Veterans protest claim denials
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Paul Labbe of Lake Charles isn't a political man, but he's willing to support any gubernatorial candidate who will ensure that disabled military veterans get their due.And that's the message the Vietnam veteran brought to the West Bank on Monday.
Outside the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regional office on Whitney Avenue in Terrytown, Labbe said the federal agency and its state partner are systematically denying claims filed by disabled veterans.
"Whoever the next governor is, we don't care, as long as they clean up that rat's nest," Labbe said of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, whose local offices are charged with forwarding claims to the federal government.
"This delaying and the denying starts with the local offices," Labbe said.
A registered agent for the grass-roots Louisiana Veterans Advocacy Group, Labbe brought to his news conference a box of documents he says detail years of claim denials and several veterans who have been denied access to disability payments.
'Shots at us are misguided'
Much of Labbe's ire is directed at Joey Strickland, deputy secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs. The state puts the claims together and forwards them to the federal government, which decides and pays the benefits.
Strickland, reached at his Baton Rouge office Monday, said he's "not apologetic" for the work he and his office are doing.
"I've done and continue to do my very best," said Strickland, a retired Army colonel who served 30 years in the military, including two years in Vietnam.
Louisiana, which has about 366,000 veterans, ranks eighth in the nation in terms of the federal money flowing to benefits in the state, totaling $609 million last year, he said.
"Paul's a good person, but I think his shots at us are misguided," Strickland said, saying Labbe's efforts should be pointed toward the federal government.
Unable to work
Accompanying Labbe on Monday was Ray Burch of Georgetown, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder that he said has been traced medically to his Army service in Vietnam as a flight engineer aboard a CH-47 Chinook. He is unable to work as a result, he said.
Burch got out of the Army prone to bouts of anger, re-entered the Army and later went absent without leave, he said. He turned himself in and spent 28 days in the stockade at Fort Polk before he was kicked out of the military. President Jimmy Carter upgraded his discharge to "general under honorable conditions."
Burch said he's been denied his claim for disability benefits because the government will not recognize the upgraded discharge.
Ray Bushnell is a 15-year Army veteran who served in Bosnia before he was discharged. He received a botched small pox inoculation in basic training and later in his career suffered a heat stroke. He struggles with a speech impediment and is unable to work. Like Burch, he receives food stamps and struggles to make ends meet.
For the past two years, Bushnell has sought the benefits to which Labbe says he's entitled.
"They try to prolong you so you can't collect" the benefits, Bushnell said.
Helping others
Labbe, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and was wounded in Vietnam, said he fought from 1970 to 1997 to get his disability. He fought back and since has gotten 100 percent disability dating to 1980.
He said he's now using the lessons he learned to get his benefits to help others navigate what he calls a corrupt veterans affairs process and bureaucrats he says intentionally disregard veterans' medical and military service records to delay or deny claims.
"They are breaking laws on a daily basis by denying veterans their rightful benefits," Labbe said.