June 12, 2025 • 59 mins
Filing a VA disability claim requires understanding the process from beginning to end and preparing all necessary evidence before submission.
• Call 1-800-827-1000 to establish an intent to file, which gives you one year to prepare your claim while preserving your effective date
• Collect medical evidence from both VA and private healthcare providers to support your claim
• Submit all conditions on the same initial 526-EZ form to maintain your original effective date
• Consider working with an accredited Veterans Service Officer who has VBMS access rather than filing alone
• When denied, explore all three appeal options: Higher-Level Review, Supplemental Claim, or Board of Veterans Appeals
• Consider independent medical opinions (IMOs) to strengthen your case in the appeals process
• Be persistent — many successful claims face initial denials but succeed through proper appeals
• Watch for symptoms of depression after receiving benefits as you adjust to your new normal
• Utilize online resources like "VA the Redneck Way" and "How Disability Works" to educate yourself
Tune in live every Thursday at 7 PM EST and join the conversation! Click here to listen and chat with us.
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 (00:01):
Welcome folks to another episode of the Exposed
Event Productions Weekly Show.
My name is John Stacy, theycall me Jay Basher.
My co-host today, on thisbeautiful June 12, 2025, is Mr
Ray Cobb.
I have a great state ofTennessee close to Alabama, so I
call it Talabama.
How are?
Ray Cobb (00:20):
you doing, Ray?
I'm doing great.
How are you doing tonight?
J Basser (00:24):
I'm doing pretty good today.
It's been a busy day, it's beenhot outside, but it's getting
there.
Ray Cobb (00:32):
Yeah, we had a warm day here and I ended up spending
the morning at the VA in thedental office, so I got that
taken and started taking it.
Well, no, all they had to was,uh, just a little preliminary
work today.
So, uh, my big thing day isgoing to be july the 24th, I
think so you know, we gotta gohave some time here to to get
(00:55):
ready for all that and then, uh,looking forward to it.
J Basser (00:58):
So we'll go from there well, that's hell, was house of
pain.
I gotta go here about the sametime.
You do, matter of fact, maybe aweek later, and have some stuff
done.
And I was at the bill yesterday, I got to go back again
tomorrow.
It's an ever ending trip backand forth.
Of course, the car knows theway now.
Ray Cobb (01:15):
Yeah, there you go.
J Basser (01:17):
I'm going to get back to basics today.
What I'm thinking about, whatwe're talking about, discussed
earlier.
Let's go straight flat, basic.
I'm talking step one.
All you vets out there thathave been discharged from
service or that are in serviceand you're thinking about filing
(01:40):
a VA claim, or you're been outof service for a while and
wonder why you haven't filed one, or you're thinking about
filing one.
We're going to go through thesteps today and I think it's
always easy, you know, torefresh back every once in a
while, to go back and you knowjust kind of review, what we can
go into, what you know we'vedone or we can recommend you
(02:02):
know what they should do.
So, ray, on your opinion, whatis the first basic step to
filing an original claim ifyou've never filed a claim
before?
Ray Cobb (02:11):
Well, the first thing I recommend the veterans to do
is to actually call the 1-800number.
I think it's 627-1000 or827-1000.
J Basser (02:23):
827, yeah, 827.
Ray Cobb (02:25):
Call that number and tell them you want to do an
intent to file and that intentto file starts your clock.
You have one year from thatdate to file your claim.
So while you're looking in theclaim and seeing what it may be,
that gives you the opportunityto get in there and get it ready
to go.
(02:46):
Too many claims are filed inour area and I'm sure it must be
nationally that are not readyto be filed.
They're not ready for adecision.
Now you don't have to file itas ready for a decision.
I don't like that route.
I like the standard route, butthat's just a personal
preference.
(03:06):
But you do have to get thingsready and the first thing is to
do an intent to file.
You don't have to say whatyou're going to file on.
You may have two or threethings, but you can just say I
want to do an intent to file.
You can do it by phone andthey'll follow up with you
within a week and you'll get aletter in the mail giving you
the date that you requested theintent to file and telling you
(03:30):
that you have one year to fileyour claim.
That's the first thing that Irecommend that they do.
J Basser (03:36):
The only caveat that I can say there on this situation
is you have an intent to file.
Make sure everything you filefor that intent to file is on
that initial 526.
Correct In that way?
Yeah, Because if you have anyseparate claims like that, then
it could negate your intent tofile for that area itself, only
(03:57):
not what you've already filed.
Ray Cobb (03:59):
And that makes a difference.
I mean, for example, if ittakes you five or six months to
see your doctors and to get allthe information together and
you're doing it on three or fourdifferent claims, then you need
to get all those in at the sametime so that your start date is
that same date and you may betalking about you know, well, if
(04:20):
you're at 100%, that's $4,000.
Well, if you're at 100%, that's$4,000.
If you finally get a decisionafter 10 or 11 months, you know
that's $40,000, $44,000 in yourpocket.
So it's really important to getall of those claims in together
at the same time.
So you really need to.
You know, get on the bandwagonand make your mind up.
(04:41):
I'm going to do this and thenget after it and put it together
.
One web page that I think isgreat for helping individuals is
James Cripps' web page, va theRedneck Way.
You follow his directions onhow to file the claim and how to
do it and you'll probably beokay.
(05:02):
I know of three or four guysaround here that had used that
web page and used that directionand it turned up and they were
approved the first go-around andthey took eight or nine months
from the time they put theirintent to file in to get all the
documentation and things thatthey wanted and felt like they
(05:22):
needed to win their claim, and Ithink that made the difference
between them winning it and notwinning it.
J Basser (05:31):
There's other resources available too.
There's a Facebook page calledthe Veterans Claims Assistance
Group and it started by got himDoug Haynes.
He's an accredited appealsagent and he started that and
he's got several different sitesthat he uses to actually
control.
You know what they do andthere's a lot of folks on there
(05:52):
that are agents, even got someVA employees on there and they
come on, they help out, answerquestions.
It's pretty good.
It's a pretty good Facebooksite and you can join that group
.
It's a Facebook group and youcan join that group.
It's a Facebook group and youcan ask questions and you'll
probably get your questionanswered.
You can also go through thearchives of the page and look
and your question might havealready been answered.
Ray Cobb (06:15):
Probably has.
I mean, there's been thousandsand thousands of cases, and so
they probably have already beenanswered.
I would hate to think there's aquestion that's going to come
up that at least hadn't come uponce before you know.
J Basser (06:32):
And he's also got another site that he made called
howdisabilityworkscom how thedisability works.
That thing covers everything.
If you go there, you ever getthat site, ray.
Ray Cobb (06:45):
No, I haven't.
I need to do that.
J Basser (06:47):
You need to go into that site.
You want some actualinformation.
Go into that site.
I mean, this is probably themost comprehensive, easily
explained website when it comesto those issues and you can get
an education like no other ifyou read this, because this
(07:07):
guy's pretty sharp.
Ray Cobb (07:10):
Good, I'll get that from you or shoot it to me in an
email and I'll look at it andsee where we got going there.
Yeah, that's great and that'sgood information to know,
because you know everybody maynot you know what you and I both
have seen these guys will thinkthey'll look on the VAgov and
(07:32):
they'll think and they do makeit sound easy that they know how
to do it or they're going to doit the way they want to do it.
And that's the first rule too.
You can't do it the way youwant to do it.
You have to do it the way youwant to do it.
You have to do it the way theVA requires it to be done Right,
and you've got to do it in theorder they require it to be done
(07:52):
.
You immediately, for example,can't go and hire an attorney or
go to the Board of VeteransAppeals until you've been denied
.
A guy told me well, I'm justgoing to go right straight to
the court.
You can't do that.
J Basser (08:10):
You can't pass the same monopoly.
Ray Cobb (08:12):
Right right and so you know, for the web page that you
mentioned and VA, the RedneckWay, those web pages are great
to help give you directions.
But, guys, I can't point outthe importance of following
those directions, followingthose steps step by step and
(08:33):
you'll be okay.
J Basser (08:34):
Okay.
Once you get the situationgoing, they say you got your
intent to file done and you'vegot what you want to do.
You know, you know what youwant to file for, but now you're
just trying to gather whatrecords you need, what you want
to do, you know.
You know what you want to filefor, but now you're just trying
to gather what records you need.
If you go to the VA fortreatment, folks go ahead and
file your claim Because all theyneed is your service records
and the VA records.
If you go outside the VA, itwould be better off if you did
(08:56):
this.
Contact your doctor's officeand get copies of all the
records pertinent to your issuethat you're having.
You might have to send off anthe mail to do it because it
could be far away.
It could be local.
Do the premium informationrequest and do whatever it is.
Some places will charge youprobably a certain amount of
(09:17):
money, unless it's basically thefirst copy.
It depends on which doctor'soffice it is, because they're
all different.
Get that information, scan itinto a computer Okay, and it's
assign it a file number.
Once you get it in there, eachissue is going to have a
separate file number and youtake that file number and you
name it whatever you know andattach it to that claim.
As far as what it's all about,then when you go into your
(09:44):
21-526-EZ that's the phonenumber you filled out for the
initial claim on VAgov It'lltell you what you're doing and
you start filling it out.
There's a section under theUpload Information.
You can highlight the file forthis section and upload it.
Next section upload it.
You can upload everythingelectronically, so you know
they'll get it.
A lot of folks trust the USmail.
(10:06):
I for one don't, and there's along history I'm an old fart
anyway, so there's a longhistory behind that right.
Ray Cobb (10:17):
Yeah.
J Basser (10:19):
And you can upload that information and it'll make
things go smoother.
But now you've got a decisionto make.
Once you get her done and gether turned in, the waiting game
begins.
Peer is probably one of themost stressful, I guess you'd
(10:39):
say, areas that you'll gothrough, especially if you've
got a lot of seriousdisabilities and you can't work
and you're waiting on this asyour livelihood.
You know you can.
Actually you've got to make adecision.
What am I going to do?
Do I get help or do I not gethelp?
Or what?
Do I drive this vehicle myselfor does somebody help me drive
(11:02):
it?
And we had these shows before,guys.
But personally I'd recommendyou get an accredited veteran
service officer through one ofthe state agencies or the
American Legion or the VFW orthe DAV, or an accredited
appeals agent that does doinitial claims but doesn't
charge for initial claims, whichthey really can't charge for
(11:24):
initial claims.
But you've got to find one thatdoesn't.
One of those people that areaccredited that's the key word
is accredited and they have tohave access to the Veterans
Benefit Management System orVBMS.
That way you're not calling theVA every two days hey, what's
going on with my claim?
All they've got to do is sitback and you can call them once
a week or so and talk to themand they can give you an update,
(11:45):
or they can call you when theysee an update.
That's like watching your claimin real time.
So that's what I recommenddoing.
I don't really recommend anybodygo alone do this alone, because
I've seen so many peopledestroyed because of that.
I've seen so much.
That's carnage, that's what itis, because them folks
(12:08):
definitely know what they'redoing and they know, you don't,
you know, and they turn into PTBarnum.
They just sucker-borne everyminute.
You know what I mean, right?
Ray Cobb (12:20):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, guys, there's one thingthere that I found that was
helpful for me.
You mentioned getting your VAmedical records, which is what I
had.
I took those VA medical recordsand when I was ready to file my
(12:41):
claim on a 4138, I put a noteplease look at page such and
such, paragraph such and such.
