VCS teams up with pro-bono Lawyers Serving Warriors

This is a follow-up in response to the three part series we did exposing mismanagment and incompetence within the VA management system. Paul Sullivan contacted us to let VT know that his Veterans activists organization in DC (Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) is teaming up with Lawyers Serving Warriors a special project of the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP).

A review of the functions and history of the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) reflects that although they do not win them all, they have made great stride in both individual Veteran and Vet class action law suit.     

In addition, NVLSP has played a similar function as VA Watchdog, in fact I’d consider both Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) that is on its way to becoming a Vet Service Organization focused on Veterans Benefits and Rights, along with Veterans for America, and Lawyers Serving Warriors to be but an extension of VA Watchdog.

Simply put the more eyes we have watching the VA, the better off America’s Vets will be.

Robert L. Hanafin
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
Member, Editorial Board of Directors
VT News Network

Veterans for Common Sense proudly announces our new partnership with Lawyers Serving Warriors™ to help our VCS members who were deployed in the Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) or Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) war zones so they receive the military and VA disability benefits to which they are entitled.

Lawyers Serving Warriors™ is a special project of the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP). This project provides free legal representation to former and current active duty personnel who served in OIF or OEF through a national network of hundreds of lawyers. These lawyers are trained to represent those who deployed to the Iraq or Afghanistan war zones with:

o Appealing a decision on a VA claim for disability or death benefits – for a veteran or a surviving spouse
o Appealing a Physical Evaluation Board decision to discharge a service member with a disability rating below 30% — an appeal which, if successful, would entitle the veteran to lifetime military disability retirement payments and free lifetime health care for the veteran and his or her family
o Appealing a discharge from military service for a personality disorder
o Representing active duty personnel before a military Medical Evaluation Board or Physical Evaluation Board
o Filing a claim for Traumatic Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) or appealing denial of a TSGLI claim

To apply to Lawyers Serving Warriors™ for free legal representation in one of these five types of cases, go to http://www.lawyersservingwarriors.com/request_help.php and complete the form on the page. Please write “I am a member of VCS” as part of your response to the final question — which is “Please describe your situation, including what you would like assistance with.”

After receiving this form, Lawyers Serving Warriors™ will send you full application materials and record release forms authorizing them to obtain your records from the military and/or the VA. Lawyers Serving Warriors™ will then obtain and analyze these records to determine whether one of its lawyers will be able to represent you. Lawyers Serving Warriors™ attempts, but cannot guarantee that it will be able to obtain a free lawyer to represent those who apply.

If you know of fellow veterans who deployed to the Iraq or Afghanistan war zones, please share this important message with them.

We are honored to be partnered with the NVLSP, an outstanding organization assisting veterans for more than 25 years.

Thank you for your service and for your VCS membership.

Paul.

Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 77304
Washington, DC 20013
(202) 558-4553

[email protected]
www.VeteransForCommonSense.org

6-8-2009

Posted by: Robert L. Hanafin
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
VT News Network
Editorial Board of Directors

Robert L. Hanafin

Readers are more than welcome to use the articles I’ve posted on Veterans Today, I’ve had to take a break from VT as Veterans Issues and Peace Activism Editor and staff writer due to personal medical reasons in our military family that take away too much time needed to properly express future stories or respond to readers in a timely manner.

My association with VT since its founding in 2004 has been a very rewarding experience for me.

Retired from both the Air Force and Civil Service. Went in the regular Army at 17 during Vietnam (1968), stayed in the Army Reserve to complete my eight year commitment in 1976. Served in Air Defense Artillery, and a Mechanized Infantry Division (4MID) at Fort Carson, Co. Used the GI Bill to go to college, worked full time at the VA, and non-scholarship Air Force 2-Year ROTC program for prior service military. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1977. Served as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1977 to 1994. Upon retirement I entered retail drugstore management training with Safeway Drugs Stores in California. Retail Sales Management was not my cup of tea, so I applied my former U.S. Civil Service status with the VA to get my foot in the door at the Justice Department, and later Department of the Navy retiring with disability from the Civil Service in 2000.

I’ve been with Veterans Today since the site originated. I’m now on the Editorial Board. I was also on the Editorial Board of Our Troops News Ladder another progressive leaning Veterans and Military Family news clearing house.

I remain married for over 45 years. I am both a Vietnam Era and Gulf War Veteran. I served on Okinawa and Fort Carson, Colorado during Vietnam and in the Office of the Air Force Inspector General at Norton AFB, CA during Desert Storm. I retired from the Air Force in 1994 having worked on the Air Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon.