June 19, 2025 • 54 mins
Veterans have multiple options when appealing VA claim denials, and understanding these pathways can mean the difference between receiving deserved benefits or walking away with nothing.
• Three main appeal options: High-Level Review, Supplemental Claim, and Board of Veterans Appeals
• High-Level Review involves senior review of existing evidence without submitting anything new
• Supplemental Claims allow submission of new, relevant evidence to support your case
• Documentation is critical – highlight important information in your records to make it easily findable
• Consider getting outside medical opinions to strengthen your case ($120 investment could result in thousands monthly)
• Board of Veterans Appeals offers three lanes: direct review (fastest), evidence submission, or hearing
• Age 75+ qualifies for advancement on the BVA docket, while regular claims require age 85+ for expedited processing
• Veterans Court is the final option, with attorney fees potentially covered under the Equal Access to Justice Act
• Professional representation becomes increasingly important as you move up the appeals ladder
• Don't give up – some successful appeals take 6-8 years but result in substantial back pay
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Visit J Basser's Exposed Vet Productions (Formerly Exposed Vet Radioshow) YouTube page by clicking here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
J Basser (00:00):
Hey Bastard Exposed Vet Productions.
I'm Jay.
My co-host today is Mr Ray Cobb.
How you doing, ray?
Ray Cobb (00:08):
I'm doing great.
How are you this evening?
J Basser (00:10):
I'm doing good, you know, for the 19th day of June
2025.
Well, I've got 10 more days.
Ray Cobb (00:18):
Yeah, all the bikes are closed.
J Basser (00:20):
Yeah, they're all closed.
The V8's closed.
Ray Cobb (00:24):
they can't process claims today let's see today's
June the 19th.
That means in two days.
J Basser (00:30):
It's the longest day of the year, the summer of the
7th is the lightest time yep,and then the days start getting
shorter just after that yep,next thing you know, we'll be
getting dark here at fiveo'clock you get dark here around
six o'clock, which is actuallyfive o'clock your time.
(00:52):
So, yeah, well, sure, uh, someparts of parts of the central
time zone here close to here getdark at 4 30.
The central time zone hereclose to here gets dark at 430.
So that would suck.
Excuse my French, but it would.
(01:14):
Last week we discussed claimsprocess, you know, following the
initial claim and processingthe claim and how to follow your
claim and track your claim andet cetera.
This week we're going to takethe next step.
We're going to go into theappeal section and I want to get
a pen and piece of paper andwrite this down.
Folks, if you don't have accessor you're limited on your
(01:35):
computer usage and you have ahard time navigating the Title
38 CFR because there aredifferent levels of appeal, when
you get adverse reaction, I'mnot saying a denial.
The reason I'm saying adversereaction is because you can
actually appeal a claim thatactually was approved and I'll
(01:55):
explain it to you in a minute.
But we'll base it off, we'll gooff and we'll say denial and
we'll look for time constraints.
All right, you've been in theVA for a year, you've had all
your exams.
You sit there and you wait andwait and finally something pops
in the computer and says youhave a decision In VAgov.
(02:18):
You open up and look.
You open your letter up and youlook You've been denied.
It'll tell you what youroptions are in the format of the
letter, what you can do.
So we'll discuss those optionsto an extent.
There's three options of appeal.
(02:39):
If your claim evidence in yourclaim is all you have and you
have nothing else new to submit,or you know that you will not
be able to submit anything else,you can opt for a.
It's called a high-level reviewor HLR.
(03:00):
What that means is you ask fora HLR, high-level review, and
the VA kicks it up to ahigh-level reviewer and it's
usually somebody at a differentoffice, a different regional
office, that you review that.
And the time frame in thatprocess is kind of limited.
I mean it could be anywherefrom two weeks to months,
(03:25):
several months, because it alldepends on what's going on.
If they can find an error andkick it back.
And once they find an error andit kicks back to the regional
office, then I think it turnsinto a supplemental claim, right
, which is claim number two.
(03:48):
A supplemental claim is anappeal.
A supplemental appeal is anappeal where when you submit the
appeal, you can also submitadditional evidence, as long as
it is new and relevant.
That means that they don'talready have it and that it has
bearing on your case.
That's relevant, of course.
(04:10):
Now they have to.
How do you say this?
A good legal term there, ray.
When lawyers use and they tryto look at the law and they try
to look at all the ways aroundthe law or different points of
the law, what do they call thatlittle move Interpret, interpret
(04:33):
the rules and they look at itand they'll go through the
process or the supplemental andmake a decision.
That way I've won a couple ofsupplementals in my lifetime.
It's not too bad.
I've actually won an HLR here awhile back.
It's not too bad.
I've actually won an HLR here awhile back.
It's not too bad either.
But it's kind of scary becausewe've been saying before that
once you have a denial in yourhand and you send it back and
(04:54):
you ask for somebody to changesomething, if they know each
other, it's going to be hard todo.
It's kind of a buddy system inthat aspect, ray.
Kind of a buddy system, youknow, in that aspect and, ray,
you touched on that beforehandabout the buddy system.
I have.
Ray Cobb (05:11):
Okay, yeah, and you know there's I don't know
there's mixed feelings.
You know, when a supplementalclaim, there's one part that you
were talking about in theletter which I think is most
important, that I've noticedhere recently that a lot of the
denials have been leaving out.
You know they are supposed totell you why they denied the
(05:35):
letter, I mean why they deniedthe client.
in the letter they're supposedto say there was not this
evidence tying it to your heart,or there was not any any uh
doctor's statement or therewasn't any enough evidence of
this particular nature and ifyou, if recently they've been
(05:57):
leaving that part out.
And that's a very importantpart for a veteran, because if,
if they put that in there, like,for example, they said we did
not see anywhere, uh, let's takemy left eye they we did not see
anywhere where um laser wasused on your left eye.
Now that means that and Iunderstand I've got 5 000 uh
(06:22):
pages of documentation in mymedical records there at the VA.
So what can be done about thatis number one.
You know when you had thatlaser.
They don't.
That guy, I think, has what 15,20 minutes to look at that case
.
So how is he going to find thatone little paper on a given day
(06:43):
that they did 2,500 shots oflaser in my left eye, and it's
not supposed to be more than1,500 at any one time.
So you know, that's what causedme to go blind in my left eye.
Now how do I find that?
I know where it is.
I knew where it was when Iturned the claim in.
What I didn't do, which Ishould have done, I did not
(07:05):
print that out, highlight it andsubmit it under 1438, pointing
it out.
Here's this happening.
This date is in my record,making it easier for that agent,
for that educator, to look at.
I did not do that, he didn'ttake the time to look for it and
it's really in that particularcase.
(07:26):
It was one day, one incident,two pages which stated in really
just one little paragraph, willsaid in the left eye did 2,500
and in the right eye did 1,500.
And then I had to go back andlook up and see if they were
never supposed to do more than1,500.
So they did what they weresupposed to in the right eye but
(07:47):
didn't do what they weresupposed to in the left eye.
Now, under your supplementalclaim, if you look at that and
you pull that evidence now Icould print out that sheet.
If they had told me that's whatthey used, I could pull out
that sheet and then I could alsoprint off the sheet that I
found.
Um, oh, I think it was johnhopkins, where they talked about
(08:09):
the amount of lasers thatshould be done on the retina at
one, any one given time, withouthealing.
Uh, and I could print that offand I could circle, which I
finally did circle the 1500 perday versus the 2500, five
hundred per day and submit thatand that's how I won my case.
But hindsight, if they had not,if I had done that in the first
(08:35):
part, I may not have ever beendenied to start with.
But when they told me in mydenial letter what they could
not find, I knew where it was.
So I was able to go find it andthen support it with outside
documentation and and win my mysupplemental client.
Um, that's a.
That's just an example of whatwhat we may have to do, uh, in
(08:58):
those cases.
Now here's another part.
Today I was talking with aveteran.
He's 90 years old.
He just got out of the VAhospital.
Last week we had some badstorms around here.
He went out to inspect hisproperty.
There were some limbs down.
He tripped and fell over somelimbs and broke one kneecap and
(09:21):
messed the other one up, twistedthe other one pretty bad, and
he was in pretty good, real goodshape until that point.
But he's back home now and hecalled me and we were talking
about aid and attendance at theage of 90.
And his daughter comes in andhelps every day.
So I told him what he needed todo to start and try to get his
aid and attendance, but hedidn't know what to do.
(09:43):
He had heard about it but hedidn't know where to start or
what to do or what to look for.
He really didn't even know whatit was called, you know, and um
, so I was able his, hisdaughter kate, was coming over
to the house this afternoon.
He called me first this morningand she was coming over to the
house this afternoon.
He called me first this morningand she was coming over to the
(10:04):
house this afternoon to bringsome groceries and do some stuff
for him.
So I had him, I told him I'dcall back at 3 o'clock after she
was there and I got to talkwith both of them and she
understood and she had neverheard about it, about standard
aid and attendance.
So hopefully we got him on theright track.
But in the meantime I wastelling him what he needed to
(10:26):
gather to support that aid andattendance.
And that's one of the keys thatrecently what I've seen Now I
don't know if it's going to helpor not, but recently I've had
two other cases where I'vehelped individuals gather and
tell them what they needed aheadof time before they submitted
(10:48):
their claim.
Now they had already filed anintent to file.
One gentleman in particular thatI enjoyed talking about,
because he took two months togather the exact information
that I told him he would need towin his case.
Then he went and filed his case.
He won it in six months.
(11:09):
They dated it back to the dateof the intent to file and he
ended up getting $14,000 in backpay and $2,000 a month from
here on Now.
I think they low-balled him,but I also think he doesn't have
(11:29):
enough documentation fromtalking with him to prove that
he actually has a higher levelof diabetes than what he does.
I don't think there's notenough information by him
talking with the doctors,telling him how much highs and
lows and fluctuation there is,and a lot of that has to do
(11:58):
because, like other gentlemen,they just don't like going to
doctors.
You know you get to be 75, 80years old, uh, you don't like
continue to run to doctors everymonth or two.
But in this particular case, ifhe wants to win, in order for
him to have won this case andgotten a higher level, he would
have needed to be doing that,but he hasn't been.
So now what I've told him to dois start making 90-day and
(12:19):
six-month appointments and in ayear we will ask for a
reevaluation or a higher levelof disability, once we have
enough documentation in hismedical records to win.
