Author: ateeter

Service Officer: Overview of VA Appeals

By Joseph Mesa


Supplemental Claim appeal must add evidence that is new (or not provided to VA previously) and relevant to your case.  It is recommended that this appeal should be file within one year from the date on the decision letter.  Note:  This appeal will not allow a fiduciary claim or a contested claim.


Higher-level reviews (HLRs) consist of de novo reviews of the issue(s) identified by requesters.  De novo review means the adjudicator re-examines and re-adjudicates the claim in question without deference to the prior decision, except for proper favorable findings.


Board of Veterans’ Appeals is appealing to a Veterans Law Judge in Washington, D.C.  A judge who’s an expert in Veterans law will review the case.  This appeal provides the claimant 3 options.


Option 1:  Request a Direct Review – A Veterans Law Judge will review the appeal based on evidence already submitted.  The claimant is not allowed to submit evidence and can’t have a hearing.  This review will take about 1 year for the Board to complete.


Option 2:  Submit more evidence – A claimant is allowed to submit more evidence but must submit this evidence within 90 days of the date VA receive the Decision Review Request.  The evidence submission option will take more than 1 year for the Board to complete


Option 3:  Request a hearing – Claimant request a hearing with a Veterans Law Judge.  Claimant can choose to add new and relevant evidence, either at the hearing or within 90 days after the hearing.  Adding evidence is optional.  The hearing will be transcribed and added to the claimant’s appeal file.  Claimant can choose from 3 different ways to speak with the Veterans Law Judge:  Virtual hearing from claimant’s home; Videoconference hearing at a VA location near claimant; or In-person hearing the Board in Washington, D.C.  The hearing request option will take more than one year for the Board to complete.


If you have any questions about appeals, contact Joseph at [email protected].

Our Post Assembles Buddy Poppies Part 2

By Harold Rodenberger

During pre-pandemic times, veterans in soldiers’ homes and VA hospitals would assemble the Buddy Poppies© that we distribute on Memorial Day, Veterans Day and throughout the year.  Donations from recipients of these poppies go to our Relief Fund, where the money is used to support our mission of caring for comrades in distress and other charitable works.


Because of the virus, this year the normal Old Soldiers’ assembly lines became impossible, so our VFW National Commander in Chief asked local post members to assemble poppies.  Our post was one of many who stepped up. We requested 100,000 sets of poppy parts and our volunteers got busy assembling those beautiful poppies.


We’ve worked hard for a little over a month on those poppies and finished about 86,000 of them. Completed poppies will be boxed up and shipped back to our National HQ ready to be shipped out to even more volunteers who will distribute them nationwide when it is safe to do so. 


Many thanks to our members and friends who spent many hours diligently assembling poppies. A special shout out goes to Sue and Jack Westman who assembled over 22,000 sets. It was a tedious, time-consuming job, and we are so grateful for all you hard working volunteers who did your part. 


As for me, I know I’ll never look at a Buddy Poppy© in the same way again.

Our Post Assembles Buddy Poppies

By Harold Rodenberger

During pre-pandemic times, veterans in soldiers’ homes and VA hospitals would assemble the Buddy Poppies© that we distribute on Memorial Day, Veterans Day and throughout the year.  Donations from recipients of these poppies go to our Relief Fund, where the money is used to support our mission of caring for comrades in distress and other charitable works.


Because of the virus, this year the normal veteran assembly lines became impossible so our VFW National Commander in Chief asked local post members to assemble poppies.  Our post was one of many who stepped up. We requested 100,000 sets of poppies parts and our volunteers have been busy for the past two weeks, assembling those beautiful poppies.


As of this writing, about half of the sets have been assembled with the remainder on track to be finished in the next two weeks. Completed poppies will be boxed up and shipped back to our National HQ ready to be shipped out to even more volunteers who will distribute them nationwide when it is safe to do so. 


In next month’s newsletter, I’ll publish a full accounting of the results of this project. Meanwhile, many thanks to our members and friends who have been diligently assembling poppies.  


Volunteer Jack helping assemble poppies.

Small poppy assembly line.

Commander’s Corner (November 2020)

COMRADES! DON’T WAIT FOR THE STORM TO PASS!


I hope as we pass through the turbulent times of the election process and into the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, that you have managed to find or create ways to keep yourselves safe and mentally fresh amid the COVID pandemic.


(It really is the virus from hell that just seems to hang around like every other NFL team’s offense when pitted against the Seahawk’s defense.)


In spite of that, I do believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. Social distancing and masks certainly seem to be beneficial and positive controls. But hopefully we will soon have a vaccine in place as well, and several promising remedies for coping with the virus should any of us become infected. They are coming for sure.


But in the meantime, It can be very easy to become lethargic and get caught up with just waiting for the storm to pass. Most of us have never had to deal with anything like this before and it has been a bit of a learning process for sure. So I do hope you all are continuing to remain positive and moving forward with your lives. Embracing the spirit of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons certainly provides us with many positive feelings that can help us immensely to do this. Also, just finding different ways to help others can actually help us!. Dusting off the old project that “I never have time to do!” and so on. These are just a few of many ways to avoid lethargy from settling in.


Remember….”The sun never quits shinning, it’s just that sometimes clouds get in the way”.


As any true Seattleite knows, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…. It’s about learning to dance in the rain!”


Continue to stay safe. 


Our country and the world will survive this pandemic.


Commander Joe Fitzgerald