Claims

Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) Claims Benefits Advisor Thalia Hernandez, an Army Veteran, worked with a Rio Grande Valley area Army veteran on his VA Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) hearing regarding his Claims. Though the BVA denied contentions that he asked for, Hernandez did convince the Administrative Law Judge that the VA should have granted Total Disability Based on ...

Connecting with veterans so that they receive the benefits they have earned is a priority to veteran service organizations. To better reach one of Texas’s largest veteran populations, retired Army veteran Steve Mckee of the Bexar County Veteran Services Office sets up shop at active duty installations, holds twice monthly workshops at a local college auditorium and attends monthly outreach events, in addition to receiving veterans at his office in the Bexar County Military and Veterans Services Center. To further ...

Getting an updated Compensation and Pension (C&P) Exam proved a Brownsville Vietnam Era Marine veteran’s condition had gotten worse and resulted in a 100% Permanent and Total Disability award based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). He was awarded a tax-free retro payment of over $291,787.

“His hazardous noise exposure during his service had gotten worse over time,” said Bryan Brown, Texas Veterans Commission Claims Supervisor for the Rio Grand Valley and also a Marine veteran. “A Board of Veterans Appeals Hearing for ...

“Sometimes they have injuries they don’t know about until we talk,” said Paul Baker, Robertson County Veteran Service Officer and an Air Force veteran. “I try to take time to interview every veteran who comes in, at length.”

Baker, pictured, advises veterans to ...

Closing Claims cases that were in limbo, helping veterans receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in awards, assisting with health care issues and handling Military Sexual Trauma cases make Garry Murphy “A one-man monetary award winning and life improvement making person out in Medina County,” said Mike Jaeger, Texas Veterans Commission’s Claims Department Southwest District Manager and Army veteran.

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In September 2022, a Mineola, Texas area widow of a Navy veteran was awarded over $317,000 in retro pay for a Dependent Indemnity Compensation Claim, plus monthly payments going forward. Her husband had served in Vietnam and was a Navy retiree.

“He passed in 1999 and she filed a burial claim for plot and burial. The veteran never filed for disability and the claim was denied,” said Kerry Easley, Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) Claims Northeast District Area Supervisor. “She kept looking ...

“Whatever the veteran needs.  When a veteran comes to me with a problem they are facing, my purpose as a VSO (Veterans Service Officer) is to help them solve that problem,” said Blanco County Veterans Service Officer and Army veteran Wendy Strunk when asked what services are provided to veterans. This includes ...

In the far flung rural areas of the Texas Panhandle, to take care of fellow veterans Rev. George W. Hall, US Army Ret. travels hundreds of miles and countless hours.

“Many in this area travel to larger cities for work and come home at night. Others out here don’t drive or don’t have computers. Being in a rural area, you have to be available all the time due to the demographic and geographic factors. I just get in my car and ...

Tina Jones gets out and about to help veterans in Wichita County. As Wichita County Veterans Service Officer, she’s helped veterans with housing, food, counseling, even delivering older veterans taxes to the upper story of the courthouse. She does all this in addition to the work of filing Claims. “Sometimes we even make a house call and visit the nursing homes veterans are in. We help out any way we can,” said Jones.

She noted Wichita County has a community of ...

In the El Paso area, the widow of a veteran was denied Dependent Indemnity Compensation in 2010. With the help of Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) Claims Benefits Advisor and an Army Retired veteran Robert Macias, she was just awarded over $194,700 in retro payment in July, plus monthly compensation of over $1,790.

“All these years passed where she could have had Dependent Indemnity Compensation,” said Macias, pictured. “No one had ...