1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

hmm... i found my old flag pole for the hitch in the garage.. time to start flying the red white and blue again?

 

WTF where did you go? Not to be an ass because I'm sure you couldn't have waited (eye problems are no joke) but what about the VA? would've been free but probably have taken 2 days waiting in the lobby

 

Tough spot to be in when you are doing your best to take care of your family.

 

Yeah so before I went anywhere (I was busy at work mind you), I thought "I need to get checked out because my vision is even more blurry and I have a bad headache"

Called the VA, and the call gets routed to SF where they handle everything electronically.

I'm asked for my last name, last 4, and they'll call me back because they send an electronic message to a nurse.

Nurse calls me within 5 minutes and asks for my symptoms. Proceeds to ask me a few more questions and says I can either drive all the way to Palo Alto (2hr drive that normally takes 3hrs....it was the day before Xmas eve so I expect longer), or go to any hospital nearby which she recommended due to my vision impairment. I laughed when she suggested I don't drive since i had nobody to take me anyway.

I went to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital.

They document my call, and where I expect to go. Now that my bill has arrived, I'm expected to forward it to the VA so they can cover it.

Now the nurse did say that she cannot claim the VA will cover the entire expense of the bill, even though I'm 70% disabled and pay nothing for medical, not even prescriptions. She said they'd guarantee all expenses paid if I go to Palo Alto since it's a VA hospital though....so I'm like wtf?

Anyway I bet they say that for liability reasons, maybe people trying to get free shit or something?

We'll see once I begin to deal with the VA about getting this covered this Monday.

 

Talking about this though is making me rethink the decision for my disability status; I should appeal for my hearing loss.

My paperwork does state that I do have hearing loss but not enough to be considered that it would affect my life or some shit.

So stupid because I've literally changed everything about how I even communicate with people, by putting them on my left side, etc. Same with my phone, I have that shit loud just to hear my handset.

 

Sucks. Wish you the best with dealing with them.

I remember my father asking me to come with him to one of his initial appointments at the PA VA. We get there and he fills out a ton of paperwork and they send him off to this other 'appointment desk'. Get there and they look over his paperwork then say its not correct and he has to go back to registration. Go back to registration they give him an entirely different packet and there is this whole section asking where in country he was stationed at... every location, every assignment, who is CO was, etc. By this time he's showing his frustration a little... I try to help him out and the guy sitting across from us jumps out of his chair and yells out 'F THIS! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS!?!" Throws the clipboard across the room and and storms off. Poor bastard. Really felt for the guy (and my father).

This was several years ago. I can only hope we have learned to take better care of the men and women who have served and put themselves on the line. Will never forget that. Will never forget the unemotional almost robotic customer service.

 

Yeah see, I don't understand that at all. Where do they get off assigning a certain % and claim its not affecting your daily life. Nope, not cool at all. Id appeal big time. I mean its great to hear you don't have to pay and everything is fully covered but its the BS factor that blows.

 

That shit is really sad.

Took my own dad pushing me for years to finally make start my claim. When I had started over 2 years ago, I kept hitting a wall only to find out on my own by accident that I didn't have to be seen by anyone and I can make my claim online.

Turns out, when you're a real combat wounded service member, it's much easier and quicker to start and finalize your claim. Problem is, no one told me this even though I had mentioned to several VA staff of my brief history; guess too many people claim they're combat wounded and really aren't.

Still no excuse.

Service members get treated like garbage once they're out of the military and it pisses me off instantly to witness it which is why I hate going to the VA. I'll want to beat the shit out of every damn staff member I witness mistreating any service member.

 

Reason why I'm afraid to appeal it though, as tempting as it is, is because they can redecision the other stuff like my tinnitus, TBI, and PTSD to give me an overall lower rating.

How's that for a fucked up fear?

 

dont blame you at all. PTSD is something that you get from dealing with that infrastructure. You know what I say... screw it. Bill that ebay transmission to them.

Sorry if I brought up some bad shit. sucks bud. glad the pink eye is gone though

 

Naw, if I can't easily talk about even the worse shit that's happened in my life, I've only let it win and gain control over me; take me mentioning the ex wife for instance and taking that 36hr drive one way.

We all go through shit in life and I never chalk up my experiences as a "mistake"; it's only a mistake if you don't learn from that experience.

 

Couldn't have said it better. Cheers bud.

 

Fuck @cruiserguy is gonna come in here, read this shit, and call me an old man

 

Old man

 

any of you buy halo reach for the pc? im bored and want to play..

 

That's exactly what I have. My right ear is deaf due to a surgery where they got the knicked the nerve of hearing while removing a tumor kinda thing. So deaf in right and left is like 70% when I can keep my ear popped. It's usually plugged like altitude plugged. So it really does affect you man. I find myself turning more hermit if I'm not careful

 

I'll start gaming once I get my computer desk....

 

floors work

 

Damn I'm sorry to hear.

Though you have to admit when your buddy says "what" and you get caught repeating yourself only to find out he's making fun of you lol

 

Shit man I wanna play a video game with you guys. You know it'd be a friggin blast!