Latest / Brian Thomas / CCVS Steve Balczo - Veteran's Services

Transcript

CCVS Steve Balczo - Veteran's Services · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Station. If you have KCD talk station. You know me.
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  Speaker 1: I love helping my American veteran friends. And I know
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  Speaker 1: somebody that even more so loved to help his American
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  Speaker 1: American veteran friends. Fellow veteran Steve Belzow in studio from
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  Speaker 1: the Klamat County Veteran Services Commission Steve again in studio.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming in and I appreciate what you
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  Speaker 1: and the Veteran Services Commissioner doing for the American veterans.
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  Speaker 1: Good to have you back in the studio.
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  Speaker 2: Brian's good to be back with you always educating the masses.
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  Speaker 1: So thanks for what you do, and I appreciate your
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  Speaker 1: notes in Oh shocking, this complexity of filling the or
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  Speaker 1: filing VA claims. You mean the federal government makes things complex.
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  Speaker 2: Can you imagine?
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, that never happens.
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  Speaker 2: Can you imagine? Jeez? I mean, we have workers compensation
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  Speaker 2: insurance on every business that's out there, but yet the
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  Speaker 2: federal government can sends you away without a even a
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  Speaker 2: token of responsibility for your injuries incurred while serving them.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's why we have the Claimont County Veteran Services
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  Speaker 1: and the other Veteran Service organizations to help along with these.
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  Speaker 1: So how does filing acclaim with the claimart County Veteran
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  Speaker 1: Service Office differ from others.
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  Speaker 2: The uniqueness about our not just Claremont, but County Veteran
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  Speaker 2: Service offices.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to give love to the other ones out
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  Speaker 1: of the world.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, you know what we're serving veterans, right, So we
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  Speaker 2: have large veteran service organizations, the VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars,
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  Speaker 2: Vietnam Veterans America pow right. So we have these organizations
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  Speaker 2: that are federally mandated to file on behalf of veterans
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  Speaker 2: in that process in the umbrella of applying, they don't
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  Speaker 2: have the depth to see into the VA. They can
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  Speaker 2: apply on your behalf. They know the forms to apply,
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  Speaker 2: they know the process to apply. What's different about a
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  Speaker 2: County Veteran Service Office is because of the accreditations they receive,
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  Speaker 2: they can look into the VA records to see where
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  Speaker 2: you've ben, what you have filed for, how it's been
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  Speaker 2: filed for you, and then move it forward. Does it
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  Speaker 2: need to go into appeal instead of doing the same
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  Speaker 2: form again, thinking you're changing small dog to puppy and
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  Speaker 2: this time it's going to get through. No, it should
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  Speaker 2: have been in an additional form to be filed in
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  Speaker 2: accordance with the claim you're filing for.
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  Speaker 1: See, this is something you know. I of course have
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  Speaker 1: no idea what you're talking about. That's why we have you,
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  Speaker 1: That's why the veterans tay you. You get this little
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  Speaker 1: bureaucratic layer all sorted out. You know what needs to
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  Speaker 1: be done, absolutely right, All right, since we're up to
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  Speaker 1: a break, we're going to continue this process because you
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  Speaker 1: know we need to know. You know, what does it
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  Speaker 1: cost money file acclaim? How to veterans? See the talk
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  Speaker 1: station A forty NFTY five kc DE talk station Brian
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  Speaker 1: Thomas with Steve Belzo, count County Veteran Services Commission. I
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  Speaker 1: am I am reeling over this reality. I mean, you
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  Speaker 1: brought me some notes and the idea that I'm staring
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  Speaker 1: at that a veteran could be charged to have a
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  Speaker 1: claim process for his VA bennett or her VA benefits. Steve, am,
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  Speaker 1: I understanding that right.
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  Speaker 2: It is a one it's filing claims, right, So.
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  Speaker 1: Just just walk through step I said, how a veteran
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  Speaker 1: might be charged under this considering as you point out
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  Speaker 1: it there is no charge in connection with final acclaim.
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  Speaker 2: That's correct.
