All across America and around the world. This is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio.
And now your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
Good afternoon and welcome to Veterans Radio. My name is Dale Throneberry. I'm a CW-2 type
helicopter pilot back in Vietnam 100 years ago. We want to welcome you to our program today.
It's our special benefits program, which we do monthly. We have got two experts on board so far.
We are waiting for other people to sign in. But so if you have any questions about your benefits
or how to apply for benefits and so forth, we think I think we can help you out today. So make
sure that you get that number, write it down, you know, as Bob used to always say, make sure you
have a pencil or crayon. The number is 734-822-1600. 734-822-1600. Well, for those of you that
listen to our program through syndication, obviously you can't call that number. So we do
broadcast live every Sunday and our benefits program is always the first Sunday of the month.
So if you do have some questions, feel free to send them off to us and we'll answer them for you
the best that we can. So please try to do that. Before we get into meeting our guests and taking
your questions, I've got to thank our sponsors. And without them, we wouldn't be here. So we want
to make sure we do. Number one, of course, is legal help for veterans and legal help for veterans
specializes in veteran disability claims. So give legal help for veterans a call at 800-6934-800
or go to their website legalhelpforveterans.com. The National Veterans Business Development
Council, better known as NVVDC, is the nation's leading third party authority for certification
of veteran-owned businesses. For more information, go to their website that's NVVDC.org or give
them a call at 888-237-8433. Remember, if you are a veteran-owned business and you want to do
business with the federal government, you need to be certified. These are the folks that can help
you out. So go to NVVDC.org for more information. PuroClean is known as the paramedics of property
damage. PuroClean provides water damage remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke, damage
remediation, mold removal, and biohazard cleanup to commercial and residential customers. A cool
thing about PuroClean is that they're all over the country and all you've got to do is go to
PuroClean.com. But they also are one of the nation's leading restoration franchise networks and
they offer a 25% off franchise fee for all veterans. So if you're interested in starting your
own business and maybe you're an entrepreneur and this is an organization that might have something
for you, so go to PuroClean.com and as a veteran you get 25% off that fee. That's pretty cool,
I think. The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information,
go to va.gov. The National Vietnam Veterans of America never again will one generation of
veterans abandon another. For more information, go to their website, vva.org. The Irwin Press Corps
and American Legion Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 310,
both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you'd like to support Veterans Radio, please go to our website,
veteransradio.org and click on the donate button. Thank you in advance for your support. Okay,
now for today's program. Alrighty, so as I mentioned before, we've got two experts on our
line right now. Number one is Brigadier General Caroline Faussone. She is a retired Air Force
Brigadier General and she's a nurse for a few years and is our resident expert. I also brought
somebody on that we talked to a couple of weeks ago and that is Dr. Paul Lawrence and Dr. Lawrence
was the former Secretary of Benefits for the Department of Veterans Affairs under the first
Trump administration and he was the author of Veterans Benefits for You, Get What You Deserve
that we talked about a couple of weeks ago. So I want to welcome them both to the program. So
General, welcome back. Paul, welcome to Veterans Radio. Hey, all of our veterans had a great
Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks, Dale. I agree. I hope all their football teams won too. That's true.
Yes, we hope they're all their teams won. I also want to bring on a good friend of mine here in
Ann Arbor. He's a Marine veteran and so he's kind of here to offer their Marine perspective on
questions for the benefit. So Brian Bayon, Brian, hey, welcome back. Brian, are you there?
Well, he'll give you there shortly, I hope. Anyhow, he's here to kind of offset because I have the
Army's mind and he's got a Marine mind and they're totally different from what I understand. So
let's get right into it and see are there any things that we should be aware of? I know there's
we're getting a raise for those people who are on disability. 2.5%. I'll take it.
Yeah, well, as you know, Dale, every fall, right in October, the fiscal year ends, the government
measures the rate of inflation and gives folks on things like social security and disability
compensation and other benefits, you know, a raise is supposed to reflect inflation. So 2.5% is
their estimate and that went into effect, I think on the checks folks got after October. So it would
have been late October, early November. All right, and that that takes effect with our with your
check in January, correct? Does it? Okay, I thought it was the fiscal year, but it must be January.
