I served in the United States Marine Corps from 1997 to 2001 as an assault amphibious vehicle crewman, an 1833, stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Like most Marines, I left active duty believing the hard part was behind me. The VA claims process proved me wrong.
When I filed my own claim, I expected a clear path. What I found was a guessing game. My VSO submitted paperwork incorrectly, and no one could tell me which forms I needed to request the records that would support my case. I was left to figure out on my own which documents mattered, where to get them, and how to connect my disability to my service. So I did what thousands of veterans do: submit, wait, appeal, repeat. Each loop cost me months.
Then I traveled to Portland, Oregon, and saw the number of homeless veterans living on the streets. I couldn’t help wondering how many of them had hit the same wall I did, and how many had simply stopped trying. I knew how hard it was for me, and I had a support system and the stamina to keep pushing. Not every veteran does.
That’s when I understood the problem wasn’t that veterans don’t deserve their benefits. The problem was that no one was standing at the front door telling you what to do. There was no class, no single place to go, and no one walking you through it step by step. I decided I wasn’t going to let that stand.
I’m now pursuing VA accreditation and am building a mobile app that will guide veterans through the claims process. It will tell them which forms to file, help them explain how their condition is connected to their service, and keep them out of the submit-wait-appeal trap. I’m also working to partner with a physician who can review medical records and write nexus letters, so veterans have the medical evidence their claims need from the start.
I know what it feels like to do the right thing and still get stuck. My goal is to make sure the next veteran doesn’t have to.
Don Basiel