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  Speaker 1: So if you spring from that proposition, how am ice
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  Speaker 1: looking at something that says the veterans may be charged.
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  Speaker 2: It's because veterans don't know. Oh Via do Gov has
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  Speaker 2: a way that you can file on your own behalf
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  Speaker 2: on the website when you established a website free now convoluted,
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  Speaker 2: but free Veteran service officers. Every county in Ohio has
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  Speaker 2: a Veteran Service office who has been trained up to
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  Speaker 2: six time continuing education every year credits they have to
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  Speaker 2: receive file on your behalf for free free. Not only that,
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  Speaker 2: know how to obtain your d D two fourteen. If
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  Speaker 2: you don't have it, we'll give your website to get
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  Speaker 2: it to have it right for free. We will put
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  Speaker 2: it under county records for you for free. As a
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  Speaker 2: matter of fact, we will give you a free Veterans
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  Speaker 2: i D Card instead of carrying your DD two fourteen
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  Speaker 2: that you can prove you're a veteran. And yet we
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  Speaker 2: have these these companies making business nature of barre is
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  Speaker 2: a vacuum. And don't businesses love an open way to
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  Speaker 2: move into grab some capital here?
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  Speaker 1: So so a veteran who's not aware of the Veterans
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  Speaker 1: Service office in their county. That they would get all
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  Speaker 1: this for free is kind of a wash in this
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  Speaker 1: weird sea of convoluted regulations. Ergo, some company pops up
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  Speaker 1: and says, hi, we're here to help you out, for
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  Speaker 1: which they charge money.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, or what if you didn't supply enough corroborating evidence
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  Speaker 2: to show this occurred on active duty and it's still
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  Speaker 2: affecting you today and you were denied, Well, now there's
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  Speaker 2: an appeals process you would go through.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this is determination the precentage disability right, Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, So the veterer says, well, that's ridiculous. I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to go hire a lawyer. Now what happens is there
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  Speaker 2: are individuals out there who are accredited with doing this,
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  Speaker 2: and what they will do is they're not allowed to
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  Speaker 2: charge you. Potentially on the front side House Bill seven
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  Speaker 2: o eight sitting on the House floor now is a
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  Speaker 2: measure to start to corral some of this. But listen
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  Speaker 2: to the final end of this. It is compensation must
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  Speaker 2: be contingent on an increase in awarded benefits and is
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  Speaker 2: capped at five times the monthly increase achieved. So if
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  Speaker 2: I'm Johnny Bonnott's and I've never received a compensation for
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  Speaker 2: my disabilities from active duty, and all of a sudden,
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  Speaker 2: the VA says, you know what, Yes, we're gonna call
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  Speaker 2: you fifty percent disabled based on your disabilities, and we're
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  Speaker 2: gonna do a retroactive pay to nineteen eighty nineteen seventy five.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's times we see retroactive pay coming in
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  Speaker 2: at hundreds of thousands of dollars because of these injuries.
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  Speaker 1: Asian Orton exposed, fill in the bank.
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  Speaker 2: Right awarded benefits is capped at five times the monthly
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  Speaker 2: increase achieved five times fivefold. How long is that veteran
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  Speaker 2: going to pay before he ever he or she ever
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  Speaker 2: receives their benefit Because the filing individual outside of a
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  Speaker 2: veteran service organization or the commission in the county is
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  Speaker 2: able to charge back, and that money comes direct from
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  Speaker 2: the federal government to that organization before it comes to
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  Speaker 2: the veteran, So they.
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  Speaker 1: Get their slice of the take first, and the veteran
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  Speaker 1: gets what's left over until it's paid. And this is
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  Speaker 1: the proposed legislation.
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  Speaker 2: This is putting a cap on what is happening.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I see a cap.
