Wandering the halls of a VA hospital or the Federal Building in a wheel chair makes you almost invisable. I have seen so many crimes being commited. Watch the people in the pharmacy short bottles of pills by one. At the end of the day they are sold. That's 1,000s of pills a day.
I have rolled into rooms and out of sight and watched and listened to the fat cats bragging about all the extra money and free trips they get on the job.
I have proof of altered transcripts.
I have proof of altered records.
I hope this helps out in getting some people in here to let us know it's going for others.
Many Vets out there are worse off than I am. Lets help them as we help our selves.

make sure that you guys check out:

http://p203.ezboard.com/bvetbenefits

you will get very positive answers there, the people are amazing and very informative.

you know i read some post recently from an actual VA worker and i found it intersting in the replies he said...

we all know that they are overstaffed, underpaid, and have high workloads.. what job doesnt these days?

then to add to it, you have tons of vets that keep filing appeals even though they dont deserve more than what they already got and that clogs up the system even more...

to make matters worse, you have those vets that file for disability over the most idiotic things imaginable.. "oh i was recently talking to a nam vet and his agent orange rubbed off on me.. i want disability"

the VA isnt a candy store and veterans shouldnt treat it as such.. it just makes it worse for those that are in actual need...

dont get me wrong, i firmly believe that you should fight for your benefits and fight until you are compensated and paid the right way, not what everyone "thinks" it should be.

im not really taking up for the VA, by all means thats not true, because i myself am in a serious battle with them. however, i do think we should keep things positive and fight the battle while keeping our ethics in mind.

if you know you arent suppose to get 100% disability, then dont keep trying for it. get your benefits and move on, let the next soldier that may actually need that 100% get his.

I am glad to hear that I am not alone in this fight to obtain a fair rating. I was able to get 50% only after contacting my congressman. Although, Congressman Amo Houghton did not keep up the fight for very long. I am considering asking Hillary Clinton for help.

My records too kept coming up missing. The buffalo VA here in NY would keep requesting the same records over and over, saying they did not have them, now my file is more than a thousand pages. My VA rep from the state of NY has not been much help at all.

After asking for my military records, I found the important items were deleted. A employee advised me that "someone must really hate you." Yep the VA does.

Concerned

I am 100% disabled veteran ONLY after a 21 year fight. I too have had my records "missing". The last claim for increase I had took 14 months to process and that was sped up only by the fact I bitched, had my Congressman involved and called every day for 4 months straight asking the status of my claim. My buddy filed his claim the same day as me and they processed it in 5 months (at the same VARO). When I asked why his went so fast the guy even admitted they take the simplier cases first. They DO NOT go by date of filing! My buddy's claim was presumptive for AO exposure in Nam -- DM Type 2 so it was easier to process.

Some one needs to explain why it takes 8 months to several years just to go over a case, set in front of the VA decison makers. It's like they take a week to study a page.
Papers sent to the VA seem to disapear even after they say it was received. In my "statement of case" it says in one paragraph that they have all my hospital records, and the very next paragraph they say there are no records.

Being,
What we need is just as Mr. Kidwell said: a full and complete investigation of the VA from the bottom up. I have written Congresspersons and Presidential Candidates asking them if they would support such an investigation. As you have already guessed - no responses. ALL of our Senate and House need to be replaced! Even the good ones ie: my Rep. Walter B. Jones (NC) (who is very good to Veterans)as they will not comment or act on this.