But all of this is all a part ofhow you appeal the supplemental
(12:42):
claim.
It's all about thatsupplemental claim.
So you've got time to do it.
That supplemental claim, soyou've got time to do it.
And even if you do asupplemental claim, you don't
have to turn your additionalevidence in on that particular
day.
You can turn that evidence inor add evidence as long as they
(13:03):
haven't made their decision.
Am I correct about that, if Iunderstood it correctly?
Okay, so let's say he knowshe's going to have a doctor's
appointment in a month.
Down the road he can go aheadand turn his supplemental claim
in now, go to the doctor, talkto the doctor and hopefully the
doctor will give him a littlehigher rating or higher more of
(13:26):
his disability statement, andthen he can add that in Now.
Will they send him for a newCMP?
Probably, probably will.
And then that brings up anotherthing that you should do on
these appeals when you go, ifyou have a.
I learned this from James Cripps.
I got to give James credit forthis.
(13:47):
He's good at it.
If you know you're going for ahigher level review or you're
going for a higher CMP, whatever, then the best thing you could
do is spend a little of yourmoney maybe $120, go see a
doctor outside of the VA, buttake your VA notes and say
(14:11):
here's what this doctor says Doyou agree with this?
And they'll read the notes.
They'll read them every time,then they'll do their exam and
then they'll make their decisionwhether they agree or disagree.
Now, I've had doctors, most ofthe time that I've done this,
knowing that they would do it,uh, would either agree and one
(14:32):
said I agree with the findingsof my case, dr pimp and um.
However, I would recommend astronger brace on his foot, uh,
to make it more stable.
Now, with that being said,that's a good, positive second
(14:54):
opinion.
And it cost me $120, but itended up getting me somewhere
around $1,600, $1,700 more amonth, so that $120 was well
spent, wouldn't you say.
J Basser (15:14):
Investment.
Ray Cobb (15:19):
And let's take a scenario like I had at another
podiatrist who said oh well, I'mnot going to write you a letter
unless you let me do yourtreatment, which some of them
will.
So make sure they'll write youa letter before you go.
You haven't lost anything, youknow.
You've got another opinion, youknow what the situation might
be so you can proceed with that.
(15:40):
So you know, fortunately, guysand I know, when you get to be
your age, and my age especially,and like that gentleman today
that's 90 years old, you reallydon't think and you know we have
not.
My age group especially, didnot grow up having to research
(16:02):
stuff out on your own, and I,you know, I hate to think about
how it was back, oh, let's sayback in the 70s and 80s, when we
didn't have, when the computerswere just starting to come in
and there wasn't such a thing asvagov and all of those things.
J Basser (16:24):
You know it's a wonder anybody ever won a case well,
in fact, those days things werea lot different too.
And when you had to physicallymail or physically send the
claims folder from st louis tothe regional office, yeah, and
they had to go through it andthey had piles of paperwork
everywhere and they got caughtin several scandals back then.
You know shredding, shreddergate and yeah, and the time wait
(16:47):
gate and all this other stuff,so yeah, I never, I never will
forget you talking about StLouis.
Ray Cobb (16:53):
I went down after I won my case my first got my 100%
, and they were still kind ofkicking around trying to figure
out, I think, exactly how much Ihad gotten.
And I went down to the regionaloffice and there was a little
lady that helped me and, uh, shewas fairly short, she, she was
(17:16):
probably oh, uh, five one maybeat the most, and that was that
was where it heals and she came,went upstairs and she took my
file, my case, off of a truckthat was about to be sent from
the regional office back to StLouis for the third time.
(17:37):
And when she walked back intoher office her hands were
straight down, my files were inthere and she had her chin up
holding them together under herchin.
That's how many files I had,you know, and that was what.
Everything was done on paperfiles.
So she sat down there with meand we spent more than an hour
(17:59):
of her just looking very quicklyto find out the information
that they were sending all ofthose files back to st louis for
reevaluation.
And she found it and marked itand called upstairs as she
referred to it and told him whatshe'd found or whatever.
They said, okay, send it backup.
She sent it back up and twoweeks later I finally got the
(18:19):
letter in the mail telling mewhat my uh pay would be.
And everything was fine afterthat.
But that's how hard it was backin those days, wasn't that long
ago?
I mean, we're talking 2000, andwell, that was 20 years ago,
2005, 2006.
J Basser (18:38):
What happened?
Such more supplemental claims.
You have new evidence that yousubmit.
Adjudicate it, do that finderrors or kick it back to that.
They find errors?
They'll kick it back to you,Make it deny the claim at any
level.
But you have other options too.
(18:59):
So say you get denied again.
Your next step's going to go seethe Board of Vegetable Appeals,
which opens up another what doyou call it?
Another quagmire, yeah, yeah.
And so you get your informationthere set up and you put your
Form 9 in.
Whatever the form is now.
It used to be a Form 9, and Iguess it's a different form now.
(19:20):
Let's see what that form is.
I'm sorry, it's now form101.8.2.
(19:47):
The longer form, 9.
It's a decision review requestor notice of disagreement.
Hmm, that's the decision reviewrequest.
You got to need to fill one ofthem out and get it sent in.
So get to the BBA, the Board ofVeteran Appeals.
(20:09):
My best advice for you if you'redoing this, like we said last
week, make sure you've got aclaims agent or attorney or a
VSO helping you that knowssomething about the process,
Because you just kicked thisthing off from the planet up to
the starship Could be the deathstar if you don't watch it.
(20:31):
You know that's a timelyprocess to BVA.
You get her situated and youget everything done and they'll
sign you a docket number andyou'll be.
It depends on what kind ofappeal you ask for through the
BVA.
The first is called a directdocket review.
That's a sister to the HLRprocess, except it's BBA's
(20:56):
version of it, and what thatmeans is they'll look at your
records as they are today that'sin the have on file.
You can't add new evidence atall and they'll make a decision
based off the records.
You won't see the judge, butthey'll look at it and they'll
make a decision based off therecords.
You won't see the judge, butthey'll look at and make that
decision.
Okay, now the second option isyou guys sit down, have a video
(21:21):
conference.
A video conference is uh,you'll sit down with your rep in
a room in the regional office.
The screen will pop on and thejudge will be on the TV screen
and you guys have your hearing.
That way you can present yourevidence and talk.
Usually, a rep do most of thetalking you don't do, unless
(21:42):
you've got a rep.
That shouldn't be there.
You know what I mean, right?
Ray Cobb (21:48):
Yes, but Well, that's a very good point.
You know that that you'remaking there.
I I can't emphasize.
My suggestion has always beenlately um, I'm gonna say in the
last two or three years or fouryears for sure that if you have
to go even for the firstsupplemental claim before you
(22:12):
even go to the board, there isso much that can be done now by
an agent.
I recommend all my guys to getan agent because here's why, if
you can find one that you canwork with and that will work
with you, it's because an agenthas direct access to everything.
(22:33):
He can actually see memos thatgoes from adjudicator to his
supervisor.
Even before the decision ismade, he says I think I'm going
to do this, or what do you thinkabout this, any questions like
that that go on behind the doorsyou can actually find.
He can see.
You can't see them, you'llnever know about them, but it
gives him an insight of whatthey're thinking in, the
(22:55):
direction they're going, whichgives him some information about
how they or why they may havedenied your claim.
So I recommend very stronglythat when that happens because
let's say, let's say you'realready, um, I'm going to just
take something that's minimallet's say you're already.
I'm going to just takesomething that's minimum.
Let's say you're already eightmonths or nine months and you're
(23:15):
going to be receiving $2,000.
That's $18,000 back pay and bythe time it gets to the board or
whatever, you've got anothersix or eight months.
Now we're up to, you know,$14,000, $16,000 in back pay, or
$30,000 back pay rather, excuseme, 16 months $14,000, $16,000
in back pay, or $30,000 back pay, rather, excuse me, 16 months
$2,000 a month.
(23:35):
And so if you look at that,$30,000, 20% is basically
$30,000 to $6,000.
You're still going to walk awaywith $24,000 of back pay.
Plus you're going to get $6,000.
I mean, excuse me, $2,000 therest of your life, if not more.
(24:00):
So you know you.
You know for that it's a greatinvestment to spend and be
willing to spend that 20%.
Now should he spend 40% or 50%or 60%?
Like what do we call them?
Claim sharks?
J Basser (24:15):
No, no, but if you get a credited agent.
Ray Cobb (24:19):
yep, if you get a credited agent, one that's a
part of NOVA, and they limitthemselves to 20% of the back
pay, you're in good shape.
That's a fact and youdefinitely got to have it.
If you go to the Board ofVeterans Appeals, you just
(24:40):
definitely have to have it.
J Basser (24:41):
You have to have it in any appeal process.
You can't use an agent.
An agent can't charge you foran initial claim, it's only in
the appeal process.
Same for an attorney, but anattorney can charge you 33%.
Ray Cobb (24:55):
HR right.
J Basser (24:57):
Right, okay, but you know we'll do a show once to let
any agents and attorneys here.
For too long we did one here afew weeks ago.
You can look at and go back totheir archives and look.
The most important thing aboutan appeal initial claim anything
if you have a representative isaccess, and accreditation,
(25:19):
first of all, is the biggestthing too.
Accreditation shows that theyknow what they're doing because
they have to take a test to doit.
Access to the VBMS system isparamount.
If you go to your rep and sayyeah, I'm accredited, do you
have access to VBMS?
They say no, go to the next oneBecause that's where they get
(25:44):
to see all the good.
Well, yeah, they can beaccredited and not have access
because they charge so muchmoney to have access to it.
Oh okay, I wasn't aware of that.
Ray Cobb (25:57):
That's another good.
That's another good point.
When you go to a gentleman andhe's credited okay, then he's
going to be able to pretty much.
He's not going to take able topretty much.
He's not going to take yourcase unless you're a personal
friend.
He's not going to take yourcase.
If he doesn't think he can winit, at least know how he can win
(26:19):
it, because he has to do allthat work.
He has to file those documents,he has to write his, his brief,
his legal brief, and do allthat work, not being guaranteed
that he's ever going to get anymoney and that's another thing
to be aware of.
