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.
Happy New Year everybody and welcome to Veterans
Radio. It's the first Sunday of the month and
we're really excited to have you here. This is
our monthly benefits program, and we've got our
experts all lined up in a row here. Actually,
it's the two Falsones are here. We've got retired
Brigadier General Carol Ann Falsone, United States
Air Force, and we've got Jim Falsone from Legal
Health for Veterans. And we're going to be here
kind of talking about maybe your wish list of
what you'd like in the new year. I think that
might be interesting. And also, I think what
we want to talk about is we want to make sure
that we kind of review what benefits may be changing
a little bit in the new year and maybe some benefits
that we still don't really think about all the
time until it's really needed. So those are the
things that we want to get into in just a little
bit. We're also going to be highlighting the
Medal of Honor this year and the Medal of Honor
Society is actually having their annual convention
in Detroit at the end of September and so Every
month we are going to be highlighting the Medal
of Honor. Of course, we do that every week, but
also we are going to be trying to get interviews
with as many of the 61 living Medal of Honor
recipients as we can so that we can play them
for you. I wanted to remind you all that you
can listen to Veterans Radio not only where you
are right now on broadcast format where we're
on a couple of stations here in Michigan. But
you can also pick up our archives at veteransradio
.org. You can also listen to our podcasts on
Spotify, iTunes, all those other different platforms
that are out there. And we normally do posting
of our programs on Monday and I believe it's
on Wednesday. And we're trying to get other people
that would like to join us and upload more stories
and so forth about the veteran community that
is out there. Before we get started talking about
these things, I want to make sure that we do
thank our sponsors because we can't do this program
without their support. And that starts off with
Legal Help for Veterans. Legal Help for Veterans
specializes in veterans disability claims. Give
Legal Help for Veterans a call at 800 -693 -4800
or go to their website legalhelpforveterans .com.
The National Veterans Business Development Council,
better known as NVBDC. is the nation's leading
third -party authority for certification of veteran
-owned businesses. For more information, you
can go to their website, ndbdc .org, or give
them a call at 888 -237 -8433. And I always talk
about this when I talk about NDBDC. If you are
a veteran -owned business, small or big, if you
want to do business with the federal government
or with many corporations these days, you need
to be certified as a real live veteran -owned
business. There are rules and regulations that
go along with these things. You can't just have
a guy sit in a corner who is a veteran and say
it's a veteran -owned business. So these are
the folks that you need to contact. Again, that's
nvbdc .org. They'll run you through the whole
program of how to get certified. Locally, we
want to thank the Irwin Prescor and American
Legion Post 46. and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann
Arbor, Michigan. Hey, if you'd like to support
Veterans Radio, and we're always looking for
that support and help, please go to our website,
veteransradio .org, click on the donate button.
All right. Thank you for your support in advance.
on to the program. So joining me now on the air
is our good friends, my good friends, and now
we've got a group of good friends here. We've
got retired, as I said, retired Air Force Brigadier
General Carol Ann Faustone. Welcome back, Carol
Ann. Thank you, Dale, and happy new year to our
listening audience. I can't believe it's 2026.
I think I just did this yesterday and said 2025,
but the year is gone. And so we have to move
on. So thank you very much. Right. And also the
founder of Legal Help for Veterans, and that
is Jim Falzone. So Jim, welcome back. Jim is
also my partner here on Veterans Radio, does
one program a month, going to try and talk him
in to do more. Also, he does a weekly podcast
of Veterans Stories. So Jim, welcome to the program
today. Thanks. Hey Dale, good to see you and
yes I spend time every week recording for our
Veterans Radio podcast which is put up on Tuesdays
at 11 a .m. and goes out on the rss .com feed
to all the major social media podcast platforms
and we'd encourage folks to go find that and
quote veterans radio close quote that's that
way I'll get rid of all the all the other chaff
and you'll find our podcasts and we're always
got something new and exciting to put on to the
listeners you know we've been doing this now
for we can't even count that high anymore I know,
I know like 22 plus years because I can't figure
out how many it's been. Right, 22 plus years
going into our 23rd year which is pretty remarkable
when you think about it. When Gary and Gary Lilly
and Bob Gould and Ken Rogan and I sat down at
the Bomber restaurant in Ypsilanti, Michigan
and talked this whole thing out and said hey
let's do this. little did we know. Well, and
that's a good plug. If you're local and you haven't
been to the bomber restaurant and you're just
landing for breakfast, go, you won't be disappointed.
No, and there's a whole bunch of distractions.