Or then I made a copy of justthat one page I wanted them to
look at and I highlighted or Icircled it.
And the one that you definitelywant to make sure is a diagnosis
(13:02):
, because they have a tendencyto overlook a diagnosis or a lot
of times and this is what I'veseen recently in the VA medical
system they're not giving adirect diagnosis.
I have a gentleman here locallyin Winchester, tennessee, who
has been just recently, aftermore than a year.
(13:25):
They kept saying well, you haveParkinson's symptoms.
Do you have Parkinson's disease?
Well, we're not ready to saythat yet, but you have symptoms.
Can we see you in 90 days, orcome back next month, or let's
go do this.
Well, because if you don't havethat diagnosis, they're not
(13:50):
going to approve that.
J Basser (13:52):
They're not going to approve that they change it to
Parkinsonians, which is asymptom that mimics Parkinson's
that are not totally allParkinson's, because it's all in
the head.
You know how that issue goes.
Ray Cobb (14:04):
Well, yeah, that's true.
I use that as an examplebecause that's what's going on,
or what went on here.
But when I first went inconcerning neuropathy, it took
them almost a year before theyagreed and put into my records
(14:25):
that I had diabetic neuropathyand then it was Before or after
you had the test.
Oh, that was even after I hadthe test.
They had already stuck needlesin the bottom of my foot.
Okay, okay, and I got the samesituation he stuck needles in
the bottom of my foot.
J Basser (14:44):
Okay.
Ray Cobb (14:44):
Okay.
And then I got the samesituation.
Well, I need to see you and letme see you next month or let me
see you in three months.
And then finally, once the guyfinally after about I think he
did the test three times orthree different appointments, so
probably over a six-monthperiod of time he finally came
(15:06):
in after that last one and saysokay, yeah, you definitely.
Now I'm sure you have diabeticneuropathy, so I'm going to put
you in for some diabetic shoes.
And that was another bigclincher for me winning my case,
(15:26):
because now I had an official,not only the diagnosis, but I
had treatment for the diagnosis.
And those were important thingsto point out.
And then another thing that Idid here I think it's always a
good thing to do.
I know James recommends this.
I know in a way you recommendit too.
We recommend Bethany for someof this, but sometimes it's good
(15:53):
to get a second opinion.
Now, if you get a secondopinion, this is the way I have
done it and been successful withit.
I don't know if it'll workevery time or not, but I know it
has worked for me.
I will take my diagnosis like Itook exactly that final report
that he said I had diabeticneuropathy and recommended AFO
(16:16):
braces and new shoes and all ofthat.
I took that medical report forthat, that visit, which was two
pages.
I highlighted where he said thediagnosis.
It said diabetic neuropathy.
I highlighted that and thendown at the bottom where it said
treatment, recommended afobraces and diabetic shoes.
(16:38):
And so I took that and I went toa local podiatrist and I went
into him I said headed him thereand I said this is what they
say I have.
Will you check me and concurwith that diagnosis and do you
recommend the same type oftreatment?
(17:00):
So he got me on the table.
He stuck some needles in thebottom of my feet, took a
molyfilament and ran up and downmy feet and over my ankles and
he said uh, yes, you havediabetic neuropathy.
I said would you write me aletter and um recommend the type
(17:21):
of treatment that you wouldrecommend?
So he wrote the letter and hesaid I concur with the VA Dr
Penn, podiatrist, dr Penn, hedoes have diabetic neuropathy,
but I think the treatment mightneed to be a little stronger.
(17:42):
Instead of the, I call themfiberglass, but it's some type
of a fiber brace I recommendyeah, I recommended a I'd
recommend a metal brace whichgoes underneath the heel of his
shoe and his arch.
So other than that, that was theonly thing.
Now here's a clencher.
(18:04):
It cost me $120 out of mypocket because I had no other
insurance except VA, so I paid$120.
But that actually got me $700or $800 a month.
So that was $120 well-invested,along with about six or eight
months of back pay, along withabout six or eight months of
(18:25):
back pay.
So you know that was a prettygood chunk of money for $120
invested.
Now, be honest with the doctorwhen you schedule your
appointment.
I've been diagnosed with this.
I want a second opinion andmake sure they know that at
first, because some doctors willnot give second opinions.
Some doctors will only see youif you're going to use them as
(18:50):
they're taking care of that.
Yeah, if they're going to do thetreatment.
So make sure you understandthat, so you don't waste your
time and money, because you'llget there and they'll check you
out and they'll agree with whatyou got and then they'll send
you on your way without a letteror they'll write you a letter
and if you do get a letter itsays no, I disagree, he doesn't
have this, he has this instead.
(19:11):
Uh, and whatever he says youhad doesn't agree with what you,
what the doctor says, what yourclaim is.
When you walk out the door,find the nearest trash can wad
it up and throw it in and takethat $120 as expenses.
J Basser (19:28):
Rod it off what you're talking about.
Anytime you have to have AFOs,you're getting into higher
levels of special monthlycompensation, which is over and
above 100%.
Of course we discuss that allthe time anyways.
Of course, if you have diabetesand you're serviced next to
your diabetes and you're stillpretty new to the game and you
don't have all these issues, buteventually you probably will.
(19:51):
So it's better to keep thisstuff in mind.
Now I'm not an osteodontist so Idon't know how to prognosticate
what you're going to do downthe road, but things will
probably change.
You know, in the scope of theVA, as far as ratings, you know
20, 30, 40 years from now.
It's because I always have, andI always will, maybe no major
(20:13):
changes, but you know, once youget to that level and you have,
you start to say they have togive you braces and that's
basically considered a lost useof a feet foot and that requires
a higher level of aid andattendance.
You know, because you're goingto have to have help anyway.
So once you get to where youcan't walk, you've got to have
somebody to help you.
Ray Cobb (20:31):
Now, when I got my first one John, when I got my
first one, I just had diabeticneuropathy and diabetic shoes,
but I still went to the doctorin Tullahoma just to confirm
that I had diabetic neuropathyDid they give you an extra K for
that.
Well, I'm not sure I got a 60%rating on one foot.
J Basser (20:58):
That's the same as loss of youth.
Ray Cobb (21:01):
Okay, they didn't give me the L at that time.
They didn't give me the L untilthat time.
They didn't give me the l untilI got they might give you a k
they might give you a k no, butthey rated biggest issue but.
But they read yeah, they ratedme at 60 with diabetic
neuropathy and then later onthey gave me an l for loss of
(21:22):
use of the foot.
But that was two years later.
It was two years after I firstwas diagnosed with diabetic
neuropathy, before I had tostart wearing, before I had foot
drop and I had to start wearingbraces.
So that was two years later.
J Basser (21:45):
Well, that's good.
The biggest issue is when youget rated for anything,
regardless if it's diabeticneuropathy or hypertension heart
disease, you have to make sureyou're rated correctly.
That's right.
And so you've got to knowwhat's wrong with you.
You've got to know and you needto read your stuff.
You need to get on to the notesin VAgov.
(22:07):
You need to read your notesthat the doctor's right Go down
toward the bottom, bottom andall the diagnosis stuff you
learned in the last two or threeparagraphs.
You can see that you can lookthrough some of the stuff.
You know it's kind of to me,it's a different language but
you get down to the assessmentand the plan and that's where
you start seeing the gravy andthe gravy and the dumplings and
(22:30):
the chicken.
You know that's what you got toeat.
You know you got to look atthat because that's what
controls the environment.
That's how you stay on trackand it helps you get your clan
notified.
You can look at that Then.
What I'd also do if you havetime on your hand, which you
need to make time I do it onevenings or weekends or whatever
(22:52):
I'd get on the computer and sitdown and I'd start looking up
Title 38 CFR, part 3 and Part 4,and I'd start reading.
You're going to have to read itmore than once because again,
it's a different language andyou won't understand it the
first time reading.
You won't understand nothing.
Once you get a little morecomfortable reading it, start
(23:12):
understanding little sections.
It's kind of like reading theBible.
You know all the vowels andthis and that Once you read the
Bible enough, you understandwhat it's about.
Very similar, kind of get ahandle on it.
It's okay, here's what I haveand here's what the rig says.
You should know about what.
You're going to be rated in theneighborhood anyways for what
(23:33):
they say and the QuaternaryDepartment believes the regs are
boss.
That means that it's a federalstatute and yet they have to
abide by that.
Of course the VA uses aninternal thing called the M-21,
which is their working copy andbasically it's a derivative off
the Title 38, but you can't useit in the higher level appeals
like the BBA or the court.
(23:55):
They'll be like magic or lotsof things to kill O'Neill.
You're trying to shoot a shotover to kill O'Neill.
They'll slap it out of thereand get the thing out of here.
You know I've seen them get madand say get that out of here, I
don't want to see that.
So we don't want to take theM-21 to the board of the court,
(24:16):
do we?
Ray Cobb (24:16):
Brad, you know, matter of fact, I wouldn't even look
at the M-21.
John, I found a good place forreferencing the 38 CFR codes and
the ratings is PrincetonUniversity Law School.
J Basser (24:34):
Oh yes they are very, very good.
Ray Cobb (24:36):
And for me, it put it in language that I could read
and understand and you can godown through there, you can put
in your diagnosis or what youwant to look up, do a search and
it'll pop up and you can readabout it.
But I found that that was, forlack of a better term, the
easiest one for me to read andunderstand and you can get to it
(24:59):
right there.
You know you can Google it andit'll come right up and click it
on and start looking andreading.
J Basser (25:07):
Occasionally they'll take a claim.
You know that those studentswill take a bachelor's claim.
Ray Cobb (25:13):
No, I did not.
J Basser (25:16):
Yep, they used to.
I don't know if they do it nowor not.
There's so much stuff going onnow with these schools.
You know things a little bitdifferent, but I checked into it
, you know.
But so you got your help, andyour help is telling you this
and that they're doing this andthat, and so they say, well, we
got to send you out for an exam.
So you get a littlenotification and, joe, veteran,
(25:39):
you're going to go out to anexam and it's going to be exams
that are going to be performedby let's use one out of there
Veterans Evaluation Services,ves, and they'll contact you and
they'll set up your exam.
You go through the exam, youhave your exam, you go back home
, you wait and you get yourmileage check in the mail.
(25:59):
So when you get your mileagecheck, you know it's already
sent back to the VA.
So then you call your rep upand say, hey, any movement on
this claim.
They'll tell you what's goingon and he'll give you the
information and you know you'llhave your decision fairly soon.
It depends on how complex yourclaim is and what issues you
have and how fast they work it.
And once you get your rating,look at it and make sure you're
(26:20):
rated the way you think itshould be rated and look at all
the information that you get inyour decision, because if you
tell you what evidence they useand things like that and you
know the evidence you submitted,so you can A, b, c, d and you
see something that's not right,you can talk to your agent and
you can appeal it.
Or if you get denied you canappeal it.
That's a big question.
Once you get a denial letter oryou disagree with the decision,
(26:43):
the appeals process goes to awhole different ballgame.
They offer you three levels ofappeal.
Okay, the first level is calleda high-level review, which
means a high-level reviewer willlook at it and it's sent out to
(27:03):
a different office.
It's the same person that didyour thing.
They look at it and they makeanother decision, send you for
another exam or send it back tothe regional office, or they
deny it.
