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.
Hello. Good afternoon and welcome to Veterans
Radio. My name is Dale Throneberry. I was a CW
-2 helicopter pilot in Vietnam, 1969. centuries
ago, it seems nowadays. Welcome to our benefits
program. Some of you got a flyer that said that
somebody else was going to be on, but they kind
of messed up sending out our flyer this week.
But no, we're going to have benefits, benefits
and benefits. We're going to be talking about
some of the news that's going on with the VA.
A couple of topics might be community care. We've
got a VA health hospital story to talk about.
We've got lowering numbers of disabilities. I've
got two experts with us here. I've got David
Sames, who is the executive director of the Washtenaw
County Michigan Veterans Service Office. And
I've got Carol Ann Falzone, retired Air Force
Brigadier General with legal help for veterans.
So they are our experts here. And if you stick
around through the whole program, the last quarter,
Dr. Rebecca Grant is going to be on. to talk
about what's going on in Iran so stick around
for that for those of you have been listening
to Veterans Radio over the last 20 years or so
Dr. Grant is an expert in foreign policy and
military apparatus and equipment and all kinds
of things like that. So stick around for that.
If you have a question that you'd like to ask
our guests today, the local number is 734 -822
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.org and click on the donate button All right,
so let's get into the program here And welcome
in our guests. So number one Ladies first is
retired Brigadier General of the United States
Air Force, Carol Ann Falzone. Carol Ann, welcome
back to the program. Thanks, Dale, and welcome
to David. And it should be an interesting program
with the developments around our world. Absolutely,
absolutely. And David Sames, as I mentioned,
is the Executive Director for the Washtenaw County
Michigan Veterans Service Office. David, welcome
back to Veterans Radio. Thanks a lot Dale glad
to be here. Well, I'm glad to have you here too.
So let's talk about I guess the big news is Well,
there's a lot of big news going on with the VA.
It seems like on a daily basis but the one thing
that was interested in was the news about the
Let's see. It says that Department of Veterans
Affairs has pushed its backlog of disability
compensation and pension benefits claims to below
$100 ,000 for the first time since 2020. Can
either one of you like to comment on that? It
seems like they're pushing these benefit applications
through like crazy. Well, yeah. Go ahead, Carol.
No, go ahead, David. Yeah, I think we're seeing
it in our office where, yeah, the claims are
going faster, but quality might have been being
hit a little bit. You know, the presumptive ones
are easy, you would think, but then they're getting
gone through and they're missing some simple
stuff. Right. And then you have to go back, which
is not bad. You got supplemental claim lane or
higher level review. I've seen both those lanes
go a little slower. They have been really focusing
on turning out ratings. But I think the quality
has dipped a bit. David, I want to duplicate
that. Comment because um, yes, I agree. They've
dropped. However, um, I want to say Six out of
ten maybe eight out of ten decisions that we
get our letters are there's errors and we have
to go back and either if they've made a decision
on one piece as you said they they've overlooked
three other areas for the same veteran. And so,
yes, they're spitting out less than, you know,
this amount, but I think the errors, and also
another thing that I would like our veterans
to be aware of are the breaches. When I'm calling
the breaches, it's my claim, but in my claim,
I have another person's decision, another veteran's
decision, or a piece of something that I didn't
even claim. We just had one recently where they
sent one of our poor veterans literally over
100 miles to get an exam for something that wasn't
even on the claim, had to give up a day of work
when he was told, and then when we get this results
back, it's like, wait a minute. That's not even
a claim for him. And so, yes, there are errors
that are occurring. So you really need to read
and be aware of what you ask for and carefully
read the decision and what it means. You think
that they're just going too fast? Well, too fast.
And also keeping an eye on dates, you know, the
data claim. And it's the education. You know,
they had a big push to hire a lot of Raiders,
you know, when the PACT Act came about and the
quality has dipped. And I've heard it from when
I have the higher level reviews and they, the
VA has acknowledged saying, yes, the quality
is not there. These things that the Raiders shouldn't
miss. And then keeping an eye on those dates.
Yep, especially when you ask for effective dates
beyond going back a year and some of the, when
they're going to type them out, the dates don't
match either. You're right, David, right on.
