not normal, uh, that you can't function, that you can't hold a job.

And that's. Nothing is further from m the truth than that because there are veterans that I know of personally that I've talked to that have ratings and they do jobs like what you're talking about.

So by being over in the uav, federal employee.

Okay.

Uh, the drones, like we have to do our flight visit every year. And one of the questions on there that, um, I think they, there was a big lawsuit just recently if I recall, because the FAA ended up, uh, releasing all the medical records to the VA or the VA vice versa, and that was against hipaa.

And a lot of uh, pilots, not just like drone pilots, but a lot of pilots lost their jobs because they were deemed like they had that stigma put on them that they were unfit to fly because they had a rating with the VA and they were never supposed to release that information.

Um, and like I said, a lot of. I mean I know a lot of drone operators that have PTSD for lots of difference of what we did over there, you know, and they're always afraid to get, go in and get that rating. And I'm like, it's not gonna. I think they finally fixed that.

Yeah. I just know I have a few buddies doing different jobs around then.

Right.

They will not file a claim because they are afraid for their, for it to affect their jobs. And so I understand that too. At the same time I'm like, man, like, there's got to be some kind of better improvement from the VA to these people saying this is separate.

It's, it's not going to, supposed to be out to you because it's a right that you've earned. Right. By a Veteran you.

Right.

It's whether it's service related or whatever it might be. But the fact that you're like, no, I'm not gonna take this possibly life changing and medically Changing opportunity because I need to provide for my family. I understand that because it is scary. But at the same time, it's like, it's not right.

It's not right. And so that's why I wanted to hear from you if you've ever seen that crossover to where it affected somebody's employment. I don't, I don't think it has. But you would know more than me because you deal with.

Well, the only people, like I said, the people I've talked to, um, still do their, their job, day to day jobs and stuff like that.

And I, uh, haven't heard of anyone.

You wouldn't notice that they had ptsd. Because you have to remember that that affects everybody differently. Everybody deals with it differently. Right. Some people take medications to help keep it under control. Some people do meditation, um, what is the homeopathic? Uh, remedies to deal with that. Some do, uh, counseling.

But just because you have ptsd, that doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you and that you can no longer be a contributing, uh, member to society.

Ah. Would you guess I have ptsd? I've gone to college three separate times and now I'm doing a fourth career that has nothing to do with college that I went to for, so. Uh-huh. It's, you know, PTSD. 100% agree. PTSD doesn't define you. It doesn't limit you. Sure, you have your off days or weeks sometimes, but over the years, I mean, you learn to deal with it.

And, and when you're feeling cranky that day and you're not feeling up 100%, you just call in and take the day off.

Yeah, exactly.

Hundred percent agree.

What do they call it? A mental health day?

Yeah. And I think, uh, those need to be implemented more. You know, instead of. I've used the term pacing sick days. Yeah.

You use what?

Pacing.

Pacing.

Pacing. Uh, that's what I've been trying to do. Like, don't do too much. Pace yourself appropriately. Don't put too much on your plate so you don't get overwhelmed. Make sure you do take those days every now and then for yourself, you know, to just reset. Uh, because if not, you get overwhelmed and then that builds up kind of snowballs.

It snowballs. It's very quick.

So another question, and you probably answered it, but just so I can reiterate, if I'm new, I've never filed a claim, and I'm like, I want to do this thing. What is the best way for me to help somebody like you? Um, submit A fully. A full claim, a fully developed claim.

So the fully developed claim, what that means is that you have all of the medical information handy and ready. Um, there is a process that, uh, so you have everything ready. Uh, you bring it in, we sit down, do the fully developed claim. I've seen them go through within three months if it's fully developed.

Three to four or five months, maybe.

That's pretty quick.

Um, but again, if anything's missing, for example, if you. Here's one of the biggest issues with doing claims, and it's that when we're in the military, we are focused on the mission, right? Sick call is not an option. So if you get hurt, you suck it up, you got it out, and you continue on.