You're right. Yes, I know I didn't get I know I didn't get a raise. Okay, then you're right. It's
the calendar year. You're right. So Dale, another thing with benefits are veterans specifically,
I should get the letter from the VA. This is the time of year that it indicates what percentage
you are, what your rate of payment every month is. But it's really particular for those individuals,
those veterans that are 100%. Because you should be taking that letter into your treasure of your
county, wherever you are around the country for that tax abatement. So if you haven't received a
letter, a lot of them have already been dispersed. Please call your agency, your, your office or your
representative if you have not gotten your letter yet from the VA. This does come from the VA. Is
that I mean, I don't is that pretty much the same around the country? Mm hmm. It's the annual letter
that no, no, I don't mean no, I mean, I don't mean the letter. I'm meaning the relief from property
taxes. Yes, most of the states have, I think every single one I did, I don't have it in front of me,
but a year ago, maybe a little over a year ago, I did an analysis of every single state. And I don't
think there was one state that didn't have 100% for tax abatement. But the interesting thing I
found is there are multiple states, I believe there was five that you could start to get benefits
if you were 10%. And then as it went up, it could be 50% of percentage of your taxes. There was
160. There was 170. But I thought that was really interesting. I never knew that until I started,
you know, to get questions. Okay, how much am I from Colorado or how much from Florida? And
Florida is one of those that will reimburse incrementally. Okay, that's interesting. I did not know that.
Mm hmm. And we, you know, we encourage, I know we, you know, around here, I have talked to a
couple of guys, I know that are 100%. And that's the first thing they always bring up. Hey, did you
know I don't have to pay property taxes? I'm going, wait a minute. That's kind of, I wish I
could get a for it. You know, what I have. Well, the interesting thing is, I did speak to a veteran
and his wife the other day. And I felt really bad. They did not know about that at all. And he was a
Vietnam veteran. He was 100%. He is 100%. And I discussed with him and his wife, should something
happen to him, and she could apply for the DIC if it leads to his death because of his service.
And they did not have a clue. And he's been 100% now for four years. Could you imagine the taxes
and the abatement he could have had? So they told me they were going to go and try to obtain the
letter and then get approval going on forward. They did ask, could it be reimbursed? And I said,
no, that that you don't get back paid for. I didn't think so. I didn't think so. Paul, are you,
were you aware of that? Oh, yeah, no. And I was going to ask the general, like, who was helping
that veteran? Because, as you know, assistance from a representative really can make a difference,
right? Because they would tell, I've told them of that benefit, right? And so it's
frustrating to hear about that because we like to think everybody knows, oh, state benefits are
available, but they don't. And so it's glad you connected with them and sent them in the right
direction. But that's where assistance really can be invaluable. Well, Paul, you're exactly correct
because it's ironic. And Dale knows this. I seem to get calls from all over the country. And I
hope my number is not on a bathroom wall. But they'll say, and I always ask, how did you hear
about me? And they said, well, another veteran talked about I was told, maybe from the SO or
they tried to do it themselves. And that's also something I do not encourage them to do it by
themselves. The VA is is not easy to navigate. And so this family was handled several years ago
by a service officer. And then he's he got out of touch with them. The other thing is, I couldn't
believe this one, he only goes to the VA for one of his conditions. And he said he's never been told
he could come back. And at 50%, as you well know, you could get all of your health care from the VA.
He was unaware of that. So we had a great conversation. I sent him multiple ebooks that I
have, I've written like 26 ebooks, they're all free on legal help for veterans to help them get
educated. And so I do ask that question. That's a great question to put him in touch. And I always
say, call me if you have any more questions. Yeah, well, I think that I don't think that you are the
exception. But I know that you are, you know, one of the best out there. And, you know, we have to
make sure that we continually remind our veterans to contact a VSO and don't try to do it yourself.
And because it can get really confusing. And I have an example of that right here in front of me
that I talked with Caroline about this earlier this week. So I got this letter.
And it says that the board of I'm not going to read the whole thing. It says, why are they writing?
I have the right to select a different board review option by submitting a new VA form
101.82 within a year. And it said if I heard it, if you receive a, if we receive a waiver from you,
follow this language, because I did, we will decide your appeal as soon as possible. If we do not
receive the waiver request, the board will not review your appeal until one year from now.
I wasn't sure what the heck to do with this thing. So I called Caroline and she said to sit on it.
Well, the interesting thing is this, this went out to the veterans before their representative
got the letter, whether it's a VSO, legal health for veterans, a county counselor. And there are
several clauses in here that are right now until we find out more. We didn't want you to give away
your rights until we examined where your claim is in the process. It might be on the docket for a
judicial judge in the next three weeks. And so why would you be waiting your rights if you're going
to be reviewed in three weeks to wait for another 60 days? It said maybe reviewed in 60 days. What
happens? That's another thing we're going to be trying to follow up with. What happens after 60
days and you did the waiver and your case isn't reviewed? What happens next? That's right. And so
we don't, we have to look at each individual, see where you're at on the docket. And we have that
opportunity to advise you since you have a POA, whether it's veteran service officer, county
counselor, or us or another agency to really look at your case, because every story is different.
