SPEAKER_03: 0:00

Basters Exposed Vet Productions weekly show on this 30th day of October 2025, one day before the goblins come out and ring your doorbell. My name is John Stacy. They call me Jay Batcher. I am the owner of Exposed Vet and Exposed Vet Productions. My side kick today, my co-host is Mr. Ray Cobb. Mr. Ray Cobb is also a radio host on WZYX Radio. He does his shows on Tuesday mornings, Central Time. That's 9 o'clock a.m. Is that right, Ray? That's correct.

SPEAKER_01: 0:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 0:39

I've been a guest on his show several times.

SPEAKER_02: 0:43

Wzyxradio.net and listen to it live.

SPEAKER_03: 0:47

Yeah. And here we chat and touch it now. But uh Ray's kind of a uh, you know, I mean, he's kind of retired. He does things like this. He spent many years with American Legion. Uh uh he's one of the surviving, or the only surviving member of a band that had a very, very popular hit record back in the 60s. The band's called The Uncalled For. Yeah. It's called The Uncalled For. And uh Ray was the drummer of that band, and he's probably still got the original drums in his house. Uh he's done a lot of different things. Uh, he was a photographer in the military, got exposed to Agent Orange at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Uh, he rode that horse his whole career taking pictures, and he's worked for the governor of Texas. He's worked for he's covered the Atlanta Braves back in their heyday, uh, you know, back when Shipper Jones and them folks' clan. And now he's basically dedicated his time to helping veterans and uh he's what do not he's got some information for, so he learned today, and we're gonna lead off with that because we're gonna start digging into some VA claim stuff and timing right now. So, Ray, you're up.

SPEAKER_02: 2:02

Okay, uh thank you, John. Yeah, uh this is the kind of the time of year I kind of miss things because I had the privilege of of covering five World Series in my days as a photographer. And so when you see a game last like last night where the Blue Jays pitcher or rookie did so well and set records, and uh you kind of missed that. I actually uh was present when uh uh the gentleman from the Diamondbacks uh pitched uh the fifth perfect baseball game against the Braves back in uh, oh guys, that would have probably been in the uh in the '97, '96, '97. But uh Johnson uh was his name. Through that perfect game. Yeah, through that perfect game. Um that was exciting. I I I normally would shoot a game and then leave about the fifth or sixth inning when I got the everybody, all the batters, all the pictures that were going to be there. And then you could pull up your pictures for the for the news as to which one ended up doing something key. Uh that particular night, because it was a no-hitter and a perfect game, uh, you didn't leave. You didn't want to leave. You just sat there and watched, you know. Uh wasn't a whole lot to take pictures of, so you just kind of sit there and watched. But um, yeah, I missed that this time of year when the world series is going on and everything. Yeah, I got a I got a phone call. Uh she called me about a different matter, and that's one of our county service officers. And uh we got to talking, and and I just finally asked her, I said, what's going on with with VA and VA claims? And she said, Well, I'll just tell you exactly what's was happening all the way out to the Board of Veterans Appeals. I said, Oh, well, okay, that's great. What's going on? She said, Well, we're still taking claims. Our office is still open. Uh, we're prize we're looking at the claims, we're getting them ready, we're processing them, sending them to the centralized location for distribution to the regions. And she said, but the regions are closed. So those are stockpiling up. And she I said, Well, I understand claims are still being approved or whatever. She said, Well, no, not really. She said, anything in October that was approved is you know, until October 1st, which was back in September, is is being sent out. It's being handled. Anything after that has to be done in the original office. It's not. The original office are shut down. They're not even receiving claims. However, anyone who was previously scheduled for a CNP prior to October, it came up, then the hospital group goes ahead and issues, or they can go ahead and issue to have those CNPs done. So the CMPs, if one was done prior to October 1st, a request was made. The request was made prior to October 1st, those are done and are being done in October.

unknown: 5:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 5:25

Now the DAV is still working full. She said they've had five or six VAD hearings at our local county uh this month.

unknown: 5:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 5:38

And uh for the month of October. And she said they anticipate as long as there's a backlog uh at the Board of Veterans Appeals, they will continue to have those. She doesn't see those. She said, by the by the backlog they have, we could probably go into January or February and still be having C and Pigs. I mean, still be having uh claim uh hearings. So that's basically what it sounds like is happening. They're taking the claims, they're getting them ready, they're submitting them. And it gets up for distribution. I think it's in is it in Wisconsin, Minnesota? Somewhere up there. Okay. So up there it gets up to Wisconsin, and they can't send them out to the regional offices, to the agents that or to the adjudicators, because the regional the district uh regional offices are closed, like Nashville, like Atlanta. They're all shut down. So they're not receiving any of those claims.

SPEAKER_03: 6:44

Yeah, they're closed, but they're not shuttered. There's people still working inside there.

SPEAKER_02: 6:49

Yeah, there's a few people in there still working.

SPEAKER_03: 6:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 6:52

A limited time.

SPEAKER_03: 6:54

Yeah, to to counter to drive nails in that point that you just made. Uh I had one picked up this morning that was taken, it was an appeal taken off of out of out of Janesville, and it was taken down to St. Petersburg. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 7:16

So now it's down St. Petersburg. Now what's going to be interesting is see what happens or how long it takes it down in St.

SPEAKER_00: 7:23

Petersburg before the process.

SPEAKER_02: 7:31

She did not know. She she was under the impression that the adjudicators in the regional offices were not working. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03: 7:44

She said, Yeah, they're they're closed, but they're not shuttered. That's the information I do have. And there are people working. Uh, maybe they have got some time constraints. We're talking about October or whatever, because this has been we're going on 30 days now in this shutdown. And uh so anything they might have had before the shutdown, maybe they're trying to clean up and work it out and get it out of the way. Anything they received after the fact, they may not, you know, they might have to stack them.

SPEAKER_02: 8:13

So, I mean, but well, that that was her impression. That was her impression of what's going on. Okay, just what you said there. They're kind of if it was done, if they received something prior to October the 1st, they're working on it, they're trying to get it out, trying to get it cleaned up. Anything after that, um is that a special thing?