You don't complain about it. You just soldier on.

Hm.

And so veterans feel, well, since I didn't go on sick call, I can never file a claim. That's not true. Okay. It's not true. You can file a claim. Um, just have to. A lot of it has to do with the wording, how you're typing the claim up. Um, but to answer your question, on the fully developed claim, again, that's.

Everything is already submitted. They have all their medical records and everything. There's no other extra treatment records that need to be gotten or anything like that. Uh, you check the fully developed claim on the 526EZ, send everything in, and it should be pretty quick. There was a, uh, form that you can use.

It's, uh, VA form 21, I think. Dash. Oh, crud. I had it on the tip of my tongue. I forgot.

I hate that you know these forms by the numbers. Impressive.

Well, I'm trying to remember most of them, but I get them confused right now and then. But it's a, um, priority processing request. So the people that qualify for the priority processing request and what really helps them speed their claim up with that, that would be anybody that's suffering a hardship, like a homeless Veteran.

Okay, okay. Um, somebody that's having a hard time making ends meet can't just, you know, they're like $0.05 in their checking account and two months behind on their mortgage and stuff like that. Um, they're just very hardship case. Um, if you are a Purple Heart recipient or a Medal of Honor winner, you can, uh, have your claim priority processing, uh, if you're 85 years or older.

So, uh, I did a claim a couple months ago and used a priority processing request on the gentleman that was 85 or older, and boom, got his rating that quick. I mean, that's like two or three. That's unheard of.

I think we got one of my old clients.

But then they also have like, um, there's like six, six different criteria that you can meet to have this priority processing, ah, request done. And it really helps speed up the, the claim process as well if you, if you meet one of those.

So when a, uh, service member gets out, they're still handing them their medical records and telling them to take this to. Yeah, whatever they're going to use. Right. So yeah, I remember when they handed mine, it was like two volumes.

Yeah, this is like two big things of it.

And that's what's so frustrating because when they give you your medical records now it's on a CD usually.

Yeah, I had a CD as well.

Pretty easy.

Well, no, but the problem is is it used to be you could go over to the cboc, that's Community Based Outpatient care. M. That's what they call the Sierra Vista Clinic. So it's cboc, Sierra Vista. And they would scan the records in to the veteran's file. Supposedly they no longer do that.

So now for the Veteran to get that done, what do they have to do? They have to drive all the way to Tucson to the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System and go to the uh, FOIA office, Freedom of Information. And uh, I believe it's down the hall building between buildings 80 and 58.

Or is it 60? I don't know. I haven't been there, so I'm trying to remember. But there's like, at the back of the BA Hospital there's a little uh, circle traffic. Circle. Yeah, back there with the American flagpole.

Huh. Huh.

I know where you're at.

I think that's building 60.

Yeah, you're probably right.

I mean there's so many compounds.

I don't know. But anyhow, you go in there and then that's the. Go in and make a left and then the FOIA office is there on the left. Unless they moved. And the VA is good about doing that too. They, they'll move offices around. Uh, but that's how they get their records scanned in is, is they take them in there and, and they'll know, but it's just, it stinks because, you know, that's a long drive.

The other way to do it is you have to be computer literate. And I can't tell you how many Vietnam veterans hate computers. Right. And they don't want to take the time to learn how to go to va.gov and you, if you Have a claim that's pending.

Mhm.

You have to have a claim that's pending. You can go on to va.gov and you can upload, uh, your medical records that way as well.

And then you could also go through the archives. Right, The National Archives. Is that another one?

They request them.

They request them.

Yeah.

Right.

If for some reason it's a little.

Bit of a turnaround.

Usually the military does that though. They. When you file a claim and if the Veteran doesn't have the records, the VA usually files and gets the records. Because.