So that's why we told you to hang on and don't sign the waiver yet.
Not yet. Okay. So, okay. Well, and sometimes, oh, the other question that you just, while you
answered it beforehand, is that when a veteran is at 50%, yes, and Paul, I'm going to point to say,
you know, over 50%, then you get medical care for all conditions?
Yeah. The other thing too, about 50% is also if you are retired from the military, that's when
the offset stops. So a lot of folks retired from the military on our 30% or 40%, right? And then
realize their military retirement pay is reduced by the fact that they're getting disability
compensation. So it's really, if you are retired, there's a lot of incentive to get your disability
compensation up to 50%, right? It's just the law. And it's something veterans who are retired from
the military will complain about regularly and the right to do so because it is, you know,
defective thinking and how this law is applied. But it is the law. So that's something folks are
also aware of. Okay. So if I put my 20 years in and I retire and I get 20% disability pay in addition,
and my pension is reduced by that 20%. That's right. Okay. Wow. That doesn't seem quite fair.
No, it's not. But it's the law. So that's, you know, I understand it. But I think it's
important again for our audience out there to understand that the benefit side of the VA is
extremely complicated and that it's really not something that you should attack on your own.
Even though, you know, their website and everything is out there and you can, you know,
upload whatever you want and so forth. I think it's really to your advantage to have someone
looking over your shoulder and saying, okay, don't press that button just quite yet.
And Dale, I'll even build on that. In the last, you know, the run up to Veterans Day,
I attended some company veteran events and Veterans Day and what I'll often do is not
unlike what we're doing here, answer questions, right? And so a veteran, a common question is like,
gee, how do I appeal a decision I'm unhappy with? So you can explain the appeal process,
but inevitably, if you dig a little bit deeper, what I found is say, well, how did you end up
in this situation? Did you file your own claim? And the answer is yes. So there's a relationship
between sort of an outcome that maybe didn't go well because your claim was incomplete or you
didn't have folks helping you who really understood the forms and, you know, all the different things
we were just talking about. So often that kind of explains a lot of the things. So I definitely
am a big fan for getting help. Well, I think so. And Paul, you know, I said it a little earlier,
that's an excellent point to review for our audience because I think I did it several years ago,
and I might be off, but it's greater than 30% that if you do get a claim and you work maybe
through the VA, your award could have been higher. Or if you did it by yourself, going through the
system, it didn't go well, and it might have been denied. And so that appeal process is really
important. And what's really, really important is if you get a denial or you don't agree with the
decision, please get that in to whomever within a year, because then it holds your spot that
if something else is, you get awarded that disability or that benefit, it will go back
retro. But if you don't get that appeal in within a year, we used to call it an NOD,
notice of disagreement, within a year, you lose that time. And I feel bad for some veterans that
lose several years to go back and get back pay. Hey, Brian, you're here. I can't hear you,
unfortunately. I can see you, but can't hear you. Oh, I hate to know for that reason.
No, he's not muted. Anyway, hold on, Brian, we'll keep working on it. Just burst in if you get your
microphone working. We'll get that going for you. My question, what was my next question going to be?
All right. So, you know, we've done this in the past, where we have run into veterans from World
War Two, or Korea now. And, you know, they have never talked to the VA for any reason whatsoever.
But they've got, you know, they've got shrapnel wounds, or they've got, you know, Parkinson's now,
and all of these other things that are coming down. And I wanted to kind of remind our audience that,
no matter how old you are, if your condition was caused by your time in the service,
that you should be talking to somebody, especially for your surviving spouse.
Well, can I, I'll start with you. Well, absolutely. It's never too late. And also in this situation,
I mean, you think about it, my father served in Korea, so were he still alive? He'd be like 94
or something. So he's passed. But even if your spouse, you know, served in those wars, and he
or she has passed, you know, again, the spouses should be thinking about talking to the VA too,
because they can demonstrate my husband was in there, for example, right, just the sort of
demographics of the time he served in these wars, something happened, I have records,
am I entitled to benefits, the answer might very well be yes. So again, the family members should
think about that. And that's why connecting with the VA is so important as early as possible. But
it's never too late, you know, maybe challenges with records and things like that, but it's never
too late. I always encourage my friends that I've that, you know, I don't need to use the VA or
anything like that is that to me, at least register, and I'll get yourself, you know, get your ID card,
you don't ever have to go to VA if you if you don't want to. But it does make sure that you are
entitled to some options that, you know, maybe you weren't even aware of, especially like hearing aids
and things like that. Right. And also, if you've been exposed to something, so for example, let's
do a little bit of history, right, if you served in Vietnam, and you had conditions, but nobody
understood what Agent Orange was, it took years later for people to figure out. But if you had
gotten in sort of, you know, in there sort of talking about, hey, I've been exposed to things,
by the time they figured it out, you know, you were identified, you could get help. And if you
applied for benefits that you denied, then go back and like re-adjudicate it and, you know, retroactive
to the day you first applied. So it's always good to connect, especially, you know, as our
knowledge of the science increases. So it's there's almost no there's no consequence for not connecting.
