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Imagine spending years wading through the bureaucratic red tape offered up by VA only to find you’ve been denied a disability claim. Where would you turn? Maybe you’d just throw up your hands and walk way in defeat. VFW understands the frustration associated with claims and that’s why its National Veterans Service (NVS) program was formed.
Service Officers Lead the Way
Service officers are the key to the success of NVS. They advocate for veterans rights. Veterans need not be VFW members to take advantage of this assistance, which is provided free of charge.
With a nationwide network of service officers, both on the Department (state) level (full time, professional advocates) and Post level (volunteer advocates), NVS assists more then 120,000 veterans and their families each year. Annually, Department Service Officers (DSOs) garner over a billion dollars in compensation benefits.
The work of service officers involves important matters like helping a veteran get outpatient treatment or gain admission for inpatient care at a VA medical center. They assist veterans and their families in filing for VA disability compensation, rehabilitation and education programs, pension and death benefits, employment and training programs, and many other programs.
At times, the work is very complicated, requiring evidence to prepare oral arguments for formal hearings on VA disability or social security benefits. And there are those numerous occasions when VFW assistance helps lift a disabled veteran's family out of the grip of poverty.
VFW service officers are skilled professionals, trained experts in developing disabled veterans' cases by reviewing and applying current law, pertinent legislation, regulations and medical histories. VFW service officers function as attorneys-in-fact for the veterans and families they represent. Their counseling on the full range of veterans' benefits and programs provided under federal, state, and local law is indispensable.
Service officers also review rating board decisions, informing veterans and their families of the appeals process and of their appellate rights. When needed, they request hearings before the VA and the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) to present oral arguments.
As part of NVS’s continuing effort to ensure the service officers are properly trained, VFW provides basic and advance training to the VFW cadre of service officers, claims consultants and other VFW-accredited representatives.
Furthermore, field representatives operating out of the Washington, D.C. office evaluate VA operations and services – health-care facilities, regional office, cemeteries and vet centers.
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