And so it's really a concern right now. Not that
we're not being attentive, but it seems like
we need to really go beyond with some of these
decisions that are coming out. Do either one
of you think, and I don't know enough about it,
but do you think that they might be utilizing
some form of AI in judging some of these claims?
That they're looking for certain words or they're
looking for certain terminology and if it's not
there, then it either gets rejected or if it
is there, gets approved. I mean, I'm not familiar
with it, but it seems like some of these are
becoming rather arbitrary. And some of them are
there are mistakes in there, as you mentioned.
No doubt about it. They're using that. And I've
heard where they have an internal AI program
that they're using to speed up some of these
claims. But on the other side, you can also use
that to put that and look at appealing it and
doing the research has been tremendously helpful
in helping appeal some of those acclaims. I don't
know about you, Carol, if you use it at all.
No, we have not been. It's been, you know, we
haven't tweaked maybe to look for some research.
Um, we've used AI, but not literally to file.
Um, and, and so, um, no, I, you know, I will
mention that, but no, we have not used that in
that fashion. Okay. I wasn't referring more to
what you folks are using the AI, but I was thinking
about the VA is looking at some of these claims,
utilizing some sort of AI program and, you know,
Like I said, I don't understand exactly how it
works. But you know, I know it's designed to
speed up things. And maybe that's something that's
occurring out there. You know, and they talk
about the idea of, you know, the claims backlog
is less than 100 ,000. And I guess, looking at
these numbers here, it said that claims become
backlogged once they've been pending more than
125 days. So they've cut out so many of those
Well, yeah, yes, but as David mentioned in the
beginning so they make a quick decision and it's
dropped less than a hundred thousand but now
we're in the appeal process where it's higher
level review supplemental and now we're talking
the appeal to BBA and I was approaching one the
other day that's going to be Three and a half
years. So three and a half years. Certainly Dale
is greater than a hundred and a hundred and twenty
days So they they jumped it to another level
when I would have loved that statement We've
dropped it to less than a hundred thousand for
all the areas BBA, you know higher level reviews
that then for me that would be significant if
the quality of care were there um even for the
less than 120 days but I'm not seeing the quality
so I'm a little skeptical okay well it sounds
like those are uh super backlogged then you know
one more level of backlogging if you're out there
for three and a half years or so and I know I
mean that really hasn't changed that much it
seems like over the last 20 years or so that
sometimes a claim gets kind of lost in you know
in some vortex out there. And, you know, they
keep constantly looking for information to, you
know, to verify or deny. And I'm just hoping
that, you know, when, as you mentioned, David,
when, you know, COVID was over, they hired a
number of, of raiders, I guess you could say,
which didn't work out. And then when the current
administration came in, they got rid of a lot
of people. And now it looks like they're trying
to hire people back. um because they found out
that they you know that they they just need more
people around and i'm hoping that they've you
know that they're able to um hire good qualified
people to help with these claims because it's
you know it's it's well we all know how important
it is and these men and women deserve these um
you know these compensation for whatever that
they're you know that they're applying for as
long as it's a legitimate claim then they're
They're entitled. It's too bad that it gets a
little bit murky. Let's put it that way. Well,
you know, David, I mean, and Dale, the thing
that's interesting is, yes, when a lot of these
individuals back in, say, August, September had
the chance to leave, and a lot of them great
people, I can mention at least a half a dozen
names. but we're talking each of them had 20
to 30 years experience. I've been only doing
this 15 years and I've learned a little, but
all the things that I still have to learn. David,
much more experience than I, but when that amount
of experience walks out the door and you're hiring
these new people that are brand new, you can't
make up for that experience. there's definitely
going to be errors. And the learning curve, I
think, is huge in this environment. Oh, I totally
agree. And you talk about appeals and Yeah, you'll
throw it into supplemental and then the same
rating will come through with the same error
So then you're like, oh well, you got a higher
level review and then you go do that and The
coach says yeah. Yeah, you're totally right We're
gonna remand this and then it goes into this
vicious cycle again where you're saying the same
thing and they're doing the same thing. And then
so the only other choice is going to the BVA,
the Board of Veteran Appeals, and you're talking
three to five years and the only way it's going
to go faster is if somebody's age. So it's, it
is definitely frustrating. I can only imagine
and knowing the two of you and knowing the other
people that we have talked to from the you know
from the disability side of the VA is that there
are so many rules and so many off ramps that
you know it's almost like you know looking at
the internet and you end up down a rabbit hole
somewhere and it takes a while to get back to
that and you know you're trying to deal with
other levels of appeals and super appeals and
this court and this and everything else and I
have to admire and this is what these VSOs do
folks. You know they I don't I can't think of
anyone I've ever talked to that gives up on a
claim because of the you know the errors that
are being made you know up the ladder so to speak.