Every type of aircraft in the history of mankind,
I think, is hanging from their ceiling. Great
military photos, uniforms, all kinds of good
stuff. And the food's good. The food is great.
And Gail, I can't believe in that 22 plus, we
haven't done veterans radio live there. I think
we could bring in a great crowd. But they close
by five o 'clock. Yes, they do, unfortunately.
When we first started off this whole thing, we
were... For a long time we were on at 9 o 'clock
in the morning Wow When we were on WDEO and that
would that worked out well because we were able
to do arm, you know remotes that restaurants
and You know the Yankee Air Museum and all kinds
of other places that we've that we've gone to
it and that's another thing that we want to try
and do this year is to get down on the road a
little bit more and See if we can spread the
word get some more stories bring in some more
storytellers. That would be what I think is really
fun. Let's give a shout out to our host station,
live station, WAAM radio. We've been at for decades
now and I know you were transitioning into sort
of a New Year's resolution discussion. So let's
thank all those folks that helped make this possible.
I can do that. We can thank WAM. We can thank
Derek Stone, who is our board operator and gets
the sound out across the country, because we're
also on WDTK in Detroit, Michigan, and KMET out
in California, and some other people out there
that I think are pirating our program, because
everybody says, oh, I've heard about Veterans
Radio. I listen to it every week. Really? Where
are you listening to this program? But yeah,
the transition now is to talk about a couple
of things that are, well, I guess I'll go to
Carolyn, because we don't have our hospital representative
with us yet. We're still working on that. And
I think that I heard that Virginia might be available
in February, I'm hoping. Great. So what do you
think we should be? What New Year's type of resolutions
would you like to see? as far as the VA is concerned
and what our veterans should be watching out
for. Well, I'd like to start out by saying, if
you do not have your DD -214, you know, the critical
pieces of paperwork, put them in an area, a folder,
a strong box, where, if God forbid, something
happens to the veteran, the family could get
at it easily. You're entitled, if you've served
during a wartime era, to be buried in a national
cemetery, and what a great honor. But you can't
get buried there if you don't have the DD -214.
I was going to ask you about that. Does it need
to be the original? No, it does not need to be
the original. And matter of fact, what I encourage
people to do is take that DD214, copy it, give
it to your kids, write it down where it is in
the second drawer, in the bureau, in the bedroom.
Communicate with as many as possible, because
that is your grave. from birth to grave, I say
from service, it tells your whole story. It tells
where you came in, the years you've served, the
awards. So it is the most important document
you could ever find. So with that, if you're
married, I would put your marriage certificate
there. I would also... Put if you have children,
your dependents in that box, just a list. And
make sure the family knows your wishes. Sometimes
it becomes the last minute. So as long as we're
talking about the burial and the DD -214, if
you're in an area. ahead of time, you could go
and visit a national cemetery, say like the Great
Lakes or Fort Custer, and you could arrange,
pre -arrange that you're going to go there. And
that would really help your family out immensely.
Because when the time comes, planning is very
important. And I can't tell you enough about
that. And so when you're planning, if a veteran
passes and they are getting disability, benefits.
I just dealt with this yesterday. You need to
notify the VA that the veteran has passed because
they'll keep sending you money unless you notify
them or it comes across social security. But
then you need to repay all of that. So why put
that on a family if you don't have to? The family,
the widow, you know, they're stressed out enough.
So if you have a funeral home, that you rely
on, that has had the training, that they should
have your DD214, they could execute your wishes.
So make it easy on your family. That to me is
the most important thing. And also along with
that, then I would say even if... They tell you,
you're a millionaire, you have too much money.
Enroll in the VA because you never know what's
going to happen. If you have a disability benefit,
even at 0%, you don't have to enroll. You're
already in the system. But for those that do
not have a disability benefit, enroll in the
VA. It's the greatest health care system in the
world. I think so. So if the person on disability
does die, and they're not working with even working
with a funeral home who would they contact on
that call the VA if you if you don't even have
a um if you don't have a funeral home let's say
you have a veteran service rep um like legal
help for veterans or a veteran service organization
or um our david sams you know a county counselor
in washtenaw but notify or just call the 1 -800
number with VA um you know, and tell them that
your loved one has passed. You can actually,
Dale, just walk into whatever funeral home you're
going to use. You're going to use one or another
because you can't get buried in the backyard.
You can just walk in and explain to the funeral
home director that, hey, dad, mom was a veteran
and years are DD214. And then they will make
the arrangements. They'll make the phone call
to the VA burial services, line all that up for
you. But again, it starts with not just telling
them that dad was a veteran, but actually having
the DD -214 because they'll need that paperwork.