SPEAKER_03: 8:34

That's a train, is it okay? Now the appeals uh independent level appeal you get into. I mean, like, you know, you've got a couple offices that do the HLRs, a couple offices that do the supplemental claims. Of course, you've got the Board of Vector Appeals, and they'd uh they they told them flat no, they wouldn't shutting down, they're gonna continue to do. You know, the judge told the secretary that we're not shutting down, we're you know, we're gonna continue to do our job. The court says we're gonna do our job too. And uh good thing about the Federal Circuit is that the VA can request them to do something, but see, they're a co-wickle branch of government, so the court can tell them to go pound sand. Which is the old thing. Yeah, so they're still looking at 145 days for a uh uh tile review part, and then uh you're looking at uh I don't know the exact quantification of number that's the supplemental claims have right now, but I think it's a little bit longer. And the board's actually sped up some too. They're getting a little better. I mean, they used to be uh three years, four years for I had it for just a regular uh review with no evidence, but it's improved greatly over the past the past eight or ten months. I waited 26 months on mine back two years ago, but it's improved a whole lot since then. So my best advice, I'm sure you'll agree with me, Ray. I don't get political on this show at all, you know, but I do want to say one thing. I don't care which political party you belong to. This is messages for the congressmen and senators out there. Congress really can't do their job right now. The Senate needs to get together, get in a room, and stay in that stinking room until you got a bipartisan bipartisan agreement to come out of there to open it back up. Because come Saturday, I agree, kids kids are gonna go hungry.

SPEAKER_02: 10:36

Well, yeah, it's really uh, you know, uh I reflected back on my show Tuesday, and this is in a way that's somewhat of a scary point. Um I reflected back to my Western civilization classes in college in the Roman Empire. There were certain things that happened which caused the collapse of the Roman Empire. The very first thing that happened was individuals were having to pay more in uh 50% of their annual income in taxes. And now that happened here, I think, is about three or four years ago. Now, folks, we're not talking federal taxes. We're talking about all your taxes. Your wrestling taxes, your sales tax, your property tax, or your state or county or city. All of those taxes equal 50% of your income. And according to the uh Federal Reserve, that happened, I think it was about three years ago, maybe four, that they announced it and it was a big deal. Well, that was the first thing that happened in the Roman Empire. The second thing that happened in the Roman Empire was a disagreement between their parties uh and with Caesar, um, and they never got it back together. So therefore, the the they quit working, nothing was getting done, and so the Roman Empire collapsed. They they didn't have any money, they didn't collect taxes, and the income collapsed. We are really looking at facing that same situation today. I mean, they say history repeats itself. I'm not for sure what our time frame is um compared to what happened during the Roman Empire, but you know, if what is taking place today in our own federal government is somewhat uh what happened and caused the fall of the Roman Empire. And you know, we we are the longest living democracy that's ever been in the world. Um the the American the United States of America has the longest democracy that's ever been successful in the world, ever. Um we say, well, what about England? Well, when the US formed democracy, England was still the king and queen.

SPEAKER_03: 13:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 13:05

So um it wasn't until later they saw how well we did that they they kind of copied a similar type of a thing. But it's pretty interesting. Uh uh, I had a Dr. Harry May, I'm sure he's not with us now because he's well up in the ears, and uh had fortunate to get him because he taught Western Civilization at Vanderbilt University in the daytime, and he liked teaching so much he came over to UT Nashville uh and taught an evening class. And I was fortunate to be able to get into his evening class and in all three of his semesters of Western Civilization. Uh learned a whole lot about the beginning of government and and the beginning of powers, and um it just interested me and uh I didn't do as well in that class as I probably could have or should have, but then he was a pretty tough grading teacher. I never will forget on our final exam on that third semester, he had written a book. Um, I can't even remember the name of it now, but he had written this book about the Roman Empire, and we had one question on the final exam, and it was critique by book. That was a final question of my final exam. And you talk about hard. That's pretty tough to do.

SPEAKER_03: 14:23

You can't really get it too bad of a critique, or you wanted to pass and grade, you had to do something, man. You had to you had to eat a little bit there, buddy, and then you had to kind of back off. And then uh if you had some bad vibes about that book, you had to make them bad vibes into positive vibes pretty quick, or turn a you know, turn a negative back into a positive. So you had to let them course two at the same time.

SPEAKER_02: 14:45

I never will forget my opening sentence. Uh when I I the way I opened my beginning of my critique, I said to understand this book and the way it is written, you had to be a disciple of Dr. Harry May. Yeah, he must have liked that.

SPEAKER_00: 15:10

He liked it, but somebody did.

SPEAKER_02: 15:13

But I never will forget that. That's the way I opened it, saying I was one of his disciples. And uh well, uh I I think I only got about a C or maybe a C plus on that final exam, but hey, that's okay. That's all I wanted.

SPEAKER_03: 15:27

Yeah, right. Okay. Well, you know, it is in a nutshell in that way. I mean, right now the shutdown's got everything in turmoil, you know. I mean, it's affected a lot of people, and you know from our conversations that it's affected us personally, and uh, you know, so we're gonna jump through hoops and do a few other things, and we gotta we gotta move them back over. Yeah, but um we lost we were gonna discuss also, uh we're gonna talk a little bit more about the claims process and things like that. Um you know, even though there's a shutdown going on, guys, don't have don't uh don't not put off your intent to file just because there's a shutdown. You can call 1-800-827-1000. That's 1-800-827-1000. You can hit there and you can wait online and they'll answer the phone and you can explain to them that you're so-and-so. Here's your last, here's your social security numbers, last four, or whatever. And I intend to I want to do an intent to file. You don't have to tell them what the intent to file is for, you tell them you do want to do an intent to file, and they will record that. That gives you one year from today that you've done the intent to file to get your documentation in for your claim. And it preserves your date. Now you got to be careful too with that, because if you've got a situation to where you say you've got an issue and you file the claim, but you don't have a diagnosis, they send you for a C and P exam for someone inside the VA and you get a diagnosis, your effective date's gonna be the date of that diagnosis because that's the date the condition arose.