So you know I encourage everybody out there if
you know if you if you have a claim or you haven't
filed a claim go see those you know your local
VSO either your county or you know your local
veterans organization or your VA hospital except
you know they've got counselors in there that
can help you out and you know you hate to say
be patient but we do have to be a little bit
patient as Carol Ann pointed out many of these
newer hires it's going to take a while for them
to get the experience to know who to call and
you know how to figure out whatever you're entitled
to for whatever your condition might be. So I
really encourage you to make sure that you file
those claims. You know, we're still running and
I'm sure that the two of you are still running
into older guys and older veterans who haven't
filed the claim yet. Have you had any examples
of who's the oldest veteran claim that you've
ever had to deal with? David, I'll ask you first.
Well, I've had a 94 year old Coming in to see
what their benefits are And where it comes into
play is you know, it's just not the veteran.
It's the spouse, right? So it's a spouse saying
hey My dad's never clicked or you know, not the
spouse but the daughter It's like my dad never
collected any VA benefits and he's needed it.
It's needed now and they're need assisted living
so It gets difficult because then their memory
might be a little bit less or they have dementia
and it's tough because they can't remember. So
yeah, it happens and it's a lot of Korean War
vets and even Vietnam vets. I mean with them
coming down with dementia and Then you're just
trying to piece the puzzle and get all the records,
and sometimes it's not there, and it's sometimes
difficult. Well, David, you dropped me a little
bit. My number was 92. but it's still the same
situation and it's a daughter calling me and
oh my god, my god, my dad's bad and he's going
into assisted living and he needs activities
of daily living and there's other issues and
it's gonna cost us $10 ,000 a month for his care.
and he doesn't have much. Will you help me with
aid and attendance or, you know, non -service
pension? And then, oh, by the way, I had another
one, which the push again, get your DD 214. A
friend of a friend's dad died and he deserved
to be buried with military honors, but guess
what? The girls could not find the DD -214. And
so she called me in a panic. They called other
people, nothing, nothing, nothing. And I said,
look, have you tried the state of Michigan? Luckily,
he was a Michigan vet, but it would be my same
advice. Call 1 -800 -MISHVET. She called me back
in an hour, and she was crying on the phone.
There were four daughters. They found the department,
which I was in. few years ago. They had his DD
214. She sent over the information, and they
were going to be able to bury their dad with
honors. Now, that just happened three, four days
ago. So, Dale, your question, unbelievable, but
we keep preaching. Get your DD214. Let your family
know where it's at. And just get enrolled. Go
and talk to the people at your local VA to see
what you're eligible for. He was a Vietnam veteran
many years ago, obviously, and he could have
gotten benefits. It's really sad talking to the
girls, the Agent Orange, the whole shooting match.
They never thought to apply. I mean, that's rather
interesting, though. I thought what you said
is that if the vet hadn't applied for anything
and was in his eight 90s, I was going to say
80s, I'm already getting there myself. But that
you were still able to help him, at least with
the funeral arrangements and so forth. That DD214
is obviously is a really important document.
Make many copies of it. You know, have them all
over the house if you need to. But I think that
that's really important what you just said that
some of these people because I've been doing
this program for 20 years and every once in a
while we get a call from somebody that says,
you know, like the calls that you folks get.
that so -and -so has never applied for anything,
never even registered with the VA. And we harp
on this every month on this program. Even if
you don't want any of the benefits, even if you
don't want the health care, just register, get
yourself into the VA system so that someday you
might need that help. And it's there for you.
There's so many benefits that you know, we've
touched on all so many of them over the years
and I'm constantly surprised by what's available
through the VA Health side and also on the disability
side so speaking of You talked about the caregivers
thing Carol Anne can could you just Briefly cover
that again. So if I need help or I'm incapacitated,
can somebody get through me my benefits to help
take care of me? Okay, so that, Dale, is sort
of a loaded question with a lot of different
lanes you could go down. You could go down the
caregiver's lane, you could go down the aid and
attention aid and attendance lane with non -commissioned
if you have a disability benefit or you don't,
which becomes pension. So there's many questions
you have to weed out. where, what the situation
is, what is the story. If you are a veteran that
is at home, say housebound, you need care and
your wife or a child or an individual living
with you is providing that care, that could be
paid for if you apply for the Caregivers Program.
