Frustration level......EXPERT!!!

[SFC B]

Wife just gave the card for Lamborn's Vet Liaison, who she said comes to every one of the graduations for her court (she is the Veteran's Trauma Court Coordinator here in the Springs). I sent him an email asking for a meeting. The details of my case fully, along with the impact of this F'd up HRC crap on other Vets, are things that I don't feel I could do justice in just an email. We will see if I can make some impact along with getting my pay.

 

[SFC B]

I went ahead and started the congressional. Hopefully I can expose the ridiculousness as well as getting paid.

 

[SFC B]

UPDATE

I received from Congressman Lamborn's office yesterday the response from HRC......not only did it fail to take any type of responsibility they directly LIED to the Congressman. They told him they couldn't complete processing my request, THIS time, because they didn't have one set of orders (a year of AD mob) and they "had searched Mr. Born's record and were unsuccessful in finding those orders". My f^&king head almost exploded!!!! Not only had I sent those orders MULTIPLE times to them, I had originally downloaded them from THEIR HRC records portal!! Sooooo, I forwarded the last email I had sent them that included those orders (from Feb), as well as the EXACT location within THEIR records where it was located, to the POCs at HRC and the Congressman's Senior Liaison with a message expression my exasperation. It took everything I had not to go on a historic tirade of expletives in that response. I cannot believe the continual ineptitude that exudes from that shiz hole.

One of the POCs responded today indicating they would NOW complete the processing.....of course without so much as a mea culpa. Hatred burns bright in my soul......

 

[JohnCushman]

At least you can collect both your retirement and VA. I was medically retired with 15 years, and because I didn't do a full 20 I don't get to collect both. So, because I volunteered to deploy, and went above and beyond what I should have, and got hit by 2 IED's and was shot twice and put out early, I get screwed. But, if I rode a desk for 20 years and ended up with carpal tunnel and hemmorhoids and back issues from sitting my whole career and never went into harm's way, I'd be collecting VA and retirement. My retirement ID card is just as blue as someone who did all 20.

 

[SFC B]

At least you can collect both your retirement and VA. I was medically retired with 15 years, and because I didn't do a full 20 I don't get to collect both. So, because I volunteered to deploy, and went above and beyond what I should have, and got hit by 2 IED's and was shot twice and put out early, I get screwed. But, if I rode a desk for 20 years and ended up with carpal tunnel and hemmorhoids and back issues from sitting my whole career and never went into harm's way, I'd be collecting VA and retirement. My retirement ID card is just as blue as someone who did all 20.

Yep, bullshit. Just like folks who have less than 50% VA and can't get CRDP. Truly embarrassing

 

[huntinbows]

As many of you know I was medically retired by the Army 7 years ago. I had 20.5 years total service at the time, 15 active. Since I was technically eligible to retire from the reserves at that point but had 7+ years of Title 10 USC mobilization I fall into what is called "gray area retirement". This means that the government has be holding my retirement pay (referred to as offset ), because my VA pay is larger, until I would have been able to receive my "gray area retirement" by age notwithstanding my medical retirement.

I was eligible to finally start receiving that pay LAST July. Even though the Army medically retired me I came to find out that I had to APPLY to receive my retirement FROM them last spring. This application consisted of not only filling out the request form but downloading about 10 documents from THEIR portal, compiling them into an email, and sending them BACK TO THEM.

I have been going back and forth with them ever since literally doing multiples of the same thing. Today I had to do it again. This time to try and get them to amend my DD214 with additional "codes". Once that is done, I have to put it in ANOTHER email and send it BACK TO THEM in order to complete my packet.....allegedly.

I cannot express how f$%king mad and frustrated I am to have to be fighting this ridiculous, bureaucratic fight in order to receive what I have EARNED. What makes it even more maddening is that it is this difficult for me, a middle aged guy with an advanced degree who has been dealing with the government my entire adult life. Can you imagine a young soldier in a similar situation but with a TBI and without the experience level in dealing with the shiz show that is Army HRC? It is SHAMEFUL that our servicemembers have to deal with this. I will get my pay eventually (with the BIG chunk of back pay) but what if I needed it to survive?

Good luck!