The Veteran's Survival Guide : How to File and Collect on VA Claims

Despite the rhetoric of “We can’t do enough for you” that has bombarded veterans since the early 1980s, veterans’ benefits are constantly being downsized, measured only by bottom-line costs. Gone are the pledges of a nation grateful for the sacrifices of those who have served. The results: a Veterans Administration with a diminished budget, and millions of veterans whose legitimate claims for federal benefits are denied, in most cases because the claimants don’t understand the procedures needed to meet the VA’s myriad requirements.

With the appeals process requiring years to resolve disputes, deserving veterans and their dependents are left confused and frustrated by the agency and a system that was created to serve them. In The Veteran's Survival Guide, veterans’ advocate John D. Roche equips veterans with the knowledge they need to submit well-grounded claims the first time, stating as Rule #1 that, “If you don’t submit evidence to support your claim it will be denied.”

Written in an accessible self-help style, The Veteran's Survival Guide should be required reading for all veterans or veterans’ dependents who wish to obtain their well-earned benefits, and for those officials of veterans’ service organizations whose job it is to assist veterans with their claims.

Maj. John D. Roche, USAF (Ret.), served as a bomber pilot, had combat duty in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and held a variety of administrative assignments. Subsequently, he worked for sixteen years as a claims adjudicator specialist for the Veterans Administration and as a veterans’ service officer for Pinellas County, Florida, where he was a tireless advocate for veterans and their families. Roche enjoyed one of the highest rates of wins on appeal in the state. This book is based on his experience as a successful practitioner, many years of independent research, and personal consultations with some 80,000 veterans, widows, and dependents. Roche is also the author of The Veteran’s Survival Guide, Second Edition (Potomac Books, 2006) and The Veteran’s PTSD Handbook (Potomac Books, 2007). He lives in Palm Harbor, Florida.