Okay, so that's through the VA and social work.
And so then there's aid in attendance, which
could also be funds available. Now, aid in attendance
for non... non -compensated, no service connection.
That is an income -based benefit. And that benefit,
right now, the amount in assets, I believe, is
159 ,000. So you need less than that to apply.
And I had one the other day, and it was a daughter
again. Seems like it's the daughters that go
after these things for their dads. And she was
pretty upset when I, because I come out with
that right away. There's no sense going through
all of this. But then we talked about how much
that amount is. So if it's like 200 ,000 and
you could do what is called spin down, he is
in a nursing home and the care is $10 ,000 a
month. It's only gonna take you a couple months.
And in the meantime, we're helping them pull
all the documentation together to apply for the
aid and attendance. And so there's a whole bunch
of variables, Dale, but you just have to... I
guess, tweak out and get to know the variables
of each veteran's story. Well, and I know that
this is a little plug for Legal Health for Veterans
is that I know that you have e -books out there
on the website at legalhealthforveterans .com
that explains many, many of these issues that
we talk about here on the program. Oh, yes. The
e -books are out there that have been composed
of. They're free. I think from every topic, I'd
be real surprised. I think I have 32 or 33 out
there. But there's always another topic you can
talk about that I'm sure. But please, review
those. This tends to be a really big one now
with the cost of health care. But once again,
if you have a disability rating and you're a
veteran and you're 70 to 100%, the VA will pick
up that care in a home. So it's really important
from the get -go to look at what you're eligible
for. And if you've served, particularly the Vietnam
era, now the Iraq, Afghanistan, and you know
you need to see what your what your benefits
are so you know you could help your family. Yeah
absolutely and I think it's again it's so important
for everybody that's listening out there is to
you know check online or your local paper and
whatever it is and if you find one of those veterans
health clinics or veterans you know organization
is holding an affair where they're going to have
people there representing the VA and other things.
Not a bad idea for you to go down there and check
it out. See what you may be entitled to. At least,
you know, try to get a plan put together in case
something happens to you. Yeah, and just like
Kara was saying, I mean, there's so many rules
for, you know, non -service connected pension
with aid and attendance. You've got to have one
day of wartime. And the assets, there are 160
and 162 and below, not including the house. But
I've gone to assisted living to talk about communities,
to talk about benefits. And we're at it. age
right now that when I used to go we would talk
about the non -service connected pension but
now when I go there's a lot of Vietnam veterans
so there's so many different presumptive conditions
and if you have that and like Carol touched upon
if you have 70 percent or more service connection
then they'll pay for some assisted living or
even in -home care so 700 so there's a lot of
benefits out there and But the rules you have
to weed through the rules because I mean we have
a lot of peacetime, you know from Korea to Vietnam
and then Vietnam to you know, Persian Gulf so
there's gonna be people that are missing in that
Pension and and that's kind of upsetting but
it's it's the rules that we have to follow Yeah,
I can't imagine what's your book of rules looks
like Or how many you know how many gigabytes
does it take up on your computer? While you're
trying to figure those things out one of the
things that I that I did want to talk about When
we get halfway through okay, I wanted to talk
about this community care Today if we can as
it I'm personally going through a community care
program this week actually so if David, could
you tell us what community care is? Well, are
you talking about where you go on the marketplace
for care? Right. Yes, because the VA is too busy.
Yeah. So if a VA is not within 50 miles, then
you can ask for community care. Or if the VA
doesn't provide it in your area, you can. asked
to see a doctor outside the VA and the VA will
pay it. Another rule is if you go to a specialty
and this is really cool because this rule has
changed. Let's say for instance dermatology,
endocrinology and they are so busy at the VA,
they do have those specialties, but they are
so busy, they cannot get you in within a period
of time. They will look at you and say, I can't
schedule an appointment 30 days, 60 days out.
So I am going to send you, let's talk about ICE.