If they deny it, you're goingto have to go to the other pill
process called a supplementalpill.
Okay, well, basically,supplemental pill means that
(27:24):
under a high level review, it'son its face of what they have.
You can and you cannot submitnew evidence but say you got
some more medical tests you wantto submit.
So if you're in thesupplemental end, you can now
submit them.
Okay, and they'll make adecision based on that.
Ray Cobb (27:39):
Well, another good point is that this needs to be
explained.
When you're at that higherlevel review, you're not allowed
to point out anything that theymay have missed.
We're on a supplemental review.
If you have an agent, orperhaps you can talk to the
regional person yourself or youcan at least submit 4138 that
(28:03):
directs them to something inyour medical records that you
think or you wasn't mentioned,that they have overlooked, that
you think or you wasn'tmentioned, that they have
overlooked.
And to me that is a tremendousadvantage with that supplemental
claim, because you do have someinput, whether it's new
evidence or whether it'spointing out existing evidence
(28:24):
that they did not look.
I mean, come on, guys, when Ifirst got into this working my
claims, when I was about halfwaythrough, I went down and asked
for my medical records and theysaid well, we can't give them to
you today.
He said we'll have to burn youa CD.
I said, okay.
When I got that CD, it hadalmost 3,000 pages of medical
(28:46):
records and notes.
Well, what is it to time, john?
Records and notes.
Well, what is it to time, john?
I think you know the timelength that they usually give a
guy 15 minutes, 20 minutes atthe most to look at a case and
build it or whatever.
They don't give them very long.
They can't sit there and takethe time that you and I do, or
someone else, to make sure thatit goes right.
(29:08):
So you know, you got to kind oflook at yourself at that point
and then, if you find somethingthere, that's when you reach out
to John Stacey and say who doyou recommend to work this type
of a case or who do you knowthat would be interested in this
type of a case, and go fromthere yeah, you might give up
(29:32):
20% of your back pay, but it'sbetter to give up 20% of the
back pay and get $2,000 or$3,000 a month rather than to
get zero.
J Basser (29:45):
He's talking about the accredited claims agent or
appeals agents.
Ray Cobb (29:48):
Correct.
J Basser (29:50):
These guys are specialists in what they do.
They basically have the sameeducation level as most of the
employees do.
I mean, they take the test andthey know what they're doing,
and a lot of them are verysuccessful.
And you know, I know several ofthem who've had a bunch on the
show and I'm friends withseveral of them.
So you know, I know the onesthat are, know the ones that are
(30:12):
good at what they do.
They're very busy.
Don't get me wrong, though.
A lot of guys have a lot ofclients, but they're extremely
busy.
If you guys are looking for one, go ahead and send in a
question to expose that atgmailcom and ask, and Rare R1
will jump on there and we'll putyou in the right direction.
Anyways, in the right area.
Ray Cobb (30:32):
Yeah, maybe even a couple, and that's something
else.
You're 100% correct.
I would actually interview themor talk with them and you've
got to feel comfortable withthem and they've got to feel
comfortable with you.
And that's another importantthing.
I know that a couple that I hadhere locally didn't go with the
(30:56):
first person I recommended Acouple of different reasons.
One I have no idea what wassaid, but anyway they just
didn't quite match up.
So the second one they matchedup great and it worked out great
and the guy won his claim.
So there's sometimes.
Another one was so busy hecouldn't take it, but he
referred him to another agentthat was able to take him and
(31:19):
help him.
So it's a networking type of athing that we can help the
veteran do.
J Basser (31:26):
That's a good deal you know, and of course, I know
several.
It also depends on what theclaim is all about too.
Yeah, Because some.
Of course I know several.
It also depends on what theclaim is all about too, yeah,
because some of these guys havegot a certain level of expertise
and you know you've got tofocus on that because you know
they've already done so many ofthese claims.
They've already been to thecourt and been everywhere else,
you know, or to the board.
They've got a couple that canactually go to the court and
(31:54):
practice in front of the court.
So you know it's all prettygood Anyhow.
That's the claim situation andgoing into appeals process in
kind of a nutshell.
We'll talk about the Board ofVeteran Appeals.
That's the third and finaloption you have.
You can take the BBA claim.
You can file straight to theboard after you get a denial.
You don't have to go throughthe HLR or the supplemental
claim, like if they screwed yourclaim up.
Go straight to the board afteryou get a denial.
You don't have to go throughthe HLR or the supplemental
claim, like if they screwed yourclaim up.
Go straight to the BBA.
(32:15):
Okay, and the problem is theBBA.
They've got different avenuestoo.
They've got direct docketreview, which basically right
now is probably 16 to 18 to 24months, depending on the claim
itself.
As far as the veterans beingseen, there's the.
(32:35):
You can go to DC.
That's supposed to be thefastest route.
I don't know the time limit onit yet, but you can take a trip
out to.
I'd go to Northern Virginia andride the train in.
I wouldn't go nowhere near DC.
You can go over there and youcan go to your hearing there at
the Board of Veterans Appeals.
You can rep and go with it.
Of course you're not paying hisway, but you know that's what
(32:56):
it is.
I used to have a travel board,ray.
You remember the little travelboard.
Ray Cobb (33:02):
That's what I went to the first time.
That's where the guy playedbasketball in the room, remember
?
He threw the wadded-up paperaround and bounced off of four
walls before it landed beside mychair.
J Basser (33:19):
I thought he was trying to hit that guy in the
head.
Ray Cobb (33:22):
Well, he does, and he missed and almost hit James
Cripps who was sitting behindhim.
J Basser (33:27):
Yeah, but James was busy kicking that chair.
He was.
Ray Cobb (33:32):
We probably need to tell that so these guys would
understand what we're talkingabout.
Folks, I was in this travelboard with a judge.
My wife Pam was in there and agentleman by the name of Milton
Sweeney who was supposed to bemy state rep, and then James
Cripps was there as a supporter.
(33:55):
I couldn't take an attorney butI could take a supporter, so
James was there to support.
Well, we started off and minebecause it was Agent Orange
exposed in the continentalUnited States, had to be a
direct exposure.
It could not be an assumption.
Well, milton Sweeney, my agent,started down the road of
(34:21):
assumption and we were abouthalfway through it and James
recognized where the judge wasgoing by the questions he was
asking and the way it was beinganswered.
The judge was about ready,wasn't too far from making the
decision on an assumption.
And James keeps kicking thechair, kicking the chair about
the fourth or fifth time, kickedit pretty hard and the guy
(34:42):
jumped and the judge heard it.
He said are we talking about anassumption or direct exposure?
James and I both spoke up andsaid direct exposure and that
state agent just sat there likehuh, you know, deer in the
headlights, look.
And he whited that sheet ofpaper up that he had been taking
(35:03):
these notes on for 30 minutes,reared back and threw it at.
That agent went beside his head, bounced off of two walls.
James had to duck and it landedin the chair beside me and he
said let's start over.
Open a desk drawer and thistime pulled out a blue pad.
The other was yellow Pulled outa blue pad and he said we're
(35:27):
going to start all over again.
And he started asking and thequestions were totally different
.
But I ended up winning my casefor Agent Orange exposure in the
continental United States atFort McKellar.
But yeah, that's yeah, andthat's the way it worked.
That's the way that travelingboard worked, and it was pretty
(35:49):
good.
You could go to Washington oryou could do it on the local
level, yeah.
J Basser (35:54):
Now they've got video conference right.
Ray Cobb (35:56):
That's correct.
I've had two or three peoplehere who's gone the video
conference route.
J Basser (36:01):
That's the other step.
Basically, I think that'staking the place of the tribal
board.
Is that correct?
Ray Cobb (36:08):
That's my understanding and it sounds like
that's how it works, becausethe individuals that I knew here
went down, they went down tothe same office that I went to
in the regional building and umwent into a little room and they
actually had a computer set upon a uh, you know, probably a oh
, I don't know.
(36:28):
I think mine's about a 29 inchtv screen here in front of me
that I have on a large tv screenanyway, and that's where where
you see the judge and the judgesees you.
They have a split screen, justlike we have now that you and I
are watching, and so you can seethe reaction.
As things are said, you have a,if you have an agent, like the
(36:54):
two people that I recommendedhere had an agent, and the agent
is the third person on thatscreen and he takes the place of
the local state agent, which Ihad, a local state agent, but
now he took the place of thatstate agent and can really kind
of except for a couple or threequestions, handle the entire
(37:17):
claim.
J Basser (37:18):
Yeah, they the entire claim.
Yeah, they drive the truck.
I mean that's their job and theydo it.
Grandfather's very similar.
He had his wife and hisdaughter to help him ambulate
into the hearing.
(37:38):
He had his rep, john Doley,who's a good accredited claims
agent folks, but bad news ishe's kind of retiring so he's
not taking new cases.
Then he had another guy thatworked with him, dr Bash, and
they had their hearing and letDr Bash speak and he kind of
explained his situation to thecourt or to the judge and it
(38:00):
worked, and so they treated himpretty bad throughout his years
either one or two of that and hegot.
Of course he won and didn't livelong enough to enjoy the money,
but still, you know, the moneyhelped the family out a whole
lot and so we started with thatand that kind of makes you, you
know it makes you feel better.
You know you don't want lot andso we started with that.
That kind of makes you, youknow it makes you feel better.
(38:22):
You know you don't want to giveup because basically, if you're
down and out and yourlivelihood depends on this and
you win your claim, that'sprobably the most happy you'll
be in your entire life, besidesthe birth of a child.
Ray Cobb (38:36):
That's right.
J Basser (38:37):
And, but in your entire life besides the birth of
a child.
That's right.
But the situation reversesafter a period of about one to
two months, once it sets in andyou've done what you have to do
and you realize you've got agood income coming in, you know
you've got some money orwhatever.
Then you're going to go througha period of depression because
now you realize that you're partof the boogered up boys club,
(39:00):
and it does, because your first,next decision is what caused
you to have a certain amount ofdepression, because you can't do
what you used to do anymore.
Ray Cobb (39:08):
That's for sure.
J Basser (39:09):
And that's also a little rightful issue.
Yeah, correct, but just keep inmind that's going to happen.
It's not going to happen to me,it'll happen.
Ray Cobb (39:22):
And you know that's another thing.
Great, john, I'm glad youbrought that up, because what
you need to do, guys, when thathappens and it will happen,
there's no question, I don'tknow what severity, Everybody's
different but seek out somecounseling.
I mean, your primary caredoctor is supposed to have a
social worker assigned to you.
Get with that social worker,get to working on that, because
(39:46):
you may end up.
If you end up like I did, I wasso angry and so upset about it
that I actually end up with whatthey called depression, with
high anxiety attacks, and theygave me 100% for that about two
years after that and said it waspermanent and it still is.
There's.
(40:14):
Sometimes things can happen, notnecessarily just with the VA,
but the other day I hadsomething happen with an
insurance company and I flew offthe handle just as if it was
with a VA.
Oh, I did so.
It doesn't go away.
You just learn.
You try to learn to control it.
Yeah, I recommend that youreach out and then, depending on
what that social worker andprimary care doctor says, you
(40:35):
may even have a claim there.
I know a lot of guys that have30%, 40%, 50%.
Then there's two guys I knowhave 100% Right.
J Basser (40:49):
I'm similar to both you, ray.
They get mine on.