Okay. And especially with just recently the PAC Act, all the hazardous environmental issues out
there, the burn pits, you absolutely should apply. And especially, you know, applying if you were in
one of the war eras, you're a combat veteran, that's really important also. But when you start
talking as a widow, and I get this a lot in the classes that I'm in, widows will usually think,
and Paul, you brought up a great point that they're not entitled to anything. But burial,
there is the some of the benefits also aid in attendance, help if they meet the criteria for
activities of daily living. So there are different options for every single person, but you need to
figure out where you stand, you would need the DD 214, you would need the veteran's death certificate,
you would need your marriage certificate. And so those are the some of the elements,
but call somebody I think it's really important that you research your case and see if you are
eligible for any benefits. And Dale, and I think this is where your show is so important, right,
because the people like the general is describing, when the military member, the veteran passes,
they may disconnect from the military community, the veteran community, right,
they don't get the emails anymore, they're not on the newsletters and the like, because it was going
to their veteran. So they just have no idea about some of the things you know just described. So
it's even more important that somehow the community connect with those folks. I think that's
that's really important because as soon as you said that, I was thinking about the organizations that
I'm involved with, you know, and most of them are the veterans themselves, you don't necessarily
meet the spouses and, you know, all those types of things. And if something happens,
then that spouse, as you mentioned, does not get all that information anymore.
Yeah. Well, they don't hold on just like I got Brian's voice here. I figured out how to turn it
on. Yeah, thank you, Brian. I just wanted to interject a little bit on why it's so important
to go to the BSO for stuff is why there was an example with the Marines that were in
Jerry Noah, Camp Lejeune, the water, the water benefits. I had a bunch of, you know, everybody
saw that stuff on TV, call our law office. Well, yeah, they're going to get a third of everything
you get from it. And if you went to the BSO or the VA, and they did the paperwork, you got the
whole thing from. And that's what, you know, I had family members, did you put in for that? Well,
number one, I didn't have anything that was on that list. So I checked that with the BSO and they
said, well, if there's nothing on the list, and all you can do is submit your name. And then I
got a letter said, you're on the list, and you got to go to the doctor and see if you have anything
wrong with you. I already know I didn't. So, but the fact is, if you didn't go to the BSO,
you had to pay the lawyer to do that stuff. So, and I know a couple of guys who were a little
shocked when they didn't get the whole amount, because they didn't take my advice and go to the
BSO. So that was just my two cents I wanted to throw in before I figured out my microphone.
Thank you, Brian. Brian, you were stationed all over the country, weren't you?
Yeah, I was in Cherry Point. And then from there, I went to, I mean,
Tampa, June, and then from there, I went to Cherry Point. So, and ironically, Cherry Point was the
only place over there that wasn't part of the lawsuit, because the other two air bases were
Mottford Point. And I can't think of the other one, but there was three air bases on the east
coast there. And I just happened to be in the one that didn't have anything wrong with it. So,
well, that was that was lucky. But the thing that I think is important about people like Brian is
that, you know, many bases around the country have been, uh, been discovered, I guess you could say,
that, you know, that they used Agent Orange to clear out stuff around there and that they,
you know, they had their own little mini burn pits and so forth, and many of our military
installations and the, you know, the, the fire retardant stuff. Yeah. Dry cleaning fluid and
things like that. Yeah, sure. You know, all of those things are, I don't know what the word would be,
commensurable, are possibly for a disability payment. Is that correct, Paul?