I didn't know that.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because in the rating decisions, it'll. In the rating decision letters it'll say military treatment records acquired from, um, you know, and.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

It's just a longer process because they're happening to go out and get it.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

One of my, uh, one of my friends, his records were in one of the places that either was burnt or flooded. So he's having a hard time with his records.

Yep.

All right, Mike, so if I was working with you and they're like, b, you are too healthy. Denied. How do we appeal it? And what's the time frame for those? Or I guess it depends. Case by case.

So if you have a denial, again, you would need, uh, what we call the new and relevant medical information.

So we just provide more info to.

Back the case, more info to back up the claim, and then we would resubmit it on a supplemental claim. And if you don't have any new and relevant information, then you do what we call a higher level review. So what that does is that goes back to the VA.

Mhm. And then whoever that rater was that made the decision on your claim, they take it away from them and then they give it to a different rater with a fresh set of eyes and make a decision. And I have seen the higher level review, uh, work. It doesn't always work, but I have seen it work in the past.

Oh, good.

And if that doesn't work, then you have the Board of Veteran Appeals, which could take years.

Oh, goodness. Yeah. So the next two questions that I have here, I want to hit on because I, um. On one of them, I have an update from a mortgage standpoint, which is kind of a bummer. But you tell me what specific programs or benefits are there for veterans who are homeless or almost homeless?

I mean, I know there's programs around the world that are willing to help take them in and help feed them, get them started. But from a VA DAV standpoint, what programs are there to help those people who are.

I would actually encourage a homeless Veteran to contact the Warrior Healing center because.

Hm.

I don't know a lot of what those resources are for the homeless veterans. Whereas they have people here that are trained to deal with exactly that issue and have them come in and talk to somebody, whether it's, uh, a care captain or Tim, uh, and Kathy or somebody, you know.

But they have a process in place and they know the resources to get the Veteran off the street and into a safe environment.

Okay.

Um, I only can answer that question on the claim side, that there is another. Again, we're talking about that priority processing request. And then there is questions on. There are not is. There are questions on the form that ask, are you homeless? Are you at risk of becoming homeless?

And then it asks the different circumstances, if you check yes on those boxes. And that would help the VA to be able to facilitate that claim and make it, again, move quicker on behalf of the Veteran who's struggling financially to get a home.

Yeah. So the reason I wanted to touch on that is because I knew you would say the Warrior Healing center is the place to go, because, uh, we're just gonna cut the BS and we're gonna help you get you off the street, put you up in a place and not just say, okay, in two or three days.

All right, bye. Good luck. They're actually gonna take the time here at the Warrior Healing center to set a plan in motion to help you not become homeless or to get you off the street and help you get better. Um, not to bag on the VA at all, because they do do good things, right?

They're very much like, okay, here you go. And the reason I'm touching on this is because they used to. And I say used to because it ends this month, is the VASP program for mortgages. So if you are going to go into foreclosure or you're having trouble making payments or whatever, they would help you and now they won't.

So, um, things are changing, mostly for the better. But again, like, I feel like here at the Warrior Healing Center, I'm not saying they're going to pay your mortgage for you. They're going to find other options to help you. Maybe it's to help you get a side gig or whatever it might be.

And so I just wanted to touch on what, what benefits or what programs are there. And I knew you were gonna say nearly nothing. I mean there's some out there. But if you're talking here locally, or even locally, if you're listening from out of state, look locally first because your own people that surround you are more than likely gonna right, help uh, you and love you harder than going to the VA and having to sit there and wait.

Because I've heard the saying hurry up and wait. And I feel like, right, um, the VA is still very much hurry up and wait. And so they're getting rid of the VASP for mortgage. They don't really have too many benefits to help you get up off the street quickly.

So I mean, wouldn't you say, Josh, locally I think is going to be the best way for people who are struggling with that is look locally first, get your help first. And so I don't know if you know.

Yeah, ah, just unfortunately there's not a Warrior Healing center everywhere.

That would be amazing.

I've ah, heard that a lot of times.

