VA Begins Payment of Disability Benefits for New Agent Orange Diseases

ya know my brother and sister in law served in iraq and both have ptsd, and have been fighting for disability for ptsd and other service connected injurys. this is ridiculous, i have never seen people more mistreated than our veterans. they went over there and fought in combate to keep us safe and free at home, of which many lost their lives. and they see things that are incomprehensible to the average person and then they have real mental health issues when they get home and are unable to work. so now you have a vetrans that has to fight everyday to stay alive here at home because they usually would rather die than continue to live with what is going on in their head, but they fight everyday. Then with that they are expected to work full time. When the vet has issues at work because of things that trigger flashbacks and the other symptoms they have then they end up losing their jobs. at least that is what happened with my brother. so then with no income because va won't pay disability they end up going to court and getting evicted from their home. so now homeless they lose everything they own, and have nowhere to go while they wait for va disability benifits for 4 or more years and longer. all the while va is doing nothing to keep these guys in their homes. WOW what is wrong with this country, to allow our vets to become homeless is so disgusting. I believe this should be considered a felony charge. Let me explain. These guys and gals are suffering from mental health and psychical disabilities. If you cause harm to a disabled or vulnerable adult it is a crime and the regular person is charged with a felony offense. If a doctor with holds medical treatment it is negligence and that is a crime to. By the VA denying disability benefits for so long the vets are put under stress that they should not have to deal with because they have no income, have become homeless in combination with mental health disorders, depression, social disorders, anxiety, PTSD, & suicidal or homicidal ideations they end up attempting or committing suicide or homicide. I believe that if a person has anything to do with the death or attempted death of another person that is a crime. Also by the time our vets become homeless they are also more than likely having substance abuse issues with alcohol or (legal & or illegal) drugs to numb the pain they feel everyday whether it is physical or mental, and to stuff away the feelings, or to hide the images or the faces they see when they close their eyes. When a person is at this point they are considered a vunlerable adult. The reason our veterans get to the point homelessness is because they are continually denied their VA disability benefits. If the vetran is approved in a reasonable time frame the odds of becoming homeless drop by alot and that stress will not be there. and the odds of mantaining medical/mental health care will be greatly improved because early treatment intervention improves the lives of these guys and gals. So the odds suicidial/homicidal attempts and successes will be a lot lower. i guess what I'm saying is why is it that when someone is involved but did not commit the attempted homicide or homicide they are charged with conspiracy or some kind of crime related to the involvement in the crime and they are sent to prison usually for a life sentence in this country, but when the va is allowed to continually deny disability benifits for years and years, and that becomes one of the stressers for the vets because i think by the time they are homeless and unable to deal with life they are left with no help and that is okay, its not a crime for this to happen to our vets??? We have to have money to have a home or we have no home. that is why their are services and funds like va disability and ssi/ssdi for people when they can't work, so they have the funds to have a home. If the VA would approve the benifits alot sooner the sucicide rate would go down, and i believe this with my whole heart. So why is it ok for this to happen to our vetrans. but it is a crime if we are involved, in the death of a fellow american even if we did not do it, just because person was there they are charged. Why is the government so damn special???????
i bet if they were held liable as an accessory to attempted suicide/homicide or suicide/homicide, (because the va will not allow veterans to access their disability benifits, if you ask any veterans in this situation they will tell you that having no money is a contributing factor when they think about suicide/homicide they have nothing to lose by that point) the va would spit out the approvals a lot faster, maybe even starting tomorrow.

The VA is a big game, the only problem is they change the rules constantly and don't bother to tell vets. As a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, I understand all too well the games the VA is constantly playing with veteran's.

I think our vets should be provided with all their health benefits. They fight for our country and come back home all screwed up and then they have to come home to fight to get their benefits.

where do we apply for agent orange benefits, please advise

Well if the VA "EVER" pays for agent orange exposure, it will be posthumously if ever! You have had to deal with the VA in order to understand that statement! Seeing is believing, Sgt. Ivan D Ripley (U.S. Army Ret.)