They call it an adjustmentdisorder, depression anxiety but
then they finally got it workedout and they changed it to
full-fledged PTSD.
They did it a couple years agoand of course, I got the stress
report.
So you know it took a long timefor them to understand it, but
(41:09):
it works out.
Guys.
I mean you know, and don't belistening to everybody.
Talk, okay.
If you've got a question to ask, get on them groups and ask
their questions.
Talk.
If you've got a question to ask, get on them groups and ask
their questions.
Don't listen to nobody else.
If you're 100% PTSD, the firstthing people tell you they're
going to come and get your guns?
No, they're not.
The only way they will come andconfiscate your weapons is if
(41:35):
they determine through a viablesource that you are not able to
handle your finances and can'tpay your bills.
That changes everything alittle bit as far as that, but
most people with PTSD can paytheir bills and they have
somebody that does it.
Ray Cobb (41:51):
Yeah, or has somebody that works with them.
J Basser (41:54):
Family member son daughter spouse Sort of
fiduciary.
Ray Cobb (41:58):
Yeah, they work with you.
And another, the only otherways in which I've unfortunately
experienced this with someone.
A gentleman called me one night.
He had PTSD.
I'd helped him win a couple ofclaims a year or so earlier and
he said I want to call you and Iwant to thank you.
You know, but I'm fed up withthis.
(42:19):
They just denied me on this andthat and I'm not going to go
through all this again, I'm justgoing to end it.
And I wanted to call you andthank you before I shot myself.
I said shoot yourself.
So we started talking and I wason the phone with him about 15
or 20 minutes and there's aknock at the door talking, and I
was on the phone with him about15 or 20 minutes and there's a
knock at the door.
Somebody's at the door hold on,let me see.
(42:40):
So he gets up and he leaves thephone.
I'm thinking, oh gosh, who isit?
What's going on?
And fortunately, before hecalled me, he called the VA and
told them what he was going todo and the knock on the door was
a gentleman with the sheriff'sdepartment and the guy picked up
the phone said this is deputySheriff with Franklin County
(43:00):
Sheriff's Department.
Is this Mr Cobb?
Yeah, this is Ray Cobb.
Well, just wanted to let youknow.
We're here now and, yes, he didhave a gun sitting beside him.
We're going to take the gun andwe're going to take him and get
some help.
So that's what happened, youknow, don't know where he is.
That was actually the last timeI talked with him and that was
(43:21):
at least three years ago, so Ihave no idea where he went or
what happened to him.
He was talking about moving outof state earlier to me, moving
out of state where his brotherwas, so I don't know if that's
what he ended up doing or not.
I hope he did.
J Basser (43:39):
Yeah, I had a good friend in that situation and
it's kind of sad.
I mean, I helped him get his100%.
He actually got murdered inAlabama.
He had PTSD and he blew up onsomebody and the guy shot him.
Yeah, he didn't make it.
You know, he's a good guy too.
He's a good guy too.
(43:59):
He's a big fisherman.
So it's pretty sad.
But one thing about having PTSDand these issues you have to
train yourself not to let it runyour life.
That's how you have to do it.
You gotta train yourself andalways give yourself something
to look forward to.
You know, but that's how youhave to do it.
(44:19):
You've got to train yourselfand always give yourself
something to look forward to,you know.
But you were talking about yourissue.
I'll tell you a little storyabout mine.
I don't think Razor ever heardthis story.
I'll tell it.
I'm not going to tell the wholething because it's got a lot of
bad stuff involved with it.
Of course I was a good guy.
I wasn't a bad guy.
(44:43):
I had several episodes of superhigh blood pressure and service.
I had like seven, eightreadings and six of those with
bottom line was over 100.
And that's class twohypertension.
You know, any time your bottomline is over 100 and that's
class two hypertension.
You know, any time your bodynumber gets over 100, that's
pretty much hypertension.
And then the first full serviceyear I went to see my doctor
(45:06):
and he said, son, you gothypertension.
And he diagnosed me with thatand told me I was fat.
And he said we're going tocontrol your blood pressure,
we're going to try it with dietfirst.
He said come back tomorrow andwe'll check it again.
I went back the next day and itwas higher.
So he told me what to eat andthings like that, and then come
(45:27):
back and see him.
Well, I actually had moved.
I got a job with the governmentand moved with their physical
things like that and couldn't goback to him.
I went to another doctor herein another town in Kentucky my
father would be that andcouldn't go back to him.
I went to another doctor herein another town in Kentucky.
I filed a BA claim and theydenied it because they didn't
have the service records the old3.156C issue, right?
You remember those?
Those don't have the servicerecords and deny it.
(45:48):
Yeah, I've seen those, yeah,and this went on for seven or
eight years they couldn't findthem.
They finally found them.
So I asked to reopen a claimbased on the evidence you know
and do it right.
I got a letter back saying thatthose records are not relevant
(46:08):
anyway, so I became verydepressed and let it go Give up
on it.
Ray Cobb (46:19):
And that's what they want you to do.
J Basser (46:22):
Two years later I filed it again with a CFP exam
and got rated and got back to acertain date.
Didn't get everything I needed.
But so later on I filed a.
Couldn't have a mistake byerror, claim a Q claim, stating
(46:43):
that they're wrong by law.
So they denied it, goes to theBBA and I sit there for 25
months waiting.
They just looked at it anddenied it.
We asked them to reconsider it,denied it again.
So I found me a lawyer, took itto court and they're still
writing briefs.
So the next one is due sometimethis month.
(47:04):
This is June, right, yes, butbasically what they're saying is
hypertension has to be measuredthree times on three separate
days.
That's well and good for now,but in 1990, god, almighty, I
can.
Good for now, but in 1990, god,I can't remember that.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s theonly three readings was
(47:25):
basically for anything over 10%and you had to be compensable
within the first post-serviceyear and that should be a
presumptive right, ray.
Ray Cobb (47:35):
Correct, that would be my understanding or my thinking
anyway.
J Basser (47:40):
The regs changed and they started doing that.
This is before the regs evenchanged.
So that's the issue with thecourt.
So we'll see how that goes.
There's some other stuff goingon too we're hobbling about, but
I think it's fixing to work out.
But I just finally got tired.
I said, okay, let's just takeit to court and see what happens
.
So we're seeing what happensand one of those agent attorneys
(48:02):
I'm talking about is working onit Him and another law group
and they're pretty good.
So once everything gets settledand done, I can talk more about
it.
I'll give you guys someinformation if you need to
contact them or whatever.
I'm sure they'll appreciate it,and that's just one of many
information that I have as faras service connections.
Ray Cobb (48:20):
The main thing, john, that you and I did and James
Cripp did and Alex Graham hasdone.
You don't give up.
J Basser (48:56):
Do what you gotta do Anytime you have an issue that
aggravates you every time youthink about it, because this
situation, I mean the more Ithought about it, the better I
got.
It's not healthy, guys.
I sit down, what's going on?
I went and collected everyblood pressure Reed never had in
every doctor's office that Icould get him from.
(49:17):
So I sit down anded and made achart.
I put the date, the bloodpressure, where I had it done,
at what they said, and I didover 98 of them throughout my
entire lifetime, from the time Iwas an 18-year-old or
16-year-old or 17-year-old orwhatever.
(49:37):
Of course they had two readingsI didn't know I took.
I guess they just put them inthere to make the numbers look
lower.
You know, I don't know how theydid it, but to me that's kind
of shady.
And out of all those bloodpressure readings, the bottom
average is over 100.
That's over 30 some years.
(49:58):
I'm lucky to be here, you know.
Yeah, of course that's Mm, hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
(50:57):
So your blood pressure.
Have you got your paperwork?
Have you got it?
It's time to get busy and askfor it.
It don't matter, we need to seethat.
(51:19):
Basically, you're writingcorrectly, right?
You're writing correctly now,because you don't get no higher,
but, okay, mm-hmm, within thefirst post-service year, because
(51:45):
you get out when what?
Year 71.
The regs basically were thesame as mine were at the time.
So, yeah, I'd get it, just forkicks and giggles anyways.
And look at it, you know.
(52:08):
Yeah, I mean Mm-hmm, right,mm-hmm, yep, it was that
(52:28):
situation.
They didn't look at it and itwas evidence that was in
possession of the government andnot submitted.
That's a 3.156c claim.
No, you can't use him untilthey deny it.
(52:52):
And you've got to fight it, butyou shouldn't have to.
They deny it then, you've gotto fight it, but you shouldn't
have to.
Well, when did they deny it?
Okay, and what were you writingbefore you got your?
(53:14):
Okay, okay, okay, okay, youneed to look at that decision.
You still got the decision, Iknow you do.
Well, now you can go on toVAgov and look it up, read the
(53:36):
evidence that they had and seeif it's got it on it.
Then you find that evidencethat you've got and you see if
they don't have it.
Guess what?
That makes it 3.156C.
That's legal error.
Okay, that's awesome.
That is awesome.
See, we learn something everyday, right, yep, yep, mm-hmm,
(54:17):
mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Ray Cobb (54:37):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
J Basser (55:07):
Mm-hmm.
In my years doing this I'veonly come across one or two
people that had an idea.
The one that I think that's themost educated on this situation
in the title 30 at CFR Park 3and Park 4 is a guy named Bill
Krieger.
He lives in Virginia and he'san ex-Marine.
(55:28):
He's fully retired now though.
He's had some issues, but andthe reason he knows this stuff
is because he wrote most of itso and he's pretty sharp.
He wrote most of them and he'spretty sharp.
But I do want to say something,guys, before we close out the
show.
We've got about four minutesleft.
We'll talk about independentmedical opinions real quick.
(55:49):
If you've got some medicalissues and you get denied and
you say you want to go into thesupplemental lane, you need some
help.
Of course you've got a year tofile your appeal.
You know you can go ahead anddo that, but I would think about
getting an independent medicalopinion at that time, because
the VA is not going to help you.
I can't come out straight upand say here, you do this or
(56:14):
that one, but the one I dorecommend is Valor for Vet.
It's Bethany Spangberg'scompany, and you can ask for an
IMO or an IME.
The difference is theindependent medical opinion is
the O and the independentmedical examination is the E, so
you might have to go up and seesomebody and be examined.
I've seen her work.
(56:35):
She does good work.
She also has a team of doctorsthat do stuff and she's got
people all over the place andshe has a doctor that actually
looks at her work and goes alongwith her and also, like Ray
said, make a concurrent opinionand that kind of stacks it,
(56:57):
because all you need to do toprove your claim is to prove 50
percent of the evidence in yourpaper.
It's called the benefit of thedoubt, relative equipments.
That's the word that the VAuses.
And another quick point there isa bill right now in committee
at the US House.
This bill is probably going togo to the floor here pretty soon
(57:19):
.
It's going to be put outbecause some high-ranking
officials are on top of it.
It's a bipartisan bill,republican and Democrat.
It is going to take the new andrelevant evidence section out
of the VA.
It's going to do it and it's VA.
It's going to do it and it'sgoing to make them basically
(57:43):
rate every veterans claim on itsown merits.
Did you know that right?
Okay, okay, okay, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, look into it.
(58:11):
Yeah, look into it.
Yeah, it'll work.
Yeah, better work.
Mm-hmm, that's good.
Okay, I'll send it to you.
(58:33):
I'll just send you the.
I'll send you the Stars andTraps article.