Guys, if somebody says, well,we'll do it, we need $5,000 a
(26:44):
month, which is what one of thelocal attorneys around here was
doing no, you don't pay anybodyup front, you just don't know
you'll do that.
J Basser (26:53):
No, I mean, don't wait , you should.
The only time you should paysomething up front is if the
agent or ask you to pay what wecall that a.
It's a fee.
It's not doing a print, butthat basically gives them the
opportunity to start opening up.
Ray Cobb (27:10):
Yeah it's a retainer's fee.
You retain them to representyou and that is deducted out of
what he receives back.
So you're going to get thatmoney back anyway.
Yeah, when you win your cash, Imean that's an additional fee
too.
J Basser (27:31):
They look at it and that's what they look at so they
can represent you.
Because they have to look atthe evidence and see where
you're at, because if you got abone or a case, a bad case, then
they're going to tell you thetruth.
That's what people need torealize.
People need to start tellingthe truth.
In this business, you can blowsmoke all you want to, but if
(27:52):
your evidence doesn't result ina win, then you need new
evidence or you need to figureout what's going on.
I've been doing this a longtime.
I've seen all sides of thespectrum.
I know what it's like.
It's kind of sad to have totell somebody that you think is
going to make it.
We've had to make it, you know.
But you know we've had to dothat.
(28:14):
Yeah, okay, so all right, wediscussed a direct docket review
with the BBA, so you don't wantto do a direct docket review?
Of course that's the fastestway.
It's about 21, 18, and 24months right now getting to it.
Unless you way, it's about 21,between 18 and 24 months right
now getting to it.
And last year, like ray's buddythere, the guy he talked to
(28:34):
today he's 90 years old.
This dude gets to ride in thefront train car all the way
around the rails.
You know that, don't you?
Ray Cobb (28:39):
yeah, he.
Matter of fact, if it got upthere they saw his age.
J Basser (28:43):
He probably would be seen within what two weeks,
three weeks, more like I'm gonnasay it's going to be processed
in two weeks, even initial claimyeah yeah put it on there.
Put them up there.
So if you're 75 years old goingto the bba, you are entitled to
have your claim advanced on thedocket, which I think.
(29:06):
Now, if you are not at the bba,you in a regular system to get
your claim expedited you have tobe 85?
Is that what it is?
Ray Cobb (29:21):
I think that's correct .
Well, there's a couple ofthings 85, facing bankruptcy or
facing the chance of beinghomeless.
I think there's one more.
I forget what the third one is.
I know those are two Facingbankruptcy and facing
homelessness.
J Basser (29:41):
Economic hardship, financial hardship they call it.
I guess that's it.
Ray Cobb (29:51):
There's one more.
Yeah, I can't think of what itis, Ralph.
I guess I haven't seen itenough to remember it.
J Basser (29:57):
Well, you can get that going.
Oh, is that?
Ray Cobb (30:05):
if you're on hospice, yeah if you actually have a
terminal diagnosis.
Right.
J Basser (30:16):
Terminal.
Yeah, okay, that's the term.
My grandfather had a BVA claim,or a BVA was a six-day
turnaround.
He had a BVA hearing at theregional office in six days.
(30:47):
Because of his age he won hisBVA appeal.
Two days later he died.
So at least he did win, youknow.
So it's pretty cool.
You guys waiting on a videoconference.
(31:08):
You could probably wait years.
Right now the time frame ispretty far drawn out.
Of course they say they've gotthis and that and this and that
you can look at the BVA websiteand you can look at their delays
and things like that.
It's that far behind that youthink they are.
It's a bunch of charts andgraphs and things like that.
(31:29):
You can look at it.
It'll give you some type ofidea.
But if you had a youngengineering student, look at
this stuff, it'd be a lot better.
They'd explain it to you a lotbetter.
But if you're in that lane,you've got to wait for a pretty
good while.
This is supposed to be thefastest level of appeal known to
mankind, but that requires youto get in the car or get on an
(31:51):
airplane or on the train andride to DC, to the BVA itself,
and have an in-person hearing.
I'd recommend doing that, thereason being is I want them to
see me in person.
I want them to see me as I am.
If you're boogered up in awheelchair or scooter and you
(32:19):
can't walk around, you stand up,fall down, things like that.
If you've got rheumatoidarthritis and your legs are
going sideways and all kinds ofcrazy stuff like that and
they're denying your claim, letthem see it.
A picture is worth a thousandwords, right, ray?
Ray Cobb (32:38):
yes, and the interesting part, when you're
saying that you're correct,because you will never see
anyone in the regional officethat makes a decision.
So they're not going to see youin that wheelchair.
They're not going to see youwith those braces on your feet.
They're not going to see youwith those braces on your feet.
J Basser (32:58):
They're not going to see you with that cane in your
hand.
I think they'll start takingpictures of vets and putting
them on all of this.
Yeah, they start takingpictures of vets and their
situation and start attachingthem to the claim.
Have his AFOs and hiswheelchair.
Ray Cobb (33:12):
Well, you can do that.
You're allowed to do that.
You have to do it and attach itand use, for example.
There's nothing that says youcan't do it.
I don't know if they would lookat it or pay any attention to
it, but you can take a 4138 andwrite a statement in there.
This is what I have to wear andwhat I have to do, and this is
(33:37):
how.
This is my wheelchair, and youhave somebody take a picture of
your wheelchair and attach thatphotograph to the, to the 4138,
as additional evidence or as apersonal statement of your
condition.
J Basser (33:53):
Upload that bad boy.
Ray Cobb (33:56):
Now I don't know.
I've never recommended that toanyone, but I don't know if that
would work or not work.
J Basser (34:03):
It worked.
Ray Cobb (34:03):
Now let me back up a little bit.
I did one thing but it had todo with during the caregiver
program, so it's a littledifferent.
But they denied me in thecaregiver level one.
But they denied me in acaregiver level one and the
question was putting the AFObraces and the importance of my
wife putting the AFO braces andmy shoes on every morning and
(34:26):
adjusting my socks properly.
I actually had a ulcer on top ofthe foot, a blister that turned
into it, got infected and andturned and I had to have a skin
graft.
Well prior to the skin graft,um, when I was, when I was
denied a level one r1, uh, priorto the skin graft, I had this,
(34:49):
you know, sore on top of my footabout the size of a half a
dollar.
So, being a photographer that Iwas, I just got out one of my
camera, one of my lenses, and Itook a picture of it and printed
it off and submitted it with myappeal paperwork and it was
approved.
So I have used a photographbefore.
(35:09):
I had forgotten all about that.
J Basser (35:13):
Good point.
Good point.
I've used photographs.
We've used videos, not on mebut other events I've helped for
navigating years ago.
We use a plane crash video onour carrier.
It's pretty cool, but all right.
So you, you picked your lane, gothrough.
(35:34):
You either went to dc or youdid a nature, you did the direct
document view, or you waitedand went through the board
hearing and made a decision.
Say, if it's a negativedecision, well now what do you
do?
Hopefully you got an agent tohelp you through this process,
or somebody an agent or anattorney to help you through
(35:56):
this process, or somebody anagent or an attorney, and it's
up to the attorney to speak.
Now, you know, because you'vegot a choice, you have to go to
Veterans Court, united StatesCourt of Veterans Appeals, and
(36:16):
you pay $50 to fill out the form.
Once the form gets there, itshows that you're going to file
at the court and you haven't gotan attorney fixed yet.
Once they get their $50 and youhit the airways up there, next
thing you know you're gettingbombarded in the mail by all
these different attorney offices.
So you stack them in a pile andyou set them there and they'll
(36:38):
call you.
And you call them and y'alltalk and they'll want to look at
your case and they'll look atit.
I'm going to tell you right now, folks, unless it's a pretty
good amount of change, a lot ofthe attorneys won't take your
case.
I went through like 11 before Ifound one, so A lot of the
attorneys won't take your case.
I went through like 11 before Ifound one, so you know.
(37:00):
I mean, it's like most of them.
You know, I don't want toaccuse anybody of cherry picking
, but I think they're.
You know, they want to covertheir expenses, so, but I found
a pretty good one.
Well, they have to.
Ray Cobb (37:30):
Well, they have to.
Most of them, the ones I'maware of, they're in major
cities and therefore their renton their property is outrageous.
The one out of Washington thatyou and I both are familiar with
that some of our personalfriends have used, they assign
five attorneys to each case.
Now, the best of my knowledge,unless a case is going to pay be
(37:54):
worth $100,000 or more, theypractically never touch it.
Am I correct about that?
J Basser (38:00):
I don't know.
I don't know if it's actuallymonetary value.
I guess it really depends onthe case itself too.
If you look at it and they seea major mistake, like, so I've
got one attorney, we can fixthis.
If it's got a little complexityto it, you've got to look at it
.
Yeah, it all depends on how farback it goes to and what it is.
(38:22):
Say, for example let me give youan example Say I get qualified
for aid attendance.
Say, last Friday, I disagreeand they made the back date the
day I filed for aid attendanceand I'm like well, I don't agree
with that.
What do I do?
Okay, I think it should be thedate the condition arose, which
(38:47):
is basically like 2018.
Because that's when everythinghappened, that's when the VA did
this and that and this and that.
You know that's when I startedreceiving all this help and
stuff you know to extend, and soI would have to appeal that to
an early effective date.
Well, it would probably getdenied and you're going to wind
up in court.
(39:07):
So there is.
You know, that's what you'vegot to look at.
You know you've got to look atnow, if you go back to 2018 at
$4,000 a month.
Ray Cobb (39:21):
that's a pretty good lick, right, oh yeah.
And so that's Well, like one ofour friends we know got his
award what was close to $300,000.
Oh, yeah, and they got 20%,that's what we do in Michigan.
And that took, you know.
I think they had that case forover working on it themselves
for more than a year.
J Basser (39:42):
We had bills.
There wasn't a quick turnaround.
Bill got over 600 grand,$600,000, over $600,000.
So that's a lot of money.
I'll never see that kind ofmoney, you know.
I mean I've got too much otherinterest, you know.
But that's what lot of money.
I'll never see that kind ofmoney, you know, I mean I've got
too much other interest, youknow.
But that's what you look at,you know.
Select your attorneys and get agood group.
If anybody needs any advice onselecting an attorney or an
(40:07):
agent, please go to exposevet atgmailcom.
