January of 2018

we were contacted by the American Legion Post#9 about a veteran in need.  They had donated $100 for food and necessities.  We contacted him and received his story.

     He was in the Navy from 1988 until 1992.  While working on the flight deck one day a blast shield failed and injured 3 men.  One died from his injuries.  Our veteran had severe shoulder injuries. 

     When he was released from the military he started getting severe pain in the shoulder.  He was deemed as incapacitated for general work.  He received a small stipend to help him out.  He did pretty well and was doing good.  While putting up heavy sheet rock his arm failed and the slab fell on him.  He suffered 4 broken vertebrae in his back and neck.  The VA treated him and determined he was not fit for work.  They gave him a good stipend.

     He had to be reevaluated every so often.  in 2017 he went for reevaluation and when the person testing him asked how far he could raise his arm he showed him.  The evaluator then took his arm and psychically raised it above his head.  He was told his range of motion was much improved and his stipend was cut in half.       When we saw him it was in the middle of winter with very cold weather.  He only asked us for some heating oil to keep his wife and himself warm.  We had a tank of oil delivered immediately.  We then investigated about the mishandling of his reevaluation.  We were given the name of an arbitrator for him to see.

     He was able to see him and start arbitration proceedings.   He was not aware of arbitration as when in the military what was told you was not up for discussion or disagreement.  He is doing fine now living a normal life.