Letter to Mr. Wilkie, VA Secretary 

Dear Secretary  Wilkie, I would like to point out some errors (intentional or not) submitted by VA representatives on 8/1/2018." The science is not there, and what we do depends upon science,” said Paul Lawrence, Under Secretary for benefits at the Department of Veterans Affairs." This statement is an out and out lie. The VA uses science towards its' own ends. How can you draw a line at the end of a river and say no effluents went further than this line? You call this science?

The VA also said that no claims have been denied simply because the claimant was a Blue Water Navy Veteran. WRONG! Blue Water Navy claims by Veterans have summarily been dismissed via the M21 Manual which requires veterans have “boots on the ground”. Is there a difference?

The VA representatives presented the same testimony they did in 2008 and 2010, and disseminating the same misinformation.

“VA is opposed to paying for the provisions of this bill by increasing the cost that some veterans must pay to access their [home loan] benefits. Veterans will either have to finance the VA funding fee with interest, or pay up front with cash. This means fewer veterans will buy homes or [will] buy homes using non-VA options, potentially opening them to predator lenders,” Lawrence said. – citation Stars and Stripes.

Where did Mr. Lawrence get this misinformation from? His real estate experience makes him an expert on fraud? There was no backup information to make this claim. The VA is flat out against this legislation because they will not admit a grievous error.

Mr.  Secretary I ask you to instruct you staff from making statement that twist sentences made by others out of context. Mr. Erickson stated “most of the ailments presumed to be caused by Agent Orange also are tied to aging, therefore VA needs evidence of dioxin exposure for ships at sea. He said a Blue Water Navy review conducted by the Institute of Medicine in 2011 failed to find sufficient evidence of dioxin exposure.” In fact the IOM has stated that there  is no reason to exclude the Blue Water Navy from presumption.

I am hoping you will help the VA regain the trust of our Veterans by not disseminating biased statements that have been the repeated since 2002.

Thank you,

Raymond Melninkaitis

Beacon Falls, CT 06403