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OVER 100 MILLION IN BACKPAY COLLECTED FOR VETERANS

Episode 7: Understanding You Deserve The Benefits

In this episode, host Amanda Mineer is joined by Star, a paralegal for the Veterans Law Group that has served four honorable years in the U.S. Airforce. This episode is heavy on education, focusing on informing veterans and their families about applying for benefits and how to deal with mental health. Star talks about her experience after returning from service and how she found the Veterans Law Group along the way. Star’s experience from both sides of the benefits system, giving her a unique perspective on the application process.

Amanda and Star answer questions on why veterans feel like they don’t deserve benefits compared to others who have served and how to deal with those feelings. They cover how long the process can take, from 20 years to a couple of months, and how to help veterans who often feel misunderstood by their support base after being deployed for a long time.

Star and Amanda then discuss how the VA investigates you and how they look for any reason for your disabilities other than your service. They also discuss why vets sometimes wait too long to apply for benefits and how applying for your benefits sooner gives you a higher chance of acceptance.

Later in the show, Amanda and Star take calls from veterans around the country to discuss their worries. They address all the questions about the appeals process callers have.

Brett, a veteran who served from 89 – 04, called to discuss getting help from his community and others to assist many veterans in danger of self-harm; the risk is exceptionally high whether they were combat or non-combat veterans. Brett also talks about the high divorce rate and estrangement from their children.

Lewis, another veteran, asks Amanda and Star about how exactly he should go about his appeal after being previously misdiagnosed during his service. They then talk about what we, as a community, can do to help our veterans through these issues.

We discuss all of this and more in this episode. The resounding point of the topics addressed is that going through the appeals process alone is the last thing you should do. The help and guidance of having a representative can take years off the process and get veterans the benefits that they rightfully deserve in less time.