I'm going to send you over to the Kellogg. And
so they arrange an appointment. You could go
over there, get your care. The other thing I
would caution everyone is every piece of paper
and every authorization you get from community
care, keep it. Keep it in a certain area because
once the VA grants that, that means that they
will pay for those bills. So if somebody calls...
and says, OK, you know, you owe $1 ,500 right
up front as a deductible. No, no, no, no, no.
I'm in the VA. This is community care. Pull out
that piece of paper with the number, and they
will pick it up. I can't tell you how many times
I have had to go back and fight for our veterans,
and it gets really hard to recruit. 14 ,000,
18 ,000 for surgery that you knew you weren't
supposed to pay for. Right. That is definitely
the key to keep those because the veterans are
getting bills, even though they've been approved.
And then it's just more fighting that we have
to do. Yes. And I'll tell you, Pretty good. I
have my little folder on community care and I
know specific names. I won't mention you on the
air at the different levels when you know the
VA is you can't get the medication and they say
okay go to your local CVS or go someplace. Take
that piece of paper because that number on there
will pay for your CVS prescription. it came out
of community care because then now to go back
and fight um because i'm like i need that medicine
and you know it has to start but it will be taken
care of by i've talked to this person for other
veterans and um the bills have been all wiped
away so please do not pay get your medications,
get your surgery, but keep going back to community
care and don't lose that piece of paper. Okay
well that's something that I as I say is kind
of a personal experience because I do need to
go see a dermatologist and I was told that here
at our local VA that the earliest appointment
they could get for me was at the end of August.
And so they referred me to community care here
locally. And the next thing I knew, I was talking
to this wonderful woman who walked me through
the whole program. And the next thing I know
is I got an appointment with my outside dermatologist,
because they were on the list of approved providers.
And so I'll report back on that couple of weeks
to let you know how things are going. But I think
that I thought this was a, I'd heard about it
before. And, you know, we had talked about it,
I know, in the past, but I'd never known exactly
how, at least here at RVA, how efficient it was.
And I'm hoping that as you say, you know, that
the bills won't come to me that they'll go down
the street a little ways. Well, another big decision,
you talk about a rule. Another big decision that
came through, I want to say October, is certain
specialties, if you got a referral to go to community
care, let's say it was your dermatologist, an
endocrinologist, an ENT otolaryngologist, it
would only remain for three months. So you would
get an appointment. And they would say, OK, follow
up. And you'd have to go back to your primary
at the VA and say, could I please get another
referral for another three months? Now, back
in October, there are certain specialties, dermatology,
podiatry. I could go down the list. I think there's
13 that they've said, once you get a referral
to community care, it is now good for one year.
If you go look at that piece of paper again,
Dale, so if you need follow -up trips back to
your derm, then it will be good for one year
from the day that you had that appointment. And
so I think that's really critical and a great
rule that has stopped a lot of angst with our...
Veterans getting their medications and being
seen for follow -up. So that also just happened
Well, I just think it's a great program that
they offer and You know, I think many of us are
not aware of it or we we had heard about it But
say well, it doesn't apply to me and the next
thing, you know, you find out that you're You
know that you need to use it. Otherwise, you're
not going to get seen for months and months I
had I had a good story here You know, we're talking
about the care that many, many of us get at the
local VA. wherever you happen to be in the country.
And this was an article I found on the VA's website.
They've got a great source of information on
your VA .gov website as far as news is concerned
and all of these things that we've talked about,
you can find them. But this gentleman was in
the Marine Corps and it says every time I got
off the table I was weaker and weaker but there
was always another set of hands right there,
which I thought was a neat headline. I'm not
going to give his name, but he was a Marine in
1965, served until 1972, spent three tours in
Vietnam in the demilitarized zone near Dong Ha,
Khe Sanh, and Can Thien and Camp Carroll. Later,
he developed cancer, was diagnosed with cancer
decades later. He chose the Oklahoma City VA
Center for his cancer care, and he felt that
it had improved so much from the 1970s. Yeah,
things weren't so good in 1970 with the VA. But
since September of 2022, they have treated him
twice for cancer, once for arthritis pain. And
he just goes on and on about the care that he
received, the specialized care. He had neck and
head and neck radiation because, oh, wow. I had,
you know, it was of the larynx, the cancer of
the larynx. But they took him back, and then
he developed prostate cancer, and he's still
around. He's in remission right now, but I think
it's a great story. He just says, where is his
comment? He says, don't be afraid to go to the
VA. I mean, no matter what you've heard, just
do it. Just do it and don't worry about it. So
there. I thought that was a great comment by
a Marine veteran getting care outside of your
primary care. I like that story. I thought it
was good. I mean, my experience with our local
VA has only been positive. my treatment by the
disability side of it not so good all the time
but it's you know you just keep plugging away
and keep trying so you encourage everybody to
do that all right that's what we do hold on here
okay so is there anything else that that that
anybody has noticed that is occurring you know
through the VA benefits especially the benefits
side of it I know that's what you two guys specialize
in Well, I mentioned you talk about a rule I
saw a document the middle of February that they
are going to try to expedite DIC survivors benefits
now you talk about a great benefit for the spouse
or a child and what this means is and you know,
we hear the horror stories that once a veteran
dies, the claim dies. Well, that's not true.