Imagine if there, if there was, there was, you know, a place like this in every single major city.

But you know Josh, I was, I was on, I'm a big Facebook fanatic. Most everybody that will see this probably knows that, that I, I put a lot of my business on Facebook. I have nothing to hide. I'm not ashamed of.

That's what makes you so lovable, who.

I, ah, am so. But K101 had asked this question about like, if you had all the money and what would you do with it, what would your passion project see? And I said, well I'm already doing my passion project. And I tagged the Warrior Healing center and they responded.

And uh, that made me feel nice that they knew. But why did I bring that up? Because the Warrior Healing center isn't out there doing it for themselves to thump themselves on the chest, say, hey, hey, look at us, right? That's not their mission. If you talk to Tim and Kathy, if you actually came in and sat down and talked to them face to face and got to know them and know what their mission is.

It's not them putting themselves first or Putting the Warrior Healing center first. They're putting the Veteran first. And what the veterans need first, foremost, every time. First and foremost. And that today I'm with anybody that doesn't like that. But that's my, that's what got me hook, line and sinker.

Because to me, it's about the Veteran, not about the organization that's doing the work.

Bureaucracies and the red tape.

Well, I know, but you just shouldn't. You shouldn't. If you're out there doing the work to say, hey, look at me, you're doing it for the wrong reason. My opinion. Strictly my opinion.

Yeah, that's probably why we're all sitting here at the Warrior Healing Center.

Um, and one last thing I just want to throw in there too. One thing that the Warrior Healing center does offer that a lot of other service organizations don't offer is it's like a one stop shop.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, they come in here, yeah, I need help with benefits, uh, but then they find out, oh, you guys do bagel and brew. What's that? Tell me more about that.

Mhm.

Fun Food Friday. Ooh, what's flutes for vets?

The best way. I've been kind of using my newest training. It's kind of like a doctor's office, you know, but, uh, a really good one. Not the ones that just kind of brush you off, but they're ones that go in and like, oh, you came in and your leg hurts.

Well, why does your leg hurt? Oh, well, let's take an X ray. Oh, you have a broken leg. You also have an infection. Let's take care of this.

That's a great analogy.

And let's take care of all these things. Oh, you know what? We also noticed you don't have good shoes, Brianny. That's why your leg hurts.

Oh, yeah, get you some shoes.

Let's take care of all these things. Oh my gosh, you haven't taken a shower in weeks. That's probably another reason why your legs hurting, because you have infections and you have, let's get you a shower. Like we, we actually don't just look at the issue and just, uh, throw a band aid on it.

Right.

We look at what are the symptoms that are causing that issue and what can we do to get to the, uh, all those symptoms at the root of the problem. Or as Tim and Kathy like to say, how do we heal the soul?

And I love too, how they don't let anybody starve. I mean, you come in the lobby, they have those, uh, meals ready to eat?

Yeah, they actually have like the um, M.M.R.E.S, the actual meals ready to eat.

And then they have a food pantry. So I mean there's a lot of really great things that are going on. But again, this is all to help the Veteran and their families.

Mhm.

Not just a Veteran, but also their families. There's been uh, quite a few, uh.

I bring my kids here all the time.

I hate to say this because it's so saddening, but there's been quite a few widows and widowers that come in whose husbands or wives were veterans and they weren't and they thought that no, we can't help them, but they can help. They help them, we help them.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that actually leads into my next question, which is what kind of support is available to surviving spouses or dependents, um, of veterans?

So when the Veteran passes away, there is something that the spouse is eligible to get and it's uh, called dic.

Hm.

Which is I don't have the form in front of me, but dependency and indemnity compensation. Yes. Thank you. You did my job for me. Thank you very much.

You're very welcome. Yeah, we're on the same page here. Yeah.