Right, yeah. That's the thing, you know, it's
kind of like the passport into the VA is the
DD -214 and, you know, it's like your diploma.
Passport's a great Great way to think about it.
That's an excellent thought. Since we're kind
of doing some resolutions here, I want to give
out another resolution that I think veterans
should have beyond Carol Ann's Identified. Get
your paperwork together. That paperwork would
probably include other things beyond the DD -214.
She mentioned some of them. And there are some
e -books. She has an e -book. Actually, Caroline
wrote an e -book on getting your paperwork together
that you can find on the legalhelpforveterans
.com site. But it's also a good time of the year
to think about, eh, maybe I need to check in
with VA. Maybe I've got to make sure my address
is right. maybe I've got to make sure I talk
to my veteran service officer or my county counselor
or my attorney who's helping me. All too often
we let changes in life go on. We don't tell anybody
and later on it's a problem and that might be
a marriage or a divorce, might be dependence,
their ages. So just, you know, veterans put on
your list. Check my information with VA, and
I think that's a good thing for everybody to
do, particularly if they say, really, I haven't
done it in a long time. Now's the time to do
it. You know what, Jim? You just brought up a
great point in the sense of, I don't think our
veterans, what if your spouse dies or a child
who's dependent and you've been getting money,
you need to notify them on that end too because
they'll keep sending you the money and it's your
responsibility to notify them that that individual
has passed also. And if you keep getting that
money, we call that fraud nowadays, right? Yes,
they don't like that. No. They don't. The other
suggestion that I had was to, when you go to
the VA, if you're not getting 100 % of your care
at the VA, or you're getting treated for something
other than what your disability is, bring in
your new insurance card. Obviously the vast majority.
The veterans that I see at our local VA or are
you know over 65? But you still need to bring
in that insurance card I don't know how many
drugs I'm on anymore, but It's you know it only
comes out to be about $15 a month or 20 bucks
a month or something along those lines But those
are there are some costs that are not covered
You know 100 % so if you show me your insurance
card Maybe you've got some coverage there that
could take care of whatever your deductible is
or whatever Usually it's just the medication
that they end up Billing you for it seems of
the way my experience has been that's you know,
that's the thing and then you know That's Carol
Ann pointed out get that folder together with
your DD 214 your insurance card your marriage
license your children's Names and Social Security
numbers and so forth, you know, especially if
they're eligible Especially if they're younger
And, you know, because those are the questions
they're going to ask you anyway, and start gathering
up your medical records if you think that you
have a claim to make. Because they are making
some, not drastic changes to the disability format,
but they are encouraging more and more people,
and we've talked about this before, of trying
to do these claims online, and we encourage you
not to do that. At least, you know, before you
do it, get some, you know, expertise and some
advice out there that could really help you out.
I agree with that, Dale, because I not so often
will get a call that somebody says, hey, I put
in this paperwork 11 months ago and I haven't
heard a word. Well, the problem was they filled
it out incorrectly and they didn't realize it,
but it was sent back. They didn't realize it
and their claim is going nowhere. So it's always
good to get somebody with expertise, maybe to
help you out, fill that out. But I want to go
back for a second in our folder. You know, we
developed this folder in a checklist. Another
thing I would put in there that I think is absolutely
critical, it's the piece of paper that a veteran
gets say, November, December timeline. It lists
your benefits. It lists your number. It comes
from the VA. And it indicates what you're entitled
to. And I think that's very critical to stick
that in the folder so that the family also knows
whether you have a 10%, a 50%, a 100 % because
along with the 100 % please turn in and go to
your tax assessor if you are eligible for the
tax exemption. You have to do that every year.
It just doesn't come automatically. So know where
you're living and find out what month you have
to apply that. So there's another New Year's
resolution I had on my list to point out for
folks and I'll let Carolyn expand on it. But
depending on what state you're in, they have
tax exemptions for veterans with disability ratings.
Some states only give you that exemption if you're
100%, that's the state of Michigan for example,
but other states are much more generous and much
more supportive of veterans and you might get
a break on your taxes at 10 % or 30 % or 50%.
So you have to know the state you're in. But
as Carol Ann just mentioned, there's a time of
the year when you have to do this. So January's
a great time to figure out, hey, what do I need
to do to get that real property tax exemption?
And talk to your local tax assessor and work
that out. As I say, Carol Ann, has talked to
a lot of guys about this over the years and they
all, you know, they all ask after their local
deadline, oh, what can I do now? Well, you got
to wait a year because you missed the deadline.
