VA Issues Phone-Scam Warning
-------------------------------
The Department of Veterans Affairs is advising veterans to beware of anyone seeking to obtain personal information, including Social Security or phone numbers, via telephone.
According to the American Legion, a veteran notified VA officials after receiving a call from someone purporting to represent a VA pharmacy. The caller asked the veteran numerous questions. The veteran noticed through caller ID that the call originated from (888) 555-1234, a number known by law-enforcement authorities to be the source of numerous reported scams.
Sometimes a caller will tell a veteran that an identification card has expired and a fee is required to renew it, or that a bank account is listed on a computer and verification of the number is required for its removal. The VA does not conduct business in these manners. Veterans who have questions about services should contact the nearest VA medical center, or call
(877) 222-8387.
Court Ruling Outrages Veterans' Organizations
------------------------------------------------
The Veterans of Foreign Wars has joined the chorus of boos heaped upon the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered the father of a Marine who died in action to pay court fees for a religious group that he suede after the group protested at his son's 2006 funeral.
Albert Snyder of Westminster, Md., father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, took legal action after members of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church picketed the young Marine's
2006 funeral. Matthew Snyder died in Anbar province, Iraq, on March 3, 2006. He was attached to I MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force), based at Twentynine Palms, Calif. The church, led by Rev. Fred Phelps, claimed at Snyder's and numerous other funerals that his death and others'
are God's way of punishing the U.S. for tolerating homosexuality. Albert Snyder initially won a federal lawsuit against Westboro and Phelps, and was awarded $10.9 million. But the 4th Circuit overturned the lower court's decision, and ordered Albert Snyder to pay Westboro's more than $16,000 in court fees. "This is a travesty at best and borders on the obscene,"
said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., VFW's national commander. "Mr. Snyder has already confronted the difficulties of burying his Marine son and then bringing a lawsuit against this group of hate-mongers." The VFW has made a donation to a fund to help pay Snyder's legal fees. Snyder has since appealed the 4th Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the case.
Automation To Improve GI Bill Application Process
----------------------------------------------------
VA and Defense Department officials hope new automation tools will alleviate the slow application process veterans and service members have experienced since the implementation of the new Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits in August 2009. With 153,000 veterans applying for the benefits since their inception, overwhelmed VA staffers had to process the paperwork manually. Now, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki says, redundant steps have been eliminated. The automation process is beginning this month, with more improvements coming in July, November, and December. The GI Bill application system should be fully automated by year's end.
Shinseki Vows To Reduce Backlog
----------------------------------
One year into his job as chief of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Secretary Eric K. Shinseki reaffirmed his commitment to focus on reducing the backlog of pending disability claims. The number of veterans awaiting resolution of claims for pensions, health care, and disability compensation is nearing one million and rising steadily. Citing four pilot programs aimed at streamlining the often byzantine claims application process, Shinseki promised, "We are going to break the back of the backlog this year," in an April 6 statement. Veterans can probably expect in the near future to have the VA provide them a checklist of items they will need to complete their applications. Also, Shinseki said that the VA will switch modes from adversary to advocate for applicants, improve communications, and debug the system before there is any chance that glitches be incorporated in plans to automate the application system.
SOURCE: ARMED FORCES NEWS