Drop us a line, we'll answeryour email, questions or
whatever.
We'll give you the best thingthat we can do.
Hopefully we can put incall-ins on here one of these
days and get a phone line goingand we can start answering
questions.
(40:28):
We'll have to see what'savailable here in the near
future, but the corn is adifferent bird.
I see a lot of stays, withstays meaning that say you file,
your attorney files a paperwork, attorney files a brief, then
(40:51):
they file for an extension toanswer the brief, then they send
the answer in, then yourattorney files an extension to
read their answer.
Each extension is 30 to 45 days.
So this extension, the brief,this extension, the answer this
extension, the rebuttal, thisextension, that, this extension,
this, and then it goes in frontof the judge over a year later,
(41:13):
I might add.
Ray Cobb (41:14):
Yeah right.
J Basser (41:16):
Over a year later I might ask yeah, right, so it
takes three or four months forthe judge to get his paws on it
and he'll make a decision on itwhether to remand it back or
grant the claim and make them dowhatever, or they can dismiss
it or deny it or whatever.
So it all depends on what thejudge says after all this,
(41:36):
because they're trying tonegotiate to begin with.
You know, put weight andevidence together and a lot of
little precedent sitting in here.
Now, if you are a veteran andyou're appealing to the Federal
Circuit, the United States Courtof Veterans Appeals, you are
eligible to apply or to ask forthe Equal Act for Justice
(42:01):
Amendment.
Remember this E-A-J-A.
That's probably four of themost important syllables you
ever heard.
Equal Act for Justice Amendmentmeans that if you are at the
federal court amendment meanthat if you are at the federal
court, veterans Court, you willsign an agreement with your
(42:22):
attorney, an EJA agreement.
You'll sign that paper and sendit to them.
That means that the governmentwill pay your attorney's fees,
provided you come out victorious.
If you lose, you owe nothing.
That way the attorneys don'tcharge you, you know, uh, for
(42:46):
your agents will not charge youa bunch of money off your
breadthroat.
Of course some attorneys aretrying to get that too, but I
mean, it's just the nature oftheir business, you know that
makes sense, right, it does.
Ray Cobb (42:59):
And and um, you know what you got.
One thing, folks, when we'retalking about this is you know
it's taken us.
You know one thing, folks, whenwe're talking about this, you
know it's taken us, you know,roughly 35 minutes to get to
this point, but maybe you know40 at the max.
But we're talking, by the timeyou get to this point, you've
(43:20):
been working in that system six,seven, eight years.
Mm-hmm been working in thatsystem six, seven, eight years,
you know.
So, uh, I think the mostimportant thing, too, is to tell
the the vets don't give up ifyou have to go six, seven, eight
years, if you, if you havethese conditions and they're
(43:41):
military connected, my, I don'tcare if it takes you 12 years to
win it, because the back pay isgoing to be tremendous and you
deserve it.
So you know, as long as you can, keep moving forward, keep
moving forward, don't stop untilyou win your case.
J Basser (44:03):
If you've got a serious disability and it could
be life-threatening, I'd goahead and fill out the forms now
for your wife or your spouse tosubstitute for you.
Don't submit them, don't datethem.
Just give them to your agent,your rep, and say here, when
this hits the fan, date it andsend it in, because when you
(44:24):
pass on, she's got to havesomething to hang on to, because
she can get accrued benefits,what they owe you, and she can
draw dependent indemnitycompensation.
If the death is basicallybecause of the service-debt
condition, it don't have to bethe main cause, just a
contributing factor.
Ray Cobb (44:45):
Well, that's an interesting point.
Now back to one or two casesI've helped with.
Where it was, the individualhad cancer.
Both individuals had cancer.
We actually had it dated andsigned by the veteran when we
(45:06):
submitted the claim and I'm gladwe did.
He didn't live four months.
J Basser (45:14):
Right.
Ray Cobb (45:14):
Now she still hasn't heard, but she was at our last
seminar that we were at and shegot one of our friends to
represent her.
Now and they have been andthey've they've had their video
connection.
I haven't talked with herseveral weeks or months now and
the last time I forgot to askher, but I haven't heard any
(45:36):
shouting or screaming.
So I don't think she's, I don'tthink she's gotten the decision
yet, but just the fact that itshould be, uh, just the fact
that we took those steps to havehim sign it and turned it in um
(45:57):
with the claim, so that, um, inthis case he passed on and she
is able to continue to fight andrepresent him.
And she did have to do thevideo conference video court
with the judge.
That was a year and a half ago.
J Basser (46:21):
Yeah, time flies, buddy.
Ray Cobb (46:22):
Okay, let me just yeah , yeah, and let me just say it's
camp lejeune and we'll we'llkeep you guys informed.
Uh, uh, talking about that, I Imentioned to you the other day,
um august the 14th, the vietnamtraveling walls coming here to
winchester, tennessee, and I'mlooking at the possibility of
(46:46):
that's on Thursday I think it isthe 14th, 15th and 16th.
I'm looking at possibly the15th of having another seminar
like we had here before.
We've been what a year and ahalf, two years since we've done
one.
J Basser (47:01):
Well, it's been a year and a half again.
It's right after November toMay.
It's about a year, and probablya year and seven months.
Ray Cobb (47:12):
Yeah, but we're almost to July.
By the time we have it, it'llbe August again.
So you know, yeah.
J Basser (47:21):
It'll be a hot time down in Tennessee folks.
Ray Cobb (47:23):
It will If we come out we'll be a hot time down in
Tennessee, folks it will.
If we come out, we'll have agood time.
Hopefully the breeze will beblowing, you know.
Get a little breeze off themountain, that's what I'm hoping
.
J Basser (47:35):
Breeze off.
They think you chop up pontoonboat long enough.
Ray Cobb (47:44):
I have to give that some consideration.
I may have to start takingleave of absence from well, no,
I can't.
You only come on duringDecember and part of January,
because that's the only time thefish aren't biting, and in
January and February I like togo out and photograph eagles and
things.
So, yeah, we'll have a littlebit.
I'm getting old enough toretire.
(48:10):
Did you know that?
Yeah, I don't know.
J Basser (48:13):
I think it's cold anymore.
There's a lot of nomicrap goingon Cold weather.
You know, no more cold weatherfor me.
I mean, it's that big day.
It's degrees outside and I'd befreezing to death.
It's true.
Ray Cobb (48:24):
I understand, I understand.
I understand It'll be warminside and Pam will say, man,
I'm burning up.
She'll feel my hands and she'llsay they're cold as ice.
Yeah, they are.
The other times it's cool andmy hands are warm.
You just never know.
J Basser (48:41):
Let me get some final points here in the snow Folks.
We've got about 10 minutes left, so I want to discuss this
issue real quick.
So now you the last two weekswe discussed the initial claims
and appeals.
We didn't go into an exorbitantamount of detail, but we did
lay the groundwork where you canhave a kind of a roadmap to
follow, roadmap to follow thestrongest advice Ray and I both
(49:13):
can give you.
Do not do this by yourself.
Get help.
If you have to use a VSO, findone that's accredited and a good
one.
Get recommendations from peopleto help you, from people to
help you.
Look at your state agencies,your state department of medical
affairs.
Look at your county.
They've got a person there thatcan help you, especially here
(49:35):
in Kentucky.
They've got them, you know, bycounty or whatever.
Some counties have more becauseyou know, unfortunately, we've
got a couple cities in the statethat's got a whole lot of
people in it and uh.
So, but get help, um, if thatperson is good, they're
accredited and they can help youtrack your claim and do it, you
(49:56):
win.
That's good.
But if you get denied and youhave to go to appeal, listen to
your rep.
What's he saying, or she's.
Excuse my French.
I don't want to set it up, butat that point you might want to
look at bringing on somebodythat does it full-time.
You know, basically I'm sayingto somebody that to be
(50:18):
politically correct, have skinin the game.
Somebody's livelihood isbasically the same as your
livelihood, you know.
So you could look at bringingon an agent.
Somebody's livelihood isbasically the same as your
livelihood.
You could look at bringing onan agent or an attorney.
I would recommend this processat this point.
I would find an agent first.
There's a couple hundred ofthem in the country.
There is a page on VAgov thathas a listing of all of them
(50:42):
that are active.
It's got their contactinformation, phone numbers, and
you can find one close to you.
If you want, you can contactthem.
If they cannot take your case,they can recommend somebody that
can.
I know there's several agenciesout there that work with
attorney groups and things likethat, so they're really kind of
unreachable.
They just got theiraccreditation to work.
(51:03):
But there's some thatspecialize and there's one that
specializes in special monthlycompensation and he's probably
the best I've seen over andabove any other, and I've been
doing this for 30 years.
He may not be able to take yourclaim or your appeal.
But he has a host of people hecan send over and send you to
(51:25):
that we'll take.
If you have any questions aboutan agent or attorney, go ahead
and drop us a line at exposemenat gmailcom.
We'll get back with you andsend you a response.
If you need help findingsomebody, let us know.
We'll help you find them.
We'll help navigate thatsituation.
We can do that.
That's what we do.
We don't get directly involvedin people's claims.
(51:45):
There's what we do, you know.
I mean we don't get directlyinvolved in people's claims.
There's no reason to.
I could have been an agentyears ago.
There's too many bass in theworld they've been caught yet
and that, of course, if I'm soboogered up now I'd have to have
an automatic fishing pole.
I like to get my little boatright.
You put the water and drag theline behind it.
You seen those.
They got the little remotecontrol boat.
(52:09):
You put your remote controlboat.
I need to get one of them.
This is going to be awesome.
Ray Cobb (52:15):
Yeah, I saw one of those little demonstrated.
I guess it was on one of theoutdoor channels this week.
J Basser (52:24):
I'd love to have one of them, man, that'd be cool.
Oh my goodness, I'll put a linkup here and we'll start selling
them.
We'll get some money back fromBass Pro Shop With that guys.
We're going to go ahead and endour few minutes already today,
ray.
Thanks for coming on, buddy.
We appreciate you Enjoyed it.
Ray Cobb (52:45):
Enjoyed it, enjoyed it Always do.
J Basser (52:48):
Enjoy the pontoon this weekend.
We've got a couple more weeksleft in town before we head back
out to DC.
Ray Cobb (52:55):
Yeah well, it's supposed to be pretty here
beginning tomorrow morning.
