Jim
Fausone
Veterans
Disability Lawyer
We
deal with VA every day and are at the outer rings
of DOD’s activities. Our clients
are guys that have been around the block before and know a thing or two about
DOD and VA. So I am never too surprised by the stories we are told about
delay and incompetency. However, a new report out on DOD tells the story
of how DFAS simply makes up numbers, plug
numbers, to make its books balance in reports to Treasury. DFAS, the
Defense Finance and Accounting Service, is the Pentagon’s main accounting
agency. We all rely on the DFAS numbers like they are
gospel. VA will stick to a DFAS report of pay or benefits as
evidence in VA determinations – like hazardous duty pay, flight status,
etc. As reported “At the DFAS offices that handle
accounting for the Army, Navy, Air Force and other defense agencies, fudging
the accounts with false entries is standard operating procedure, Reuters has
found. And plugging isn’t confined to DFAS (pronounced
DEE-fass). Former military service officials say record-keeping at the
operational level throughout the services is rife with made-up numbers to cover
lost or missing information.”
I suspect that if Reuters was doing a similar story on VA it
may find the same mentality of “plugging the numbers to get the report out the
door.” Those inaccuracies end up impacting the lives of real
people. Real veterans are not getting benefits or care because of the
inability to account for information and resources. I wish it was not so
but this report seems to be well done and convincing. What are your
thoughts or experiences?
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