Effective communication to the Regional Office where your claim is held is one of the most important details you should focus on. Many cases are denied, delayed or otherwise lost due to the veterans lack of positive communication.

The veteran does not have to be a professional writer to communicate effectively. A few basic rules apply: Keep it brief, often the less said, the more effective your letter will be. Stick to the point. Don't ramble off topic. Don't express anger or disdain for the VA. Don't threaten that you'll call your Congressional Representative or POTUS or anyone else.

Make your communication look like those the VA sends you. Don't forget that you must sign everything. Before mailing, check to ensure that all of your vital statistics (SSN, File #, etc.) are on every page.

Never fluff or otherwise try to make your condition sound worse than it is. The facts will be all you need.

The following is a collection of previously written articles I've published about communications with your VA.

As I progress in updates, I'll be adding more templates you may copy/paste and modify for your use.

Your comments below are welcomed. They will help others by appearing at http://www.straighttalkforveterans.com

Jim Strickland 07/21/2010



How To Communicate With Your VA Regional Office
(Previously published in "How To..."

Other than the evidence that supports the claim of disability, there is no detail more important than how the veteran communicates the facts of his application and evidence to the VBA. Whether the veteran chooses to seek help through an intermediary such as an NSO or a CVSO or to maintain complete control of the process, getting information delivered inside the secure walls of the VA Regional office (VARO) is a critical part of the mission.

The stories of lost folders, misplaced evidence, folders and files containing papers from one or more other veterans and worse are legend. Ask any veteran who has had dealings with their VBA and the odds are good that you will soon hear a story of a lost piece of paper that resulted in an unjust denial.

While VBA provides a set of services on-line that allow the veteran to apply electronically for benefits or to ask questions via email, I recommend that these services be avoided. The VBA also provides a national toll free number that is there to ask questions of a VBA representative and once again, I recommend avoiding this service.

I recommend that the only communication from the veteran to the VBA is that done by certified mail with a return receipt requested. Faxing, emailing, calling or even hand delivering to an intermediary to pass your documents on to the VBA do not provide the security and guarantee of a certified letter. Once you have the green postcard returned to you with an official stamp or signature in place, you can be confident that your documents are delivered.

It's often repeated that a fax machine provides proof positive of delivery by its production of the print out that will verify transmission of the documents. While the machine does provide proof that a transmission was made, there is no way to tell how well the machine that received it was functioning at that moment. Paper jams, empty toner cartridges and other mechanical malfunctions are commonplace.

Your documents should be delivered neatly and readable by the individual who will have influence on your case. Each page should be numbered in order and your name and Social Security number should be affixed appropriately.

You should keep copies of every document you send and as soon as you have your return receipt, correlate the receipt with those documents just in case. Spending a little extra time getting organized at this point will be well worth it if there is any question of what evidence was provided and when.