So, um, the Veteran, uh, has been service connected, let's say for 100% service connected for 10 years or more, you could pretty much die from anything. And the widow or widower would be able to qualify for the DIC. If it's before that 10 year mark, it needs to be ah, related to the service connection, which a lot of them are because you know, when you're talking Agent Orange you're talking, yeah, different types of cancers and respiratory things and stuff like that.

Um, so if it's a service connected, but DIC runs approximately, because I haven't looked up the latest figures on it, it's approximately about 1900. So it's a big hit to the paycheck. Right. Because let's take me for example. So I currently get, with special monthly compensation and 100%, I currently get over $5,000 a month.

So if I die, that $5,000, poof, it's gone. My wife has no money, well, uh, other than her Social Security and retirement. So because I hit that 10 year mark, I can die in my sleep. I could die in a car accident, I could drown. I don't want to go any of those ways.

I prefer to go in, don't die, we like you.

But anyways, she would automatically be eligible to receive that. And one of the things I would like to encourage the Veteran to do, um, is please, please have a list of your previous marriages. Because for some reason, the VA wants that information because they don't want any ex spouses coming against a veterans estate wanting to try and draw benefits off of there.

And I can't tell you how many times, uh, doing those claims, the spouse is like, I don't know what dates he was married and the places he was married and when they were divorced. And these are questions that are on the form that have to be answered. And if the spouse doesn't know, we send it in.

But the VA could come back with a letter saying that we need more information. So it has happened.

I just learned a lesson that my buddy Coleslaw, he's going to need a lot of work when it comes to that.

He's been married a few times, our buddy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, well, and I don't know if.

You had quite a few vets that I think there.

Isn't there somebody here at the Warrior Healing center that had or was working on a estate planning or something like that for.

Yeah, we have an estate planning. Yeah, we have the Lancasters estate planning. Yeah.

Because, um, the reason why I asked that question is because that would be perfect for them to be able to talk about because the fact that there are so many different cases and each case is different, and a lot of people, they can actually tell you in advance and set things up for you in advance so that you're not happening to wait until it's too late.

That's another service we offer here at the Warrior Healing center is, uh, the Lancasters, with all their, uh, legal advice and help for the time being.

But they were casualty assistant officers in the military.

And I know that, uh, Joe's gonna be taking his bar here very soon if he hasn't already.

Yay, Joe.

Yeah, if he hasn't already taken it, he's taking it here soon. One of the two. So good luck, Joe. You got it.

Good luck, buddy.

But to touch it. On the dic.

Yeah.

So if the spouse applies and gets it. M. Then they. And as long as they don't get remarried, which is the part I kind of cringe at, they would still, in the future, qualify for a certificate of eligibility and medical and a few other things. Um, and I googled it because you weren't sure the payment for the DICs right now is 1653amonth.

$16.53 with six cents.

So. And that's you even for. Yes. Tax free.

Tax free.

But to go from 5 to 16.

It'S a huge drop in income. M. That's why when all of a.

Sudden being a widow.

Well, that's why when I got my, um, 100% and we had to rebuild our. Our home because of the monument wildfire laws.

Yeah.

I opted for the, uh, mortgage insurance so that, like, I currently have a mortgage. We. I think we financed like, 250,000, and then we got it paid down to, like, 80,000 already. Wow. Uh, and then my dad, he built a casita in my backyard, so now my property value is, like, doubled.

So my property. But what I'm getting at is when I die, house is paid off free and clear, so my wife won't have that debt. And then as she gets older, she needs to move into care. Whatever. She sells the house. She's got all that money there, too. So at least we have something kind of planned.

Yeah. Yeah. So that, I mean, that's a sad topic to consider, but, I mean, but.

It'S part of life. It's part of reality. It's what we deal with every day here.

Yeah. So, yeah. Any questions here, babe?

Uh, I think one of the last ones that we're gonna be doing is in all your years here, like I said, you've done interviews, m. Claims. Um, you've done outreach. You know, you go and do different events for the center and show your face.

Uh, you volunteer everywhere.