It's got it on there, okay, but, folks, that's about all we got
for.
I'll just send you the Star.
I'll send you the Star and theTraps article once I've got it
on there.
Okay, but, folks, that's aboutall we got for tonight.
I hope you enjoyed the show.
We'll see you next week withanother guest and another VA
topic.
You know we don't run out of VAtopics, do we, ray?
Okay?
(58:54):
Well, on behalf of Mr Ray Cobband John Stacy, we'll see you
next week.
We'll be signing off for now.
Good night.
Welcome folks to another episode of the Exposed
Event Productions Weekly Show.
My name is John Stacy, theycall me Jay Basher.
My co-host today, on thisbeautiful June 12, 2025, is Mr
Ray Cobb.
I have a great state ofTennessee close to Alabama, so I
call it Talabama.
How are?
Ray Cobb (00:20):
you doing, Ray?
I'm doing great.
How are you doing tonight?
J Basser (00:24):
I'm doing pretty good today.
It's been a busy day, it's beenhot outside, but it's getting
there.
Ray Cobb (00:32):
Yeah, we had a warm day here and I ended up spending
the morning at the VA in thedental office, so I got that
taken and started taking it.
Well, no, all they had to was,uh, just a little preliminary
work today.
So, uh, my big thing day isgoing to be july the 24th, I
think so you know, we gotta gohave some time here to to get
(00:55):
ready for all that and then, uh,looking forward to it.
J Basser (00:58):
So we'll go from there well, that's hell, was house of
pain.
I gotta go here about the sametime.
You do, matter of fact, maybe aweek later, and have some stuff
done.
And I was at the bill yesterday, I got to go back again
tomorrow.
It's an ever ending trip backand forth.
Of course, the car knows theway now.
Ray Cobb (01:15):
Yeah, there you go.
J Basser (01:17):
I'm going to get back to basics today.
What I'm thinking about, whatwe're talking about, discussed
earlier.
Let's go straight flat, basic.
I'm talking step one.
All you vets out there thathave been discharged from
service or that are in serviceand you're thinking about filing
(01:40):
a VA claim, or you're been outof service for a while and
wonder why you haven't filed one, or you're thinking about
filing one.
We're going to go through thesteps today and I think it's
always easy, you know, torefresh back every once in a
while, to go back and you knowjust kind of review, what we can
go into, what you know we'vedone or we can recommend you
(02:02):
know what they should do.
So, ray, on your opinion, whatis the first basic step to
filing an original claim ifyou've never filed a claim
before?
Ray Cobb (02:11):
Well, the first thing I recommend the veterans to do
is to actually call the 1-800number.
I think it's 627-1000 or827-1000.
J Basser (02:23):
827, yeah, 827.
Ray Cobb (02:25):
Call that number and tell them you want to do an
intent to file and that intentto file starts your clock.
You have one year from thatdate to file your claim.
So while you're looking in theclaim and seeing what it may be,
that gives you the opportunityto get in there and get it ready
to go.
(02:46):
Too many claims are filed inour area and I'm sure it must be
nationally that are not readyto be filed.
They're not ready for adecision.
Now you don't have to file itas ready for a decision.
I don't like that route.
I like the standard route, butthat's just a personal
preference.
(03:06):
But you do have to get thingsready and the first thing is to
do an intent to file.
You don't have to say whatyou're going to file on.
You may have two or threethings, but you can just say I
want to do an intent to file.
You can do it by phone andthey'll follow up with you
within a week and you'll get aletter in the mail giving you
the date that you requested theintent to file and telling you
(03:30):
that you have one year to fileyour claim.
That's the first thing that Irecommend that they do.
J Basser (03:36):
The only caveat that I can say there on this situation
is you have an intent to file.
Make sure everything you filefor that intent to file is on
that initial 526.
Correct In that way?
Yeah, Because if you have anyseparate claims like that, then
it could negate your intent tofile for that area itself, only
(03:57):
not what you've already filed.
Ray Cobb (03:59):
And that makes a difference.
I mean, for example, if ittakes you five or six months to
see your doctors and to get allthe information together and
you're doing it on three or fourdifferent claims, then you need
to get all those in at the sametime so that your start date is
that same date and you may betalking about you know, well, if
(04:20):
you're at 100%, that's $4,000.
Well, if you're at 100%, that's$4,000.
If you finally get a decisionafter 10 or 11 months, you know
that's $40,000, $44,000 in yourpocket.
So it's really important to getall of those claims in together
at the same time.
So you really need to.
You know, get on the bandwagonand make your mind up.
(04:41):
I'm going to do this and thenget after it and put it together
.
One web page that I think isgreat for helping individuals is
James Cripps' web page, va theRedneck Way.
You follow his directions onhow to file the claim and how to
do it and you'll probably beokay.
(05:02):
I know of three or four guysaround here that had used that
web page and used that directionand it turned up and they were
approved the first go-around andthey took eight or nine months
from the time they put theirintent to file in to get all the
documentation and things thatthey wanted and felt like they
(05:22):
needed to win their claim, and Ithink that made the difference
between them winning it and notwinning it.
J Basser (05:31):
There's other resources available too.
There's a Facebook page calledthe Veterans Claims Assistance
Group and it started by got himDoug Haynes.
He's an accredited appealsagent and he started that and
he's got several different sitesthat he uses to actually
control.
You know what they do andthere's a lot of folks on there
(05:52):
that are agents, even got someVA employees on there and they
come on, they help out, answerquestions.
It's pretty good.
It's a pretty good Facebooksite and you can join that group
.
It's a Facebook group and youcan join that group.
It's a Facebook group and youcan ask questions and you'll
probably get your questionanswered.
You can also go through thearchives of the page and look
and your question might havealready been answered.
Ray Cobb (06:15):
Probably has.
I mean, there's been thousandsand thousands of cases, and so
they probably have already beenanswered.
I would hate to think there's aquestion that's going to come
up that at least hadn't come uponce before you know.
J Basser (06:32):
And he's also got another site that he made called
howdisabilityworkscom how thedisability works.
That thing covers everything.
If you go there, you ever getthat site, ray.
Ray Cobb (06:45):
No, I haven't.
I need to do that.
J Basser (06:47):
You need to go into that site.
You want some actualinformation.
Go into that site.
I mean, this is probably themost comprehensive, easily
explained website when it comesto those issues and you can get
an education like no other ifyou read this, because this
(07:07):
guy's pretty sharp.
Ray Cobb (07:10):
Good, I'll get that from you or shoot it to me in an
email and I'll look at it andsee where we got going there.
Yeah, that's great and that'sgood information to know,
because you know everybody maynot you know what you and I both
have seen these guys will thinkthey'll look on the VAgov and
(07:32):
they'll think and they do makeit sound easy that they know how
to do it or they're going to doit the way they want to do it.
And that's the first rule too.
You can't do it the way youwant to do it.
You have to do it the way youwant to do it.
You have to do it the way theVA requires it to be done Right,
and you've got to do it in theorder they require it to be done
(07:52):
.
You immediately, for example,can't go and hire an attorney or
go to the Board of VeteransAppeals until you've been denied
.
A guy told me well, I'm justgoing to go right straight to
the court.
You can't do that.
J Basser (08:10):
You can't pass the same monopoly.
Ray Cobb (08:12):
Right right and so you know, for the web page that you
mentioned and VA, the RedneckWay, those web pages are great
to help give you directions.
But, guys, I can't point outthe importance of following
those directions, followingthose steps step by step and
(08:33):
you'll be okay.
J Basser (08:34):
Okay.
Once you get the situationgoing, they say you got your
intent to file done and you'vegot what you want to do.
You know, you know what youwant to file for, but now you're
just trying to gather whatrecords you need, what you want
to do, you know.
You know what you want to filefor, but now you're just trying
to gather what records you need.
If you go to the VA fortreatment, folks go ahead and
file your claim Because all theyneed is your service records
and the VA records.
If you go outside the VA, itwould be better off if you did
(08:56):
this.
Contact your doctor's officeand get copies of all the
records pertinent to your issuethat you're having.
You might have to send off anthe mail to do it because it
could be far away.
It could be local.
Do the premium informationrequest and do whatever it is.
Some places will charge youprobably a certain amount of
(09:17):
money, unless it's basically thefirst copy.
It depends on which doctor'soffice it is, because they're
all different.
Get that information, scan itinto a computer Okay, and it's
assign it a file number.
Once you get it in there, eachissue is going to have a
separate file number and youtake that file number and you
name it whatever you know andattach it to that claim.
As far as what it's all about,then when you go into your
(09:44):
21-526-EZ that's the phonenumber you filled out for the
initial claim on VAgov It'lltell you what you're doing and
you start filling it out.
There's a section under theUpload Information.
You can highlight the file forthis section and upload it.
Next section upload it.
You can upload everythingelectronically, so you know
they'll get it.
A lot of folks trust the USmail.
(10:06):
I for one don't, and there's along history I'm an old fart
anyway, so there's a longhistory behind that right.
Ray Cobb (10:17):
Yeah.
J Basser (10:19):
And you can upload that information and it'll make
things go smoother.
But now you've got a decisionto make.
Once you get her done and gether turned in, the waiting game
begins.
Peer is probably one of themost stressful, I guess you'd
(10:39):
say, areas that you'll gothrough, especially if you've
got a lot of seriousdisabilities and you can't work
and you're waiting on this asyour livelihood.
You know you can.
Actually you've got to make adecision.
What am I going to do?
Do I get help or do I not gethelp?
Or what?
Do I drive this vehicle myselfor does somebody help me drive
(11:02):
it?
And we had these shows before,guys.
But personally I'd recommendyou get an accredited veteran
service officer through one ofthe state agencies or the
American Legion or the VFW orthe DAV, or an accredited
appeals agent that does doinitial claims but doesn't
charge for initial claims, whichthey really can't charge for
(11:24):
initial claims.
But you've got to find one thatdoesn't.
One of those people that areaccredited that's the key word
is accredited and they have tohave access to the Veterans
Benefit Management System orVBMS.
That way you're not calling theVA every two days hey, what's
going on with my claim?
All they've got to do is sitback and you can call them once
a week or so and talk to themand they can give you an update,
(11:45):
or they can call you when theysee an update.
That's like watching your claimin real time.
So that's what I recommenddoing.
I don't really recommend anybodygo alone do this alone, because
I've seen so many peopledestroyed because of that.
I've seen so much.
That's carnage, that's what itis, because them folks
(12:08):
definitely know what they'redoing and they know, you don't,
you know, and they turn into PTBarnum.
They just sucker-borne everyminute.
You know what I mean, right?
Ray Cobb (12:20):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, guys, there's one thingthere that I found that was
helpful for me.
You mentioned getting your VAmedical records, which is what I
had.
I took those VA medical recordsand when I was ready to file my
(12:41):
claim on a 4138, I put a noteplease look at page such and
such, paragraph such and such.
Or then I made a copy of justthat one page I wanted them to
look at and I highlighted or Icircled it.
And the one that you definitelywant to make sure is a diagnosis
(13:02):
, because they have a tendencyto overlook a diagnosis or a lot
of times and this is what I'veseen recently in the VA medical
system they're not giving adirect diagnosis.
I have a gentleman here locallyin Winchester, tennessee, who
has been just recently, aftermore than a year.
(13:25):
They kept saying well, you haveParkinson's symptoms.
