ARE RENAGADE SERVICE OFFICERS "SHAKING DOWN" VETERANS?

VETS BEING ASKED TO SHARE DISABILTY CHECKS

 REPS DEMAND GUNS AND OTHER BELONGINGS TO PAY FOR CLAIMS SOMETIMES NEVER FILED

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER

We have reports and signed statements reporting VSO’s (Veterans Service Officers) here in Toledo, Ohio, demanding a share of veterans benefit checks.  The national organization is named and we have the name of the accused service officer but he is currently unavailable, though listed on the roster as our regional manager for a major veterans group.

Reportedly, shakedowns and demands for payment have gone on, in some cases, for years.  Even worse than this, veterans learn that their cases are never filed. 

This group, not only runs a service organization but also sells "veterans claims management software" at the same time.  Think of the irony there.

Statements, some from recently returned veterans of the war in Iraq, state that they were asked for money and anything of value they still owned, promised 100% disability for PTSD, not just promised but guaranteed.

Contacts made with other service organizations to assist in looking into this, made through our local Congressional office, have been resisted thus far. 

Considering the number of claims handling scandals during recent years, it would be good to see every reputable organization doing everything possible to make certain they work to weed out disreputable or fraudlent groups.

We have been told that this has become a national problem. 

From a management standpoint, many veterans services through, not only the Federal government but State and County governments along with a myriad of clubs, organizations and informal groups has created what is both a wide network of support and an opportunity for both scamsters and incompetents to discredit the reputable groups.

Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.