Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey: Her Testimony Monday July 14 2014

“I know that you don’t trust what we’re saying,” General Hickey

told the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Monday evening. “But I want every veteran in this country and all of you to believe us when we say we’re making good decisions. We care so much about those veterans … and they deserve nothing less from us.”

She cares. Deeply! I get it. I believe her implicitly. But the VBA mission still focuses on denying C-123 veterans' claims through extraordinary steps, through anti-veteran claims adjudicators, through warped and unscientific definitions of exposure invented by VHA's Post Deployment Health, through employment of consultants who target us with a vengeance, and through delaying claims through the lifetime of so many of our crew mates.

Ignored Claims Materials...six years old

VBA's view of what we C-123 veterans' deserve? Zero. Because VHA decided "to draw the line somewhere," as they told the Associated Press.

In other news yesterday, VA whistle-blowers revealed to investigators (and CBS News) that Philadelphia VARO had years of unscanned mail, had shredded claims materials, redated other claims, and justified the public's loss of trust.