Do you have Parkinson's disease?
Well, we're not ready to saythat yet, but you have symptoms.
Can we see you in 90 days, orcome back next month, or let's
go do this.
Well, because if you don't havethat diagnosis, they're not
(13:50):
going to approve that.
J Basser (13:52):
They're not going to approve that they change it to
Parkinsonians, which is asymptom that mimics Parkinson's
that are not totally allParkinson's, because it's all in
the head.
You know how that issue goes.
Ray Cobb (14:04):
Well, yeah, that's true.
I use that as an examplebecause that's what's going on,
or what went on here.
But when I first went inconcerning neuropathy, it took
them almost a year before theyagreed and put into my records
(14:25):
that I had diabetic neuropathyand then it was Before or after
you had the test.
Oh, that was even after I hadthe test.
They had already stuck needlesin the bottom of my foot.
Okay, okay, and I got the samesituation he stuck needles in
the bottom of my foot.
J Basser (14:44):
Okay.
Ray Cobb (14:44):
Okay.
And then I got the samesituation.
Well, I need to see you and letme see you next month or let me
see you in three months.
And then finally, once the guyfinally after about I think he
did the test three times orthree different appointments, so
probably over a six-monthperiod of time he finally came
(15:06):
in after that last one and saysokay, yeah, you definitely.
Now I'm sure you have diabeticneuropathy, so I'm going to put
you in for some diabetic shoes.
And that was another bigclincher for me winning my case,
(15:26):
because now I had an official,not only the diagnosis, but I
had treatment for the diagnosis.
And those were important thingsto point out.
And then another thing that Idid here I think it's always a
good thing to do.
I know James recommends this.
I know in a way you recommendit too.
We recommend Bethany for someof this, but sometimes it's good
(15:53):
to get a second opinion.
Now, if you get a secondopinion, this is the way I have
done it and been successful withit.
I don't know if it'll workevery time or not, but I know it
has worked for me.
I will take my diagnosis like Itook exactly that final report
that he said I had diabeticneuropathy and recommended AFO
(16:16):
braces and new shoes and all ofthat.
I took that medical report forthat, that visit, which was two
pages.
I highlighted where he said thediagnosis.
It said diabetic neuropathy.
I highlighted that and thendown at the bottom where it said
treatment, recommended afobraces and diabetic shoes.
(16:38):
And so I took that and I went toa local podiatrist and I went
into him I said headed him thereand I said this is what they
say I have.
Will you check me and concurwith that diagnosis and do you
recommend the same type oftreatment?
(17:00):
So he got me on the table.
He stuck some needles in thebottom of my feet, took a
molyfilament and ran up and downmy feet and over my ankles and
he said uh, yes, you havediabetic neuropathy.
I said would you write me aletter and um recommend the type
(17:21):
of treatment that you wouldrecommend?
So he wrote the letter and hesaid I concur with the VA Dr
Penn, podiatrist, dr Penn, hedoes have diabetic neuropathy,
but I think the treatment mightneed to be a little stronger.
(17:42):
Instead of the, I call themfiberglass, but it's some type
of a fiber brace I recommendyeah, I recommended a I'd
recommend a metal brace whichgoes underneath the heel of his
shoe and his arch.
So other than that, that was theonly thing.
Now here's a clencher.
(18:04):
It cost me $120 out of mypocket because I had no other
insurance except VA, so I paid$120.
But that actually got me $700or $800 a month.
So that was $120 well-invested,along with about six or eight
months of back pay, along withabout six or eight months of
(18:25):
back pay.
So you know that was a prettygood chunk of money for $120
invested.
Now, be honest with the doctorwhen you schedule your
appointment.
I've been diagnosed with this.
I want a second opinion andmake sure they know that at
first, because some doctors willnot give second opinions.
Some doctors will only see youif you're going to use them as
(18:50):
they're taking care of that.
Yeah, if they're going to do thetreatment.
So make sure you understandthat, so you don't waste your
time and money, because you'llget there and they'll check you
out and they'll agree with whatyou got and then they'll send
you on your way without a letteror they'll write you a letter
and if you do get a letter itsays no, I disagree, he doesn't
have this, he has this instead.
(19:11):
Uh, and whatever he says youhad doesn't agree with what you,
what the doctor says, what yourclaim is.
When you walk out the door,find the nearest trash can wad
it up and throw it in and takethat $120 as expenses.
J Basser (19:28):
Rod it off what you're talking about.
Anytime you have to have AFOs,you're getting into higher
levels of special monthlycompensation, which is over and
above 100%.
Of course we discuss that allthe time anyways.
Of course, if you have diabetesand you're serviced next to
your diabetes and you're stillpretty new to the game and you
don't have all these issues, buteventually you probably will.
(19:51):
So it's better to keep thisstuff in mind.
Now I'm not an osteodontist so Idon't know how to prognosticate
what you're going to do downthe road, but things will
probably change.
You know, in the scope of theVA, as far as ratings, you know
20, 30, 40 years from now.
It's because I always have, andI always will, maybe no major
(20:13):
changes, but you know, once youget to that level and you have,
you start to say they have togive you braces and that's
basically considered a lost useof a feet foot and that requires
a higher level of aid andattendance.
You know, because you're goingto have to have help anyway.
So once you get to where youcan't walk, you've got to have
somebody to help you.
Ray Cobb (20:31):
Now, when I got my first one John, when I got my
first one, I just had diabeticneuropathy and diabetic shoes,
but I still went to the doctorin Tullahoma just to confirm
that I had diabetic neuropathyDid they give you an extra K for
that.
Well, I'm not sure I got a 60%rating on one foot.
J Basser (20:58):
That's the same as loss of youth.
Ray Cobb (21:01):
Okay, they didn't give me the L at that time.
They didn't give me the L untilthat time.
They didn't give me the l untilI got they might give you a k
they might give you a k no, butthey rated biggest issue but.
But they read yeah, they ratedme at 60 with diabetic
neuropathy and then later onthey gave me an l for loss of
(21:22):
use of the foot.
But that was two years later.
It was two years after I firstwas diagnosed with diabetic
neuropathy, before I had tostart wearing, before I had foot
drop and I had to start wearingbraces.
So that was two years later.
J Basser (21:45):
Well, that's good.
The biggest issue is when youget rated for anything,
regardless if it's diabeticneuropathy or hypertension heart
disease, you have to make sureyou're rated correctly.
That's right.
And so you've got to knowwhat's wrong with you.
You've got to know and you needto read your stuff.
You need to get on to the notesin VAgov.
(22:07):
You need to read your notesthat the doctor's right Go down
toward the bottom, bottom andall the diagnosis stuff you
learned in the last two or threeparagraphs.
You can see that you can lookthrough some of the stuff.
You know it's kind of to me,it's a different language but
you get down to the assessmentand the plan and that's where
you start seeing the gravy andthe gravy and the dumplings and
(22:30):
the chicken.
You know that's what you got toeat.
You know you got to look atthat because that's what
controls the environment.
That's how you stay on trackand it helps you get your clan
notified.
You can look at that Then.
What I'd also do if you havetime on your hand, which you
need to make time I do it onevenings or weekends or whatever
(22:52):
I'd get on the computer and sitdown and I'd start looking up
Title 38 CFR, part 3 and Part 4,and I'd start reading.
You're going to have to read itmore than once because again,
it's a different language andyou won't understand it the
first time reading.
You won't understand nothing.
Once you get a little morecomfortable reading it, start
(23:12):
understanding little sections.
It's kind of like reading theBible.
You know all the vowels andthis and that Once you read the
Bible enough, you understandwhat it's about.
Very similar, kind of get ahandle on it.
It's okay, here's what I haveand here's what the rig says.
You should know about what.
You're going to be rated in theneighborhood anyways for what
(23:33):
they say and the QuaternaryDepartment believes the regs are
boss.
That means that it's a federalstatute and yet they have to
abide by that.
Of course the VA uses aninternal thing called the M-21,
which is their working copy andbasically it's a derivative off
the Title 38, but you can't useit in the higher level appeals
like the BBA or the court.
(23:55):
They'll be like magic or lotsof things to kill O'Neill.
You're trying to shoot a shotover to kill O'Neill.
They'll slap it out of thereand get the thing out of here.
You know I've seen them get madand say get that out of here, I
don't want to see that.
So we don't want to take theM-21 to the board of the court,
(24:16):
do we?
Ray Cobb (24:16):
Brad, you know, matter of fact, I wouldn't even look
at the M-21.
John, I found a good place forreferencing the 38 CFR codes and
the ratings is PrincetonUniversity Law School.
J Basser (24:34):
Oh yes they are very, very good.
Ray Cobb (24:36):
And for me, it put it in language that I could read
and understand and you can godown through there, you can put
in your diagnosis or what youwant to look up, do a search and
it'll pop up and you can readabout it.
But I found that that was, forlack of a better term, the
easiest one for me to read andunderstand and you can get to it
(24:59):
right there.
You know you can Google it andit'll come right up and click it
on and start looking andreading.
J Basser (25:07):
Occasionally they'll take a claim.
You know that those studentswill take a bachelor's claim.
Ray Cobb (25:13):
No, I did not.
J Basser (25:16):
Yep, they used to.
I don't know if they do it nowor not.
There's so much stuff going onnow with these schools.
You know things a little bitdifferent, but I checked into it
, you know.
But so you got your help, andyour help is telling you this
and that they're doing this andthat, and so they say, well, we
got to send you out for an exam.
So you get a littlenotification and, joe, veteran,
(25:39):
you're going to go out to anexam and it's going to be exams
that are going to be performedby let's use one out of there
Veterans Evaluation Services,ves, and they'll contact you and
they'll set up your exam.
You go through the exam, youhave your exam, you go back home
, you wait and you get yourmileage check in the mail.
(25:59):
So when you get your mileagecheck, you know it's already
sent back to the VA.
So then you call your rep upand say, hey, any movement on
this claim.
They'll tell you what's goingon and he'll give you the
information and you know you'llhave your decision fairly soon.
It depends on how complex yourclaim is and what issues you
have and how fast they work it.
And once you get your rating,look at it and make sure you're
(26:20):
rated the way you think itshould be rated and look at all
the information that you get inyour decision, because if you
tell you what evidence they useand things like that and you
know the evidence you submitted,so you can A, b, c, d and you
see something that's not right,you can talk to your agent and
you can appeal it.
Or if you get denied you canappeal it.
That's a big question.
Once you get a denial letter oryou disagree with the decision,
(26:43):
the appeals process goes to awhole different ballgame.
They offer you three levels ofappeal.
Okay, the first level is calleda high-level review, which
means a high-level reviewer willlook at it and it's sent out to
(27:03):
a different office.
It's the same person that didyour thing.
They look at it and they makeanother decision, send you for
another exam or send it back tothe regional office, or they
deny it.
If they deny it, you're goingto have to go to the other pill
process called a supplementalpill.
Okay, well, basically,supplemental pill means that
(27:24):
under a high level review, it'son its face of what they have.
You can and you cannot submitnew evidence but say you got
some more medical tests you wantto submit.
So if you're in thesupplemental end, you can now
submit them.
Okay, and they'll make adecision based on that.
Ray Cobb (27:39):
Well, another good point is that this needs to be
explained.
When you're at that higherlevel review, you're not allowed
to point out anything that theymay have missed.
We're on a supplemental review.
