Post 9/11 GI Bill Emergency Payment Recall

February 28, 2010

In October 2009, following the Department of Veterans Affairs' inability to remit benefits, they announced they would send out emergency payments of $3000 to any veteran who hadn't received benefits. I applied for, and received, that $3000 advance.

Now, they want the whole thing back. Luckily, I didn't spend any of it because I didn't need the money to survive, but there are very many veterans who did.

Here is my response:

Department of Veterans Affairs

Debt Management Center

Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building

PO Box 11930

St. Paul, MN 55111-0930

In October 2009, I qualified for and received the $3000 advance payment for the Post 9/11 GI Bill. I received a $200.02 payment on 21 Dec 2009. Neither my school nor I received any other payments from the VA during the Fall 2009 semester, despite the fact that my school’s VA representative submitted my enrollment certification in July 2009. To date, those are the only benefits remitted by the VA for my Fall 2009 semester. In summary, my school did not receive a tuition payment for Fall 2009, and I did not receive any monthly payments for August, September, October, and November 2009.

Today, I received notice that I was paid $3000 more than I was entitled to receive, and I am expected to pay back $3000. I dispute that amount. I was surely entitled to more than $200.02 during the entire Fall 2009 semester, correct? Before I pay any supposed debts, I need to see my total entitled benefits compared to the benefits I actually received.

While you are putting those numbers together, send me my total entitled benefits for the Spring 2010 semester, because I have not been getting full payments this semester, either.

When you respond, please answer this also: If the VA can be this efficient at attempting to collect perceived debts, why can they not be equally adept at remitting benefits?

cc:

Congressman Gresham Barrett

115 Enterprise Court, Suite B

Greenwood, SC 29649

Senator Jim DeMint

105 North Spring St.

Suite 109

Greenville, SC 29601

Senator Lindsey Graham

130 South Main St.

7th floor

Greenville, SC 29601

I'll be sure to post updates if I hear from any of the Congressmen or the VA.



Lindsey Graham followed up on this. A couple of days later, Jim DeMint offered assistance, too, but I'll go with Lindsey Graham's help and avoid redundancy.

...still no word from Governor Barrett...

Random Picture Friday -- Yard Work and Childhood Traditions

February 26, 2010

The Old Wine Shades

February 24, 2010

I finished The Old Wine Shades today. It was a good old English who-did-it type of mystery with a layered story.

Past Master

February 22, 2010

Today is George Washington's birthday, and, like him, I'm a Past Master. At 26, I was honored to be elected to serve as Master of Mathews Lodge 358.

In a lodge, you'll usually find the pictures of all its Past Masters lined up. Our lineup goes back to the 1930s.

Stone Mountain, Georgia

February 21, 2010

We climbed Stone Mountain in 2007. Great exercise and great views!

As we were approaching the mountain, Will said, "I'm not climbing that!" They had a blast, though. I certainly want to do it again... matter of fact, let's do that. We'll go sometime this Spring.






the run-up


taking a break at the top

The Hurt Locker

February 20, 2010

We watched The Hurt Locker last night, and I have a couple of bones to pick.

In addition to blatant uniform faux pas, there was a short sequence in there that was comically unfeasible. An E5 Sergeant becomes angry with a Sergeant First Class that he had only met the day before, and slaps him. The Sergeant First Class just smiles and takes it.

Insubordination in any form is unacceptable 99% of the time in the Army, but slapping someone two ranks above you (and getting away with it) is just not going to happen. That's like Nancy Pelosi slapping Barack Obama in front of the Cabinet -- that ain't gonna fly.

The other thing that ruined the movie for me was the hand-held camera work. I had to stop watching midway through.

I don't know how common this is, but I'm very susceptible to simulation (or simulator) sickness. It's similar to motion sickness, but not the same. Weirdly, I never get motion sickness -- airplanes, car trips, roller coasters, etc. all sit well with me.

With simulation sickness, your eyes rapidly track jerky camera movements on-screen, while your body remains stationary. This paradox makes the brain think you are hallucinating the images you see, and triggers vomiting to get rid of whatever poison is causing the supposed hallucinations.

The first time I noticed this was during The Blair Witch Project. I almost hurled during that one. Since then, I've come to find several movies (anything in IMAX) and almost all first person shooter video games cause simulation sickness.

I wish the movie industry would come up with a warning for movies shot with hand-held cameras so I won't waste my time on them.

I was looking for solutions, and one website suggests Women's One-a-Day helps simulation sickness. No thanks.


***Update 12 June 2010 ***

Add "The Karate Kid" (the new one) to the list of movies that causes simulation sickness.

Random Picture Friday -- Charleston, Deathly Hallows

February 19, 2010

2007
waiting on a horse and buggy ride in Charleston



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
When UPS delivered it, I read it straight through in a little under 15 hours.

Laser

February 16, 2010

We brought Laser home from the Humane Society today. He's getting used to his new home.

Haden's Bike in the Snow

February 14, 2010

Haden's bike in the snow

New Link

Since Chad put a ring on it, we have an addition to our People list on the right:

Samantha

Did You Know? -- Sound

You're walking, or more accurately bouncing, on The Moon. You look over, and there's Earth -- a beautiful blue gigantic marble.

Suddenly, a gargantuan object rushes past you and obliterates Earth in a collision that results in a dazzling, titanic explosion. Earth is gone. Humanity wiped out.

Throughout all of that pandemonium, you don't hear a peep... and it has nothing to do with the spacesuit you're wearing.

--

What we perceive as sound are vibrations that our ears turn into signals and send along to our brain. Vibrations have to have something to vibrate in, like water, air, or a solid.

When you look around, you mostly notice the visible objects, but we don't often think that there's a lot more something around us -- air. Yep, air is something.

There's no air in the vacuum of space. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anywhere else in the universe that has this special mix of elements that allows us to breathe.

So, the next time you're watching a movie, and a spaceship explodes with a deep, rumbling, sonorous, boom, you can say, "Wrongo!"

Snow Around Greenwood 2010

February 13, 2010

I took a little drive around town last night:










Dixie Drive-In

Snowtorious 2010

February 12, 2010

Back Yard Snow Panorama

Random Picture Friday -- Halloween, Chansi Stuckey, Fluoride Treatment

Halloween 2005


The boys with Chansi Stuckey in 2006