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Speaker 1: Truman Talks Law on Great Day Live is sponsored by the Karl Truman Law Office.
Speaker 2: Count on the Colonel, indeed. If you are a veteran with a disability you know
the waiting game. According to the VA, nearly half a million cases have been pending for
an average of eight months. So if your benefits have been denied or cut or underpaid, the
author of "Fight the VA and Win" has advice. You know Attorney Karl Truman. Welcome back,
and good morning again Lieutenant Colonel, Karl Truman we've heard about you, retired
Lieutenant Colonel with the U.S. Army Reserve, tell us about your book.
Karl Truman: Well, in addition to general personal injury claims, like automobile accidents,
one of the areas that I am passionate about is helping our veterans with VA disability
claims, and as a veteran myself, it's something that I'm very interested in, and trying to,
you know, serve those who have served us and served our nation because, as you mentioned,
there is such a huge backlog of VA disability claims. One of the most frustrating things
is how long it takes to get through the system, so what I wanted to do is, uh, provide a book
to try to give advice to veterans on what to expect from the process. On what to have,
what is a VA disability claim. What are some of the criteria to be eligible for a claim?
What's the appeal process and how is the disability rate, and so, you know, I'm sorry, I've written
this book to try to uh, you know, provide veterans a, just a, a general resource guide
to try to give them some guidance about how to, how to tackle the system.
Speaker 2: It is a shame there's a log jam, but it's a reality, so it's something they
have to be prepared to deal with too, and you give great advice in this book too, including,
uh, reminding people about the importance of saving their documents.
Karl Truman: As any veteran, anyone who's served in the military understands documentation,
you know, because that's something that you're ingrained in is about documentation, and so
it's important, and sometimes it may have been years that, you represent a lot of Vietnam
era veterans.
Karl Truman: Actually, I have a client who's a World War II veteran.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Karl Truman: So, trying to go back to, uh, you know, compile all that documentation because
just like any, uh, you know, being in the military having that documentation is really
crucial.
Speaker 2: Indeed, and, uh, you, you talk about here the importance of saving all these
things., but another great note here too is always use certified mail with return receipt.
Explain the value in that.
Karl Truman: Well we deal with the local VA office, what, what's called a regional office,
uh, major cities have, they, what's called a regional office where you can actually file
the documentation, so we go down there almost every day and actually file stamp the documentation
so we have something that shows that it was stamped and filed. If you're not able to do
that, you, the VA loses things, so by sending it certified mail you have that proof that
yes it was sent in, uh, so, because when it's not in your file, you know you gotta be able
to prove, yes I really did send it in.
Speaker 2: All right, let's start with the basics in, how do you know if you qualify
for disability benefits from the VA? At what level do you cross that line?
Karl Truman: And that's something that, uh, I talk about in the book, but we have to be
able to establish that there's some sort of injury or illness that occurred, uh, while
you were on active duty, and some people mistakenly think well I must have had to have been in
a training accident or been in combat, and those are certainly important, uh, aspects,
but it doesn't necessarily have to be in that. It could be you were off duty in a car accident.
I've got clients like that, or sustained some other, uh, type of illness or injury, so,
but we do have to establish that there was something that happened while you were on
active duty, and that now it does cause a disability, and there's a very, um, a lot
of criteria that you have to go through to establish what is a disability and how is
it rated. The VA rates it on 10, on 10 percent increments and there's, uh, a whole regulation
that lists each type of disability.
Speaker 2: Very good. We appreciate everyone's service and there's value, valuable and enlightening
information inside this book and you can get a copy of this if they call your office.
Karl Truman: If someone would like to call my office, uh, 502 222 2222, be glad to send
a free copy.
Speaker 2: All right Karl, thank you a bunch. Again, that number 502 and then all twos,
222 2222. You can find Karl Truman on line at trumanlaw.com.