[mt_sourdough]

Hmmmm...? Well, my dad would be dead if it wasn't for the VA. I've seen how well they take care of him and it is getting better the last few years. I'd say that they have spent more money taking car of him in the last couple of years than he made during his entire military career with a family.
My time in service was just one enlistment during peace time and I was healthy when I left and still pretty darn healthy so I have never asked for anything and don't need anything. I never will. Way more deserving and needy people than I.
They take good care of my brother as well. People in the private sector get hurt on the job and don't get anything unless they sue. I believe the country should put a high premium on taking care of it's vets. In my time, I have seen who cuts VA budgets and who increases it. My dad's biggest complaint is that the VA spends too much $ treating drunks and back in Helena, MT, veterans used the VA to escape the cold of winter. When the spring time came and things started warming up again, they are back to the jug and crying about how the VA mistreats them. My dad's words, not mine.

 

[sskangakiller]

I would be dead if it wasn't for my good woman(married near 43 years). Our VA is looking after me too. Those jug gurglers need to be rounded up and counselled by vets that have seen a bit of the light, they need to be assisted in ways improve their lot. I am travelling okay, but once in a while I have to be watched when I have a few. regards, sskangakiller.

 

[tlc361]

I don't know if it's still going on, but when I got out they neglected to tell me to go to the VA and get a Medical & Dental exam & get registered for Veteran's Preference before the 90-day time limit expired...if it weren't for an old Vet on the bus back home, I'd have never known and would have missed the deadline.

He told me, "As soon as you get home, go the VERY NEXT DAY so you don't forget about it. Otherwise, you are completely shafted"

Times may change, but bureaucrats & those pogues that advise you during your retirement paperwork are still weasels.

This was my experience, only no old man to tell me to go. I got screwed. Last time I visited a vet center I got hold of my file and it was stamped "No Military History" 6 years and a DD214 with Honorable Discharge and I get stamped "No Military History". To the OP, no I don't trust them.

 

[sskangakiller]

Yep tlc361 , when I finally got the full VA pension here in '95 (after pumping them for 22 years from '73) AND THEY ONLY BACKDATE 3 MONTHS from your LAST APPLICATION, the bumbling bureaucrats state they know nothing about me!! No record, zap , zilch! I had no income for 7 months when they found their (my) documents interstate at our nation's capital,
Canberra. The average VA operative doesn't give a rat's rectum about people. Another government misfit here is the Office of the Protective Commission (OPC), this lot of brain dead idiots are supposed to safe guard people that entrust them with their Wills/Estates etc when they are deemed incapable( eg, dementia) to manage their daily lives. I won't go into it but, your Al Capone must have give 'em instructions!

 

[tlc361]

I firmly believe it's time to start hanging bureaucrats from light poles.

 

[unclesarge58]

The CBOC Here in Mena, AR, Is Great & The People Really Care.
Really Like my PA as She's Really Helped me w/ my Meds.
So Far the VA Hospital in Little Rock Has Given me Excellent Care.
Lots of Run Around (Redundant & Repetitive Appointments) But Great Medical Service.
Now, North Carolina, that's another Story....Downright Disgraceful.
Wilmington, Fayetteville & even the U.S. Army Hospital at Ft. Bragg, NC.... SUCK!.... BAD!
Gainesville, FL, In My Experience is also another Excellent VA Hospital.
Very Professional & Caring Staff. Actually Worked there Shortly. Nice People.
Honored to be in the Company of So Many & Such Distinguished Veterans.
Just My 2 Cents,
UncleSarge58

 

[SCVDon]

Yeah, I trust the VA to screw up a wet dream. Post Office closed, no non-commercial food allowed to be brought in and Legionnaire's all at Castle Point VA Hospital ----->>>>> Legionnaires' disease death prompts water system treatment at Castle Point VA hospital - DailyFreeman.com

 

[MrDig]

I started going to the V.A. in Minneapolis when I was still working and had insurance. Then they treated me well insurance was happy to let me get my care at the V.A. Hospital. Suddenly when unemployed and uninsured and needing help I am finding doors slammed in my face and told there is nothing wrong with me. Why the hell should I trust the VA, I'm now homeless and unable to work or find permanent housing because all they want to do is CYA which leave me out in the cold.

