I need you to come in and go over the paperwork we have been asked to share with the VA. We want to make sure you are good with what we're sharing.
So I get up early the next day drive the 60-miles and sit down to read over my history with Vets Center Counseling. Every note, every Q&A session, and it was a lot.
Seeing what caught the counselor's ear... in writing... began to become disturbing after a few paragraphs. Key words flashing by as I scanned the pages of text. Survivor's guilt, abuse, darkness, depression, insomnia... it kept on and on.
Things I've talked about only a couple times in my life, are now text in a VA computer system. My innermost thoughts, memories, fears and more - all there for the next person to read, and decide... does this veteran have a right to benefits because of what happened to him?
We shall see.
As the Vets Center counselor said, "someone who makes a lot more money than I do will read it and decide."
How can they judge? What's their experience? Who gets to decide?
All questions without answers... for now.
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