VA ratings and Ombudsman assistance.

Magilla

Magilla

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
So I'm now over 200 days waiting on my VA ratings, and 76 days beyond the army average. I only have 1 unfitting condition, but have 22 other claimed items. Half of them are marked as in remission as my unfitting is my right ankle and the VA rep did me up for everything musculoskeletal from the feet up.

Anyways. I'm irritated as all hell that it's taken this long so far, 2weeks past my original ETS date and no idea how much longer it'll be, my PEBLO suggested contacting an ombudsman rep. Does anyone have any experience with them, in regards to fast tracking a ratings decision, or them helping the process along at all?

Thank you for any and all help and advice, as I'm close to just throwing in the towel and becoming a shitbag first class at work, due to the frustrations.
 
Magilla said:
So I'm now over 200 days waiting on my VA ratings, and 76 days beyond the army average. I only have 1 unfitting condition, but have 22 other claimed items. Half of them are marked as in remission as my unfitting is my right ankle and the VA rep did me up for everything musculoskeletal from the feet up.

Anyways. I'm irritated as all hell that it's taken this long so far, 2weeks past my original ETS date and no idea how much longer it'll be, my PEBLO suggested contacting an ombudsman rep. Does anyone have any experience with them, in regards to fast tracking a ratings decision, or them helping the process along at all?

Thank you for any and all help and advice, as I'm close to just throwing in the towel and becoming a shitbag first class at work, due to the frustrations.
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If i were you i would just relax, the hold up is with the VA not the Army. Have you not been watching TV News. The VA has to rate you on the 22 things once they are done with the rating they send it to the Army PEB. If you were on the outside trying to get your rating with the VA it would take or could take 3 years. Yes there is a wait on the Army side but at least you are going to get a check while you wait. Have you saved up for the time you get the rating and the Army stops paying you and the VA kicks in.. should have a few months in there so get ready.. Also the ombudsman can help in lots of things and they do, but if you watch the news even the President can't push the VA... how do you think an ombudsman can.
 
I understand there's massive issues with the VA, and it's doubly upsetting because where the recent issue cropped up at, AZ, is where I'm headed back to post army life.

I still take issue with the length of time it's taking as there's several people in my unit who have started the MEB process after I did, with multitudes of issues as well, and they've all been done and are either out or on terminal leave right now.

I simply don't have any experience with ombudsmen, and was wondering what they could do or offer in regards to my status.

Just got off the phone with them, and she seemed shocked that I've been waiting for my preliminary ratings for over 7 months, as only appeals or people voluntarily waiting due to medical reasons, are over 7 months into the VA ratings portion. She's looking into why there's a hold up, so hopefully I'll have an answer or a better idea later today or tomorrow.
 
Magilla said:
I understand there's massive issues with the VA, and it's doubly upsetting because where the recent issue cropped up at, AZ, is where I'm headed back to post army life.

I still take issue with the length of time it's taking as there's several people in my unit who have started the MEB process after I did, with multitudes of issues as well, and they've all been done and are either out or on terminal leave right now.

I simply don't have any experience with ombudsmen, and was wondering what they could do or offer in regards to my status.

Just got off the phone with them, and she seemed shocked that I've been waiting for my preliminary ratings for over 7 months, as only appeals or people voluntarily waiting due to medical reasons, are over 7 months into the VA ratings portion. She's looking into why there's a hold up, so hopefully I'll have an answer or a better idea later today or tomorrow.
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Magilla said:
I understand there's massive issues with the VA, and it's doubly upsetting because where the recent issue cropped up at, AZ, is where I'm headed back to post army life.

I still take issue with the length of time it's taking as there's several people in my unit who have started the MEB process after I did, with multitudes of issues as well, and they've all been done and are either out or on terminal leave right now.

I simply don't have any experience with ombudsmen, and was wondering what they could do or offer in regards to my status.

Just got off the phone with them, and she seemed shocked that I've been waiting for my preliminary ratings for over 7 months, as only appeals or people voluntarily waiting due to medical reasons, are over 7 months into the VA ratings portion. She's looking into why there's a hold up, so hopefully I'll have an answer or a better idea later today or tomorrow.
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I cant wait to hear what the ombudsmen has to say... but believe me 7 months is about right for waiting time.
 
First off let me say that if the VA doesn't want to be held to a timeline then they need to stop publishing timelines. To say 7 months sounds about right is bullshit, to just accept that they are not doing their job in the time that they said they would do it. If you don't hear back from the VA soon, call them back. This is what I did, if your timeline is overdue they can put in a query directly to the regional office you are working with and they will have to answer within 10 working days why you are so overdue.

The VA does not deserve a pass on anything they do improper. I think it's apparent that they don't give a shit about the Veteran. They are another government agency that has become exceedingly lazy, our President himself said it wasn't about the money. If this is the case then they need to do their job, I know that Providence had approved overtime hours for those that volunteered, to me that's not a fix when you can't force the overtime, hire some more workers and fire the ones who can't complete their work in a timely manner.
 
No idea why it's been delayed, but the query was put in today thanks to the help from the ombudsmen I spoke with just a bit ago. I've been calling my VA rep every week for an update, and all I've been told by them is they've annotated my file with the ratings personnel to try and get some type of movement. That's it.
 
GGREEN said:
I cant wait to hear what the ombudsmen has to say... but believe me 7 months is about right for waiting time.
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7 months does not sound about right as far as waiting for rating alone, 7 months is usually with a appeals included, and what's on tv is about the VAMC which has nothing to do with VARO, which is it's own animal

Magilla said:
No idea why it's been delayed, but the query was put in today thanks to the help from the ombudsmen I spoke with just a bit ago. I've been calling my VA rep every week for an update, and all I've been told by them is they've annotated my file with the ratings personnel to try and get some type of movement. That's it.
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Get in contact with DAV where your claim is located and see if they can see what's going on, it's possible your claim is located with a rather with a slower than average turn around time, with so many possibilities being the reason for a 7 month wait its hard to pinpoint a clear answer
 
Weapons loader said:
First off let me say that if the VA doesn't want to be held to a timeline then they need to stop publishing timelines. To say 7 months sounds about right is bullshit, to just accept that they are not doing their job in the time that they said they would do it. If you don't hear back from the VA soon, call them back. This is what I did, if your timeline is overdue they can put in a query directly to the regional office you are working with and they will have to answer within 10 working days why you are so overdue.

The VA does not deserve a pass on anything they do improper. I think it's apparent that they don't give a shit about the Veteran. They are another government agency that has become exceedingly lazy, our President himself said it wasn't about the money. If this is the case then they need to do their job, I know that Providence had approved overtime hours for those that volunteered, to me that's not a fix when you can't force the overtime, hire some more workers and fire the ones who can't complete their work in a timely manner.
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I wouldn't say lazy, i would put it towards a flooded system of IDES claims since there is only about 2 VARO that handles a majority of claims, if it was more spread out through out the different VARO then I'm sure the wait times would be far less. when I went through IDES my claim only took 60 days and that was the average about a year or 2 ago, and since the average these days are at about 160 then it's clearly shows that there are way more claims coming in than their are coming out
 
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