Update: Let me amend the first sentence just a bit…
Is there any question about the Veterans Administration Web Designers being are a bunch of typical government bureaucratic pile of pencil-necked geek-a-noid dweeb-like small-weinered losers?
I went to their web site a few weeks ago looking for contact info or just some information on how to go about getting a VA physical to determine any status of disability I might have – hearing loss from being around jet engines, shoulder rotator-cuff surgery while on active duty, that sort of thing.
As with most government-run web pages, it was a byzantine maze of links, menus, options, selections and forms all wrapped up in a tangential sandwich with a side bowl of confusing soup – and that was my lunch. I couldn’t find anything anywhere regarding simply calling someone about a how to get a physical. Needless to say it did not bolster my faith in the government running ANYTHING efficiently, much less the VA and even much lesser, Health Care.
So, I stumbled (in a digital manner) over to the “Contact Us” link, and even that was as screwed up as a football bat. Right under the part that said “Our goal is to respond to your inquiry within 5 business days” (it took 2 weeks), I had options to “Find a VA Facility” and “FAQs” and “Education Benefit Inquiries” and “Board of Veterans Appeals” and “Ask a Question” and “Toll Free Numbers” and “FOIA Requests” and “Paperwork Reduction Act Notice” and so on and so forth.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Veteran’s Administration web site, you’d think, should have an easily identifiable section for VETERANS who want to get a physical, but noooooo…….
I finally opened up the “Ask a Question” section and voila…more questions…”What type of inquiry is this?” (with 8 selections), then a” Select a Topic” (with 30 topic selections in the pull down menu).
(edited to add: Do you think they’d have a topic in the pull down menu for “VA Physicals”? Ha.)
When you finish up with that, there is (I feel a heart attack coming on…) a “Next” button.
Remember, all I wanted was to ask a question.
Next up….yep….another page that had more selections – Contact information, more pull down menus, Veteran information, SSN, Branch of Service, what service organization do you have representing you, specific information for women veterans, claim number…and FINALLY, at the bottom a box for Your Question.
To make this too-long story short, I asked my question:
I will be retiring from the United States Navy Reserve component on Jan 1 of 2010 with 25 years of active and reserve service. I have been looking at how to get a VA physical for determination of disability benefits and it is very, very difficult to find any such information on your very complicated and convoluted and confusing web page. Can you help me?
So, I fired the thing off. I almost immediately received an automated reply (automated email reply computers – about the only thing in government that works worth a damn) stating “Thank you very much for your comment. It will be routed to the Economic Recovery payments section and you will hear back blah blah blah…..”
Economic Recovery Section. The thoughts going through my head would have identified me as a sailor if someone didn’t’ know.
A followup email (going through the same routine as above) was sent by yours truly stating, in effect, “WHY the heck this thing was sent to the Economic Recovery Payments section, I have no idea”.
So, it finally went off, and I began a forlorn hope that I might…just might…get an answer to my question.
On Monday of this week, two weeks after I sent it off, I received a reply. Finally, the gargantuan wheels of government bureaucracy, creaking, groaning, with flecks of rust peeling away had moved - these massive gears lubricated with the blood and bodily fluids of millions of poor citizenry, finally came through for me.
I clicked on the link….and read this:
Yep….take a look at that last line…
“…please visit our web site at www.va.gov.”
All I can say is………… HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act
Jake the Snake // Nov 17, 2009 at 1:23 pm
You work with “the government”. What were you expecting?
Pinch // Nov 17, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Hope springs eternal, Jake….hope springs eternal.
PD // Nov 17, 2009 at 2:14 pm
The gouge: DAV. Here’s the way it worked for me. At my TAP class was a guy from the DAV. He took a copy of my medical record, figured out my disability rating, did the VA paperwork, submitted the paperwork and coordinated with the VA as required on my behalf. They were my advocate and they are good at it. The first correspondence I had with the VA was a letter setting up a physical to verify what the DAV had submitted. As you discovered, the common man doesn’t stand a chance in getting anything done with the VA, pretty sad. I recommend not even trying, just go to the DAV. They are pros and know how to get through the gordian knot that is the VA. Bonus: they do it for free. When it was all over I became a life member. Also, as a Tomcat guy I thoroughly enjoy your sea stories and photos, keep up the excellent work.
Jim Howard // Nov 17, 2009 at 5:27 pm
What’s the ‘DAV’?
Pinch // Nov 17, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Jim,
DAV is Disabled American Veterans.
Pinch
J. Carmichael // Nov 17, 2009 at 3:32 pm
“was screwed up as a football bat” I am SO stealing that line!!!
The US Gummint has become a money pit! And even more so, the place where intelligence goes to die!
-JC
Byron // Nov 18, 2009 at 6:51 pm
If you liked that one, you’ll love, “it’s as farked up as a wooden watch”
1IDVET // Nov 17, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Pinch!
You poor bastard.
Sorry. I laughed my ass off because of your pain.
But, I feel your pain. Ironic that.
I went through the physical process at the Loma Linda VA Med Ctr, twice, in two years. They lost the paperwork from my first go round.
Make sure you get a copy of everything. They’ll lose that shit for sure.
They still haven’t gotten my claim straight. Took five years after appeal to get an answer to it and they didn’t answer all the issues.
VA sucks. Govt. health care is gonna be worse.
Jim Howard // Nov 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Funny you should mention this. When I retired in 1994 I somehow scheduled a retirement physical with a local VA clinic, I think it was done in my outprocessing. They gave me a 10% disability for a knee injury I had on active duty.
Lately my knees have been acting up, so I decided to see if the VA would look at them.
The local VA clinic is mobbed at all times, but after two trips I was able to correctly fill out the right form, and got scheduled for an appointment for lab work yesterday and an appointment with Dr WangdoggleChun next week.
Even though the mob in the lobby is huge, it appears they process people fairly quickly considering. You are made to feel like a faceless number, because of the huge patient load they have.
The people who actually have to talk to the vets are clearly rode hard and put up wet, but they seemed willing to help me figure the system out.
Larry Sheldon // Nov 17, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Correction noted, but I would point out that web weenies are supposed to desing to specs, be managed, and get sign-off on their work before it goes on line.
So the posting was not wrong before the correction.
Pinch // Nov 17, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Thanks, Larry. I’m trying to make nice, but you are correct.