Normally, you have to go down to your tax office
or whatever it is and take that letter that they
gave you. Yes. In November or so and take it
down there and get that I know I have a friend
well In my age now, I've got to the point where
I have a lot of friends Yeah percent that are
you know, they're I think they go down by the
busload but To to make sure that they you know,
that's a great benefit when you think about it,
especially if you live in a more Expensive area
of the country to live in. I mean, I know here
in Ann Arbor taxes run a lot. And it would be
nice to check off that $6 ,000, $7 ,000, $9 ,000,
$10 ,000 a year. That's kind of a good thing.
That helps, Dale, because down here in Florida,
believe it or not, they started 10%. And we just
had a veteran recently who was so ecstatic. He
finally, after I want to say four or five years,
got his hearing. And his hearing got rated at
20%. And then he had another rating on top of
that, something he was, let's say me, that he
was going in and we were appealing. So he got
30%. He called me a few weeks ago and he was
like just elated because he went and he found
out in Florida he's gonna get something like
$4 ,000 back on his taxes because of the 30%.
Florida is one of those states. that incrementally
will give you a tax relief. And so I think there's
only like four or five in the entire country.
I have an e -book out on that too. So under the
tax exemption. And we have a list of all the
states. Or you could just pull it up, you know,
go to Google. Google knows everything. Sometimes
too much. Is that Ben Google or Al Google? I
think it's AI Google. That's the one that we're
talking about, right? We're going to take a break
here and play our Medal of Honor segment for
today. Today's Medal of Honor is Ed Freeman.
Ed Freeman was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam,
which was near and dear to my heart. But he was
mentioned in the book, We Were Soldiers, once
in Young. And his daring escapade took place
during the Eye -Drawing Valley battle in November
of 1965. So we'll be back after this. You're
listening to Veterans Radio. Don't go away. The
Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor
in combat given a member of the Armed Forces
of the United States. There have been over 3
,400 recipients of the nation's highest award.
This is one of them. Army Captain Ed Freeman
flew 14 rescue missions under intense enemy fire,
saving 30 seriously wounded soldiers. 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. As a flight leader,
Freeman supported a heavily engaged American
infantry battalion in the Ai Trang Valley in
the Republic of Vietnam. The unit was almost
out of ammunition after taking some of the heaviest
casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless
attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed
enemy force. When the infantry commander closed
the helicopter landing zone due to intense direct
enemy fire, Freeman risked his own life by flying
his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of
enemy fire time after time. delivering critically
needed ammunition, water, and medical supplies
to the besieged battalion. His flights had a
direct impact on the battle's outcome by providing
the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition
critical to their survival. After medical evacuation
helicopters refused to fly into the area due
to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14
separate rescue missions, providing life -saving
evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded
soldiers. some of whom would not have survived
had he not acted. All flights were made into
a small emergency landing zone within 100 to
200 yards of the defensive perimeter where heavily
committed units were perilously holding off the
attacking elements. The Medal of Honor series
is a production of Veterans Radio. Military veterans
touch everyone's life. I'm guessing right now
you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend,
relative. Maybe it's you. Even the toughest of
us sometimes need help, but don't know where
to turn for support. You don't need special training
to help a veteran in your life. We can all help
someone going through a difficult time. Learn
how you can be there for veterans. Visit VeteransCrisisLine
.net VeteransCrisisLine .net A message from the
U .S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We're back
here on Veterans Radio and our first benefits
program of 2026. I got it right. I've been practicing
for the last couple of hours. Excellent. All
right. We were just kind of talking about a wish
list or a New Year's resolution as far as what
we may need to find, what we may need to have
as far as, you know, our working with the VA.
to see what benefits that we're entitled to.
Because everybody out there that's listening
that was in the military, that you got out with
an honorable or even less than honorable discharge,
as long as it wasn't dishonorable, you are entitled
to benefits through the VA system. There are
two legs to this. Actually, there's three legs
to this. It's kind of a... a stool, you know,
a three -legged stool. But you've got the healthcare
side, you've got the disability side, and you've
got the burial side. And I don't know how much
the healthcare side is going to change. You know,
they're still working on that. I know that they're
putting together, you know, a new business plan.
I guess it's almost like a business plan of how
they want to work. They want to make it smoother
for us. They want to make it easier for you to
get in and out of the system. They want to make
it that you could use outside medical facilities
easier, especially if you're out in the middle
of nowhere and there's not a VA clinic or VA
hospital, you know, anywhere near you, you know,
out in the middle of the country, unfortunately.