SPEAKER_02: 17:26

And they would probably have to even do before they granted it, they'd probably send you back for a second C and P after the diagnosis. And and I've seen that happen quite often. You know, now that's a great point that you just brought up because guys, when you do this, uh it takes a while to if you're if you know to start with, it it's sometimes it may be faster to get that C and P than it is to get to see a doctor get that diagnosis. So, you know, it's like what comes first is the chicken or the egg. Now you may be seeing a doctor, and they may tell you, well, let's look at it again in 30 days or whatever. And now you now you definitely may have a claim coming up, and you may want to go ahead and do it. But I had a gentleman here that for a year and a half his doctor would say, Well, you he's suffering from what appears to be um Parkinson's system. Parkinsonians.

SPEAKER_01: 18:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 18:30

Yeah. And and he would he it took him a year and a half before he said Parkinson's, that he definitely has Parkinson's. Well, I had him holding off because of what the doctor had said um before we did the intent to file, because otherwise he would have been in for a C and P and a decision and everything. And uh for some reason it seems like if they're gonna decline it, you get that decline a whole lot faster than what you get in approval. So um uh, you know, with that being said, I had him to just kind of sit back and I said, as soon as you get that, do the intent to file, and then we'll fill out the paperwork and go. And that's what we did, and it went right straight through and very, very smooth. And and he got his um uh I think he got a 70% just on the Parkinson's, but then he had he's over 100 because he got PTSD, got 100% for his PTSD, and then 70% for Parkinson, and then I think he got 60% for diabetes. He takes three shots a day. Uh and uh he had open heart surgery with a triple bypass. Uh factor was I think around 40, 45. So I think he got 60 percent that. So, you know, he he he came out okay, but all that happened during that year and a half period that we were that we were waiting. And and we did have his PTSD in his heart prior to filing for the Parkinson's.

SPEAKER_03: 19:59

Well. Since the Pac Act came into play, I've got a new thing too, but then with Parkinson's because you got, I think Parkinson's is a presumptive for Vietnam vets, right? For agent orange exposure.

SPEAKER_02: 20:11

But now that's correct, providing that the doctor says you have it.

SPEAKER_03: 20:16

Now they changed up a little bit. Now it's not just Parkinson's, it's anything related to Parkinsonians, because basically it's the same disease.

SPEAKER_01: 20:24

Yeah, this is the change it and update it.

SPEAKER_03: 20:31

It's Parkinsonians now. You still got Parkinson's disease, but Parkinson' Parkinsonians is uh shaking and things like that, just like Parkinson's. They call them tremors and things like that. They're trying to say, well, Parkinson's is different compared to here. This could be a neurological issue. Well, Parkinson's is a neurological issue. So they came out and said basically there's not really no distinction between the two. But Parkinsonians can now be considered Parkinson's. That's part of the issue that could be considered Parkinson's disease. Um good thing you gotta look at is when you do that attempt file, make sure you got a diagnosis, get your diagnosis before your years up, get it in there. Um if you have to go back to your old military or your old records. I would go to every doctor you ever went to and get all your records you can, anyways. But what I would do in a situation like that, I'd look at every every documented issue you have and read the forms. Now, back in the old days they didn't have these big fancy forms that had all the told numbers and stuff on them. It was a piece of basically legal paper or regular notebook paper. The doctor writes your name on there and your patient number, and you'd get it, and he'd write down what he's seen you for, and he would put these little letters DX. Semicolon. DX stands for diagnosis. And he would put down what you diagnosed, not the diagnosis. You got hypertension, high blood pressure. He'll write diagnosis, and you'll write the blood pressure readings on that forum somewhere. Back in the old days, some of the old country doctors, you know, they were just country as corn, they wouldn't write HTN for hypertension, they would write HPT. That was very common back in that day, and still do it today sometimes. So if you've got a claim in for hypertension, you've got your claim in for hypertension.

SPEAKER_00: 22:45

Yeah, back with you, I think.

SPEAKER_02: 22:47

I don't know what happened, but uh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03: 22:51

I heard there was an aliens flying over somewhere in Tennessee. Is that they get you? I thought they abduct you there for about 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_02: 22:57

Very well could be. I mean, you know, uh, we do have a military base close to us, so they may have thrown over and just interrupted all the signals here or something.

SPEAKER_03: 23:06

Probably did. I was explaining to the old days, too. Like uh back in the early days, if you had hypertension, you had a claim in for it. You had to go back in your old records, you know, back in your private records, back, you know, before the just new computerized stuff. The doctor take a regular piece of paper, line paper, he'd write your name and your patient number on it. And then he would write down your diagnosis. He would put DX with semicolon, he'd write down what it is. So if it was hypertension, he would say HTN and then whatever, whatever. But sometimes the old docs didn't use HTN, they used HPT, hypertension. That's what that's how they were taught. Even some doctors today use it. Don't let the VA split hairs on that, too, okay? That's still the same thing. You got a diagnosis of hypertension, even though it's HPT. Sometimes they try to really, really get technical with that stuff. Well, you don't have a diagnosis for there. It is that's not hypertension. What is that? Hyperthyroid. So that's how you do it. You know, I mean it's claims 101. Uh our late buddy James Cripps. He had a process, he had steps of that process, and that's how he operated. That fella helped more veterans, you know, to win their disability claims. He did it all out of the good of his heart. Never charged a dime to anybody for helping them. I've never done it either. I'm sure Ray hasn't either. Boy, we had a four or five-step process. Ray, was it a four-step?

SPEAKER_02: 24:48

Yeah, it's it's basically a four-step process.

SPEAKER_03: 24:55

Go ahead, Ray. I'll let Ray explain this.

SPEAKER_02: 24:58

Well, first step, we've already talked about intentifile how to do that.