Because if a claim is active, you should go in
and get the substitute. But let's say the veteran
does pass, he does have a disability rating.
You want to go in and go to somebody that knows
what they're doing, a VSO, county counselor,
come to us and go for DIC or survivor's benefits
because then if the death was because of the
service, a service -related disability that you
did get service connection for, the spouse, the
widow now will get um once approved will get
a payment um every single month until her her
end and so um I think that's a huge benefit that
we preach to our veterans and once a veteran
passes if we know that he or she has a spouse
we will contact them immediately we just had
one a very good friend um And the wife is coming
back to us upon her spouse's death. So I think
that's really important. And they're hoping to
expedite that so that when those come in, they
will go down that lane. And I'm forgetting which
RO, Regional Office, has been assigned to take
a look at DIC. So let's say if you're in Michigan
and this claim comes in it will go to another
regional office and I'm sorry I forget I will
find out for the next benefits which RO it is
but it doesn't matter we could still follow it
and find out what's happening with that claim.
Okay we got a call from someone here we got from
Ed from Ypsilanti Michigan. Ed go ahead with
your question for David or Carol Ann. Hi, well,
you know, I'm a veteran and I are forced but
you know and I believe I'm in the time slot where
I'm eligible for VA benefits. I've never really
worried about VA benefits up to the last year.
I had private health care through my employer,
which frankly I hope to get reemployed in the
next month, but I had a bout of cancer last June
and so I Lost my primary my private insurance
to the company and then I signed up for Medicare
What do I gain by? Going with the VA And how
does that work or does it? David So yeah, you're
from Ypsilanti. That's right in my county Yeah,
what I would suggest you do you can call our
office and we can sit you down with a veteran
service officer. What we like to do is we like
to look at your discharge, your DD -4214, where
you served, when you served, to see if there's
any presumptive conditions, if there's anything
available on the service connected side. I doubt
that. I wasn't like, well, I was at Lejeune for
a whole month, you know, but I wasn't burned
fires or anything. But go ahead, I'm sorry. Yeah,
yeah, I mean, but we can look at all that because
there might be something in there that you wouldn't
know and our service officers would. Yes, okay.
And so, yes, you're Medicare, but that doesn't
mean you can't still get a disability rating
and then other services down the line if you're
hospitalized and if you have other issues that
come up. So I would really highly encourage you,
David and the Washtenaw County County Councilors
are probably one of the best in the state of
Michigan. He's not paying me to say that, but
I would really encourage you to go in and talk
with them. You would be amazed what you might
be entitled to. And add the phone number if you
have a pen. Oh, thank you. Please. I'm waiting.
Thank you. Appreciate it. 734. It's 734 -973
-4540. And our front desk guy, Dwayne, will set
you up with an appointment. All right. I appreciate
that very much. And please mention that you talked
to David on Veterans Radio. Yeah. I will do that.
Thank you. WAM is a great station to broadcast
on, isn't it? Yep, it is. And thank you for your
service. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Thank you, Ed, very much. All right, we're going
to take a real quick break here and see if we
can get a hold of Rebecca Grant. And we're going
to play our Medal of Honor segment this week.
It's Jack Jacobs. And he was an Army at, actually,
he was at way during the Tet Offensive in 1968.
