I am a veteran who has been in treatment for PTSD and depression for over a year. I had PTSD symptoms for years and denied it. I tried to tough it out, work it out, drink it out, sex it out to no avail. When I ran out of coping mechanisms, I finally went for help. They were very good about getting me assessed and treated as soon as the schedule allowed. They wanted me to take an aggressive treatment schedule that would have required three days a week at the clinic. I was working at the time and my employer was not open to having me out for 3 days a week. I filed my claim and waited. It took a year exactly for my claim to be denied on a lack of medical evidence. I didn't understand how the VBA could deny my claim for an injury that I was being treated for until I realized, my open claim was making the VBA look bad.

The claims process is Kafka's nightmare come to life. One side of the agency , the Veterans Health Administration, says I am injured probably as a result of service during the Persian Gulf War. The other side, the VBA, says that I am not injured and if I was, it was not the result of being in a war zone because we have no record of that but, you can appeal that decision. Thanks for your service. Now add in some mental health issues and now you know my hell.

What the VA has created is an industry that grinds along on the misery of injured veterans. I keep reminding myself that I am one of the lucky ones because they haven't killed me yet and I can still appeal. This system doesn't benefit the veteran at all. The system has been warped to benefit the bureaucrats who work within and along side of the VA only. This is how you get an agency that spends millions on a computer system that ends up using decades old technology and can't communicate with other agency's computers. It's the reason why people who can't seem to do the jobs they were hired for have stellar performance reviews and bonuses. It's why we get reports of VA facilities spending millions on office equipment, appliances and decorations but not a penny on feedback surveys from the veterans treated. This is how millions get spent on a national call center that handles fewer than calls a day.