SPEAKER_03: 25:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_02: 25:03

And the second is what we were talking about when I lost my signal, which is uh the diagnosis.

SPEAKER_03: 25:09

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 25:11

And the third step, which is very important, and I'll tell you the way James had me do it and explained it to me, is the uh the 4138, which is uh additional evidence, uh personal evidence and personal knowledge. Now here's here's the philosophy that he uses on that part, which which will work really will work almost every time for you. Uh the VA in the law states that a 50-50 decision uh between doctors has to go to the veterans. In other words, one doctor says you got a condition, the other doctor says, no, you don't. Now that is a 54-50, and you should win your case with that. But his philosophy is to shoot the silver bullet. That's what he'd tell me. Get your silver bullet out. Now, with the silver bullet would be uh an additional piece of evidence. Now they could that can come from several sources. Um mostly what he had me do, which he did himself, is he would use um he would use uh uh two other doctors. He would go to two doctors. Now, in his case, he was like me. We used to VA medical only. So therefore, the second doctor we had to pay, or the second and third doctor, we had to pay out of our pocket. Now, a normal doctor's visits is$120. And the way he had me do it, and the way he did it, and the way he had others do it, is you walk in there with your diagnosis out of your VA medical records. You know, you can print it off, right? Tear it off. And and you that is if they have said you have this condition. And you walk in and you hand the doctor that and say, This is what the VA states. Do you concur with this statement? And he does his exam, and if he says, Yeah, I do, well, would you put that in a letter form for me, please? Go back a couple of days and pick it up. If he says, No, you don't, you ask for the same thing. Would you put that in letter form? He does the letter, you walk out, you wad it up, you throw it in the nearest trash can, because it's not going to help you. You paid for it, it's your item. You don't even have to tell him you got it. Okay? And you go find another, you go find the third one. Um, and and that was the way he had me do it. And then also you can use your family or spouse or a very close friend that has known you for years or whatever, who is willing to write a letter stating that um, you know, this you have this condition, and this is what they have seen it do to you, or your problems with it. Those are the evidence part that he taught me how to do. Uh and I've won with that. I've won other people's with that. For example, I have a gentleman right now. Well, I have one, two gentlemen. They both have PTSD. Now, the first one that's already been approved, it's got 100%. Um, he gotten fired from his job and uh didn't couldn't work anymore. He he was in his at the time he was like 66, 67. And they gave him a letter of separation that due to the fact of your uh incapability of working with others at the present time, we're gonna have to ask you to resign. Okay, I told him that was the best thing that could ever happen to him. He didn't realize at the time he thought it was the worst thing because he thought that helped him keep him from getting another job, but it probably would have. It probably did. But on the other hand, uh, what they do, they call and ask if you're unemploy if you're employable, and of course, with that letter in your stink, they're gonna say, no, he's he's not employable. Uh this other gentleman who I've gotten to go with right now, he has some bad PTSD. And his employer, which happens to be the state of Tennessee, uh made him resign for the same reason. He kept getting in arguments with everybody. I think he finally uh actually all off and hit one of his co-workers. Oh no. Yeah, and in that particular case, they let him go. And they he they didn't give him, they just let him go. They didn't give him a uh, well, he didn't get a separation notice. They have one, but he didn't get it. He didn't know to ask for it or whatever. So I was talking to him and his wife. I said, y'all need to go back and see if you can get that. And sure enough, there was one there, and it was on state letter head, and they, you know, um, they had the form filled out, but then the the supervisor had written him a letter uh which he had to sign, which he had to sign the other form as well, stating he understood the reasons why he was being dismissed. And now they have presented that as evidence. Um in the same case, uh this gentleman had threatened to shoot his next door neighbor.

SPEAKER_00: 30:38

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_02: 30:39

In the north. So um I asked, I told his wife, I said, I know he can't go do it, but would you go and talk to your next door neighbor and ask him if he would write down what happened and just the fact that he threatened to shoot him. So she went over there and and and she told the guy, we're doing this to try to get him help. The guy said, sure, he needs help. So he sat down and wrote out a letter and said exactly what happened, what the argument was about, and that the guy got so irate he couldn't reason with him. He said, I'm just gonna go get my gun and shoot you. So now that's been turned in as evidence as the fact he can't work and get along with others, showing his severity of his PTSD. Uh hadn't got an answer on that one yet. It's it's at the Board of Appeals, but we hadn't got hadn't got an answer. What did you have to go to the board for?

SPEAKER_00: 31:36

I'm sorry, I barely can hear you there. What did you have to go to the board for?

SPEAKER_02: 31:42

Well, he had already been denied. Yeah, he had already been denied. And uh let me just say he was trying to work through our local county service office and wasn't really getting anywhere. Um, and uh for whatever reason, I think it might also have some personality conflicts there. So uh anyway, that was uh that's where we are now. He has uh he has uh appealed it to the board, and I give it in the name of an agent that uh I had the other guy use uh down in Jacksonville is or in Orlando. So we've got those two hooked up together now, I hope, and uh hopefully everything will will work out, and he'll be calling me in six or eight months telling me he's got a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_03: 32:32

Good deal. Good deal, but it makes it uh worthwhile, you know. And but that's the way it is, man. I mean, you can barely get denied, and you know, you sit there at your wits end. I mean, I see a lot of denials lately over a bunch of junk, you know, because nowadays when they do a denial letter, you get a big denial in the mail when they give you this little thing on there called uh what do they call that? Uh favorable findings, you know what I'm saying? You see those favorable findings, right?

SPEAKER_01: 33:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 33:06

Like we're denying you for aid attendance. Okay. Then you go down to favorable findings, veterans requires aid attendance.

SPEAKER_02: 33:20

So it's kind of a yeah, I think they they're using that uh that AI, artificial intelligence, to do a lot of those now. And they're still uh several years ago, they started to cut cut and paste. And I've actually seen some letters that that denied someone, and what they cut and pasted and sent to the guy had nothing to do with his condition or his claim. And of course, he went back to him and oh, we made a mistake, we'll get that corrected. But um, you know, it's just it just delayed. And and if he had not paid attention to it, or if he had not asked someone who had an idea of what was going on, uh he probably would have dropped the case and dropped the ball and and would have never gotten his disability benefits.