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  Speaker 2: So right now, there was a veteran came up from
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  Speaker 2: Georgia to come see my office. Turns out he had
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  Speaker 2: a an individual out in the some county in Georgia
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  Speaker 2: who had a certi of a probably a national certification
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  Speaker 2: to file benefits and they have to have a power
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  Speaker 2: of attorney to file on your behalf. But what happens
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  Speaker 2: is is they hold on to that power of attorney
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  Speaker 2: and won't release it until they receive their funds. So
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  Speaker 2: if there's other issues you need to file for, you
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  Speaker 2: have to go back to that individual to keep filing
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  Speaker 2: or wait until they're paid that they'll release the power
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  Speaker 2: of attorney that a county service officer then can take
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  Speaker 2: your file.
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  Speaker 1: It's like extortion.
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  Speaker 2: It aps. Oh my gosh, it is.
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  Speaker 1: Yes. I asked you off air if there were attorney
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  Speaker 1: attorneys general or attorney general in state of Hiring today
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  Speaker 1: looking at this, because it sounds to me nefarious. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to say out loud criminal even though it
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  Speaker 1: just did right, but you know, not knowing enough about
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  Speaker 1: this particular scenario, it sounds like it could be criminal.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and I think that's why they're putting Ohio House
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  Speaker 2: Bill seven to eight on the floor. And it's least
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  Speaker 2: to draw this in somewhat right, so you can't have
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  Speaker 2: access fees anymore, even though five times the allotted benefit
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  Speaker 2: I still consider excessive. Protecting veterans from deceptive or exploitive practices. Right,
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  Speaker 2: So you get a letter in the mail, and how
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  Speaker 2: many times do they come like car insurance, Hey, this
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  Speaker 2: is the last time we're gonna connect you. Right, it's
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  Speaker 2: a marketing.
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  Speaker 1: Thing, send out to veterans who don't know the complexities
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  Speaker 1: of what they're dealing with. So moving away from this
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  Speaker 1: nonsense that's going on out there. And God love the
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  Speaker 1: American veteran that's why you're there. That's Claremont Veteran Services.
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  Speaker 1: You understand all this. You can steer them away from
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  Speaker 1: the potentially unlawful activity that's going on out there. That's
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  Speaker 1: why I perceive it right and send them down the path.
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  Speaker 2: With free absolutely right now, there are some I want
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  Speaker 2: my money. I want my money now, they're going to
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  Speaker 2: elect these these routes. It is not it is not
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  Speaker 2: to your benefit just because of you believe. It's speed
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  Speaker 2: to the end. It's about doing it right and assuring
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  Speaker 2: it's established. And then once we have that core issue
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  Speaker 2: identified benefited now we can work on tertiary issues that
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  Speaker 2: may stem from that, but many do it in an
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  Speaker 2: opposite direction, and the VA just keeps denying because it's
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  Speaker 2: not the core issue. There's a methodology to the schematic
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  Speaker 2: of this.
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  Speaker 1: Thing, and you're trained over and over and over again,
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  Speaker 1: correct annual training and upgrade training, and you know, like
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  Speaker 1: continuing legal education, which I have to take. That's the
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  Speaker 1: Claremont County Veteran Services and the other Veteran Services Commissions
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  Speaker 1: in each county. Please, veterans utilize and rely on these resources.
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  Speaker 1: They're there for you. They're going to keep you out
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  Speaker 1: of these problems in troubles and may take a little time,
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  Speaker 1: but at least it's better than trying to go off
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  Speaker 1: on your own.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my word, the loss of revenue to support your family,
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  Speaker 2: to support your issue. Right, all this is off to
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  Speaker 2: offset that which you're abated in life because of your
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  Speaker 2: service on active duty.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Deeve, for your ongoing commitment to
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  Speaker 1: the American veteran and for your prior service to our country.
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  Speaker 1: Appreciate what you and all the folks at Claremont County
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  Speaker 1: Veterans Service Commissioner are doing. I'll look forward to having
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  Speaker 1: you back and keep spreading the information so my veterans
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  Speaker 1: can stay out of trouble and get that well oiled
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  Speaker 1: machine that you provide working for them right, including transportation
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  Speaker 1: to their medical appointments. Take care of my friend. It's
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  Speaker 1: always a pleasure having you here. Stick around, folks, f
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  Speaker 1: o he. President ken Kober returns to the program after
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  Speaker 1: the top of the hour.