Yeah, that's right. So a couple of kind of things about, so, um, we're just talking about the PAK
DAC and Agent Orange, right? What's interesting about those is when the secretary of the VA
declares, you know, what's called a presumptive, that they will no longer require the veteran to
demonstrate that the condition is related to service, will presume it is, right? If you have
cancer and some cancers and you are in Vietnam or in the water, will presume your service caused it,
right? So that's really convenient for the veteran, sadly, who has these conditions,
doesn't have to prove it. But that shouldn't limit you. So even though some of these things,
like Brian was saying, are not on the list, right? You can still get benefits if you can
demonstrate the conditions you had were because of your service. So prior to the PAK DAC, when I
was still in office, people were getting benefits for burn pits because they could demonstrate
this is what happened to me because of burn pits, right? It wasn't a presumptive. So don't
be discouraged if you think, hey, I wasn't in Camp Lejeune, for example, but I was in
this other place and I have these conditions, they just might not know the water is contaminated
yet, right? So again, again, there's no penalty for applying if you think something happened to
you because of your service. I think that's great advice. I think that's great advice, Paul, because
you don't know what you don't know navigating the system. And if the veteran has, say, one
disability, maybe another condition is a secondary. And we tell them always go back and reapply. If
your condition gets worse, please notify your agent, whether it's VSO, a county counselor,
or you are working with an attorney, please go back because you never know. Just communicate.
And, you know, we'll try to help you with that issue. But I think that was outstanding advice
to not think that just because I wasn't there, I don't qualify for anything. And I don't think
that's true either. You should apply. And just to build on that, the rule of thumb we used when
I was there was every three to five years, you should go back because sadly, conditions just
get worse. And the thing I think most of the veterans, you know, I would encounter hearing,
you know, they'll, oh, yeah, I had a little bit of problem. Well, guess what? A little bit of problem
when you're 25 becomes a big problem when you're 55, right? And so soon you get that kind of registered
and dealt with. It's just easier. Well, the other thing that a couple of things real quickly,
a personal experience, okay, so tonight is is almost an automatic 10%. Because nobody can hear it,
but you, all those crickets and noises and whooshes and so on and so forth. But you know,
people, that's just what happened. Well, no, go talk to them and see what it was. Oh, you were
in artillery. Go talk to them. Oh, you were a pilot. Go talk to them just to see what is there.
I was thinking of my own personal experience is that when I got out of the service, or first,
when I first went to the VA, I can't remember what even that was back in the 80s. And they hadn't
done anything with Agent Orange, but there were the Vietnam veterans were already starting to
get a lot of unusual, weird diseases and so forth as a result of their exposure. And the VA said,
okay, come on in and get, you know, registered. And they asked me at the time that I had to show them,
tell them where I was in Vietnam, and when I was there. And so I said, well, I was a helicopter
pilot. So I was in 27 different places every day. And when were you there? And now they have the map
that came out that shows those 27 different places where I was is covered with red.
And so this is for, you know, the older veterans now where the older veterans, but, you know,
the older veterans that are out there, don't walk away from this stuff. You have you, you,
you, you know, you agreed to put your life on the line. And this is the only way that the government,
you know, can pay you back for that. And so, and just to kind of build on, I mean,
the general made a really good point, right? But if you have assistance from a VS,
or a county clerk or somebody, right, they should also be able to say, what was your MOS and what
did you do in the service? And because they've seen so many things, they should be able to say,
Oh, you were exposed to loud, loud noises. Did you sit in unusual situations? Did you carry heavy?
I mean, there's a whole body of knowledge they should be able to access to help the veterans.
So it's not like them going, Oh, you know, I don't know something's wrong. They should be
able to say, look, for what you did, this is likely to have happened. Are you aware of that?
And often people go when I talk to them, as a matter of fact, my neck does hurt,
says the former pilot, right? As a matter of fact, my knee to do hurts,
says the person who was in the infantry and marched all day carrying heavy packs, right? So
this is where you can assistance really can make a difference.
Okay, we need to take a break here. Although all the oldest thought, we're going to take a break
for about two minutes or so on play our Medal of Honor segment for today. We're talking about
benefits. So please, if you do, if you have a question, just give us a call. We got experts
here for you today, 7348221600. You're listening to Veterans Radio. We will be right back.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor and combat given a member of the armed forces
of the United States. There had been over 3400 recipients of the nation's highest award.
This is one of them. Submarine Commander Richard O'Kane chose to face the enemy on the service
despite overwhelming odds. Details after this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of
Veterans Appeals, contact legal help for veterans at 1-800-693-4800. They're experts in handling
cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1-800-693-4800.
O'Kane served as the commanding officer of the USS Tang operating against two enemy Japanese convoys
on the 23rd and 24th of October 1944 during her fifth and last war patrol.
Boldly maneuvering on the surface into the midst of a heavily escorted convoy,
O'Kane stood in the hail of bullets and shells from all directions to launch smashing hits on
three tankers. Cooley swung his ship to fire at a freighter and in a split second decision,
shot out of the path of an onrushing transport, missing it by inches. Boxed in by blazing tankers,
a freighter, transport and several destroyers, he blasted two of the targets with his remaining
torpedoes and with pyrotechnics bursting on all sides cleared the area. 24 hours later,
he again made contact with a heavily escorted convoy, steaming to support the Lady Campaign
with reinforcements and supplies and with cratered planes piled high on each unit.