So there are a lot of things that they're trying
to do. They've also gotten a nice influx and
infusion of more money in their budget. So, yeah,
either one of you like a gym? Yeah, I think this
is important because I think sometimes we veterans
just sort of get fixated on, well, I know what's
going on and I don't like it, you know, sort
of thing. Or it's too far away. One of the things
that over the last probably five or six years,
and it continues that VA is doing, is expanding
its clinics out in the community, farther away
from their hospital centers and if you sort of
have a mind stuck like, well that's just 100
miles away, I can't even think about that. You
need to check it out because you may find that
they've now put a clinic 60 miles away from the
hospital, which they do a lot, so that you don't
have to drive so far for routine stuff. This
won't be a surgery center, but for your basic
outpatient clinic. blood draws and tests and
checking in with the primary and that sort of
thing. We've seen a lot of clinics developed
as well as an expansion of telehealth to address
the problem that you talk about, Dale, that hey,
a lot of veterans don't settle in urban areas.
They're up in more rural areas. Carol Ann, you've
seen this a lot. Yes, I have seen it. I think
the interesting thing, too, is the clinics you
talk about, Jim, for instance, Ann Arbor. They've
just opened up Finley and Chelsea, and they've
got one at Selfridge. All of those belong to
a VA medical center. And so if you get treatment,
let's say at Jackson. That belongs to the VA,
the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center. So all of your
records, everything gets back there. If you need
a continuity of care, it will happen because
it's being recorded. The other beautiful thing
you alluded to, besides the clinics, Jim, is
that they are expanding community care. If we
remember back, I want to say 10, 15 years ago,
there was the program called Choice. It's very
similar to community care, and people were going
out, selecting their physicians, getting surgery,
but then, oh, by the way, they had to pay the
bill because they didn't go back to the big VA
and ask, Mother, may I? So that's what community
care is also. You've got to get a referral, whether
it's DERM, orthopedics, or whatever, and if they
can't treat you, at your medical center or a
local facility, you the veteran could say, could
I go to, let's say, University of Michigan? They
will go to community care and give them that
referral to be scheduled. That is so beautiful
and you need to follow up with that because the
bills will be paid by community care and the
VA. You don't have to pay. So when you get these
odd bills from the institution that you went
to or the physician out of system, do not pay
those bills. Call back community care. You have
a number for your service and usually it's good
for one year. Yeah, that's one of the new things
they did this year is they extended those referrals
for a full year rather than every time I got
to go back and get a referral. In a lot of those
clinics, in entities, endocrinology, derm, orthopedics,
you had to go back every three months and get
your referral renewed. Now, as Jim said, and
it's wonderful, it's good for one year. Well,
the thing I like about the VA and I don't know
how many people are I'm sure the people are aware
of this But if you have a serious medical condition
that they cannot handle Inside of your VA wherever
that might be You can then get a referral out
to the Mayo Clinic the Cleveland Clinic You know
Loma Linda out in California wherever it might
be and the VA is still going to cover those costs
You know if you are entitled to those benefits,
obviously But I want to make sure that people
understand that. It's not an old -fashioned HMO.
You have some flexibility with the VA, and especially
that flexibility is becoming even more flexible
as we're into the future, I'm hoping. Yeah, in
that same vein, they keep expanding the services
they do offer. One of the ones I'm always surprised
at is acupuncture, chiropractic care. You know,
some of those ancillary services, you say, well,
they don't do that. They just do surgery. No,
there's all kinds of mental health treatment
facilities. And as I say, acupuncture, who would
have thunk? And we know people who've used it
and said, man, it's really been good for my pain
relief. But everything starts with your team,
your primary care team. That's who will get you
the referral. And so that's another good thing.
Make sure you always stay in contact with your
team, your physician. probably has one or two
nurses, your social work, if you need home care,
if you need caregivers, all of that starts with
your team. So please, as your condition gets
worse, and I think we're all bad about that,
we don't do a good job of communicating back
to our primary team that you're having trouble.
So. They can't read your mind. There's thousands
of veterans they're responsible for. So please,
if your condition gets worse, that goes for your
disability rating too. You could reapply, submit
the additional evidence to get an increase in
your disability. But you've got to communicate
with somebody that this is going on. This sort
of trick this sort of triggers one of the things
I had on my New Year's resolution list for veterans
which was don't suffer in silence There's no
no value. You're not going to get a medal. There's
no reward for just Complaining or suffering in
silence Communicate as Carol Anne mentions. There's
a lot of good services available that you may
not even be aware of for your condition. And
the only way you're going to find out for your
specific situation is to talk to somebody. Right.
