Department+of+Veteran+Affairs

=DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS =   =="...to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan." -Abraham Lincoln- History of the department == //The Veterans Administration is also called VA. It was established on July 21, 1930. Its main job is to consolidate and also to coordinate government activities involving war veterans. President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which established a new federal Cabinet-level for the Department. It replaced the Veterans Administration and was effective on March 15 1989. In both the new and old forms the VA had the same mission statement. To care for the veterans.  [] Mission Statement   //  The goal of this department is to provide excellence in patient care, veterans’ benefits, and customer satisfaction. They have reformed the department to strive to high quality, prompt and seamless service to veterans. Their employees offer their dedication and commitment to help these veterans get the services they earned. http://www.va.gov/about_va/

LEADERSHIP IN THE DEPARTMENT
 * Eric K. Shinseki - Secretary of Veterans Affairs
 * W. Scott Gould - Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs
 * John R. Gingrich - Chief of Staff
 * Michael J. Kussman, M.D. - Under Secretary for Health
 * Gerald Cross - Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health
 * William F. Feeley - Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management
 * Patrick W. Dunne - Under Secretary for Benefits
 * Steve L. Muro - Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs
 * Phil Riggin - Acting Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
 * Rita Reed - Acting Assistant Secretary for Management
 * Stephen W. Warren - Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology
 * Willie Hensley - Acting Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration
 * Kevin Hanretta - Acting Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security & Preparedness
 * Karen W. Pane - Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning
 * Daniel C. Devine - Acting Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs
 * James P. Terry - Chairman, Board of Veterans’ Appeals
 * John H. Thompson - Acting General Counsel
 * The Honorable George J. Opfer - Inspector General
 * Glenn D. Haggstrom - Executive Director, Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction

=Issue: Benefits for Veterans = Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a major issue to Veterans. Some Veterans are receiving help from programs which are providing them with disability compensations. This is for survivors of the war and the survivors of these veterans. These programs are only available for veterans and survivors if they have a clear medical diagnosis of this disorder. The evidence needed is a sufficiently traumatic event called a “stressor.” Once the VA determines that your PTSD is service connected then they will decide the compensation needed. This has been a key issue in many discussions lately. http://www.oefoif.va.gov/

Receiving benefits for a veteran is very difficult and time consuming, Often times the veteran must hire an attorney to even receive the benefits. There are three things that help to get a veteran benefits. There must be a current disability, one that has been diagnosed by a medical professional. Unfortunately, some disabilities cannot be service connected by law because they pre-existed service or for specific reasons established by law, such as a personality disorder, refractive error of the eye, or dental conditions. Another way a veteran can get benefits is if there is evidence by way of military service records of injury, event in service, or a precipitating disease. The third way it is easy for a veteran to receive benefits is if there is a link between a current issue in their health caused by something that happened while they were serving in the military. http://compwonk.com/?p=1125

One good thing about the benefits offered to veterans is that they help with non health related topics. For example home loans. A bad thing is that they must apply to get health related benefits within five years of return. Sometimes they only receive dental if the issue happened while they were in service. Often times you must go to get reviewed and examined within one hundred days of returning home. This issue has been brought up lately in the House. [|__http://www.oefoif.va.gov/__] = =