As i mentioned to Bertha i misunderstood her response to mean that "evidence" was the only thing that mattered; inferring that getting a private attorney was a waste of time and money. It seems to me that that is the DAV's position and one of the reasons they are against attornies representing veterans.
When i received the DAV magizine with the article against attornies i went in to my local DAV office and told the rep that i wanted to resign my lifetime membership to the DAV. Simply put their arguement sucks and for them to attempt to block the 109th congress' house and senate bill allowing veterans to hire a private attorney from the begining of a claim outraged me! i do NOT want them speaking for me!
We all have our stories and most of them seem unjust. It's hard to believe that our government, the one that we fought for and in many cases gave our lives as we knew them, now fights US harder than they fight the enemy. We are casualties of war in ways that the general public never gets to hear about and certainly doesn't know about...my fear is that they don't care either. But there one can say that i am projecting my opinion yet i don't think i'm wrong.
With-in the last couple of years ( things begin to blurr after all the years of fighting the system ) the DAV changed my service officer several times. They change my service officer "for many reasons" i was told by the DAV when i asked. One of the paid DAV officers told me not to worry because "everyone is equally qualified to handle your case". Who here belives that line of crap??? i spend 18 months discussing my case with a service officer and the next time i call and ask to speak with him i am asked my claim number then informed that i no longer have SO X, i now have SO Y. Y? Why indeed!
At some point don't we have to ask who are our allies and who are our enimies? It almost sounds like treason but all you have to do is listen to the stories of our soldiers and it starts becoming apparent that the faceless group that we are asking to help us is not helping us at all. In fact they are making us worse for the wear. If it is not seen as that then what is it?
Veterans as a group should be represented as smokers were represented or any other group that was damged by the actions of another entity. In other words we need a class action suit to get what we deserve and to get the attention of the public at large. i think if the public knew the siZe of this unjustice against the 1% of us they put our life on the line; maybe they too would get pissed off enough to demand that we get treated fairly by the VA and in essence our governemt.
How dare they treat us worse than prisoners of war!
Maybe that is indeed what we are POW inprisoned by an invisible fence of beaurocratic red tape and people that suck up to whomever gives them the most money and most votes. Hell, 1% of people that are in many cases so screwed up in their heads from war that they may not even vote...why help them?
On memorial day my freshman congressman who took the place of Foley from Florida had a townhall meeting for veterans. Maybe 60 vets showed up, most WWll men and one woman, 1 Korean vet, 4 Nam vets and 1 Iraq vet and his wife ( he couldn't even talk his wife had to ). When i mentioned to the congressman that i had heard that the VA budget was second only to the pentagon but that our pockets got picked for every disaster that needs money or pet project of some congressman, he told me that the money that gets sucked out of our budget is "CHUMP CHANGE". Imagine that assecment of an abuse: "CHUMP CHANGE" and this is from a guy who calls himself pro-veteran. Even if he is not your congressman everyone should write him a letter and ask him to explain "CHUMP CHANGE". BTW he like most of those in Congress never served.
i'm done ranting for now. i will say one more thing: i have a very large law firm that is now "exploring" the possibility of a class action suit. i'll keep you posted.
SW
QUOTE (Ricky @ Jun 9 2007, 02:12 AM)

"Can you explain why you think that a quality attorney wouldn't have a better chance of winning a case than a non attorney who more often than not has his own case pending?"
Let me take a swag at this. As Berta atated EVIDENCE wins claims. Without evidence and more evidence your could have the Almighty process your claim and it would not be approved. So just having a quality attorney process your claim will not help you cause he is going to tell you that you need evidence to support your claim.
Now if you have a quality attorney he/she may be associated with docs who can provide such evidence therefore, removing the step of you the veteran having to beat the bushes to find such a doctor.
The attorney as the service officer will only submit and reply to VA requests. You the veteran are still going to have to do the leg work (after all it is your disability) and stay on top of him/her just as you do with the service officer. So the bottom line is EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE and continued pushing the buttons of whoever you have process your claim.