SPEAKER_03: 34:07

Can you imagine the number of veterans that's actually been through a very similar situation of that guy that actually did give up and quit?

SPEAKER_02: 34:16

Yeah. I was almost ready to give up, and Pam was standing next to me when I threw the letter down and got mad. I said, I quit. And she said, No, you're not. You're not going to. So I think behind each one of us, you and myself and James, we've all had a spouse that supported us and wanted to help us see the fight through to the very end.

SPEAKER_03: 34:39

Guys, I want you to listen to what that man just said. That's probably the most important things you're going to hear on this radio show or this team of video show or this production. You need somebody beside you to go through this process with you, because this process will cause you to have one thing. It'll cause you to have headaches, it'll cause you to overstudy, it'll cause you to lose track of time, because you're gonna be sipping no stuck at a computer or a book seven days a week, as many hours a day as you need to, because you can't just read one part of this and get it. It's gonna take several different times of reading it because every time you read it, you'll see something new. Have a spouse, perfectly a wife, to take this ride with you and have them hold your hand because you're gonna be depressed, you're gonna get angry, and you're gonna cry.

SPEAKER_00: 35:38

Okay, then they're done that done that.

SPEAKER_03: 35:45

That's right. That's what happens. But after you win, you're gonna go for another bite of depression because you're gonna realize uh I'm disabled, I'm boogered up now. What am I gonna do? You know, that's that's another bout you're gonna go through. Everybody does it. You're gonna say goodbye when it happens.

SPEAKER_02: 36:08

Yeah, and as it gets worse, you know, I I can remember, well, I guess it was a year and a half ago now, two years ago, I finally broke down and and uh my primary care um turned in for me to have electric wheelchair. And uh we have a great guy who works in prosthetics here, Donnie Smart. He called me and he said, uh, Ray, I understand uh uh I have a request for electric wheelchair. Uh are you sure that's what you want? And I said, Yeah, I I think so. I think the time's come for me to put it in. He said, Ray, your time came in 2016. He said, I was ready to give you one in 2016. You know, and he had put a note in his notes, it's been in my records, that he thought back in 2016 that I should have an electric wheelchair. Uh it it's hard to give up and think that you're you you you kind of you kind of hope that you're gonna get better, and as long as you don't get worse, you think, well, the next step is to get better, and you kind of keep hanging in there and hanging in there and and getting around the best you can. But I'm telling you, once I've made that decision to go to that electric wheelchair, that has changed my life, and it's much more uh I know I'm a much more pleasant person to get along with. Because at night my back's not hurting, my knees aren't hurting, uh uh I haven't stumbled during the day. Um and for a lot of reasons like that, you feel better, and it just kind of builds and builds, and right now I can say I am um don't like it, but I'm content and have accepted the conditions that this agent orange has put me in.

SPEAKER_03: 37:58

Two years ago, we had a conference down there in Winchester. You hosted a conference, yeah, and we came down. Alex came down, I came down, James came down. I sit at a table across from there and I watched you, and I just noticed how uncomfortable you were on that scooter because you kept repositioning and things like that. You had your legs stretched out, you had that done, you kept leaning back. After I seen that, I said, Well, let's wait a little bit. And I started talking to you after the fact. I said, Ray, I think you need a wheelchair. I said it's gonna be a lot easier on you get through the house, it's gonna be a lot easier on your back sitting there, it's just gonna be a whole lot easier on you. And we talked about that. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_02: 38:43

I do remember talking about that with you that uh right after the conference was over with.

SPEAKER_03: 38:49

Yeah, and I said, you know, that's one reason why when time ever comes for me, I'm not gonna get a scooter, you know. If I go to Digital World, I'll rent one, you know, or something like that. But I want a power chair, I don't want a scooter because uh uh, you know, it's easier to handle a wheelchair. You got your joystick controller, you know, and you can do it easier. Plus, you can drive with it inside a van too, and you can do the scooter the same way. But you know, good buddy of mine had one down at the VA somewhere, and he got a he got a speed ticket on a scooter going down the hall too fast. Wow, Bill Sheikh arrested soul, he was something else. I said, What's wrong, Bill? He said, I got in trouble today. I said, What happened, Bill? He said, I was going down the hall too fast and the cops run me down. Yeah, so the scooters are nice, don't get me wrong, you know, and they're okay as long as you can, you know, but you start getting neuropathy and things in your feet, you know. I mean, scooters are okay, but you if you lose any feeling your legs at all, you fall out of scooter. You're sitting on your butt in a wheelchair and you sit there and you You you you got your arms, you're not gonna fall out of it. Plus, they got seatbelts into right.

SPEAKER_02: 40:05

Yeah, yeah, they come in seatbelts. You got a seatbelts around you.

SPEAKER_03: 40:09

Yeah. Um mixing the airbags.

SPEAKER_02: 40:12

Oh, you're right, to ride, and you're you're more comfortable at night when it's all over with. And um and I tell you what, uh when I go to Wally World or Home Depot or Lowe's, it's a lot easier riding around in a wheelchair than it is that scooter. That scooter takes a lot of room to turn around. You gotta turn and back and turn and back. Sometimes you bump into shelves and stuff. I don't have that same problem with that wheelchair. It it's it's got a you can turn 360 on it.

SPEAKER_03: 40:42

So uh Yeah, it's 360. It's like grabbing a tank, you know. You get your teeth, you turn on it down. Yeah. You know, yeah, you can. I mean, that's what it's for, it's what it does. You know, the scooter is uh, you know, long wheelbase, you got to cover that wheelbase if you turn. You know, it's like having a regular John Deere Moore or a 360 John Deere Moore, huh? You get more done with the 360. If you ain't busy time you get done turning.