Yeah. I was just gonna say, like, you're one of the biggest volunteers, uh, in the area. Like, everyone here knows you at the center. Everyone at the dav, The Legion, the V, Everyone sees you and knows who you are because you're. You get around and make, you know, volunteer that.

We obviously know you love it. So with all those things that you've done and all those places, places you've been, what would be your, like, the one story that stands out the most for you for here being at the center? The one that, like, you know, you have a day and you're like, you know what?

I don't want to go into work today, but you look at your calendar and you say that you got like five veterans that, uh, have lined up for you, right? And you're like, uh, I can't cancel on them because, you know, and you use that one story. What is, what is it?

Almost like a driver. Like what? Once the one that drives you on those days where you're kind of.

You just laugh.

It's really weird because before COVID hit, I m was self isolating. Before self isolating was even a thing. I just stayed home every day. I was watching tv, playing video games on my Xbox. I'm a big Xbox gamer.

Rock Band.

Rock Band, definitely. For sure.

We should play sometime.

I like the drums and I have drums. I have the Beatles.

Oh, I love the Beatles. Did we just become best friends? I think so.

But, um, I just, I got kind of bored and then I thought, I'm going to go out and check out to volunteering. So the first place I went was to the DAV and I started learning how to do the, uh, cso, but I wasn't certified. I was just sitting in, seeing how the process was done, learning about it.

So that was my first ever volunteer experience. And it appealed to me because knowing that something that you do can affect somebody else's life and make it a positive and not a negative. To me, that's what Christianity is about. To me, that's what being a, uh, godly man or godly person is about.

It's about you want to help others make their lives better. I mean, do people, you know, always agree with me on politics and stuff like that? Well, you know what I don't take, I don't take a lot of the politics stuff like to heart because I still respect like other people's opinions and stuff like that.

But just the fact that seeing. Wow. Uh, I had no idea. That's the thing. I had no idea what effect it was going to be when I first started. Then when you get that feedback, because you don't always get that feedback. And then somebody says, oh, well, they recommended me to come see you because they did such.

You did such good work. Or just the other day Kathy told me. Was it Kathy? I think it was. Gosh, I don't know now I'm trying to remember. But anyways, Ed said, um, somebody called and gave me a, uh, going recommendation on how professional I was and all this.

And you know what? I never thought about that because that's just. That comes naturally to me because I care about people. I care about how they feel. And again, I don't care what the color of their skin is. I don't care what their religion is. I don't care what their political affiliation is.

They're a Veteran, they served our country. They're coming in, they need help. For whatever reason, I'm going to help them. I'm going to do what I can to help them.

I think that comes off across like you're very genuine, so it's natural to gravitate towards you and oh, if you don't know the answer, you're going to try and help regardless because you like to, to help. And so.

Right.

Um, but again, to touch on that, I think, um, we're placed where we're meant to be. Um, without us knowing. And, um, lost my train of thought again.

Well, one of, one of the biggest honors that I had was, um, Bill Bates. He goes to St. Andrews. He's a Knight of Columbus. He said, mike, I'm going to put you in for the veterans wall at Canyon Vista Memorial Hospital.

Yeah, that was awesome.

Medical Center. I was like, ah, that's not really my thing. I only served three years. I just, you know.

Yeah, but in those three years you served like six different organizations.

No, no, I'm talking about three years in the military.

Oh, okay.

So then I told him, I says, look, if I can represent the Warrior Healing center, the Elks, the Knights of Columbus and the DAV and it helps get their name out, then I'm good with it. So it's not like I wanted the personal accolade, but it's so weird because I get messages on Facebook.

Hey, I was at Canyon Vista Medical center and I saw your plaque on the wall and I didn't realize that you volunteered for all these different organizations. So again, it's not about me. It's about these organizations that I passionately care about. And I care about the dab, I care about the Knights of Columbus.

I care about the Elks because I do the Elks. In honor of my father who passed away last September. He got me into the Elks 15 years ago. Um, I miss him desperately. I miss him dearly. I love him.

