Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program

Remembering fallen company mates from F2Zoo

Almost 50 years ago 33 young men came to West Point to hopefully graduate the Long Gray line. Over 46 years later those of us who graduated together from F2 "The Zoo" still stay in touch via different ways. Sadly two of our classmates and friends are not with us and as this Memorial Day brings me to remember them with tears in my eyes.

Doug Renbarger and Drew Harrington graduated with the other 31 members of F2 and struck out to tame the Army. Drew was the first to pass during a jump with his Ranger team and Doug left us years later post-retirement in a fire trying to save his pet.

I will forever remember both of them and hope that we will meet again years from now. God Bless both of you and thank you for being part of my life.

Veterans and the 24 month Rule for Military Service.

Another Veteran has come up under the 24 month time in service question and currently is being told he does not meet this rule. He currently is being treated by the VA medical under "Humanitarian" status.

The 24 month rule is out there and there are exceptions to this rule that override the 24 month time requirement. I am placing information below so that you can understand how to challenge this rule.

Understanding the 24-Month Military Rule

The 24-month military rule is a federal requirement that sets the minimum active-duty service length for certain veterans’ benefits, particularly those administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

What the Rule Means
Under 38 U.S.C. § 5303A and 38 CFR § 3.12a, if you:

Enlisted after September 7, 1980 in a regular component of the Armed Forces, or

Entered active duty after October 16, 1981 without already completing 24 months of continuous active duty,

you must serve at least 24 continuous months of active duty, or the full period you were called or ordered to active duty — whichever is shorter legalclarity.org+1.

If you fall short of this requirement, you generally lose eligibility for VA benefits based on that period of service LII / Legal Information Institute.

Who It Applies To
Enlisted personnel who joined after September 7, 1980.

Any service member (officer or enlisted) who entered active duty after October 16, 1981 and had not already met the 24-month threshold LII / Legal Information Institute.
Exceptions
The 24-month rule does not apply if you:

Served before September 7, 1980 — even a single day of active service can count if your discharge was acceptable legalclarity.org.

Were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable (e.g., hardship, early out, disability discharge) Veterans Affairs.

Were discharged for a disability caused or worsened by service, or for hardship/early out Veterans Affairs.

Secretary of the VA - Doug Collins tells Veterans they should not be Victims - Time to call this out.

One of the great pleasures I get from being a Post Service Officer is getting Veterans what they deserve in the way of issue resolution and benefits compensation.

In the past couple of weeks we have done some great things to help Veterans after years of the VA neglect and oversight.

Over a year ago I began working with a 60+ yr old Veteran who has severe health issues that went back over 40 years to neglect of the Army during basic Training. This carried over to the VA on his claims and finally this week after over a year of effort, getting letters to TRADOC for medical records, providing patient records to the VA we got him rated for 100% SC Disability. The VA has come out and said they dropped the ball years ago. This Veteran was on him last few dollars and has severe medical issues. We are now going to file for back pay but he can now rest.

Navy Veteran who in his VA medical files was found to have a MH issue and documented was denied on his VA claim years ago. We found this out as he is a homeless veteran and is going through our 96 hour intake process of which VA records review is part of this. He took the VA letter of denial as a fact rather than figuring out how to fight the VA on their lack of being able to read in clear print that he has a compensable claim. We have also filed for him to get VA medical benefits as he should have had this done years ago. He is also over 60 and tries to live on less than $1,000 a month SSI

Another female Navy Weapons Veterans was found living in her car in one of the Counties cities. Upon working with her, we found that she had a number of claims in the system that had been cancelled due to her not being able to connect with the VA. SHE IS HOMELESS WITH NO PHONE. We refiled all of her pending claims and immediately had her get her CMP exams done. In six weeks from our initial meeting, in working with GDVS we got her to be rated 100% SC.

Last issue is an elderly Army Veteran who after going to a local emergency room was told to see a doctor within 5 days. He is already 100% SC but had not been assigned a P*P. Also after 12 weeks of trying to get a Community Care Referral it was found out that the VA CC team had never been trained on how to do a referral. This happened over 9 months ago and I had been monitoring this from day one. We have filed FOIA's, VAOIG reports and even went to the VA CVEB committee to get the VA to address the issues. WHAT A SURPISE THE VA HAS SLOW ROLLED THIS AND FINALLY HOPED THAT WE WOULD GO AWAY.
Not so - we have filed a medical malpractice suit and I have applied for Whistleblower status to get this out in the open as to why the VA handled this so poorly

So if you are a Veteran and do not want to be a Victim get your local Service officer involved. Also there is no need to get a lawyer involved in your case. None of the ones we noted above involved a lawyer. Also file with your local office of the Ga Dept of Veteran Services - they care.... The VA does not

Today we celebrate our 82nd Vehicle Donation to Veterans in need

10 years ago our program was challenged by a 100% SC Air Force Veteran with a family and home to help him obtain a replacement vehicle for his family to use as his 20 year old truck has just died and was not usable.

What came of our this request was the beginning of the Vehicle Donation program for three (3) classes of Veterans, (1) 70% or Higher SC VA Disabled who cannot afford a vehicle, (2) a Veteran with small children who cannot afford a vehicle or, (3) a Homeless Veteran who needs a vehicle to obtain a good paying job.

The Vehicles we donated have gone to Veterans across the state as long as they can pass the vetting process. Our program has been blessed to have 117 Vehicles donated so far and 84 have made it through our mechanical screening by our Partner Christian Bros Automotive of Canton. The 33 vehicles that have not made it to the donation level have been auctioned off to put money back into our program. Of the 84 Vehicles, we have two waiting for Titles, 77 of them are still on the road. That is over a 93% rate.

This program would not be as successful as it is without mentioning and recognizing those who have donate gently used vehicles to our program. You have given us the gift to help other Veterans, to help Veterans get to medical appointments, to get their children to school, or to get a Homeless Veteran a $30/hr job vs just a $7/hr job.

Next Time when you are thinking of donating a vehicle to a company ask them if the vehicle goes to a general fund or does the vehicle get donated to a person in need. If you find out that it just goes to auction to offset general expenses then give us a call as you not only get a TAX deduction, but you are helping a Veteran who served this country.