It's sunshining all the waythrough Monday, so I plan on
being on the lake a lot.
J Basser (53:09):
It's going to be frying hot next week, son.
I said 95, 97 degrees here nextweek.
One day I'm going to turnfreeze to death.
Well, with that, folks, thankyou for listening.
Thank you for watching.
You can find this posted up onYouTube after a while, and with
(53:31):
that, this will be John J Basher, on behalf of Mr Ray Cobb, with
the J Basher Exposed VetProductions.
We'll be signing off for now.
Ray Cobb (53:40):
Thanks.
Hey Bastard Exposed Vet Productions.
I'm Jay.
My co-host today is Mr Ray Cobb.
How you doing, ray?
Ray Cobb (00:08):
I'm doing great.
How are you this evening?
J Basser (00:10):
I'm doing good, you know, for the 19th day of June
2025.
Well, I've got 10 more days.
Ray Cobb (00:18):
Yeah, all the bikes are closed.
J Basser (00:20):
Yeah, they're all closed.
The V8's closed.
Ray Cobb (00:24):
they can't process claims today let's see today's
June the 19th.
That means in two days.
J Basser (00:30):
It's the longest day of the year, the summer of the
7th is the lightest time yep,and then the days start getting
shorter just after that yep,next thing you know, we'll be
getting dark here at fiveo'clock you get dark here around
six o'clock, which is actuallyfive o'clock your time.
(00:52):
So, yeah, well, sure, uh, someparts of parts of the central
time zone here close to here getdark at 4 30.
The central time zone hereclose to here gets dark at 430.
So that would suck.
Excuse my French, but it would.
(01:14):
Last week we discussed claimsprocess, you know, following the
initial claim and processingthe claim and how to follow your
claim and track your claim andet cetera.
This week we're going to takethe next step.
We're going to go into theappeal section and I want to get
a pen and piece of paper andwrite this down.
Folks, if you don't have accessor you're limited on your
(01:35):
computer usage and you have ahard time navigating the Title
38 CFR because there aredifferent levels of appeal, when
you get adverse reaction, I'mnot saying a denial.
The reason I'm saying adversereaction is because you can
actually appeal a claim thatactually was approved and I'll
(01:55):
explain it to you in a minute.
But we'll base it off, we'll gooff and we'll say denial and
we'll look for time constraints.
All right, you've been in theVA for a year, you've had all
your exams.
You sit there and you wait andwait and finally something pops
in the computer and says youhave a decision In VAgov.
(02:18):
You open up and look.
You open your letter up and youlook You've been denied.
It'll tell you what youroptions are in the format of the
letter, what you can do.
So we'll discuss those optionsto an extent.
There's three options of appeal.
(02:39):
If your claim evidence in yourclaim is all you have and you
have nothing else new to submit,or you know that you will not
be able to submit anything else,you can opt for a.
It's called a high-level reviewor HLR.
(03:00):
What that means is you ask fora HLR, high-level review, and
the VA kicks it up to ahigh-level reviewer and it's
usually somebody at a differentoffice, a different regional
office, that you review that.
And the time frame in thatprocess is kind of limited.
I mean it could be anywherefrom two weeks to months,
(03:25):
several months, because it alldepends on what's going on.
If they can find an error andkick it back.
And once they find an error andit kicks back to the regional
office, then I think it turnsinto a supplemental claim, right
, which is claim number two.
(03:48):
A supplemental claim is anappeal.
A supplemental appeal is anappeal where when you submit the
appeal, you can also submitadditional evidence, as long as
it is new and relevant.
That means that they don'talready have it and that it has
bearing on your case.
That's relevant, of course.
(04:10):
Now they have to.
How do you say this?
A good legal term there, ray.
When lawyers use and they tryto look at the law and they try
to look at all the ways aroundthe law or different points of
the law, what do they call thatlittle move Interpret, interpret
(04:33):
the rules and they look at itand they'll go through the
process or the supplemental andmake a decision.
That way I've won a couple ofsupplementals in my lifetime.
It's not too bad.
I've actually won an HLR here awhile back.
It's not too bad.
I've actually won an HLR here awhile back.
It's not too bad either.
But it's kind of scary becausewe've been saying before that
once you have a denial in yourhand and you send it back and
(04:54):
you ask for somebody to changesomething, if they know each
other, it's going to be hard todo.
It's kind of a buddy system inthat aspect, ray.
Kind of a buddy system, youknow, in that aspect and, ray,
you touched on that beforehandabout the buddy system.
I have.
Ray Cobb (05:11):
Okay, yeah, and you know there's I don't know
there's mixed feelings.
You know, when a supplementalclaim, there's one part that you
were talking about in theletter which I think is most
important, that I've noticedhere recently that a lot of the
denials have been leaving out.
You know they are supposed totell you why they denied the
(05:35):
letter, I mean why they deniedthe client.
in the letter they're supposedto say there was not this
evidence tying it to your heart,or there was not any any uh
doctor's statement or therewasn't any enough evidence of
this particular nature and ifyou, if recently they've been
(05:57):
leaving that part out.
And that's a very importantpart for a veteran, because if,
if they put that in there, like,for example, they said we did
not see anywhere, uh, let's takemy left eye they we did not see
anywhere where um laser wasused on your left eye.
Now that means that and Iunderstand I've got 5 000 uh
(06:22):
pages of documentation in mymedical records there at the VA.
So what can be done about thatis number one.
You know when you had thatlaser.
They don't.
That guy, I think, has what 15,20 minutes to look at that case
.
So how is he going to find thatone little paper on a given day
(06:43):
that they did 2,500 shots oflaser in my left eye, and it's
not supposed to be more than1,500 at any one time.
So you know, that's what causedme to go blind in my left eye.
Now how do I find that?
I know where it is.
I knew where it was when Iturned the claim in.
What I didn't do, which Ishould have done, I did not
(07:05):
print that out, highlight it andsubmit it under 1438, pointing
it out.
Here's this happening.
This date is in my record,making it easier for that agent,
for that educator, to look at.
I did not do that, he didn'ttake the time to look for it and
it's really in that particularcase.
(07:26):
It was one day, one incident,two pages which stated in really
just one little paragraph, willsaid in the left eye did 2,500
and in the right eye did 1,500.
And then I had to go back andlook up and see if they were
never supposed to do more than1,500.
So they did what they weresupposed to in the right eye but
(07:47):
didn't do what they weresupposed to in the left eye.
Now, under your supplementalclaim, if you look at that and
you pull that evidence now Icould print out that sheet.
If they had told me that's whatthey used, I could pull out
that sheet and then I could alsoprint off the sheet that I
found.
Um, oh, I think it was johnhopkins, where they talked about
(08:09):
the amount of lasers thatshould be done on the retina at
one, any one given time, withouthealing.
Uh, and I could print that offand I could circle, which I
finally did circle the 1500 perday versus the 2500, five
hundred per day and submit thatand that's how I won my case.
But hindsight, if they had not,if I had done that in the first
(08:35):
part, I may not have ever beendenied to start with.
But when they told me in mydenial letter what they could
not find, I knew where it was.
So I was able to go find it andthen support it with outside
documentation and and win my mysupplemental client.
Um, that's a.
That's just an example of whatwhat we may have to do, uh, in
(08:58):
those cases.
Now here's another part.
Today I was talking with aveteran.
He's 90 years old.
He just got out of the VAhospital.
Last week we had some badstorms around here.
He went out to inspect hisproperty.
There were some limbs down.
He tripped and fell over somelimbs and broke one kneecap and
(09:21):
messed the other one up, twistedthe other one pretty bad, and
he was in pretty good, real goodshape until that point.
But he's back home now and hecalled me and we were talking
about aid and attendance at theage of 90.
And his daughter comes in andhelps every day.
So I told him what he needed todo to start and try to get his
aid and attendance, but hedidn't know what to do.
(09:43):
He had heard about it but hedidn't know where to start or
what to do or what to look for.
He really didn't even know whatit was called, you know, and um
, so I was able his, hisdaughter kate, was coming over
to the house this afternoon.
He called me first this morningand she was coming over to the
house this afternoon.
He called me first this morningand she was coming over to the
(10:04):
house this afternoon to bringsome groceries and do some stuff
for him.
So I had him, I told him I'dcall back at 3 o'clock after she
was there and I got to talkwith both of them and she
understood and she had neverheard about it, about standard
aid and attendance.
So hopefully we got him on theright track.
But in the meantime I wastelling him what he needed to
(10:26):
gather to support that aid andattendance.
And that's one of the keys thatrecently what I've seen Now I
don't know if it's going to helpor not, but recently I've had
two other cases where I'vehelped individuals gather and
tell them what they needed aheadof time before they submitted
(10:48):
their claim.
Now they had already filed anintent to file.
One gentleman in particular thatI enjoyed talking about,
because he took two months togather the exact information
that I told him he would need towin his case.
Then he went and filed his case.
He won it in six months.
(11:09):
They dated it back to the dateof the intent to file and he
ended up getting $14,000 in backpay and $2,000 a month from
here on Now.
I think they low-balled him,but I also think he doesn't have
(11:29):
enough documentation fromtalking with him to prove that
he actually has a higher levelof diabetes than what he does.
I don't think there's notenough information by him
talking with the doctors,telling him how much highs and
lows and fluctuation there is,and a lot of that has to do
(11:58):
because, like other gentlemen,they just don't like going to
doctors.
You know you get to be 75, 80years old, uh, you don't like
continue to run to doctors everymonth or two.
But in this particular case, ifhe wants to win, in order for
him to have won this case andgotten a higher level, he would
have needed to be doing that,but he hasn't been.
So now what I've told him to dois start making 90-day and
(12:19):
six-month appointments and in ayear we will ask for a
reevaluation or a higher levelof disability, once we have
enough documentation in hismedical records to win.
But all of this is all a part ofhow you appeal the supplemental
(12:42):
claim.
It's all about thatsupplemental claim.
So you've got time to do it.
That supplemental claim, soyou've got time to do it.
And even if you do asupplemental claim, you don't
have to turn your additionalevidence in on that particular
day.
You can turn that evidence inor add evidence as long as they
(13:03):
haven't made their decision.
Am I correct about that, if Iunderstood it correctly?
Okay, so let's say he knowshe's going to have a doctor's
appointment in a month.
