VA released 927 pages of the training it gives the contract clinicians who examine Veterans. Eighty of those pages are about toxic exposure. The word “rationale” appears 682 times in the stack; “Agent Orange” appears four. And the exposure database examiners are told to rely on holds records going back to the 1990s only, which means that for a Vietnam Veteran there is nothing in it at all.

827 Veterans had a legacy hearing before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals in 2024. One hundred sixty-eight are still waiting, and the Board says it does not track the date a case is assigned to the judge who has to decide it. That same month, VA capped the share of its own employees allowed to be rated outstanding at 20 percent. VA is not bad at counting. VA has decided what to count.

A Veteran filed an intent to file, then did exactly what VA’s letter told him to do, and VA charged him five months of back pay for it. In Hoffman v. Collins the Court struck down the regulation that allowed it. Judge Jaquith’s concurrence goes after the thing that caused it: an acknowledgment letter that is, in his word, misleading.

Ken Arnold is out at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. He leaves behind 141,729 pending appeals, 98.3% of them passed over, a workforce that told its own union it has no confidence in leadership, and a Chairman’s chair that has not held a Senate-confirmed occupant in twenty-one months. A new nameplate on the door does not move anybody up in line.

Thirty-three years after the Battle of Mogadishu, the men who drove back into that city for their own are still waiting on their government. Somalia counts for the PACT Act, the Gulf War presumption stops at the beach, and there may be a cap on caregiver benefits nobody has written down. Plus the names of all eighteen.

The Board’s own attorneys just asked Congress to send in the GAO. Their union says the quota went from 156 decisions a year to 182, and in their survey 97% said errors are more likely and 64% are reviewing less evidence to keep pace. Meanwhile the Senate is interviewing a new Board Chairman, the first in twenty months. My FOIA data showed the line isn’t a line. Now the people at the front of it say why.

Federal law says the Board of Veterans’ Appeals must decide appeals in docket order. So, I asked the Board for its own records. Three hundred eighty thousand appeals later, the line isn’t a line. Older appeals sit while newer ones get decided, and almost every Veteran waiting has already been passed over. Here’s what the Board’s own data shows, and what it means for Cartwright v. Collins.

A caregiver called me for exam prep. I had to tell her there is no such thing. By the time her husband walks into that room, the record was frozen weeks ago. Then a FOIA response showed me VA cannot keep its own story straight about what contract examiners ever receive. Insufficient exam, appeal, new exam, new invoice. The cone licks itself.

I bet y’all thought I had done gone dark on you. Like the Weather Underground. Forget seen but not heard, not seen nor heard. Truth is, I have been busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. VA has had us spread thinner than a stick of butter on a hot summer day. I have not wrote in a while because of all that has been going on at VA. The new name of the game is fast, not right, just fast. We have gotten 22 BVA decisions this month. We have been getting about 18 to 20 supplemental claim or higher-level review decisions a week on top of that. I had to file two suits against ole Doug Collins this month, with more incoming, wink wink.

Yesterday, we lost a true national treasure: Judge William S. Greenberg. Since being sworn in as a judge on the Veteran’s Court in December 2012, he was a tireless advocate who held the VA accountable at every turn. While I never had the honor of meeting him in person, I’ve listened to many cases where he presided; he never gave the VA an inch of slack and consistently put the Veteran first.

Remember those pain “clinics”? There wasn’t much treatment going on there, just a wink and a nod after you saw some doctor’s name on the side of a public transit bus. Pill mills they called ‘em. Well, those dried up and moved on to selling Ozempic (all rights reserved, of course). Another type of mill has popped up in recent years—instead of a pill mill, its a C&P mill.

Pictured here is Lindsey. What a stand-up guy I have been able to help. As you can tell, he is a proud sailor (taken some time between 1967 and 1970). The type of guy you wouldn’t mind bunking with while underway. To say he has seen some stuff is an understatement. Vietnam Service Medal with One Bronze Star. Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device. Poor SOB. He had to see some things to get those pinned on. Lindsey came to me already at 100%. The PTSD was getting worse. The memory was fading. Fresh in hand was a caregiver denial. But, not anymore. Lindsey got the last laugh out of the VA.

Secretary Collins spent his year on a victory lap. Meanwhile, Veterans ‘Guardian’ was the recipient of a class action certification for New Year’s! We can thank the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina for that. 2025 was an interesting time by VA standards. Heck, while Secretary Collins was touting how low the backlog was, the Veteran’s Court literally had a Y2K moment when it received so many appeals—the filing system just went kaput.

I really thought this close to Christmas, everyone at the VA would be happy to get a little warm sunlight. Especially for all the folks at central office over on Vermont Avenue. I always try to send a little sunshine the VA’s way by keeping a FOIA request pending. This week, I got a response to my request for the infamous breast cancer memo. Wouldn’t you know, they said no way no how was I getting a copy of that thing. Get out! Good thing I already have a bootlegged copy on my website.

They say idle hands lead to evil thoughts, or at least that’s what I was told. Living in the south my whole life, we have another phrase for it, “the devil is busy.” I try to keep the VA busy, I would hate to see what they could do with idle hands. This month, though, it seems like I have a new pen pal. I always keep a Freedom of Information Act in the fire, and the VA responded to one of mine, just in time for Christmas! Talk about a Christmas miracle.

Pictured here is John, a Korean War Combat Veteran. At 90+ years old, he is looking pretty darn good if you ask me. This Thanksgiving, though, John may be eating charbroiled ribeye instead of turkey. Why? After two trips to the Court, the Board finally got wise and gave his 2007 appeal to another Judge. The result? 3 cherries for sure.

Yesterday, at the direction of Secretary Collins, the VA published a notice regarding the VA’s decision to deny presumptive service-connection for a multitude of nasty blood disorders. Another promise of the PACT Act broken. Meanwhile, Veterans’ Law Judge Ray B. Slabbekorn is busy raking me—and you—over the coals. Finally, some joker out in San Diego has been selling VA ratings. Boy, I always knew the week before Thanksgiving was busy, but phew!

The byproduct of any government menagerie is inefficiency. The solution? Congress has provided folks like me—agents and attorneys—be allowed to represent Veterans; help them navigate the complicated maze and red tape in order to secure benefits to which they are rightfully entitled. In exchange for a fee, the Veteran gets his or her benefits, I earn a modest living. There is also a safety net—if a Veteran believes I have pulled a fast one, they have a venue to be heard, to ask the VA to reduce my fee. Congress is trying to end that safety net. That’s bad for you, it’s bad for me.