SSI and SSD give back pay to the day you applied. This man deserves the same at a minimum. I’d say an official presidential apology is in order to, but given the current president, I suggest we skip that.
Same with my father, he’s 87. My sister has been helping for years to try for his benefits. Records lost in the fire.
Reprehensible at the callous officious disregard this government had for him. Juxtapose this behavior with the daytime TV ads of “I can’t get the SS Disability benefits I deserve” and “Let the Cochran Firm get it for you”.
Fully thousands and thousands of dubiously debilitated ‘workers’ with the disease-du-jour, Bi-Polar disorder, anxiety, et al are approved (with the help of the Cochran firm and their ilk) and this veteran has to wait 68 years because the system doesn’t have an administrative court that can be bought like SSDI.
i don’t know why anyone thinks any of this is new. The VA has sucked for decades. No self respecting doctor wants to work there, it is regarded as career quicksand. It is known for having foreign doctors that can’t speak English. And the staff, the onerous paperwork, the ridiculous forms, there is nothing but discouragement and obfuscation.
It should be like this: if you served, you are eligible. Period. Instead there is a ridiculous hierarchy, battles about whether a veteran is truly injured, treating veterans like they are dishonest and magnifying their issues, all in the name of providing benefits only to the deserving.
It is a sick, sick system.
See my post # 9 regarding the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center.