SPEAKER_02: 41:11

Well, it it it well it made a difference in my life, and and I would think it would make a difference in everyone's life if it gets to that point. It's it's whoever's in charge of your prosthetics group uh that your VA tells you we think you need to go to a wheelchair, don't argue with them. I did.

SPEAKER_03: 41:32

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02: 41:34

They were wrong.

SPEAKER_03: 41:34

I mean I was wrong. I didn't want to get my rolling or things like that, but I mean, I'm glad I did. Because if I get in the store and get orthostatic, I'll just turn that circle around and plop myself down and wait. That's all you can do. Yeah, that'd be tipping the concrete. And believe me, me and the concrete in this house is very, very close friends. We punched it, you know, we've hit it a several, we've hit it quite a few times. First recaparade, the first one is your intent to file. Don't ever forget, that's the first thing you do is your intent to file. That preserves your effective date as long as you've got everything already set up with a diagnosis and things like that. You know, because you got to watch them, they'll try to hoodoo you with a different date if you get a diagnosis later. Uh the second thing is go ahead, right?

SPEAKER_02: 42:26

Well, the second thing would be to make sure and get your information together from your doctor's notes that has the diagnosis.

unknown: 42:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 42:37

And that diagnosis is gonna have a date, and that's important. And uh, what I did, and what James would recommend us do, we print out the page that has a diagnosis, and then you circle and highlight the diagnosis so they can't miss it.

SPEAKER_03: 42:53

Right. The third thing would be a statement on the 214138 for additional evidence. Keep in mind, people, additional evidence can be any type of evidence that's supportive of that claim, including the V likes to call them lay statements. And lay statement is just a statement from somebody else beside you. Yours is a lay statement, too. Your wife, your children, your friends, they can write any statement they want to write about you. You know, how do you live? Do you need help with the activities of daily living? Uh, you know, what are you like? Uh, you know, have you beat anybody up this week? You know, things like that. Uh, any good statement adds value to that claim. Uh, you know, it's not as heavy as medical doctor statements, but it still, you know, it adds value. And it can be so bad as a good idea.

SPEAKER_02: 43:50

I was reading in in uh what I was reading one place, and what what and they made the statement uh if you have a friend that's an elected official or your minister or your Sunday school teacher, right, those were the best because for whatever reason they have the tendency to honor those and look at those uh that and carry heavier weight than your next door neighbor. Uh and make sure when they sign the letter, you know, they put down there if they're your pastor, Sunday school teacher, county commissioner, sheriff, whoever. Uh and that's that's really that's really important.

SPEAKER_03: 44:35

If it's any professional, regardless of what profession it is, they can put their credentials on there too. You know, say if you got some many family that's a doctor that knows you, they put their credentials on there and have them put their, they can put an opinion. It doesn't matter if a doctor's your brother-in-law. If he's an MD, he's an MD. They cannot discount his opinion. All they all put away. Yeah, it doesn't matter if it's your son-in-law, your son, your outlaws, your in-laws, your uplaws, your downlaws, in-laws, and up lows.

SPEAKER_02: 45:06

Just make sure he signs it, he signs an MD at the end of it.

SPEAKER_03: 45:10

That's right. And he has to put a little resume on there, you know. He can do the same thing, write you an IMO. Anything. All they can just put the research article and stuff on there he got it from. They cannot discount that. Even though it might be a lay statement, it gets more weight because it's got that MD on there. Yeah. Okay. So that's always good. Evidence wins claims, people. How that evidence is presented wins claims better, people. And how that evidence is adjudicated wins your claim, too. So you gotta make sure you got your eyes dotted and your T's crossed. You don't want to get off the off the rails on a claim. You get off the rails, and it ain't like putting a train back on the track. It takes you a while to get back on and up to I can see anywhere from 10 to 15 years to get back in track. Or later. Yeah, because of it.

SPEAKER_02: 46:15

Because of a simple mistake.

SPEAKER_03: 46:18

One simple mistake.

SPEAKER_02: 46:19

There's one other thing I recommend uh today, not necessarily a few years ago, but today, once you file that claim, don't start looking the next week, like I've heard you say. Don't look next week at the postman to go.

SPEAKER_03: 46:32

You know, Scott, let me send the porch. Let me send the porch the bulldog in the mailbox the next. If you file a claim on Friday, don't be on the porch Monday and bulldog in the mailbox. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 46:44

So, you know, with that being said, what what can you do? Well, certainly you can you can go back and look for other conditions that may be connected with this for later.

SPEAKER_00: 46:56

Second there.

SPEAKER_02: 46:57

Uh and the other thing you can can look at, um, which I recommend everyone to do in in today's world, and knows how I said that, today's world, uh, I would start thinking about how to find a um uh a certified uh Nova agent and start interviewing. I would do just in case, you know, I know in the state of Tennessee, uh the state of Tennessee, 95% or 94.5 percent of the first claims are rejected. Now get that, 94.5 percent are are rejected or denied. Right. Okay. Now that means that 94.5 percent of all the veterans that turned in a claim has got to either come up with a higher level review, a supplemental claim, or go directly to the board. That's your choice. That's your three choices. So if you're gonna do any of those today, I know James told me this was just literally days before he passed away. He said, I wouldn't recommend anybody going all the way anymore by themselves.

unknown: 48:11

No.

SPEAKER_02: 48:11

Now that was his statement. And he was one of the he was the one that went all the way to get his to be the first person to be agent orange in the continental United States, and he fought it and did it all his way. But he did that was one of his statements to me there. Uh, I'm going to say in less than three weeks before he passed away. Uh because we were talking about this. And I think what do we have now? 350 or 400 agents around the country.

