VA Benefits

[The Little Guy]

I have to sit up in front of the class with my two other group members, and discuss with them "How can we better our VA system and who should be responsible for it?" We need to talk for 50 minutes, and if any one has any experience with the VA, or any thing you want share with me, could you give some of your thoughts on some of these?

 

A. What general VA benefits should veterans be entitled to?

B. Who should be entitled to the G.I. Bill?

C. How long should veterans be covered?

D. Should there be an age cut off for certain benefits?

E. Should the application process have a time restraint?

F. Is the VA too understaffed to have accommodating resources for veterans?

G. How can we better serve the homeless Veterans?

H. What qualifications should Veterans be entitled to due to their service records?

[tomfmason]

I am a veteran and currently get 100% disiablity from the VA. I would have to say that they have taken very good care of me since I have been out of the military. It took over a year for me to get my benefits started and that was a really ruff period but since then it has been a big help. As for your questions:

 

A. What general VA benefits should veterans be entitled to?

 

I personally think that this should be based on their time in service and or any disablities that they have as a result of that service. If you only make it one week into basic training and get injured you are technically a veteran and are therefore entitled to anything that any other veteran is entitled to. Granted they have a co-pay for perscriptions and such but still..

 

 

B. Who should be entitled to the G.I. Bill?

 

Anyone that has paid into it and does not have a dishonorable discharge.

 

C. How long should veterans be covered?

 

For as long as they are disabled

 

 

D. Should there be an age cut off for certain benefits?

like what? As you get older you are more likely to require more help not less.

 

E. Should the application process have a time restraint?

Do you mean a time restraint as in how long it takes to get a judgement or for the initialization of the benefits. For the first I think it shouldn't really ever take longer than a few months to determine if you are allowed benefits. For the second I say.. No.. Some veterans are really thick headed and feel like those benefits are charity and will only use them if they *have* to.

 

F. Is the VA too understaffed to have accommodating resources for veterans?

That really depends on the area. All va personel have pretty heavy work loads and it is worse in some states than others. The state that I live in is one of the best as far as the ammount and quality of VA personel but that is not the case every where. I think it really depends on the ammount of veterans in that area.

 

G. How can we better serve the homeless Veterans?

That is something that is not really an issue any more. Sure there are homeless veterans but it is nothing like what it was 10 years ago. Most of the homeless veterans now have some pretty bad mental disablities and should pretty much have constant care.

 

I am a member of my local VFW and we have a fund just for that. AFAIK it has never been touched. There have been times where we have given money out of other funds for other problems but I have personally never delt with a homeless veteran(I help a lot of new guys with their initial paperwork and explain the process)

 

 

H. What qualifications should Veterans be entitled to due to their service records?

don't really understand that question.

 

 

[The Little Guy]

Thanks so much for your input, after reading this and then using some ideas it gave me I was able to do some research, to add to this.  I think I did fairly well on my discussion, and for being a shy person, I was able to get an 89% (89 out of 100).

 

Thanks Again!