Down the road he can go aheadand turn his supplemental claim
in now, go to the doctor, talkto the doctor and hopefully the
doctor will give him a littlehigher rating or higher more of
(13:26):
his disability statement, andthen he can add that in Now.
Will they send him for a newCMP?
Probably, probably will.
And then that brings up anotherthing that you should do on
these appeals when you go, ifyou have a.
I learned this from James Cripps.
I got to give James credit forthis.
(13:47):
He's good at it.
If you know you're going for ahigher level review or you're
going for a higher CMP, whatever, then the best thing you could
do is spend a little of yourmoney maybe $120, go see a
doctor outside of the VA, buttake your VA notes and say
(14:11):
here's what this doctor says Doyou agree with this?
And they'll read the notes.
They'll read them every time,then they'll do their exam and
then they'll make their decisionwhether they agree or disagree.
Now, I've had doctors, most ofthe time that I've done this,
knowing that they would do it,uh, would either agree and one
(14:32):
said I agree with the findingsof my case, dr pimp and um.
However, I would recommend astronger brace on his foot, uh,
to make it more stable.
Now, with that being said,that's a good, positive second
(14:54):
opinion.
And it cost me $120, but itended up getting me somewhere
around $1,600, $1,700 more amonth, so that $120 was well
spent, wouldn't you say.
J Basser (15:14):
Investment.
Ray Cobb (15:19):
And let's take a scenario like I had at another
podiatrist who said oh well, I'mnot going to write you a letter
unless you let me do yourtreatment, which some of them
will.
So make sure they'll write youa letter before you go.
You haven't lost anything, youknow.
You've got another opinion, youknow what the situation might
be so you can proceed with that.
(15:40):
So you know, fortunately, guysand I know, when you get to be
your age, and my age especially,and like that gentleman today
that's 90 years old, you reallydon't think and you know we have
not.
My age group especially, didnot grow up having to research
(16:02):
stuff out on your own, and I,you know, I hate to think about
how it was back, oh, let's sayback in the 70s and 80s, when we
didn't have, when the computerswere just starting to come in
and there wasn't such a thing asvagov and all of those things.
J Basser (16:24):
You know it's a wonder anybody ever won a case well,
in fact, those days things werea lot different too.
And when you had to physicallymail or physically send the
claims folder from st louis tothe regional office, yeah, and
they had to go through it andthey had piles of paperwork
everywhere and they got caughtin several scandals back then.
You know shredding, shreddergate and yeah, and the time wait
(16:47):
gate and all this other stuff,so yeah, I never, I never will
forget you talking about StLouis.
Ray Cobb (16:53):
I went down after I won my case my first got my 100%
, and they were still kind ofkicking around trying to figure
out, I think, exactly how much Ihad gotten.
And I went down to the regionaloffice and there was a little
lady that helped me and, uh, shewas fairly short, she, she was
(17:16):
probably oh, uh, five one maybeat the most, and that was that
was where it heals and she came,went upstairs and she took my
file, my case, off of a truckthat was about to be sent from
the regional office back to StLouis for the third time.
(17:37):
And when she walked back intoher office her hands were
straight down, my files were inthere and she had her chin up
holding them together under herchin.
That's how many files I had,you know, and that was what.
Everything was done on paperfiles.
So she sat down there with meand we spent more than an hour
(17:59):
of her just looking very quicklyto find out the information
that they were sending all ofthose files back to st louis for
reevaluation.
And she found it and marked itand called upstairs as she
referred to it and told him whatshe'd found or whatever.
They said, okay, send it backup.
She sent it back up and twoweeks later I finally got the
(18:19):
letter in the mail telling mewhat my uh pay would be.
And everything was fine afterthat.
But that's how hard it was backin those days, wasn't that long
ago?
I mean, we're talking 2000, andwell, that was 20 years ago,
2005, 2006.
J Basser (18:38):
What happened?
Such more supplemental claims.
You have new evidence that yousubmit.
Adjudicate it, do that finderrors or kick it back to that.
They find errors?
They'll kick it back to you,Make it deny the claim at any
level.
But you have other options too.
(18:59):
So say you get denied again.
Your next step's going to go seethe Board of Vegetable Appeals,
which opens up another what doyou call it?
Another quagmire, yeah, yeah.
And so you get your informationthere set up and you put your
Form 9 in.
Whatever the form is now.
It used to be a Form 9, and Iguess it's a different form now.
(19:20):
Let's see what that form is.
I'm sorry, it's now form101.8.2.
(19:47):
The longer form, 9.
It's a decision review requestor notice of disagreement.
Hmm, that's the decision reviewrequest.
You got to need to fill one ofthem out and get it sent in.
So get to the BBA, the Board ofVeteran Appeals.
(20:09):
My best advice for you if you'redoing this, like we said last
week, make sure you've got aclaims agent or attorney or a
VSO helping you that knowssomething about the process,
Because you just kicked thisthing off from the planet up to
the starship Could be the deathstar if you don't watch it.
(20:31):
You know that's a timelyprocess to BVA.
You get her situated and youget everything done and they'll
sign you a docket number andyou'll be.
It depends on what kind ofappeal you ask for through the
BVA.
The first is called a directdocket review.
That's a sister to the HLRprocess, except it's BBA's
(20:56):
version of it, and what thatmeans is they'll look at your
records as they are today that'sin the have on file.
You can't add new evidence atall and they'll make a decision
based off the records.
You won't see the judge, butthey'll look at it and they'll
make a decision based off therecords.
You won't see the judge, butthey'll look at and make that
decision.
Okay, now the second option isyou guys sit down, have a video
(21:21):
conference.
A video conference is uh,you'll sit down with your rep in
a room in the regional office.
The screen will pop on and thejudge will be on the TV screen
and you guys have your hearing.
That way you can present yourevidence and talk.
Usually, a rep do most of thetalking you don't do, unless
(21:42):
you've got a rep.
That shouldn't be there.
You know what I mean, right?
Ray Cobb (21:48):
Yes, but Well, that's a very good point.
You know that that you'remaking there.
I I can't emphasize.
My suggestion has always beenlately um, I'm gonna say in the
last two or three years or fouryears for sure that if you have
to go even for the firstsupplemental claim before you
(22:12):
even go to the board, there isso much that can be done now by
an agent.
I recommend all my guys to getan agent because here's why, if
you can find one that you canwork with and that will work
with you, it's because an agenthas direct access to everything.
(22:33):
He can actually see memos thatgoes from adjudicator to his
supervisor.
Even before the decision ismade, he says I think I'm going
to do this, or what do you thinkabout this, any questions like
that that go on behind the doorsyou can actually find.
He can see.
You can't see them, you'llnever know about them, but it
gives him an insight of whatthey're thinking in, the
(22:55):
direction they're going, whichgives him some information about
how they or why they may havedenied your claim.
So I recommend very stronglythat when that happens because
let's say, let's say you'realready, um, I'm going to just
take something that's minimallet's say you're already.
I'm going to just takesomething that's minimum.
Let's say you're already eightmonths or nine months and you're
(23:15):
going to be receiving $2,000.
That's $18,000 back pay and bythe time it gets to the board or
whatever, you've got anothersix or eight months.
Now we're up to, you know,$14,000, $16,000 in back pay, or
$30,000 back pay rather, excuseme, 16 months $14,000, $16,000
in back pay, or $30,000 back pay, rather, excuse me, 16 months
$2,000 a month.
(23:35):
And so if you look at that,$30,000, 20% is basically
$30,000 to $6,000.
You're still going to walk awaywith $24,000 of back pay.
Plus you're going to get $6,000.
I mean, excuse me, $2,000 therest of your life, if not more.
(24:00):
So you know you.
You know for that it's a greatinvestment to spend and be
willing to spend that 20%.
Now should he spend 40% or 50%or 60%?
Like what do we call them?
Claim sharks?
J Basser (24:15):
No, no, but if you get a credited agent.
Ray Cobb (24:19):
yep, if you get a credited agent, one that's a
part of NOVA, and they limitthemselves to 20% of the back
pay, you're in good shape.
That's a fact and youdefinitely got to have it.
If you go to the Board ofVeterans Appeals, you just
(24:40):
definitely have to have it.
J Basser (24:41):
You have to have it in any appeal process.
You can't use an agent.
An agent can't charge you foran initial claim, it's only in
the appeal process.
Same for an attorney, but anattorney can charge you 33%.
Ray Cobb (24:55):
HR right.
J Basser (24:57):
Right, okay, but you know we'll do a show once to let
any agents and attorneys here.
For too long we did one here afew weeks ago.
You can look at and go back totheir archives and look.
The most important thing aboutan appeal initial claim anything
if you have a representative isaccess, and accreditation,
(25:19):
first of all, is the biggestthing too.
Accreditation shows that theyknow what they're doing because
they have to take a test to doit.
Access to the VBMS system isparamount.
If you go to your rep and sayyeah, I'm accredited, do you
have access to VBMS?
They say no, go to the next oneBecause that's where they get
(25:44):
to see all the good.
Well, yeah, they can beaccredited and not have access
because they charge so muchmoney to have access to it.
Oh okay, I wasn't aware of that.
Ray Cobb (25:57):
That's another good.
That's another good point.
When you go to a gentleman andhe's credited okay, then he's
going to be able to pretty much.
He's not going to take able topretty much.
He's not going to take yourcase unless you're a personal
friend.
He's not going to take yourcase.
If he doesn't think he can winit, at least know how he can win
(26:19):
it, because he has to do allthat work.
He has to file those documents,he has to write his, his brief,
his legal brief, and do allthat work, not being guaranteed
that he's ever going to get anymoney and that's another thing
to be aware of.
Guys, if somebody says, well,we'll do it, we need $5,000 a
(26:44):
month, which is what one of thelocal attorneys around here was
doing no, you don't pay anybodyup front, you just don't know
you'll do that.
J Basser (26:53):
No, I mean, don't wait , you should.
The only time you should paysomething up front is if the
agent or ask you to pay what wecall that a.
It's a fee.
It's not doing a print, butthat basically gives them the
opportunity to start opening up.
Ray Cobb (27:10):
Yeah it's a retainer's fee.
You retain them to representyou and that is deducted out of
what he receives back.
So you're going to get thatmoney back anyway.
