[Vigilous]

... Is a fucking farce. While it is hard to begrudge the Department of Veterans Affairs since they were forced by Congress to have this new program rolled out in a year's time, the VA has managed to prove that they could have been given two or more and still would have fucked things up royally. Numerous Veterans (myself included) have been billed erroneously for overpayments that seem to have been created by Wall Street brain trust math and douchebagery.

For example, my school has received a total of $11,040.45 for two semesters. It took the VA til almost the end of the Fall '09 semester to pay $3,500 that was due. For Spring, they paid over $7,000. For some ungodly reason, they think they paid the school the $11k in the spring, creating an overpayment of ~$6k. According to the correct math, the school was overpaid $4,000, not $6,000. What's even funnier is that the total amount the school has received equals the same amount the VA claims that they paid the school for the spring semester.

And of course, as any service member knows, the military is slow to pay, but quick to take back. The VA has all but said they blame veterans and schools for not just the miscalculations, but also the slowness of benefit payouts - claiming that VA liaisons at schools are not making an effort to collect enrollment certifications from vets quickly enough or even submitting them to the VA in a timely manner. And the vets for not making a greater effort to submit these forms.

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And yeah, I know. Just get a refund from the school. But the VA dumps the burden of proof on the vet for any inaccuracies. The school was overpaid 4 grand, but the VA says it was over 6. Essentially, the VA is playing a game of financial chicken with vets. My manager at work went through a similar issue with the standard GI Bill. He even got a court certified letter from the school clearing him of the debt the VA said he owed. It didn't matter, they wanted their money, and they still got it.

Personally, I feel like the victim of Ponzi scheme. But I guess it could be worse. The VA could give me HIV like they did to those four vets in Miami last year. Either way, I'm all:

Spoiler

RAGE!!!
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[hideo]

Dunno my friend's wife hasnt had a prob, she's prior navy.

[motoh]

They paid me under 31 after I switched to 33, then tried to report me to creditors. I was not very pleased.

I feel your pain, and am very grateful that my school has a dedicated and alert VA liason office that checks their shit before it goes through. I haven't had any trouble since.

~M

[Vigilous]

So does my VA person, but since the VA liaisons are never told by the VA when and how much is deposited, it makes it hard for the school to react appropriately. From what I understand, when I first brought this to her attention, she tried to have the school actually refund it back to the VA, but for some fuck reason, the VA wouldn't accept it.

[draugo]

I spent all last semester up until mid November before they paid me a dime for that semester, This spring semester has been much better though.

[octoberasian]

My friend is in a similar situation with this GI Bill and rather pissed off about it.  Now he's trying to find a job to pay for the rest of his classes to school, and hasn't had luck with that either.

[Keylime]

My reservist buddy says the same thing.

[Vigilous]

UDATE! Just got a letter from the VA today after they audited my benefits. They finally managed to uncork their heads from their ass and got everything straightened out. The letter said they had to rebuild my entire benefits account from scratch with all the payouts and payments they have received.

Hope any veterans you all may know are having similar good fortune.

This post has been edited by Vigilous: 21 May 2010 - 07:50 PM

[Mend]

Damn, now you have my blood boiling. I've never had any positive interaction with the VA or the military for anything. From them not filing my kicker paperwork to not paying on time and being unable to pay rent and so on. Thanks for working me up!!!

[Geothermal]

Did you already use your MGIB? I didn't even bother signing for the 9/11, especially when the MTIs back when I was in boot camp were hard selling it so much.

[Vigilous]

No, I opted out of it for Chapter 33. Which, aside from the ulcer inducing migraines, is indeed better than Chapter 30. Hopefully now I am past this initial fracas and can worry about passing my classes rather than worrying about looking for a second job.

Quote

Damn, now you have my blood boiling. I've never had any positive interaction with the VA or the military for anything. From them not filing my kicker paperwork to not paying on time and being unable to pay rent and so on. Thanks for working me up!!!

Which GI Bill are you taking?

[Cruzandercerberus]

I know some people who work for government conctracors that will pay for your tuition up to something like 8k/yr, They get chapter 33, BAH, Book recompensation, and a recompensation check for tuition and books from their company at the end of the semester.

Security Clearances are worth more than some degrees.

This post has been edited by Cruzandercerberus: 26 May 2010 - 07:20 AM

[Vigilous]

Dear god, what companies are those?

[Cruzandercerberus]

Basically all the big defense contractors and a lot of the small ones contractors have tuition benefits. General Dynamics, Booz Allen Hamilton, Kellog Brown and Root, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon.

This post has been edited by Cruzandercerberus: 26 May 2010 - 12:18 PM

[Vigilous]

Ah, that's what I thought.

I wouldn't want to work for KBR. Something about giving up my right to consensual sex scares me. Don't get me wrong, I like being tied up like the next guy, but shipping containers are not a fun place to be.

This post has been edited by Vigilous: 26 May 2010 - 12:37 PM

[Cruzandercerberus]

Rape is in actuality a small part of the overall business model. You need to look at these things contextually.

honestly I wouldn't work for KBR either.

[firefeng]

Cruzandercerberus, on 26 May 2010 - 02:01 PM, said:

Rape is in actuality a small part of the overall business model. You need to look at these things contextually.

honestly I wouldn't work for KBR either.

Well, can't really help it if rape has such a low return on investments, can we? Now, kidnapping Nepali men to make them work in Iraq, on the other hand...

[Cruzandercerberus]

firefeng, on 26 May 2010 - 02:06 PM, said:

Well, can't really help it if rape has such a low return on investments, can we? Now, kidnapping Nepali men to make them work in Iraq, on the other hand...

Ah, that would be the Khalifa Model. Slavery gets shit done.

This post has been edited by Cruzandercerberus: 26 May 2010 - 02:18 PM

[rambus]

Cruzandercerberus, on 26 May 2010 - 02:14 PM, said:

Ah, that would be the Khalifa Model. Slavery gets shit done.

that thing is huge, lest we finally have a true worlds tallest.

petronas tower and taipei 101 being called that was BS

This post has been edited by rambus: 27 May 2010 - 10:50 AM

[pathwriter]

Do people really care that much about which country has the tallest overcompensation for their inferiority complex? Besides, unless you're Howard Hughes or a tourist, why in heaven's name would anyone want to spend more than 10 seconds that high up in the air? In a plane or ultralight or hang glider, sure, but standing on a building?