In defiance of the enemy's relentless fire, he closed on the ships and in quick succession
sent two torpedoes each into the first and second transports and an adjacent tanker,
finding his mark with each torpedo in a series of violent explosions at less than 1000 yard range.
With ships bearing down from all sides, he charged the enemy at high speed,
exploding the tanker in a burst of flame, smashing the transport dead in the water
and blasting the destroyer with a mighty roar which rocked the tank from stem to stern.
Okane expended his last two torpedoes into the remnants of a once powerful convoy
before his own ship went down. The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio.
You know you don't have to wear your PT gear anymore, right? It's comfortable.
Is there a civilian life treating you? It's fine. When I got out, I didn't want to admit that there
was anything wrong because I felt like a failure. And then I realized like there's nothing to be
ashamed of. So I started talking to someone. Maybe you are fine. But if you're not, it's okay.
Thank you. If you or a veteran you know needs support, don't wait. Reach out.
Find resources at va.gov.se.
And we're back here on Veterans Radio for our monthly benefits program. Our guests
are Carolyn Phouson, retired Brigadier General of the United States Air Force. And she is a
certified VSO with legal help for veterans. And also we've got Dr. Paul R. Lawrence. He's the
former Undersecretary of Benefits from the Veterans Department of Veterans Affairs. And
he's the author of a book, Veterans Benefits for You, Get What You Deserve. And also is our
good local friend Brian Baye, United States Marine. I brought him here to answer any questions that
Marines might have regarding benefits. So if you want to get in on the conversation, here's the
number 734-822-1600. General Phouson, you had a comment you wanted to make before we took a break.
Well, you know, going back and being educated on everything, no matter who your agent is,
what we have tended to do, and Paul brought it up, the presumptives, say for Agent Orange,
there are more coming out under the PAC Act. They went back and approved different presumptives.
They had radiation there. They had different ships that were allowed to get, to give you the
presumptive that, okay, now this has been proven. So what we tend to do is you know your clients,
you know your veterans. And so we'd call you up, Dale, and say, did you know? And most of the time,
it's, oh my God, when did this come out? You know, you get a letter and you're not understanding
sometimes what the letter means. But I think good follow up or call your VSO, county counselor,
whoever is representing you. But please, once again, don't try to do it by yourself. There's
too many moving parts and pieces. And apply for it. You never know what's going to happen.
Agreed. I had a question for you guys. You know, with the PAC Act, and you just mentioned it,
that there are so many additional conditions that are being added to the list over time.
What happens if, and this is going to go back to the spouse thing again, what happens if my
spouse died of a condition that is now on the list, but we didn't know about it?
Is there any, any way that I can go back and find out if I am entitled to anything?
So the non, what you're asking about is a non veteran spouse who died of conditions
that the veteran would be covered by, right? If he, if using the he sorry, but if, yes,
if he had been exposed 20 years ago, died 10 years ago, she never knew anything about it.
And now she says, somebody who listened to this radio program and they said, oh, if you died of
leukemia, let's say, and I know there are a variety of types, I should apply for something.
Well, I'd be interested in general spouse answer, but I mean, generally benefits are for the veteran.
So in this case, the person would not be covered. So it would be sad to hear about,
about the only exception I can tell you about, and again, here's where I'd ask the general way,
and is for spina bifida for a dependents whose father was a service member in Vietnam. They
could have gotten some Agent Orange passed through the biological birth. So again, but that's not
kind of what you're describing, right? So. But what my response would be, and I'd be interested
in hearing what Brian says is the follow up is if you look at all the provisions under Camp Lejeune
and the water, they do have a piece in there very well written about dependents, spouses,
family members that they could go back and look at if they're, if they're alive today,
you should look into this if the spouse has, let's say a good example is a miscarriage.
They've had miscarriages or they have the leukemia, the cancers, and they could trace it back to when
you were at Camp Lejeune. That should have been in potentially your argument,
whoever you're dealing with. So you're right, Paul, the spina bifida, the dependency issue,
but the Camp Lejeune has just come up under the PACT Act recently.
Well, I know that under the Agent Orange thing is that they were asking to make sure that we,
anybody who's been exposed to Agent Orange, is that we should make sure that we tell our children
and our grandchildren, right, that there may be, you know, some issues down the road, even though,
you know, I'm hoping that it's, you know, it's minuscule, but you never know.
Oh, right. That's right.