SPEAKER_03: 48:42

Guys, if you want to know, they supposed to have a test last week for another edition, but I think the shutdown got it a little bit delayed. Go to ww.va.gov and log in. When you log in, go to the search engine, do a list of accredited agents and attorneys. They'll pop that list up, you'll get all these names and got their email addresses on there, and you can say, okay, here's a guy close to me. Let's do A, B, C, D. They can do your claim nationwide. I will make a form letter email, and I'll pick 10 of them. And I would say, right to email all 10 of them, copy, you know, all of them. Say, My name is So-and-So, and I am doing this and this and this, and here's my information. Uh, I want to know which agents are available that would assist me in processing an original VA claim. Not an appeal, but an original VA claim with the promise of having them represent me in the appeal process. Shall I get denied? You follow me, right?

SPEAKER_02: 49:47

That's another good point. Some of them will do it. I know I haven't talked with him. I don't know if he's talked with him since, but uh maybe several months ago, we had on the program uh the gentleman out of uh, I think he's out of Jacksonville, Florida, Robin Hood. Did he have Jacksonville or Miami?

SPEAKER_03: 50:07

Yeah, he's an attorney. He's a uh he's an attorney out of Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_02: 50:12

Okay, when in his conversation, he was talking about possibility looking at doing that with the understanding that if they were denied, he would be the one to represent them on the rest of the steps. And then he's future claims that they have.

SPEAKER_03: 50:30

His name is Robin Hood, folks. You can't make his stuff up. His name is actually Robin Hood. And he's pretty good at what it is. He used to be a VA raider, so he knows his stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 50:43

Yeah, yeah, he used to work for the VA.

SPEAKER_03: 50:45

So look him up. Let's look up Robin Hood attorney on the on the Google there. And if you need to get a hold of you know Robin Hood there, you can do it. Uh they'll help you out with the pills, too. Now, things are different when you go to court, when you go to the C A B C because uh what happens then is uh you have to pay a$50 processing fee, a filing fee. And then they register it at the court, and you get bombarded by letters on the mail that talk to representations. You send your stuff to each one of them, and then they look at your claim and pick it and say, okay, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, you know, like my last one I had, I had to I had to settle on a I mean settle, uh finally child an attorney down in Florida and down in Georgia. And uh they took the case, but I've had several of them said there's not enough uh meat on the bones, they say, Bray, not enough retro or whatever. But you gotta realize something. If you are going to court, whether it be the veterans court or the next or the federal circuit, if you appeal in a veteran's court decision, they didn't deny you, and it goes to the next level, even at the CABC, you can file for uh what's it called? It's a waiver. And basically the attorney's fees are paid by the government. It's called EAJA, the Equal Act for Justice Amendment. And that's a very important thing because you know if you need help like that, they can take care of that. And if you win, your fees are paid, you know. The attorney gets paid, things like that. Even at the next level court, it's the same way. So it's not too bad. Not too bad at all.

SPEAKER_02: 52:44

What else we got, Ray? Well, basically, uh that was basically the the two main topics of my show this past week. What were those two topics? And uh um it seems like we discussed a little bit of a third topic somewhere along along the road there, but I can't remember too.

SPEAKER_03: 53:07

Guys, do me a favor. All right, small town USA. Say you and the wife are going over to the boogie woogie depot or going down to the piggy wiggly or to the local eating establishment to have the buffet, and you walk out front, and there's a little tent sitting there with these two dudes sitting saying they represent a certain organization.

SPEAKER_02: 53:27

Oh, yeah. Blue tent wearing blue vest to the yellow stripe. That's it. That was our third time.

SPEAKER_03: 53:32

Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, you uh be nice to them and say, Hey man, uh you got uh some kind of documentation where you can be here and who you're with to prove, uh you got a copy of your 501c3 and all that good stuff so I can look at it before I make a donation to you. If they don't have it, so time I come out of the store, you better have it. So you go in the store and do what you gotta do and come out and oh man, we don't have that. We got our boss for this and this. Okay, man. I can't give you a donation. I'm sorry. Next, get the car, call your local uh blue light boys at the Kmart special, have them come over and give them a little give them a little talking to because uh there's a lot of fraud out there anymore, people. And if they can't prove there, they are.

SPEAKER_02: 54:25

The one that I ran into Sunday, which is what brought the topic up, uh they're well known, advertised on television, but the group that I confronted were not a part of that group. They had their tent, they had their vest, they had some of their brochures and flyers, but they were not a part of that group. And the money that they collected was not going to a veteran of anywhere. Now, most of the time, for example, if they're collecting, if this particular group is collecting in state of Tennessee, it doesn't stay in Tennessee. It goes off to New York, or if it's the one that's in Pennsylvania, it goes off to Pennsylvania. Now, the problem with that is that none of that may ever get to a veteran in your community. Okay, so in in probably every little small town in state of Tennessee, they have a peddler's license. A peddler's license could go anywhere from two weeks to 14 days. They have to apply for it. Different cities have different regulations. In this particular case, I called my city hall locally to see if they had one. No, they did not. And then the next town over, I called, and they have a had one. And I said, Did this group request a permit? No, never heard of them. Well, they were outside of such and such a location store there collecting. What should I have done? The guy said very clearly, just exactly what you said. He said, Don't confront them, don't start arguments, just go to your car, get on your cell phone, call 911, and ask for the police to come and ask them for their credentials and for their permit, and you stand there to be witness that they tried to collect money from you. And he said, What'll happen? Worst case scenario, they'll be run off and told to get out of town. And the next the next the next scenario, which might be the best scenario, they talk back to the officer or whatever, and they'll find themselves arrested. Or in one case that I heard of in Nashville, which was on the news, they went from they stopped them at one location, they shut down, went down the road to another shopping mall, got out, set up in it, you know, out in the front. They don't go inside, they're sitting out in the front. And uh somebody called again, and this time the police, when they went down there, they were told not to ask to ask for their permits. If they still didn't have the permit with them or on them, then go ahead and put them under arrest because that was their second time. I don't know if it's the same people or not, but they had that on uh uh Channel 5 News out of Nashville. Oh, it's about a year and a half, two years ago. And then this past Sunday I actually saw them uh in the small town where I go shopping a lot um next to us here, about 15 miles away. And uh I didn't do that. I made the mistake confronting them and let them told them what I thought about them, which was very kind words. But uh then we I went into the store and asked the manager if they'd given them permission to set up out there. They said no. I said, Well, they're stopping every one of your customers as they come in and out, asking them for a donation to help veterans. And I told her a little about what they did. She went out and she asked them for the permit. They said their manager had it. She said, Would you have him come by and show it to me? She had to go back in the store, of course. She couldn't leave the store while he, no telling when the manager, if there was everyone coming. And she goes, Well, I go out. I was only in the store 10 minutes. And by the time I went out, they were gone. Tent was down, the table was down, nothing you ever, you never even knew they were set there. I mean, they were gone in less than 10 minutes. So that told me that they were exactly who I thought they were. Probably zero money that they collected that day from individuals um went anything but their pocket.