And every one of us is different than the other.
And one condition on one veteran might be a little
bit different on another veteran. So we have
to, you know, we have to be able to take advantage
of the situations that are out there. I did want
to kind of, oh, it just reminded me, you know,
on the VA .gov website, you can send a message
to pretty much any of your care doctors and clinics.
And I have found that they normally get back
to you within two days, which is pretty good
in the medical field, as far as I'm concerned.
Yeah. You know, if you say that I'm having this
problem that I hadn't even mentioned to my primary
care person before, you know, the nurse normally
will send you back a message, okay, I relayed
this to a primary care physician, a day later,
oh, by the way, she wants to see you, or he wants
to see you, and they get you in as soon as they
can, or they'll set up a, you know, a video conference,
whatever it is, so take advantage of this. Men
and women out there, ladies and gentlemen, you
have got a wonderful facility available to you
across the country. And there's nobody to blame
if you don't get the care that you want. If you're
not telling people as we've been harping on here
right now, if you're not telling them about these
conditions or if something flares up or anything,
this is what we have to do. Yeah, another segment
of that, Dale, which you mentioned and triggered
in my mind is something that's changed over the
last handful of years and a lot of money's going
into to make it better, is to make sure that
our women veterans are taken care of, that they
have the right specialties to deal with female
health related issues, specific clinics, whether
it just be, there's no such thing as a routine
medical health problem or something like MST.
If you're a female veteran out there and you've
just sort of backed away from the VA because
it's just an old boy's network, you've got an
old model in your head. That's not what it is
anymore. I think that's something to point out
that's important. Very important. You know what,
Dale, we don't have a rep from the VHA side,
the Veterans Health Administration side, but
I would like to tell, and hopefully the audience
knows this, coming in April, and we're very fortunate,
the Ann Arbor VA, Lieutenant Colonel Charles
S. Kettles, VA Medical Center, is one of them
in the country that will be launching the brand
new electronic record. And so that will occur
in April. They're already starting. I was over
there a couple weeks ago. They're starting to
get training. There's a big training site for
all the staff, how to utilize it. You know, we've
been wanting this for years, Dale. It would have
been awesome to have a system that when I went
in, you went in, everything was being recorded
in a record. So, you know, this paper chain that
gets lost or it gets burnt and, you know, we
can't find our records anywhere. I think long
overdue, but the VA is starting this pilot system
come April and it's in our backyard. Well, I
think the idea of record -keeping with the VA
I found it to be excellent because I can I can
get a blood test on Tuesday and the results are
on my site on Wednesday or sometimes even Tuesday
night and I can access and I can download them
if I've had any any surgical operations or I
can get all of my records right there and you
know one of the things that This is this is not
an official, you know thing is the positions
in a staff and everything at the VA are not going
to tell you that your condition and you know,
you know Hey, you maybe go talk to somebody about
getting disability for this. They never mentioned
that at all But there's a paper trail as Carol
Anne just pointed out. Oh, guess what? You've
been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Oh That's
one of those presumptive conditions, you know
under toxic exposure stuff. So don't sit back.
Yeah, you have to be proactive. Contact that
VSO wherever you live and say, hey, you know
what? I was just diagnosed with high blood pressure
and somebody mentioned to me that that might
be a condition that makes me eligible for some
sort of benefit. Well, yeah. Why not? Absolutely.
Another thing that the VA, I think this is on
the healthcare side, Carol Anne, you can confirm
it, but I think people probably don't know this,
but VA has a whole robust hospice program. And
when you get to that point in life, again, there's
a benefit you may not know is available to you.
I believe, am I right, Carol Anne, is that on
the healthcare side? Yep, it is on the healthcare
side. They'll start with palliative as a step
before, which is comfort care. But if remember,
please, if you have a disability, 70 to 100%.
contact somebody because the VA will take care
of your long -term care. They will pick that
bill up, but they're not going to come to you
and say, oh, we're going to pay your bill. You've
got to request that. And we've seen movement,
very good friend, individual family member was
brought down from let's say Grand Rapids. And
they are now in a center very close to their
home in Lavonia. I think it's really important.