Yeah, when you win your cash, Imean that's an additional fee
too.
J Basser (27:31):
They look at it and that's what they look at so they
can represent you.
Because they have to look atthe evidence and see where
you're at, because if you got abone or a case, a bad case, then
they're going to tell you thetruth.
That's what people need torealize.
People need to start tellingthe truth.
In this business, you can blowsmoke all you want to, but if
(27:52):
your evidence doesn't result ina win, then you need new
evidence or you need to figureout what's going on.
I've been doing this a longtime.
I've seen all sides of thespectrum.
I know what it's like.
It's kind of sad to have totell somebody that you think is
going to make it.
We've had to make it, you know.
But you know we've had to dothat.
(28:14):
Yeah, okay, so all right, wediscussed a direct docket review
with the BBA, so you don't wantto do a direct docket review?
Of course that's the fastestway.
It's about 21, 18, and 24months right now getting to it.
Unless you way, it's about 21,between 18 and 24 months right
now getting to it.
And last year, like ray's buddythere, the guy he talked to
(28:34):
today he's 90 years old.
This dude gets to ride in thefront train car all the way
around the rails.
You know that, don't you?
Ray Cobb (28:39):
yeah, he.
Matter of fact, if it got upthere they saw his age.
J Basser (28:43):
He probably would be seen within what two weeks,
three weeks, more like I'm gonnasay it's going to be processed
in two weeks, even initial claimyeah yeah put it on there.
Put them up there.
So if you're 75 years old goingto the bba, you are entitled to
have your claim advanced on thedocket, which I think.
(29:06):
Now, if you are not at the bba,you in a regular system to get
your claim expedited you have tobe 85?
Is that what it is?
Ray Cobb (29:21):
I think that's correct .
Well, there's a couple ofthings 85, facing bankruptcy or
facing the chance of beinghomeless.
I think there's one more.
I forget what the third one is.
I know those are two Facingbankruptcy and facing
homelessness.
J Basser (29:41):
Economic hardship, financial hardship they call it.
I guess that's it.
Ray Cobb (29:51):
There's one more.
Yeah, I can't think of what itis, Ralph.
I guess I haven't seen itenough to remember it.
J Basser (29:57):
Well, you can get that going.
Oh, is that?
Ray Cobb (30:05):
if you're on hospice, yeah if you actually have a
terminal diagnosis.
Right.
J Basser (30:16):
Terminal.
Yeah, okay, that's the term.
My grandfather had a BVA claim,or a BVA was a six-day
turnaround.
He had a BVA hearing at theregional office in six days.
(30:47):
Because of his age he won hisBVA appeal.
Two days later he died.
So at least he did win, youknow.
So it's pretty cool.
You guys waiting on a videoconference.
(31:08):
You could probably wait years.
Right now the time frame ispretty far drawn out.
Of course they say they've gotthis and that and this and that
you can look at the BVA websiteand you can look at their delays
and things like that.
It's that far behind that youthink they are.
It's a bunch of charts andgraphs and things like that.
(31:29):
You can look at it.
It'll give you some type ofidea.
But if you had a youngengineering student, look at
this stuff, it'd be a lot better.
They'd explain it to you a lotbetter.
But if you're in that lane,you've got to wait for a pretty
good while.
This is supposed to be thefastest level of appeal known to
mankind, but that requires youto get in the car or get on an
(31:51):
airplane or on the train andride to DC, to the BVA itself,
and have an in-person hearing.
I'd recommend doing that, thereason being is I want them to
see me in person.
I want them to see me as I am.
If you're boogered up in awheelchair or scooter and you
(32:19):
can't walk around, you stand up,fall down, things like that.
If you've got rheumatoidarthritis and your legs are
going sideways and all kinds ofcrazy stuff like that and
they're denying your claim, letthem see it.
A picture is worth a thousandwords, right, ray?
Ray Cobb (32:38):
yes, and the interesting part, when you're
saying that you're correct,because you will never see
anyone in the regional officethat makes a decision.
So they're not going to see youin that wheelchair.
They're not going to see youwith those braces on your feet.
They're not going to see youwith those braces on your feet.
J Basser (32:58):
They're not going to see you with that cane in your
hand.
I think they'll start takingpictures of vets and putting
them on all of this.
Yeah, they start takingpictures of vets and their
situation and start attachingthem to the claim.
Have his AFOs and hiswheelchair.
Ray Cobb (33:12):
Well, you can do that.
You're allowed to do that.
You have to do it and attach itand use, for example.
There's nothing that says youcan't do it.
I don't know if they would lookat it or pay any attention to
it, but you can take a 4138 andwrite a statement in there.
This is what I have to wear andwhat I have to do, and this is
(33:37):
how.
This is my wheelchair, and youhave somebody take a picture of
your wheelchair and attach thatphotograph to the, to the 4138,
as additional evidence or as apersonal statement of your
condition.
J Basser (33:53):
Upload that bad boy.
Ray Cobb (33:56):
Now I don't know.
I've never recommended that toanyone, but I don't know if that
would work or not work.
J Basser (34:03):
It worked.
Ray Cobb (34:03):
Now let me back up a little bit.
I did one thing but it had todo with during the caregiver
program, so it's a littledifferent.
But they denied me in thecaregiver level one.
But they denied me in acaregiver level one and the
question was putting the AFObraces and the importance of my
wife putting the AFO braces andmy shoes on every morning and
(34:26):
adjusting my socks properly.
I actually had a ulcer on top ofthe foot, a blister that turned
into it, got infected and andturned and I had to have a skin
graft.
Well prior to the skin graft,um, when I was, when I was
denied a level one r1, uh, priorto the skin graft, I had this,
(34:49):
you know, sore on top of my footabout the size of a half a
dollar.
So, being a photographer that Iwas, I just got out one of my
camera, one of my lenses, and Itook a picture of it and printed
it off and submitted it with myappeal paperwork and it was
approved.
So I have used a photographbefore.
(35:09):
I had forgotten all about that.
J Basser (35:13):
Good point.
Good point.
I've used photographs.
We've used videos, not on mebut other events I've helped for
navigating years ago.
We use a plane crash video onour carrier.
It's pretty cool, but all right.
So you, you picked your lane, gothrough.
(35:34):
You either went to dc or youdid a nature, you did the direct
document view, or you waitedand went through the board
hearing and made a decision.
Say, if it's a negativedecision, well now what do you
do?
Hopefully you got an agent tohelp you through this process,
or somebody an agent or anattorney to help you through
(35:56):
this process, or somebody anagent or an attorney, and it's
up to the attorney to speak.
Now, you know, because you'vegot a choice, you have to go to
Veterans Court, united StatesCourt of Veterans Appeals, and
(36:16):
you pay $50 to fill out the form.
Once the form gets there, itshows that you're going to file
at the court and you haven't gotan attorney fixed yet.
Once they get their $50 and youhit the airways up there, next
thing you know you're gettingbombarded in the mail by all
these different attorney offices.
So you stack them in a pile andyou set them there and they'll
(36:38):
call you.
And you call them and y'alltalk and they'll want to look at
your case and they'll look atit.
I'm going to tell you right now, folks, unless it's a pretty
good amount of change, a lot ofthe attorneys won't take your
case.
I went through like 11 before Ifound one, so A lot of the
attorneys won't take your case.
I went through like 11 before Ifound one, so you know.
(37:00):
I mean, it's like most of them.
You know, I don't want toaccuse anybody of cherry picking
, but I think they're.
You know, they want to covertheir expenses, so, but I found
a pretty good one.
Well, they have to.
Ray Cobb (37:30):
Well, they have to.
Most of them, the ones I'maware of, they're in major
cities and therefore their renton their property is outrageous.
The one out of Washington thatyou and I both are familiar with
that some of our personalfriends have used, they assign
five attorneys to each case.
Now, the best of my knowledge,unless a case is going to pay be
(37:54):
worth $100,000 or more, theypractically never touch it.
Am I correct about that?
J Basser (38:00):
I don't know.
I don't know if it's actuallymonetary value.
I guess it really depends onthe case itself too.
If you look at it and they seea major mistake, like, so I've
got one attorney, we can fixthis.
If it's got a little complexityto it, you've got to look at it
.
Yeah, it all depends on how farback it goes to and what it is.
(38:22):
Say, for example let me give youan example Say I get qualified
for aid attendance.
Say, last Friday, I disagreeand they made the back date the
day I filed for aid attendanceand I'm like well, I don't agree
with that.
What do I do?
Okay, I think it should be thedate the condition arose, which
(38:47):
is basically like 2018.
Because that's when everythinghappened, that's when the VA did
this and that and this and that.
You know that's when I startedreceiving all this help and
stuff you know to extend, and soI would have to appeal that to
an early effective date.
Well, it would probably getdenied and you're going to wind
up in court.
(39:07):
So there is.
You know, that's what you'vegot to look at.
You know you've got to look atnow, if you go back to 2018 at
$4,000 a month.
Ray Cobb (39:21):
that's a pretty good lick, right, oh yeah.
And so that's Well, like one ofour friends we know got his
award what was close to $300,000.
Oh, yeah, and they got 20%,that's what we do in Michigan.
And that took, you know.
I think they had that case forover working on it themselves
for more than a year.
J Basser (39:42):
We had bills.
There wasn't a quick turnaround.
Bill got over 600 grand,$600,000, over $600,000.
So that's a lot of money.
I'll never see that kind ofmoney, you know.
I mean I've got too much otherinterest, you know.
But that's what lot of money.
I'll never see that kind ofmoney, you know, I mean I've got
too much other interest, youknow.
But that's what you look at,you know.
Select your attorneys and get agood group.
If anybody needs any advice onselecting an attorney or an
(40:07):
agent, please go to exposevet atgmailcom.
Drop us a line, we'll answeryour email, questions or
whatever.
We'll give you the best thingthat we can do.
Hopefully we can put incall-ins on here one of these
days and get a phone line goingand we can start answering
questions.
(40:28):
We'll have to see what'savailable here in the near
future, but the corn is adifferent bird.
I see a lot of stays, withstays meaning that say you file,
your attorney files a paperwork, attorney files a brief, then
(40:51):
they file for an extension toanswer the brief, then they send
the answer in, then yourattorney files an extension to
read their answer.
Each extension is 30 to 45 days.