SPEAKER_03: 58:41

I call it the fat pocket booth that way, because when they get your money, they're gonna stick in their pocket and get the fat pocket, and that's gonna be their money instead of yours.

SPEAKER_01: 58:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 58:50

It's like trying to fish a bath tournament and seeing a fish basket tied to a dock somewhere with fish in it.

SPEAKER_02: 58:58

Well, what ended up in Nashville when it finally got to the court, uh, the guy testified that they arrested that he got to keep 25% for his daily salary, and and the rest of it he had to send to a particular person uh who actually was in Pennsylvania. And um they said they would follow up, but I never heard any follow-up story. But the um DA was considering going to Pennsylvania and have him expedited back to Tennessee. But uh more than likely it was not going to be worth the expense. Uh so they just gave him a warning not to get him out of here. But they didn't listen. They they may have got him out of Nashville, but they're still in Tennessee.

SPEAKER_03: 59:46

Well, get them out of there. This is crazy. Headcomers money to be had, people go try to find some way to get it, you know. You get fraud within the government system like Social Security, VA benefits, Medicare. People would find a way to make that money, you know, no matter how they make it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:08

If you're interested, look, folks, it's real simple. If you're going to donate to anybody, I don't care what organization, you can go on and look up uh online, you can look up some of the organization watchdogs, and they have a list of good organizations, national organizations.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:26

But in any case, if you want to donate to a veteran, there's a lot of veterans almost in every community, organizations that you can donate, and that money stays in your community. Uh, and whether it's a Legion DF uh DVA or VFW or uh uh veteran uh Vietnam Writers or those groups, they will that funds if you donate directly to them, those funds stay in that community. Uh and most of them have certain projects that they work on to help veterans. I know that locally um uh our DAV does a lot helping put ramps in and um uh things of that nature around the house, could contract for it. And I know that the VFW kind of leads uh kind of leads the charge, and we make sure I think we got 68 veterans and spouses of veterans here in Franklin County that live below the property line. And so we get together Christmas food baskets and things like that at Christmas through the VFW. They do all that. Get that together. We have to support that uh through the American Legion and and things of that nature. Uh so if you want to help veterans and you want to be in your local area, look up one of those organizations that uh that are in your area that work with veterans and donate there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:56

Right.

SPEAKER_03: 1:01:56

We're about out of time, but I want to say one more thing. Ray's correct. Uh, if you're going to go on a national level, I would look at things like tunnel to towers. Look for the money. Yes. Who gets the most bang for their buck? Because you know, they pay off houses for service members, disabled folks, police officers, things like that. That's awesome. Number 10.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:15

And I think over 80% of their funds goes directly to do that. It's not over 90% for one of the other.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:24

It's like 96, 98%. Yeah, it's way up there.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:26

Now these other one of these other national organizations that you and I are familiar with that advertise all the time on television, uh, it's quite the opposite. 75% goes to their administrative costs, and only 20 or 25% goes to help a veteran.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:42

Oh, you're talking about the that that that's that's that's called the fat pocket group.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:47

That's well, and they got a real nice television advertising. And when I watch it, I get aggravated because a lot of the equipment that they well, almost all the equipment that they've shown that the veteran uses is d is given to them by the VA. It's not I mean I even recognize some of their equipment because I got some of their equipment. So, you know, I recognize the wheelchair and I recognize the lift coming out of the van and all that. So uh uh yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_03: 1:03:14

Reads are spot on. Now, if you're doing a local level like that, you see the D B and those folks like that, go ahead and ask them for your donuts. So make sure that the people in that area, in that county or in that group area, that's their coverage area, are getting the benefit of that donation. You know, it's kind of like uh, you know, uh make sure that it's going to help your neighbors, you know. Um, unless a disaster happens in the next county over, then yeah, that's a big, you know, that's a big deal, right? But you know, just for general to help the people out, do it that way. Make sure that the money is going to be uh I'd like to be able to see where my money's going to. You know what I mean, Ray?

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:53

Absolutely. And when you go to some of those, uh well, like we had a car show here by the VFW a couple of weeks ago. If you want to attend that car show, they usually car shows are free. They they make their money after from the people that enter into the car show, but they usually have also a basket or a bucket that you can drop your own donation in if you want. And uh you're gonna see people there that you know, so you know it's in your community.

SPEAKER_03: 1:04:19

That's right. Make sure it's in your community, make sure the money, you know. I mean, it's more bang for your butt because you know that it's so-and-so over here and they're hurting a little bit, need some help, you know, you want to donate and make them help, you know, give them, give them a boost. You know. All right. Uh appreciate you as usual for coming on, give some great information. Always do, always will. Uh, this is kind of a carryover to your show last week. You did it on Tuesday morning with uh Mr. Fraley. But uh we'll be back next week with Ms. Ms. Fangenberg. She's gonna discuss a few things, and uh uh I think we might do the show on a different day. I'll no more here the day or so, uh given the fact that uh well tomorrow night's uh Halloween, but uh 6th of November is uh another day we gotta worry about. And uh with that, this will be John. So John Stacy's exposed event productions. They call me Jay Basher, the fisherman, and Mr. Ray Cobb out of Tennessee. We'll be shutting her down for now. We'll see you later, Ray. All right, good night.