And if you don't know, send a question to Dale
through Veterans Radio. We'll help you get the
answers. Call your county counselors. We are
very fortunate in Michigan. Of the 83 counties,
I've lost track. I think there's 72 counties
that now, that will hire a county counselor or
have that Veterans Affairs office. You know,
VSOs, our veteran service officers, VFW, DAV,
American Legion, reach out and ask the questions
and we will help you. But if you don't reach
out, We're not wizards We can't tell you know
we all know all of our all the veterans out there
Don't walk around with a big red V on their forehead
Well, maybe we should do that but So yeah, can
you you know we continue to encourage you to
talk to people you know if you're the veteran
talk to the VSO if you know of a veteran who
for whatever reason, is housebound or something
along those lines. The VA has got emergency numbers
that can help you for homeless veterans. I was
looking at a website this morning called Veteran
Life, and they had a segment in there talking
about the benefits veterans wish someone had
told them about sooner. That's a good topic.
Yeah, I mean, it's an important topic. One of
the things that they talk about, and I know,
Caroline, we've mentioned this before, and that
is the Home Improvements and Structural Alterations
program, HISA program, where it's, and I don't
know what the percentages are, and you can correct
me on this in a second, but if you are disabled
and you cannot, your home doesn't work for you
anymore, You don't necessarily have to move.
The V .A. may come in and widen those doors,
put in a roll -in bathroom, shower, put a ramp
in front of us. Could you address that a little
bit? Yep, but you know what? Once again, Dale,
it's great communication with your primary care
team that sends the referral to the big VA right
there in Ann Arbor has a division. It's not called
construction, but it's one of those benefits
that they will say to you, okay, go out and get
three estimates. Don't do the work ahead of time
because they won't reimburse on the back end,
but go to them housing, adaptive housing. And
if approved with the referral from your physician,
your team, they could come in and you could,
as you said, get your bathroom done, get kitchen
cabinets. So if you're in a wheelchair, I've
seen that be done. And they will decide what
and how much they're going to do and what they're
going to grant. But they will request you to
get three bids. And then they will come in and
inspect. and then they will give you the okie
dokie to go and do it and pay for it. You know,
I sometimes hear these fundraisers, and I think
it's wonderful for veterans, but it's money that
could have gone to somebody else that doesn't
have a disability, but they never went back to
the VA and said, hey, could you build this or
change this ramp? um instead of you know using
the donated money that could go to another veteran
yeah yeah i know we don't we don't i don't we
don't talk about this enough and there's there's
a lot of other things that are out there that
we probably need to talk about i was looking
at this list and it was you know they were talking
about champ fa and try care and all of these
things and they've all changed a little bit and
since some of it isn't sort of like insurance
Some of them are probably seeing an increase
in their premiums. So let's talk about that a
little bit for those who have access to Tricare.
And there's a whole set of qualifications you
have to do to get Tricare. But it goes back to,
you can stack insurance. You can have VA support
on some things. You might have Medicare on some
other things. You might have Blue Cross Blue
Shield. You might have Tricare. Tricare is the,
what do they call it, Tertiary Careland Insurance
in those situations. I know you've been on the
phone and helped folks kind of work their way
through. Right. And when you finally get the
right person at Tricare, they're really helpful.
Finding the right person is the challenge. I
got a guy now. You shouldn't have to pay, you
know, for these bills. You've got Medicare first,
and then if you have Blue Cross and Blue Shield,
and then the VA will come in. But if there's
any excess that you need to get paid for, if
you're a TRICARE for life, submit the bills.
They will pick it up, and they will take care
of your bills so that you have zero payments.
I mean, it is a pass order. But what you find
is that most medical providers, hospitals, doctor's
office, pharmacy, whatever, they're not aware
of TRICARE. So they don't submit it even when
you tell them because they're like, yeah, we
don't even know what the hell that is. So again,
you have to advocate for yourself and point out,
I've got this insurance as well. Right. But you
have to, Jim, you brought up an awesome point.
The last couple that I have advocated for, they
never told the provider in the community that
they had tried care. So, you know, I'm letting
that provider off the hook. So then we had to
rebuild because Medicare already paid. So we.
sent it back to the provider, put TRICARE on
his insurance or her insurance so that that provider
knows. So that's another thing that I tell people.