So we'll be right back after the Medal of Honor.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor
in combat given a member of the Armed Forces
of the United States. There had been over 3 ,400
recipients of the nation's highest award. This
is one of them. First Lieutenant Jack Jacobs,
although seriously wounded, made repeated trips
across an open rice paddy, evacuating wounded
and their weapons. 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. 4 -8 -0 -0. They're experts in handling
cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals for Veterans
Claims. Their number again, 1 -800 -693 -4 -8
-0 -0. Jacob served as an assistant battalion
advisor in Kien Phong province, Republic of Vietnam.
The battalion was advancing when it came under
intense heavy machine gun and mortar fire. Jacob's
called for and directed airstrikes on the enemy
positions. Due to the intensity of the enemy
fire and heavy casualties to the command group,
including the company commander, the attack stopped
and the friendly troops became disorganized.
Wounded by mortar fragments, Jacobs assumed command
of the company, ordered to withdraw from the
exposed position, and established a defensive
perimeter. Despite heavy bleeding from head wounds
that impaired his vision, Jacobs returned under
intense fire to evacuate a seriously wounded
advisor to safety, where he administered life
-saving first aid. He then returned through heavy
automatic weapons fire to evacuate the wounded
company commander. Jacobs made repeated trips
across the fire swept open rice paddies, evacuating
wounded and their weapons. On three separate
occasions, Jacobs drove off Viet Cong squads
who were searching for allied wounded and weapons,
single -handedly killing three and wounding several
others. His actions saved the lives of a U .S.
advisor and 13 allied soldiers. 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 Now we're back here on Veterans Radio. We're
going to kind of do a little segue now to find
out what's going on in the world for a minute.
Joining me on the line now is our good friend
Dr. Rebecca Grant. Dr. Grant is a national security
analyst based in Washington, DC. She is vice
president of the Lexington Institute, which is
a center -right think tank. that focuses mainly
on defense and security policy. And Dr. Grant
has been running all over the place today, probably
on TV, to be on our show, and she's taking time
to talk to us. So Dr. Grant, welcome to Veterans
Radio. It's fantastic to talk with you. And while
I am thinking about our nearly 40 ,000 US forces
in the Middle East engaged in Operation Epic
Fury, They're playing offense. They're playing
defense and my thoughts are with them and I know
yours are too. Absolutely. So can you tell us
how how we got into this? What's what's been
going on that you've heard? Well, last week,
Iran decided they would not agree to ship out
their illegal, highly enriched uranium. They
were very intransigent. They've been negotiating
with Ambassador Rikoff and Jared Kushner and
others. with Oman media for many, many, many
weeks. President Trump decided that they were
not negotiating in good faith and has decided
on a very, very large air campaign. The objective
is to destroy, really is to destroy Iran's military
capability. And as we know, on night one of the
campaign, which hit, I believe, about 900 aim
points, really an astonishing display of force.
And that included attacks on leadership targets
and the historic death of Ayatollah Khamenei.
Have you heard anything about what's next or
what the plans are for tomorrow or the next day?
Yeah, the what's next is kind of in two categories.
One is actually continuing the air strikes. We
just learned that the B -2 bombers were back
in action. They hit uh... target within you know
what's really kind of the rate determining target
set and that is iran really large ballistic missile
complex which is that multiple played all across
the country the beat you hit some hardened target
there and i expect will be there back in action
it looks like the the number one thing is to
go ahead continue a president of today he feels
that the target that is on track or maybe a little
ahead of schedule but As we know, the commander
of Central Command, Admiral Cooper, and our Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kaine,
will be looking very hard at the bomb damage
assessments and deciding what needs restrikes.
Also, we've, of course, seen Iran firing ballistic
missiles and drones. Sadly, so far with the loss
confirmed of three Americans due to one of those
attacks. And as your listeners know, when the
shooting starts, often the target set expands
as other targets appear or an Iranian missile
launcher comes up on the net, et cetera. So the
indication is that the strikes will continue
for a while. Iran's president, President Pashishkin,
is still alive. Iran has also said that they
are going to select a new supreme leader. I think
it's much less clear what happens with the politics
and the economy of Iran. Of course, we all remember
that this regime not only killed Americans, but
they've killed upwards of 32 ,000 of their own
people just in the last several weeks. But to
me, this is first and foremost a military campaign.