He was a great, right? Wasn't he a leader.

He was the exalted ruler in Lake Havasu City.

And then, uh, the Warrior Healing center, when I got around all these like minded people and saw everything that they were doing and had everything going on, I mean, and just to imagine when this place was first founded, it was just going to be a, uh, dog training facility.

Right? And look at what it's blossomed into.

Yeah.

And if this place wasn't so awesome, then why are there so many awesome people volunteering here?

Oh yeah.

That's all I got to say.

Yeah, well, look at also what you've done. Like besides all that, you have the Michael Zer show, which has over a hundred episodes.

Well, I, I haven't been doing that lately. I kind of took a break.

Over a hundred episodes. That means over 100 veterans.

Right?

You interviewed some of them twice, but still, like I know you had, uh, I was on there twice with you, but still it's a hundred stories that you have documented on YouTube. 100 veterans got to get on there, tell their stories and it'll be forever. Just like you had mentioned earlier.

My kids will be able to go and watch it one day.

I got to interview at that time, Mayor elect, uh, and he's on the wall also.

Both. You got to be in that same class.

And then I got to, uh, interview Sheriff Daniels. Those were two really memorable, uh, interviews.

I'm hoping to get Mr. Mayor McCaw in here.

Yeah, I'm hoping to get him in here. But I gotta tell you, every single interview that I ever did, to me, it was worth it and I love doing it because it, uh, was telling a Veteran story. And I think that their stories and their service to not only our country, but to our community, I think these stories need to be told, you know, because people don't know.

And, and again, I had an uncle that served in the navy in Vietnam and there's not no tribute or anything left to him other than, you know, I mean, because he's no longer with us. So the fact that these videos, these interviews will be up there so that like when your kids get older.

Yeah.

Mhm.

And maybe dad doesn't want to talk about what he did to them in the military, but you could show them.

Mhm.

Just go to the Warrior Healing center webpage or YouTube and it's right there.

Find you there.

Well, all right.

Well, on that note, almost done.

Is it really 12:30?

Mike, being the busy man that he is, has to go and knock out some claims right now for the center. So, uh, we gotta start wrapping this thing up.

So.

Do you have any more questions, Vy?

Uh, no. Just if you could give us what is your biggest piece of advice to a Veteran who doesn't know where to start with their VA benefits?

The first thing I would advise them to do is go and talk to a DAB service officer over at the chapter 14 over on, uh, Wilcox, or come here to the Warrior Healing center and talk to me, and, uh, we'll sit down and give them the guidance and come up with a game plan and plan of attack, as you can say, as far as how we want to tackle their claim.

Because the thing about a claim for a Veteran is every claim is unique. There's no identical claim. They're all. They're all unique.

All right, well, I know you're busy. I don't want to keep you any longer, but I do want to say I appreciate you.

Oh, thank you for having me on.

I appreciate the mission that you follow, and you just want to help people. And again, being a Catholic, it's all about the mission. Right. And so, on behalf of all veterans and us, uh, spouses who wish our stubborn husbands and wives would, gosh, would go and look at their benefits more, I appreciate you and all of the volunteer work that you do, and thank you for being on our show today.

I couldn't ask a sweeter man to interview today.

And for Josh, you know, talking about for your kids, too, when they get older and they want to go to college.

Yep.

Benefits. Yeah.

Uh, I, um, mean, we could talk about.

Because we didn't even talk about any of that stuff, like the chapter that'll be volume two and all that good stuff.

Episode two, Episode, uh, three. Episode four.

Yeah. So we'll come get you. You're multiple times on your mic for. For today. We'll keep it to how to start, how to appeal, all the easy stuff, and then we'll get into the more. We'll get nitty gritty another time. But thank you so much for being on our show.

Oh, my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

All right, well, see you guys next time.

See ya. Uh, sorry to keep you so late.

No.