 

[cds4570]

No in a word I do not trust the VA but being a service connceted diabled vet I use them even when t take year to be seen. They keep tying to take my guns away and want me locked up probaly because my Dad wants me locked away since I despise his wife. I have been treated like crap but no one hads ever treated me or my family a piss poor as she has. My dad kicks the hornet's nest through out the year and then the VA calls me and the wife and want me disarmed and locked in a padded room because the crap my dad makes up. To bad you can't fix stupid legally. Not to mention I live really close to the Salem VA in Virgina and it use to be a mental hospital.

 

[Ghostcat]

No I do not trust the VA. My dad was a WWII vet. Not the best care from what I saw. Our vets deserve the best.

 

[Darr]

I've received pretty good care and have heard good things from other Vets about the VA in Grand Junction, CO...but, do I trust them? Hell No!

 

[longislandloco]

No one trusts the VA, the Federal gov, State gov, Local gov, banks, Wall St…….did I miss anything.

 

[bountybuddy]

The VA has been very good to my wife and I. Maybe it was just dumb luck. I thought my co-pay was really going to hurt me. I was worried. Then the VA doctors put me on 100% disability which is what they do with all veterans that have my problem. If a veteran has 100% disability they have no co-pay. I didn't know this until that day. My service worker thought I might get 50%. I was sure lucky.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

Why yes, I do trust the VA. Every time I've had something to do with them, they've made sure that I either felt belittled, was denied, and that I was imposing on their time. They've been unfailingly polite, never allowing the entry door to close while I was within, lest it hit me on the posterior on the way out and giving me a claim against them. I implicitly trust them to be absolutely unable to do a single beneficial thing for me.

Get an exam immediately after separation? First I've ever heard of it. I'm a bit past the 90 day deadline though, I got out in 1968.

900F

 

[nor'easter]

I never had any issues with the care they have given me, they served my Dad well and all my other family vets.

 

[vietnam71]

We are lucky to have Castle Point and Montrose VA Hospitals here in Mid State NY. I have received very good care from both locations.

I think most of us had our problems when we initially filed for benefits. The burden of proof has always been on the veteran. When I first came home in 75 it was not a good time for veterans, our citizens the government and the VA were treating us like Dogs. I eventually had to go to the DAV and my Senator and Congressman for help. I try to forget the bad experiences from 40+ years ago when I can.

 

[jkingrph]

I have only been using the VA for about 5 years now with no complaints. I have seen the same physician since I began there. His first comment was that he was going to have a good time with me, and his answer was because he would not have to explain everything to me. The reason, because I was a Pharmacy Officer almost all of my active duty and reserve time. Like a lot of others I go simply for the meds, I see the VA doc once a year and a local physician once a year also, at about six month intervals. I had worked for a local hospital almost 30 years , and had good benefits so did not need the VA or the hassel or going to the clinic about 35 miles away. I was laid off along with a couple of physicians and numerous nurses and other support personnel because the parent hospital had gotten into too big and expansion and building plan, example 19 million for a useless lobby in our hospital, so they could not afford to the salaries, and I was one of the highest paid in the hospital. It worked out good for me, no more call, going in all hours of the night ect. At 70 now I am doing some relief work in mostly retail around the area and having a good time. I could probably save some by following some of those $4 &5 wal mart plans but want nothing to do with them or their pharmacies. $8/month each for my 4 prescriptions is just fine.

 

[rob42049]

I'd be dead now if it wasn't for the V.A. It looked bad in 2012. I have received nothing but caring,responsive,skillful,and prompt medical care from my local clinic in Rapid City,and the excellent surgical team at the VAMC Minneapolis. I trust them implicitly.

Rob

 

[Pard]

Nope, dont trustem one bit.

Retired in 92, tried to get my disability raised since then. They will not except my paperwork. Gave up.

 

[ironhead7544]

Thanks for posting this.