Voice4Vets helping veterans get what they deserve

HINESVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - The Department of Veterans Affairs said it takes more than 100 days on average to complete disability-related claims.

Some veterans are waiting much longer to get all the benefits they deserve.

For about a decade, Tammy James has been helping veterans get the benefits they’re owed. She started Voice4Vets in Hinesville.

But her interactions with Veterans Affairs goes back even longer. A combat veteran in the Army, James went to Iraq with the 3rd ID in 2003 before a medical retirement four years later.

“I noticed that the military and the VA had a gap and, with the gap, we were not getting the benefits that we’ve already earned,” James said.

Her husband was also active duty when he suffered a debilitating injury in a DUI crash and died in 2017.

“He was one of those ones that I considered left behind. He needed help but he didn’t know how to ask,” she said. “So, I decided to learn and do the research to figure out what’s the best route to take to help us get these benefits.”

She’s written two guidebooks to help veterans looking for a place to start. James says she’s interacted with thousands of veterans to help with VA claims, and currently has about 800 cases in various stages of the process.

A process that can take a while.

“It can take anywhere from 12 months to 18 months sometimes. But, if you put the case together the correct way, getting the medical evidence, the case can go a little bit faster. It’s called a Fully Developed Claim,” James said.

James wants Voice4Vets to be a hub of information and a resource to make sure every veteran gets what their country promised.

“That to me means a lot, to know that you have made that life changing decision for that veteran, because it only takes one piece of paper sometime to help a veteran,” she said.

Voice4Vets is holding a grand opening from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday for its Veterans Center on West Oglethorpe Highway in Hinesville.

James says they will have food, activities for kids and benefits information.

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