Alacia Miller
Dr. Hodgson
ENGL 1113
October 19, 2014
I tend to offend a lot of people when I say I did not join the Army to serve my country. Sure, I’m patriotic. I like football, the right to bear arms, and being able to say anything I want about anything I want whenever I want. I am definitely glad I was born in the land of the free and not in the Middle East where I surely would have been killed at a young age for my insubordination. I’m glad I have the choice to worship any god I see fit, or no god at all. There are many things about being American that I would fight to the death to be able to keep but I did not walk into the recruiting office and say “Sign me up, I want to go to war for my country.” In fact, no one I know in the Military …show more content…
I can see the name of the cook who is prepping it, the name of the driver who is delivering it, and the estimated time it will arrive at my door step. I can even let them know that my door bell is broken and to call me when they are at my threshold. I don’t have to call and wait 30 minutes to speak to a live person; I can do all of that in five minutes sitting at my desk. The Department of Veteran Affairs was smart to realize they could use this sort of tracking system for the medical claims. A veteran can now log on to their website, eBenifits, and track in real time where their file is in the process. Sounds great right? Unfortunately the system is only as reliable as the people uploading the data to it. Staff Sergeant Pitkins, who uses eBenifits to track his claim, says it’s never up to date (Pitkins, Interview). He still calls his case manager to find the most up to date information about his claim. He agreed that if the website was more reliable, he would use it more. The Veterans are able to upload documents to the website and have it electronically sent to the Department of Veteran Affairs. This cuts back time on waiting for snail mail. However, if the Veterans aren’t using the program as it is intended, it’s just another waste of tax payer’s money. If the Veteran Affairs were able to update the program more efficiently, perhaps the …show more content…
Senator Robert Casey argues that it’s not the program at fault; it’s the Veterans lack of knowledge. He claims that the Veterans don’t have adequate information on the process to be able to fill out the forms appropriately online. Therefore when the Veterans Affairs receives the claim, they must contact the Veteran to basically redo the application for compensation which can sometimes takes weeks (Casey, 17). When I asked Staff Sergeant Pitkins on his thoughts about what Senator Casey argues, he responded that he got so much information when he started the process it was overwhelming. He did not know how to process all the information that was thrown at him. His wife stated she doesn’t even try to keep up with it anymore because it’s too confusing for her to grasp. If the soldiers can’t understand the process, it causes delays in their case due to the Veterans Affairs receiving the wrong information, or not enough information. Senator Casey argues that the Veteran Affairs needs to have a better way of notifying the veteran of messages on eBenifits. He states that the Department of Veteran Affairs should be directed to send an email, snail mail, and call the Veteran whenever there is a message for them on the website (Casey, 21). This is because, according to him, veterans don’t check the website as often as they should and miss important messages about their
Dr. Hodgson
ENGL 1113
October 19, 2014
I tend to offend a lot of people when I say I did not join the Army to serve my country. Sure, I’m patriotic. I like football, the right to bear arms, and being able to say anything I want about anything I want whenever I want. I am definitely glad I was born in the land of the free and not in the Middle East where I surely would have been killed at a young age for my insubordination. I’m glad I have the choice to worship any god I see fit, or no god at all. There are many things about being American that I would fight to the death to be able to keep but I did not walk into the recruiting office and say “Sign me up, I want to go to war for my country.” In fact, no one I know in the Military …show more content…
I can see the name of the cook who is prepping it, the name of the driver who is delivering it, and the estimated time it will arrive at my door step. I can even let them know that my door bell is broken and to call me when they are at my threshold. I don’t have to call and wait 30 minutes to speak to a live person; I can do all of that in five minutes sitting at my desk. The Department of Veteran Affairs was smart to realize they could use this sort of tracking system for the medical claims. A veteran can now log on to their website, eBenifits, and track in real time where their file is in the process. Sounds great right? Unfortunately the system is only as reliable as the people uploading the data to it. Staff Sergeant Pitkins, who uses eBenifits to track his claim, says it’s never up to date (Pitkins, Interview). He still calls his case manager to find the most up to date information about his claim. He agreed that if the website was more reliable, he would use it more. The Veterans are able to upload documents to the website and have it electronically sent to the Department of Veteran Affairs. This cuts back time on waiting for snail mail. However, if the Veterans aren’t using the program as it is intended, it’s just another waste of tax payer’s money. If the Veteran Affairs were able to update the program more efficiently, perhaps the …show more content…
Senator Robert Casey argues that it’s not the program at fault; it’s the Veterans lack of knowledge. He claims that the Veterans don’t have adequate information on the process to be able to fill out the forms appropriately online. Therefore when the Veterans Affairs receives the claim, they must contact the Veteran to basically redo the application for compensation which can sometimes takes weeks (Casey, 17). When I asked Staff Sergeant Pitkins on his thoughts about what Senator Casey argues, he responded that he got so much information when he started the process it was overwhelming. He did not know how to process all the information that was thrown at him. His wife stated she doesn’t even try to keep up with it anymore because it’s too confusing for her to grasp. If the soldiers can’t understand the process, it causes delays in their case due to the Veterans Affairs receiving the wrong information, or not enough information. Senator Casey argues that the Veteran Affairs needs to have a better way of notifying the veteran of messages on eBenifits. He states that the Department of Veteran Affairs should be directed to send an email, snail mail, and call the Veteran whenever there is a message for them on the website (Casey, 21). This is because, according to him, veterans don’t check the website as often as they should and miss important messages about their