Yeah, Dale, there's, you know, Sandy Wilson in our Vietnam vets unit there in the local Ann Arbor one.
She's part of the national push for spouses, but even more so the children that you have
when you pass this stuff on and there's a major pushes on that. She would, she would definitely
be the right person to talk to you about that because she's part of the board.
Oh, I know. She's really passionate about that.
Yeah, I think she's been on your show a number of times, hasn't she?
Yeah.
Yep, she's been here and she has also encouraged all of us in our local organizations to register our
grandchildren with, what was it called now? I have to find out. It was a registry for any,
you know, issues that might be passed along. And it's just to get them on a thing because
there's a lot of research going on now, not only with the Camp Lejeune, but also with the Agent
Orange, with the burn pits and all these other things that, you know, we are inadvertently exposed
to during our time in the service. We got about 10 minutes left. And I wanted to make sure that
it'd be that one of you had something specific that you wanted to talk to us about. So, Paul?
I have one example and again, General Fasten, please jump in here, right? You might have seen
this and I'm not the only person who sees stuff like this, right? You know, an older veteran
generally will do an ago fund me page and say, I'm really struggling. I can't pay my rent or my
mortgage or whatever. And so when you see stuff like that, you know, you want to remind them about
help that exists from the VA, right? The Veterans Pension is a good example of a benefit that's
needs tested for folks who are, you know, struggling, you know, assets below a certain limit and it
doesn't include cars and houses and stuff like that. So while they turn to the go fund me page,
they should be aware of the Veterans Pension, which is a benefit most likely to cover by that.
And also the lot of organizations, VSOs, some states have sort of a cash, you know,
fund, they can just pay people to help with a mortgage or an electric payment. And like,
I know some of the major VSOs have this. So if you see a veteran struggling like that,
be aware there are other things they can do besides the go fund me page.
Well, excellent advice because we are very fortunate in the state of Michigan,
we have the trust fund, the Michigan Trust Fund, and it's way over 50 some million dollars. And you
could apply to your local county and get mortgage and rent. And if you're, you know, your car is
failing. And the number of assets it has just gone up for the pension is $155,000 in some change.
So if you're less than that, you should look and consult with someone, the county counselors
are awesome, the VSOs are great. The other thing that I think we forget about sometimes,
and I try to help the veterans on what you just described, Paul, if somebody is 100% and they
are struggling with those activities of daily living, something else they could apply for if
they are struggling like that is the special monthly compensation. And that goes back to your
injuries. But you have to apply for it and, you know, go and ask for help. But that's good advice.
That pension is out there to help them.
Yes, you can hear paper shuffling here. I apologize for that. But Paul, when you were on the program
a couple of weeks ago, you gave me a number and I can't find it right now, that if we find a
homeless veteran around the street, and unfortunately, right now in our local area, we're seeing
no one seem like on every corner, there's a disabled veteran and you're going, wait a minute,
you know, here's a number. Do you happen to have that in front of you?
Sure, yeah, it's 877-424-3838. Again, 877-424-3838. Veterans homeless hotline, you call it. What's
supposed to happen is you identify the location of this individual and VA is supposed to come and
figure out are they a veteran or if they are, perhaps get them assistance. Okay. The other
thing too is you don't have to wait until they're on the street. If you know somebody's struggling,
there's also an element of prevention. A classic example is a buddy's living on your couch.
He or she's lost the job. They're en route to being homeless. You can call for them and say,
they need help before that moment. So again, 877-424-3838 is a good resource.
I think that we all should write that on our palm of our hand.
Or speak dial in your phone, right? Yeah.
And you see them at the traffic light like you're talking about, Dale. Yeah. And you mentioned this
also the other day, the last time was that we don't even have to talk to the veteran that's,
you know, in distress. We can just call that number and say, here's a guy on a corner of,
you know, this and this. And he says that he's a veteran and we need to help him or her.
It's awkward moment when you see those peaks with the cardboard sign. You don't know whether
they are. You want to help. You don't know what to do. This is one thing you can do, you know,
without personally getting invested just because you just don't know, you know, but
that's what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to go figure it out and get them things
like the pension. That's where, you know, that's one of the things that gets them out, gets folks
like that out of homelessness. And so there's a, there's a connect to the theme of the story,
the theme of the show. I'm glad we got it. Carolyn?
The other thing that was mentioned is the vouchers. The vouchers are really important. And so if you
are struggling through the social work department at the VA medical center, if you have, you know,
on your team as you're going in the 26, the 2068 to prove to have the veteran say, yes,
this veteran needs help. We just helped one get the voucher. So you go through the process,
but it's identifying who needs this assistance. And the social work at the Ann Arbor VA medical
center helped this family to get a voucher. And now they are being placed.