If you have an agent, orperhaps you can talk to the
regional person yourself or youcan at least submit 4138 that
(28:03):
directs them to something inyour medical records that you
think or you wasn't mentioned,that they have overlooked, that
you think or you wasn'tmentioned, that they have
overlooked.
And to me that is a tremendousadvantage with that supplemental
claim, because you do have someinput, whether it's new
evidence or whether it'spointing out existing evidence
(28:24):
that they did not look.
I mean, come on, guys, when Ifirst got into this working my
claims, when I was about halfwaythrough, I went down and asked
for my medical records and theysaid well, we can't give them to
you today.
He said we'll have to burn youa CD.
I said, okay.
When I got that CD, it hadalmost 3,000 pages of medical
(28:46):
records and notes.
Well, what is it to time, john?
Records and notes.
Well, what is it to time, john?
I think you know the timelength that they usually give a
guy 15 minutes, 20 minutes atthe most to look at a case and
build it or whatever.
They don't give them very long.
They can't sit there and takethe time that you and I do, or
someone else, to make sure thatit goes right.
(29:08):
So you know, you got to kind oflook at yourself at that point
and then, if you find somethingthere, that's when you reach out
to John Stacey and say who doyou recommend to work this type
of a case or who do you knowthat would be interested in this
type of a case, and go fromthere yeah, you might give up
(29:32):
20% of your back pay, but it'sbetter to give up 20% of the
back pay and get $2,000 or$3,000 a month rather than to
get zero.
J Basser (29:45):
He's talking about the accredited claims agent or
appeals agents.
Ray Cobb (29:48):
Correct.
J Basser (29:50):
These guys are specialists in what they do.
They basically have the sameeducation level as most of the
employees do.
I mean, they take the test andthey know what they're doing,
and a lot of them are verysuccessful.
And you know, I know several ofthem who've had a bunch on the
show and I'm friends withseveral of them.
So you know, I know the onesthat are, know the ones that are
(30:12):
good at what they do.
They're very busy.
Don't get me wrong, though.
A lot of guys have a lot ofclients, but they're extremely
busy.
If you guys are looking for one, go ahead and send in a
question to expose that atgmailcom and ask, and Rare R1
will jump on there and we'll putyou in the right direction.
Anyways, in the right area.
Ray Cobb (30:32):
Yeah, maybe even a couple, and that's something
else.
You're 100% correct.
I would actually interview themor talk with them and you've
got to feel comfortable withthem and they've got to feel
comfortable with you.
And that's another importantthing.
I know that a couple that I hadhere locally didn't go with the
(30:56):
first person I recommended Acouple of different reasons.
One I have no idea what wassaid, but anyway they just
didn't quite match up.
So the second one they matchedup great and it worked out great
and the guy won his claim.
So there's sometimes.
Another one was so busy hecouldn't take it, but he
referred him to another agentthat was able to take him and
(31:19):
help him.
So it's a networking type of athing that we can help the
veteran do.
J Basser (31:26):
That's a good deal you know, and of course, I know
several.
It also depends on what theclaim is all about too.
Yeah, Because some.
Of course I know several.
It also depends on what theclaim is all about too, yeah,
because some of these guys havegot a certain level of expertise
and you know you've got tofocus on that because you know
they've already done so many ofthese claims.
They've already been to thecourt and been everywhere else,
you know, or to the board.
They've got a couple that canactually go to the court and
(31:54):
practice in front of the court.
So you know it's all prettygood Anyhow.
That's the claim situation andgoing into appeals process in
kind of a nutshell.
We'll talk about the Board ofVeteran Appeals.
That's the third and finaloption you have.
You can take the BBA claim.
You can file straight to theboard after you get a denial.
You don't have to go throughthe HLR or the supplemental
claim, like if they screwed yourclaim up.
Go straight to the board afteryou get a denial.
You don't have to go throughthe HLR or the supplemental
claim, like if they screwed yourclaim up.
Go straight to the BBA.
(32:15):
Okay, and the problem is theBBA.
They've got different avenuestoo.
They've got direct docketreview, which basically right
now is probably 16 to 18 to 24months, depending on the claim
itself.
As far as the veterans beingseen, there's the.
(32:35):
You can go to DC.
That's supposed to be thefastest route.
I don't know the time limit onit yet, but you can take a trip
out to.
I'd go to Northern Virginia andride the train in.
I wouldn't go nowhere near DC.
You can go over there and youcan go to your hearing there at
the Board of Veterans Appeals.
You can rep and go with it.
Of course you're not paying hisway, but you know that's what
(32:56):
it is.
I used to have a travel board,ray.
You remember the little travelboard.
Ray Cobb (33:02):
That's what I went to the first time.
That's where the guy playedbasketball in the room, remember
?
He threw the wadded-up paperaround and bounced off of four
walls before it landed beside mychair.
J Basser (33:19):
I thought he was trying to hit that guy in the
head.
Ray Cobb (33:22):
Well, he does, and he missed and almost hit James
Cripps who was sitting behindhim.
J Basser (33:27):
Yeah, but James was busy kicking that chair.
He was.
Ray Cobb (33:32):
We probably need to tell that so these guys would
understand what we're talkingabout.
Folks, I was in this travelboard with a judge.
My wife Pam was in there and agentleman by the name of Milton
Sweeney who was supposed to bemy state rep, and then James
Cripps was there as a supporter.
(33:55):
I couldn't take an attorney butI could take a supporter, so
James was there to support.
Well, we started off and minebecause it was Agent Orange
exposed in the continentalUnited States, had to be a
direct exposure.
It could not be an assumption.
Well, milton Sweeney, my agent,started down the road of
(34:21):
assumption and we were abouthalfway through it and James
recognized where the judge wasgoing by the questions he was
asking and the way it was beinganswered.
The judge was about ready,wasn't too far from making the
decision on an assumption.
And James keeps kicking thechair, kicking the chair about
the fourth or fifth time, kickedit pretty hard and the guy
(34:42):
jumped and the judge heard it.
He said are we talking about anassumption or direct exposure?
James and I both spoke up andsaid direct exposure and that
state agent just sat there likehuh, you know, deer in the
headlights, look.
And he whited that sheet ofpaper up that he had been taking
(35:03):
these notes on for 30 minutes,reared back and threw it at.
That agent went beside his head, bounced off of two walls.
James had to duck and it landedin the chair beside me and he
said let's start over.
Open a desk drawer and thistime pulled out a blue pad.
The other was yellow Pulled outa blue pad and he said we're
(35:27):
going to start all over again.
And he started asking and thequestions were totally different
.
But I ended up winning my casefor Agent Orange exposure in the
continental United States atFort McKellar.
But yeah, that's yeah, andthat's the way it worked.
That's the way that travelingboard worked, and it was pretty
(35:49):
good.
You could go to Washington oryou could do it on the local
level, yeah.
J Basser (35:54):
Now they've got video conference right.
Ray Cobb (35:56):
That's correct.
I've had two or three peoplehere who's gone the video
conference route.
J Basser (36:01):
That's the other step.
Basically, I think that'staking the place of the tribal
board.
Is that correct?
Ray Cobb (36:08):
That's my understanding and it sounds like
that's how it works, becausethe individuals that I knew here
went down, they went down tothe same office that I went to
in the regional building and umwent into a little room and they
actually had a computer set upon a uh, you know, probably a oh
, I don't know.
(36:28):
I think mine's about a 29 inchtv screen here in front of me
that I have on a large tv screenanyway, and that's where where
you see the judge and the judgesees you.
They have a split screen, justlike we have now that you and I
are watching, and so you can seethe reaction.
As things are said, you have a,if you have an agent, like the
(36:54):
two people that I recommendedhere had an agent, and the agent
is the third person on thatscreen and he takes the place of
the local state agent, which Ihad, a local state agent, but
now he took the place of thatstate agent and can really kind
of except for a couple or threequestions, handle the entire
(37:17):
claim.
J Basser (37:18):
Yeah, they the entire claim.
Yeah, they drive the truck.
I mean that's their job and theydo it.
Grandfather's very similar.
He had his wife and hisdaughter to help him ambulate
into the hearing.
(37:38):
He had his rep, john Doley,who's a good accredited claims
agent folks, but bad news ishe's kind of retiring so he's
not taking new cases.
Then he had another guy thatworked with him, dr Bash, and
they had their hearing and letDr Bash speak and he kind of
explained his situation to thecourt or to the judge and it
(38:00):
worked, and so they treated himpretty bad throughout his years
either one or two of that and hegot.
Of course he won and didn't livelong enough to enjoy the money,
but still, you know, the moneyhelped the family out a whole
lot and so we started with thatand that kind of makes you, you
know it makes you feel better.
You know you don't want lot andso we started with that.
That kind of makes you, youknow it makes you feel better.
(38:22):
You know you don't want to giveup because basically, if you're
down and out and yourlivelihood depends on this and
you win your claim, that'sprobably the most happy you'll
be in your entire life, besidesthe birth of a child.
Ray Cobb (38:36):
That's right.
J Basser (38:37):
And, but in your entire life besides the birth of
a child.
That's right.
But the situation reversesafter a period of about one to
two months, once it sets in andyou've done what you have to do
and you realize you've got agood income coming in, you know
you've got some money orwhatever.
Then you're going to go througha period of depression because
now you realize that you're partof the boogered up boys club,
(39:00):
and it does, because your first,next decision is what caused
you to have a certain amount ofdepression, because you can't do
what you used to do anymore.
Ray Cobb (39:08):
That's for sure.
J Basser (39:09):
And that's also a little rightful issue.
Yeah, correct, but just keep inmind that's going to happen.
It's not going to happen to me,it'll happen.
Ray Cobb (39:22):
And you know that's another thing.
Great, john, I'm glad youbrought that up, because what
you need to do, guys, when thathappens and it will happen,
there's no question, I don'tknow what severity, Everybody's
different but seek out somecounseling.
I mean, your primary caredoctor is supposed to have a
social worker assigned to you.
Get with that social worker,get to working on that, because
(39:46):
you may end up.
If you end up like I did, I wasso angry and so upset about it
that I actually end up with whatthey called depression, with
high anxiety attacks, and theygave me 100% for that about two
years after that and said it waspermanent and it still is.
There's.
(40:14):
Sometimes things can happen, notnecessarily just with the VA,
but the other day I hadsomething happen with an
insurance company and I flew offthe handle just as if it was
with a VA.
Oh, I did so.
It doesn't go away.
You just learn.
You try to learn to control it.
Yeah, I recommend that youreach out and then, depending on
what that social worker andprimary care doctor says, you
(40:35):
may even have a claim there.
I know a lot of guys that have30%, 40%, 50%.
Then there's two guys I knowhave 100% Right.
J Basser (40:49):
I'm similar to both you, ray.
They get mine on.
They call it an adjustmentdisorder, depression anxiety but
then they finally got it workedout and they changed it to
full-fledged PTSD.
They did it a couple years agoand of course, I got the stress
report.
So you know it took a long timefor them to understand it, but
(41:09):
it works out.
Guys.
I mean you know, and don't belistening to everybody.
Talk, okay.
If you've got a question to ask, get on them groups and ask
their questions.
Talk.
If you've got a question to ask, get on them groups and ask
their questions.
Don't listen to nobody else.
If you're 100% PTSD, the firstthing people tell you they're
going to come and get your guns?