List TRICARE. If you're doing Blue Cross and
Blue Shield and all the others, TRICARE is also
there and it's a huge benefit for you. It's one
of those things where I can't remember the example
I was thinking of was a friend of mine whose
husband died of Agent Orange complications. and
they offer her TRICARE for life and she says
it works it works fine she says as long as you
tell them and make sure they know that it's TRICARE
you know it's just another insurance card right
you know that you've got to make sure people
are aware of and then you know that's kind of
a interesting thing when you think about it that
the dependents and survivors of the veteran can
get lifetime health care as well Right. And that's
something that we feel is really important to
point out to you out there in the listening world
is, again, if you have questions, contact us,
contact that VSO, contact legal help, wherever
the help is, walk into the VA hospital if you
have to, and they'll direct you to a VSO and
say, I got a question. Well, there's three or
four VSOs normally there every week that can
answer those questions. As the time's ticking
along, I want to bring up one more thing that
I put on my New Year's resolution list. We've
got about three minutes before we need to do
our little ending thing. And that is, I want
to encourage all veterans who are listening and
friends of veterans who are listening, maybe
this is the year that you find a legitimate veteran
organization to work with and support. Maybe
it's DAV. Maybe it's VFW. Maybe it's somebody
local. Don't go off for ones that just advertise
on TV a lot or on radio a lot. Maybe talk with,
walk into the post near you. They'll be friendly.
They're not gonna bite and say, hey, how can
I help out? Maybe it's gonna be resources. Maybe
it's gonna be time. But I really think that if
we all worked a little more together, and recognize
that we don't want to leave our buddy behind,
and did little things with a local organization,
we'd all be a lot better off. So put that on
your New Year's resolution to support the local
veteran organizations. I agree. I mean, your
local VA's, many of these organizations and the
VA have food pantries. If you're being deprived,
whatever, you know, you don't have enough money
for food. The VA can help you out with that.
Lots of organizations go to the VA. We've got
a merchandise sale going on there. I think it's
this week. And it's just another way of raising
funds and getting involved. I can't remember
the name of the Department of Social Service,
I guess. You want to drive the little van for
them? You want to drive the little golf cart
around the hospital? And it may be something
as simple, I know we did this locally, hey, get
your church group or your card group or your
bowling league, write notes to veterans, give
them a Christmas card, give them an Easter card
or just a thank you card. There are guys out
there who don't get any mail, who don't have
any family, who really feel isolated. It wouldn't
be it wouldn't take a lot of your time to reach
out and say we want to help You know there there
are ways in which you can support them big and
small and and again Kind of a big fan of making
sure it stays local because that way you're impacting
your own community, right? Right, you know I
think it was the American Legion as buddy checks
or buddy calls every month where they they just
call every one of their members just to see how
they're doing. We are coming up on about four
minutes to go, Jim. And I know that we we we
hate to add in this on a kind of a sad note.
But Keith King, the founder and CEO of National
Veterans Business Development Council, I said
one of our sponsors for years and years and years
passed away on New Year's Day. And Jim, I'm gonna
let you go for that. Yeah, Keith was a hell of
a veteran advocate. There wasn't a veteran cause
he didn't support. He was born in Highland Park,
Michigan, went into the Army at 19 years of age,
was trained in the military police, went off
to the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 1970,
did a couple of years in the Army, but it came
back and it really he knew the sacrifice men
had done and always wanted to return that, to
return by helping his fellow veterans. In the
last decade or so, we worked closely with him
at NVBDC. He often was on veterans radio podcasts
telling of what was happening lately. NVBC being
the gold standard for veteran certification,
his organization worked with the fortune of 500
companies to make sure that veteran businesses
got opportunities to bid on projects for all
the big name companies in America. Ford, GM,
Amazon, everybody that you can put on a list
and he was the moving force behind that. But
before that, he had spent a career in sales and
advertising, had his own PR business for a long
time. He was very involved with the Vietnam Veterans
of America as their national PR guy for decades.
I just can't say enough good things about Keith
and how the veteran community really lost one
of its champions. As far back as 2012, he was
named the State of Michigan Midwest Regional
and National Veterans Small Business Champion
by the Small Business Association. And to this
day, he's been working with the SBA to make sure
that veterans business owners got their fair
share, that they weren't aced out by different
entities, groups, that folks paid attention to
veteran businesses. So it's a great loss. to
the state of Michigan, to the city of Detroit,
where he lived, and really nationally to veteran
business owners nationwide. He was a great supporter
of Veterans Radio. He was inducted, I think it
was in 2019, to the Michigan Military and Veterans
Hall of Honor, which recognizes his overall importance
to the community. Keith King, Keith Kelly King,
really had a life with purpose and impacted so
many people. We got to go. We got to go. Unfortunately,
we're up the end of another program here on Veterans
Radio. We want to thank everybody for tuning
in and listening. Check out our website, veteransradio
.org. I think you'll find some really interesting
stories there. We're going to go out on God Bless
America and it's going to dedicate this. 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 wide with foam God bless America
My home sweet home God bless America