So is the voucher money or is the voucher something? What is the voucher?
Well, the voucher is a place to live. And so in this, in this family's position,
they were able to find them, I believe, an apartment to go into first, and they take care of
the rent and help them until they get over the hump. Well, you know, I think so many of us are
just not aware that the VA does provide these things for us. And in our, we're afraid to ask,
oh, you know, we don't want to take the money from another veteran who needs it more. And we just
have to continually, you know, get out in front of people and encourage them to tell their friends,
tell their veteran friends, tell their veterans family friends that these things are available
to them. And, you know, don't be embarrassed to just, all you got to do is call and somebody
can give you an answer, I think, you know, so as we're coming up toward the end, is there any
thing specific that either one of you would like to talk about?
Um, no, I think I would probably double click on the advice of getting some assistance, right,
not just with your disability compensation, but the agents, whether they're, you know, no cost or
you pay them really should understand the wide range of services. Dale, it's kind of like you
pointed out, you know, that there's there's so many things out there that just nobody can know
them all. Um, and so it's pretty unreasonable to expect a veteran to know them all and the communication
can be overwhelming or so technical, it's impossible to understand, but I don't think it hurts to ask.
And I think the last thing I would point out, Dale, is you pointed out like the veterans benefits,
you know, your benefits don't come at the expense of somebody else. Congress has to provide these
funds. It's just the way the budget works. It's kind of scary as a taxpayer, but it's great as a
veteran. And so you're, you know, it doesn't come at somebody else's expense. So please,
you know, look into some look into benefits that, you know, you've earned. These are not
entitlements. They're available to anybody who generally serves honorably. So they're not,
they're something people have earned. Absolutely. And I think, you know, if you're taking a walk
through your neighborhood and you find out that there's an older veteran in the area,
you know, see if you can strike up a conversation and maybe, maybe you'll be able to help them out.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Caroline, anything else? Well, it's a, you know, we keep, we keep saying
this over and over, but if there's a certain age of the veteran, you could ask for an exemption
to be, if they're, have cancer and they, they're terminal, you know, they're in hospice,
financial issues, sending the documentation and the VA, if you got a claim out there,
they will do everything they can in all the ROs across the country. They have been awesome
to expedite. When you have the info to say this veteran has cancer and they're terminal,
we have gotten many claims back within weeks. And I think that's really important.
Well, I think they, the thing that we're, you know, we keep harping on telling people about
these things. And this is what we've got to do. It's sometimes, you know, it takes one time to
remember. And then some of us, it takes 20 times to actually, you know, do what is suggested.
So I want to thank both of you so much for being on the program, retired general Caroline
Toson from legal help for veterans. Locally, let me give you her number just in case that's 800-693-4800.
Just ask for the boss and they will send you on to Caroline and her staff out there is excellent.
So I wanted to make sure I got that plug in there. And also I wanted to thank Dr. Lawrence
for coming on the program again. He is the author of a really helpful book called Veterans
Benefits for You. You can't see it, but it's a really cool book. And it's got a lot of answers
in there. The other thing, going back to Caroline, she's got a whole bunch of ebooks covering many
of these things as well. So there's no excuse men and women out there, where you're not to find out
this information. Brian, thank you very much for, you know, jumping in with your comments. I think
that's really important for all of us to know that we're, you know, I'm always looking for a sidekick
to come on and join me on the program who, you know, has the same passion that I do for helping
veterans. So Brian, I want to appreciate your dropping in today. I got a minute to go. So I want
to promote next week's program. My partner, Jim Falzone, is going to be doing the program next
week. And he's going to be talking with Marine Corps retired Colonel Jason Fedek. He's the 28th
director of the President's own United States Marine Corps band. And he is also right now,
I believe he is the new director of the Michigan marching band. Not a bad band. Also, he's going
to be talking with Navy veterans, Kotlin Green, about the USS Stennis, which has been named for
the former Senator John Stennis. And there's some issues going on with it being named after
and a vowed segregationist. So tune in next week. I think you're going to really enjoy
Jim's program. Also, we got 10 seconds. So that's it. So thanks for listening very much. Until
next week, this is Dale Throneberry for all of us here at Veterans Radio, and you are dismissed.
God bless America.
America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from
above, from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans, white with foam. God bless America,
my home sweet home. God bless America, my home sweet home.
God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light
from above, from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans, white with foam. God bless America,
my home sweet home. God bless America, my home sweet home.
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of gray,
for purple mountain majesties above the brood at play. America, America,
God shed His grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
America.