No, they're not.
The only way they will come andconfiscate your weapons is if
(41:35):
they determine through a viablesource that you are not able to
handle your finances and can'tpay your bills.
That changes everything alittle bit as far as that, but
most people with PTSD can paytheir bills and they have
somebody that does it.
Ray Cobb (41:51):
Yeah, or has somebody that works with them.
J Basser (41:54):
Family member son daughter spouse Sort of
fiduciary.
Ray Cobb (41:58):
Yeah, they work with you.
And another, the only otherways in which I've unfortunately
experienced this with someone.
A gentleman called me one night.
He had PTSD.
I'd helped him win a couple ofclaims a year or so earlier and
he said I want to call you and Iwant to thank you.
You know, but I'm fed up withthis.
(42:19):
They just denied me on this andthat and I'm not going to go
through all this again, I'm justgoing to end it.
And I wanted to call you andthank you before I shot myself.
I said shoot yourself.
So we started talking and I wason the phone with him about 15
or 20 minutes and there's aknock at the door talking, and I
was on the phone with him about15 or 20 minutes and there's a
knock at the door.
Somebody's at the door hold on,let me see.
(42:40):
So he gets up and he leaves thephone.
I'm thinking, oh gosh, who isit?
What's going on?
And fortunately, before hecalled me, he called the VA and
told them what he was going todo and the knock on the door was
a gentleman with the sheriff'sdepartment and the guy picked up
the phone said this is deputySheriff with Franklin County
(43:00):
Sheriff's Department.
Is this Mr Cobb?
Yeah, this is Ray Cobb.
Well, just wanted to let youknow.
We're here now and, yes, he didhave a gun sitting beside him.
We're going to take the gun andwe're going to take him and get
some help.
So that's what happened, youknow, don't know where he is.
That was actually the last timeI talked with him and that was
(43:21):
at least three years ago, so Ihave no idea where he went or
what happened to him.
He was talking about moving outof state earlier to me, moving
out of state where his brotherwas, so I don't know if that's
what he ended up doing or not.
I hope he did.
J Basser (43:39):
Yeah, I had a good friend in that situation and
it's kind of sad.
I mean, I helped him get his100%.
He actually got murdered inAlabama.
He had PTSD and he blew up onsomebody and the guy shot him.
Yeah, he didn't make it.
You know, he's a good guy too.
He's a good guy too.
(43:59):
He's a big fisherman.
So it's pretty sad.
But one thing about having PTSDand these issues you have to
train yourself not to let it runyour life.
That's how you have to do it.
You gotta train yourself andalways give yourself something
to look forward to.
You know, but that's how youhave to do it.
(44:19):
You've got to train yourselfand always give yourself
something to look forward to,you know.
But you were talking about yourissue.
I'll tell you a little storyabout mine.
I don't think Razor ever heardthis story.
I'll tell it.
I'm not going to tell the wholething because it's got a lot of
bad stuff involved with it.
Of course I was a good guy.
I wasn't a bad guy.
(44:43):
I had several episodes of superhigh blood pressure and service.
I had like seven, eightreadings and six of those with
bottom line was over 100.
And that's class twohypertension.
You know, any time your bottomline is over 100 and that's
class two hypertension.
You know, any time your bodynumber gets over 100, that's
pretty much hypertension.
And then the first full serviceyear I went to see my doctor
(45:06):
and he said, son, you gothypertension.
And he diagnosed me with thatand told me I was fat.
And he said we're going tocontrol your blood pressure,
we're going to try it with dietfirst.
He said come back tomorrow andwe'll check it again.
I went back the next day and itwas higher.
So he told me what to eat andthings like that, and then come
(45:27):
back and see him.
Well, I actually had moved.
I got a job with the governmentand moved with their physical
things like that and couldn't goback to him.
I went to another doctor herein another town in Kentucky my
father would be that andcouldn't go back to him.
I went to another doctor herein another town in Kentucky.
I filed a BA claim and theydenied it because they didn't
have the service records the old3.156C issue, right?
You remember those?
Those don't have the servicerecords and deny it.
(45:48):
Yeah, I've seen those, yeah,and this went on for seven or
eight years they couldn't findthem.
They finally found them.
So I asked to reopen a claimbased on the evidence you know
and do it right.
I got a letter back saying thatthose records are not relevant
(46:08):
anyway, so I became verydepressed and let it go Give up
on it.
Ray Cobb (46:19):
And that's what they want you to do.
J Basser (46:22):
Two years later I filed it again with a CFP exam
and got rated and got back to acertain date.
Didn't get everything I needed.
But so later on I filed a.
Couldn't have a mistake byerror, claim a Q claim, stating
(46:43):
that they're wrong by law.
So they denied it, goes to theBBA and I sit there for 25
months waiting.
They just looked at it anddenied it.
We asked them to reconsider it,denied it again.
So I found me a lawyer, took itto court and they're still
writing briefs.
So the next one is due sometimethis month.
(47:04):
This is June, right, yes, butbasically what they're saying is
hypertension has to be measuredthree times on three separate
days.
That's well and good for now,but in 1990, god, almighty, I
can.
Good for now, but in 1990, god,I can't remember that.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s theonly three readings was
(47:25):
basically for anything over 10%and you had to be compensable
within the first post-serviceyear and that should be a
presumptive right, ray.
Ray Cobb (47:35):
Correct, that would be my understanding or my thinking
anyway.
J Basser (47:40):
The regs changed and they started doing that.
This is before the regs evenchanged.
So that's the issue with thecourt.
So we'll see how that goes.
There's some other stuff goingon too we're hobbling about, but
I think it's fixing to work out.
But I just finally got tired.
I said, okay, let's just takeit to court and see what happens
.
So we're seeing what happensand one of those agent attorneys
(48:02):
I'm talking about is working onit Him and another law group
and they're pretty good.
So once everything gets settledand done, I can talk more about
it.
I'll give you guys someinformation if you need to
contact them or whatever.
I'm sure they'll appreciate it,and that's just one of many
information that I have as faras service connections.
Ray Cobb (48:20):
The main thing, john, that you and I did and James
Cripp did and Alex Graham hasdone.
You don't give up.
J Basser (48:56):
Do what you gotta do Anytime you have an issue that
aggravates you every time youthink about it, because this
situation, I mean the more Ithought about it, the better I
got.
It's not healthy, guys.
I sit down, what's going on?
I went and collected everyblood pressure Reed never had in
every doctor's office that Icould get him from.
(49:17):
So I sit down anded and made achart.
I put the date, the bloodpressure, where I had it done,
at what they said, and I didover 98 of them throughout my
entire lifetime, from the time Iwas an 18-year-old or
16-year-old or 17-year-old orwhatever.
(49:37):
Of course they had two readingsI didn't know I took.
I guess they just put them inthere to make the numbers look
lower.
You know, I don't know how theydid it, but to me that's kind
of shady.
And out of all those bloodpressure readings, the bottom
average is over 100.
That's over 30 some years.
(49:58):
I'm lucky to be here, you know.
Yeah, of course that's Mm, hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
(50:57):
So your blood pressure.
Have you got your paperwork?
Have you got it?
It's time to get busy and askfor it.
It don't matter, we need to seethat.
(51:19):
Basically, you're writingcorrectly, right?
You're writing correctly now,because you don't get no higher,
but, okay, mm-hmm, within thefirst post-service year, because
(51:45):
you get out when what?
Year 71.
The regs basically were thesame as mine were at the time.
So, yeah, I'd get it, just forkicks and giggles anyways.
And look at it, you know.
(52:08):
Yeah, I mean Mm-hmm, right,mm-hmm, yep, it was that
(52:28):
situation.
They didn't look at it and itwas evidence that was in
possession of the government andnot submitted.
That's a 3.156c claim.
No, you can't use him untilthey deny it.
(52:52):
And you've got to fight it, butyou shouldn't have to.
They deny it then, you've gotto fight it, but you shouldn't
have to.
Well, when did they deny it?
Okay, and what were you writingbefore you got your?
(53:14):
Okay, okay, okay, okay, youneed to look at that decision.
You still got the decision, Iknow you do.
Well, now you can go on toVAgov and look it up, read the
(53:36):
evidence that they had and seeif it's got it on it.
Then you find that evidencethat you've got and you see if
they don't have it.
Guess what?
That makes it 3.156C.
That's legal error.
Okay, that's awesome.
That is awesome.
See, we learn something everyday, right, yep, yep, mm-hmm,
(54:17):
mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Ray Cobb (54:37):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
J Basser (55:07):
Mm-hmm.
In my years doing this I'veonly come across one or two
people that had an idea.
The one that I think that's themost educated on this situation
in the title 30 at CFR Park 3and Park 4 is a guy named Bill
Krieger.
He lives in Virginia and he'san ex-Marine.
(55:28):
He's fully retired now though.
He's had some issues, but andthe reason he knows this stuff
is because he wrote most of itso and he's pretty sharp.
He wrote most of them and he'spretty sharp.
But I do want to say something,guys, before we close out the
show.
We've got about four minutesleft.
We'll talk about independentmedical opinions real quick.
(55:49):
If you've got some medicalissues and you get denied and
you say you want to go into thesupplemental lane, you need some
help.
Of course you've got a year tofile your appeal.
You know you can go ahead anddo that, but I would think about
getting an independent medicalopinion at that time, because
the VA is not going to help you.
I can't come out straight upand say here, you do this or
(56:14):
that one, but the one I dorecommend is Valor for Vet.
It's Bethany Spangberg'scompany, and you can ask for an
IMO or an IME.
The difference is theindependent medical opinion is
the O and the independentmedical examination is the E, so
you might have to go up and seesomebody and be examined.
I've seen her work.
(56:35):
She does good work.
She also has a team of doctorsthat do stuff and she's got
people all over the place andshe has a doctor that actually
looks at her work and goes alongwith her and also, like Ray
said, make a concurrent opinionand that kind of stacks it,
(56:57):
because all you need to do toprove your claim is to prove 50
percent of the evidence in yourpaper.
It's called the benefit of thedoubt, relative equipments.
That's the word that the VAuses.
And another quick point there isa bill right now in committee
at the US House.
This bill is probably going togo to the floor here pretty soon
(57:19):
.
It's going to be put outbecause some high-ranking
officials are on top of it.
It's a bipartisan bill,republican and Democrat.
It is going to take the new andrelevant evidence section out
of the VA.
It's going to do it and it's VA.
It's going to do it and it'sgoing to make them basically
(57:43):
rate every veterans claim on itsown merits.
Did you know that right?
Okay, okay, okay, mm-hmm,mm-hmm, mm-hmm, look into it.
(58:11):
Yeah, look into it.
Yeah, it'll work.
Yeah, better work.
Mm-hmm, that's good.
Okay, I'll send it to you.
(58:33):
I'll just send you the.
I'll send you the Stars andTraps article.
It's got it on there, okay, but, folks, that's about all we got
for.
I'll just send you the Star.
I'll send you the Star and theTraps article once I've got it
on there.
Okay, but, folks, that's aboutall we got for tonight.
I hope you enjoyed the show.
We'll see you next week withanother guest and another VA
topic.
You know we don't run out of VAtopics, do we, ray?
Okay?
(58:54):
Well, on behalf of Mr Ray Cobband John Stacy, we'll see you
next week.
We'll be signing off for now.
Good night.
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