So this extension, the brief,this extension, the answer this
extension, the rebuttal, thisextension, that, this extension,
this, and then it goes in frontof the judge over a year later,
(41:13):
I might add.
Ray Cobb (41:14):
Yeah right.
J Basser (41:16):
Over a year later I might ask yeah, right, so it
takes three or four months forthe judge to get his paws on it
and he'll make a decision on itwhether to remand it back or
grant the claim and make them dowhatever, or they can dismiss
it or deny it or whatever.
So it all depends on what thejudge says after all this,
(41:36):
because they're trying tonegotiate to begin with.
You know, put weight andevidence together and a lot of
little precedent sitting in here.
Now, if you are a veteran andyou're appealing to the Federal
Circuit, the United States Courtof Veterans Appeals, you are
eligible to apply or to ask forthe Equal Act for Justice
(42:01):
Amendment.
Remember this E-A-J-A.
That's probably four of themost important syllables you
ever heard.
Equal Act for Justice Amendmentmeans that if you are at the
federal court amendment meanthat if you are at the federal
court, veterans Court, you willsign an agreement with your
(42:22):
attorney, an EJA agreement.
You'll sign that paper and sendit to them.
That means that the governmentwill pay your attorney's fees,
provided you come out victorious.
If you lose, you owe nothing.
That way the attorneys don'tcharge you, you know, uh, for
(42:46):
your agents will not charge youa bunch of money off your
breadthroat.
Of course some attorneys aretrying to get that too, but I
mean, it's just the nature oftheir business, you know that
makes sense, right, it does.
Ray Cobb (42:59):
And and um, you know what you got.
One thing, folks, when we'retalking about this is you know
it's taken us.
You know one thing, folks, whenwe're talking about this, you
know it's taken us, you know,roughly 35 minutes to get to
this point, but maybe you know40 at the max.
But we're talking, by the timeyou get to this point, you've
(43:20):
been working in that system six,seven, eight years.
Mm-hmm been working in thatsystem six, seven, eight years,
you know.
So, uh, I think the mostimportant thing, too, is to tell
the the vets don't give up ifyou have to go six, seven, eight
years, if you, if you havethese conditions and they're
(43:41):
military connected, my, I don'tcare if it takes you 12 years to
win it, because the back pay isgoing to be tremendous and you
deserve it.
So you know, as long as you can, keep moving forward, keep
moving forward, don't stop untilyou win your case.
J Basser (44:03):
If you've got a serious disability and it could
be life-threatening, I'd goahead and fill out the forms now
for your wife or your spouse tosubstitute for you.
Don't submit them, don't datethem.
Just give them to your agent,your rep, and say here, when
this hits the fan, date it andsend it in, because when you
(44:24):
pass on, she's got to havesomething to hang on to, because
she can get accrued benefits,what they owe you, and she can
draw dependent indemnitycompensation.
If the death is basicallybecause of the service-debt
condition, it don't have to bethe main cause, just a
contributing factor.
Ray Cobb (44:45):
Well, that's an interesting point.
Now back to one or two casesI've helped with.
Where it was, the individualhad cancer.
Both individuals had cancer.
We actually had it dated andsigned by the veteran when we
(45:06):
submitted the claim and I'm gladwe did.
He didn't live four months.
J Basser (45:14):
Right.
Ray Cobb (45:14):
Now she still hasn't heard, but she was at our last
seminar that we were at and shegot one of our friends to
represent her.
Now and they have been andthey've they've had their video
connection.
I haven't talked with herseveral weeks or months now and
the last time I forgot to askher, but I haven't heard any
(45:36):
shouting or screaming.
So I don't think she's, I don'tthink she's gotten the decision
yet, but just the fact that itshould be, uh, just the fact
that we took those steps to havehim sign it and turned it in um
(45:57):
with the claim, so that, um, inthis case he passed on and she
is able to continue to fight andrepresent him.
And she did have to do thevideo conference video court
with the judge.
That was a year and a half ago.
J Basser (46:21):
Yeah, time flies, buddy.
Ray Cobb (46:22):
Okay, let me just yeah , yeah, and let me just say it's
camp lejeune and we'll we'llkeep you guys informed.
Uh, uh, talking about that, I Imentioned to you the other day,
um august the 14th, the vietnamtraveling walls coming here to
winchester, tennessee, and I'mlooking at the possibility of
(46:46):
that's on Thursday I think it isthe 14th, 15th and 16th.
I'm looking at possibly the15th of having another seminar
like we had here before.
We've been what a year and ahalf, two years since we've done
one.
J Basser (47:01):
Well, it's been a year and a half again.
It's right after November toMay.
It's about a year, and probablya year and seven months.
Ray Cobb (47:12):
Yeah, but we're almost to July.
By the time we have it, it'llbe August again.
So you know, yeah.
J Basser (47:21):
It'll be a hot time down in Tennessee folks.
Ray Cobb (47:23):
It will If we come out we'll be a hot time down in
Tennessee, folks it will.
If we come out, we'll have agood time.
Hopefully the breeze will beblowing, you know.
Get a little breeze off themountain, that's what I'm hoping
.
J Basser (47:35):
Breeze off.
They think you chop up pontoonboat long enough.
Ray Cobb (47:44):
I have to give that some consideration.
I may have to start takingleave of absence from well, no,
I can't.
You only come on duringDecember and part of January,
because that's the only time thefish aren't biting, and in
January and February I like togo out and photograph eagles and
things.
So, yeah, we'll have a littlebit.
I'm getting old enough toretire.
(48:10):
Did you know that?
Yeah, I don't know.
J Basser (48:13):
I think it's cold anymore.
There's a lot of nomicrap goingon Cold weather.
You know, no more cold weatherfor me.
I mean, it's that big day.
It's degrees outside and I'd befreezing to death.
It's true.
Ray Cobb (48:24):
I understand, I understand.
I understand It'll be warminside and Pam will say, man,
I'm burning up.
She'll feel my hands and she'llsay they're cold as ice.
Yeah, they are.
The other times it's cool andmy hands are warm.
You just never know.
J Basser (48:41):
Let me get some final points here in the snow Folks.
We've got about 10 minutes left, so I want to discuss this
issue real quick.
So now you the last two weekswe discussed the initial claims
and appeals.
We didn't go into an exorbitantamount of detail, but we did
lay the groundwork where you canhave a kind of a roadmap to
follow, roadmap to follow thestrongest advice Ray and I both
(49:13):
can give you.
Do not do this by yourself.
Get help.
If you have to use a VSO, findone that's accredited and a good
one.
Get recommendations from peopleto help you, from people to
help you.
Look at your state agencies,your state department of medical
affairs.
Look at your county.
They've got a person there thatcan help you, especially here
(49:35):
in Kentucky.
They've got them, you know, bycounty or whatever.
Some counties have more becauseyou know, unfortunately, we've
got a couple cities in the statethat's got a whole lot of
people in it and uh.
So, but get help, um, if thatperson is good, they're
accredited and they can help youtrack your claim and do it, you
(49:56):
win.
That's good.
But if you get denied and youhave to go to appeal, listen to
your rep.
What's he saying, or she's.
Excuse my French.
I don't want to set it up, butat that point you might want to
look at bringing on somebodythat does it full-time.
You know, basically I'm sayingto somebody that to be
(50:18):
politically correct, have skinin the game.
Somebody's livelihood isbasically the same as your
livelihood, you know.
So you could look at bringingon an agent.
Somebody's livelihood isbasically the same as your
livelihood.
You could look at bringing onan agent or an attorney.
I would recommend this processat this point.
I would find an agent first.
There's a couple hundred ofthem in the country.
There is a page on VAgov thathas a listing of all of them
(50:42):
that are active.
It's got their contactinformation, phone numbers, and
you can find one close to you.
If you want, you can contactthem.
If they cannot take your case,they can recommend somebody that
can.
I know there's several agenciesout there that work with
attorney groups and things likethat, so they're really kind of
unreachable.
They just got theiraccreditation to work.
(51:03):
But there's some thatspecialize and there's one that
specializes in special monthlycompensation and he's probably
the best I've seen over andabove any other, and I've been
doing this for 30 years.
He may not be able to take yourclaim or your appeal.
But he has a host of people hecan send over and send you to
(51:25):
that we'll take.
If you have any questions aboutan agent or attorney, go ahead
and drop us a line at exposemenat gmailcom.
We'll get back with you andsend you a response.
If you need help findingsomebody, let us know.
We'll help you find them.
We'll help navigate thatsituation.
We can do that.
That's what we do.
We don't get directly involvedin people's claims.
(51:45):
There's what we do, you know.
I mean we don't get directlyinvolved in people's claims.
There's no reason to.
I could have been an agentyears ago.
There's too many bass in theworld they've been caught yet
and that, of course, if I'm soboogered up now I'd have to have
an automatic fishing pole.
I like to get my little boatright.
You put the water and drag theline behind it.
You seen those.
They got the little remotecontrol boat.
(52:09):
You put your remote controlboat.
I need to get one of them.
This is going to be awesome.
Ray Cobb (52:15):
Yeah, I saw one of those little demonstrated.
I guess it was on one of theoutdoor channels this week.
J Basser (52:24):
I'd love to have one of them, man, that'd be cool.
Oh my goodness, I'll put a linkup here and we'll start selling
them.
We'll get some money back fromBass Pro Shop With that guys.
We're going to go ahead and endour few minutes already today,
ray.
Thanks for coming on, buddy.
We appreciate you Enjoyed it.
Ray Cobb (52:45):
Enjoyed it, enjoyed it Always do.
J Basser (52:48):
Enjoy the pontoon this weekend.
We've got a couple more weeksleft in town before we head back
out to DC.
Ray Cobb (52:55):
Yeah well, it's supposed to be pretty here
beginning tomorrow morning.
It's sunshining all the waythrough Monday, so I plan on
being on the lake a lot.
J Basser (53:09):
It's going to be frying hot next week, son.
I said 95, 97 degrees here nextweek.
One day I'm going to turnfreeze to death.
Well, with that, folks, thankyou for listening.
Thank you for watching.
You can find this posted up onYouTube after a while, and with
(53:31):
that, this will be John J Basher, on behalf of Mr Ray Cobb, with
the J Basher Exposed VetProductions.
We'll be signing off for now.
Ray Cobb (53:40):
Thanks.
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