The part that matters for America and for our
security is to complete this destruction of Iran's
military capacity. And I tell you, if we had
any doubt about the dangers of Iran's enrichment
program, or the dangers of their missiles and
grow you know we've really seen it you don't
forget the drone we felt around hitting in uh...
the u a e uh... in the gulf uh... last night
hitting civilian target of the exact same grown
that are used by russia in ukraine and as for
the nuclear enrichment that became such a subject
of discussion here and have one nuclear power
plant Everybody else in the world buys their
nuclear power plant fuel on an open market. Mostly
comes from Canada and Kazakhstan and a few other
places. It's not enriched enough for a weapon.
So Iran could have done that, but they arrogantly
and with a lot of defiance, chose another path.
And their military capability is going to be
severely degraded. I think that is going to be
very positive for the future of the Middle East.
I mean, I was watching some of these, you know,
the news and so forth, and, you know, how Iran
is, as you mentioned, just kind of firing off
these rockets willy -nilly. I know that's not
the official military term, but it seems that
way, that they're trying to retaliate wherever
they can. Is Israel participating in the airstrikes?
Oh, very actively. Israel says they flew 200
aircraft on the first night. That's got to be
just about the entire Israeli Air Force. They
have, of course, our U .S.-made F -35s, F -15s,
F -16s, and other aircraft as well. So they're
participating very actively. And you're right
about the Iranian missile and drone shots being
kind of launch without effect. You know, our
U .S. Space Force does a lot to affect the electromagnetic
environment there and really scramble up any
of Iran's attempts at guidance. One incident
that occurred early on was Iran claimed to have
targeted the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln,
which is there, of course, 5 ,000 sailors and
airmen aboard. She was there in the North Arabian
Gulf. And U .S. Central Command has been pretty
quiet up until this afternoon, came out immediately
and said, this is a lie, those missiles didn't
go anywhere near. the abraham lincoln uh... it's
a reminder though that this is a combat zone
we know president trump was briefed that there
could be american casualties and you know we
know so well that uh... that all of our service
members there are at risk and while the attacks
uh... the drone and missile attacks from iran
are are kind of unguided they're not highly accurate
but they can certainly be lethal in the case
of the carrier of course you know we know aircraft
carriers Maneuver pretty quickly they sail pretty
quickly and they were of course surrounded by
their own destroyer squadron a guided missile
cruiser with the ability to do both the mid -course
intercepts up at 65 ,000 feet and to do terminal
intercepts as well So USS Abraham Lincoln continues
to launch strike sorties at this point Wow Thank
you so much for taking time out of your very,
very busy day for just joining us here on Veterans
Radio for a short time. You know, let us know
what's going on. And again, I appreciate it so
much, Dr. Grant. It's great to talk with you
all. And I know your listeners and you and me
as well are really thinking about our American
servicemen playing offense and playing defense
and trying to make the world a better place tonight.
Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye
bye. All right. So, update on what's going on
in Iran and update on what's going on with the
VA. This is what happens when you listen to Veterans
Radio. I appreciate all of you doing that. So,
David Simms, the Washtenaw County, Michigan,
Executive Director of Veterans Affairs. Thank
you very much for being on our program today.
Same with you, Carol Anne Faustone from Legal
Help for Veterans. And we are... going to be
watching all of these things that are going on,
not only across the world, but also here locally
at home with our local VAs. They're doing the
best they can, folks, I think. And that's for
you, you out there. If you're a veteran, they're
doing it for you. They're doing it for you. They're
doing it for your family. And you've heard some
of the things that we talked about today. And
they are So many benefits that we are leaving
on the table, ladies and gentlemen, we are doing
that. So please talk to a VSO talk to somebody
about what you may be entitled to. And we're
hoping that we you know by next month. When we
come back on, you know, the first Sunday in April,
maybe you've got a question and our experts can
answer that question for you. So we want to make
sure that you do that, please. We're trying to
look out for each other. Remember when you were
in the service, somebody had your back? Well,
we've got your back now and we want to make sure
that you get what you're entitled to. We are
coming up on the end of the program. And again,
I want to thank our guests for being here to
talk about benefits and so forth. Today, God
Bless America is our song of the day, of course,
here on Veterans Radio. And it's going to be
Johnny Fortune and Sonya Isaacs Yearly. Till
next week, this is Dale Thromery. For all of
us here at Veterans Radio, you are dismissed.
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