What options does a veteran have when VA repeatedly denies a claim because he can’t prove he was where he said he was? This was just one of the burdens Navy veteran Joe Trout experienced while filing for service connection.

Even before Trout’s first claim, he had been told by VA representatives for four years that he “was not entitled to anything.” Only after interviewing at an employment center did he learn different. “The rep there told me that my chances of his finding me a job were slim to none,” Trout remembers, “but he could help me get benefits. I said I didn’t qualify, but he said I wouldn’t know unless I pursued this, so I did.”

Trout initially claimed service connection for tinnitus and post-traumatic stress disorder: “They gave me tinnitus but denied PTSD because they said they needed more info.” He refiled a year later for PTSD plus increased hearing loss and diabetes; everything except the hearing loss was denied. Another year later, he filed again for Agent Orange exposure: “They found I was presumptive for AOE for the diabetes. But VA said it doesn’t matter.”

Finding the Pro Bono Program, Trout says, felt as if he were being thrown a lifeline. He had just lost at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals and was being besieged by lawyers from around the country wanting to take his appeal. A brochure from The Veterans Consortium, explaining its services and free representation for anyone who qualified, resonated with him. “I thought they would understand,” he says.

Vincent Petrocelli, Esq., Petrocelli Law, in Boston, Trout’s volunteer attorney, received the case—his first veterans law appeal—many years later. “You need someone on your side to make the transition—it’s important,” he says. “When I saw the opportunity to have training through The Veterans Consortium, I went to D.C. and met the folks there. The idea I could call a mentor and bounce ideas off someone was very appealing,” he says.

Himself a Vietnam veteran (4th Infantry Division), Petrocelli’s own experience with PTSD inclined him to the case: The first Iraq war disturbed him, but the second stirred up memories that sent him to his primary care doctor, who said he was suffering from PTSD. When he asked how this could be, given he’d served 40 years ago, he was told “it happens.”

After reviewing the Pro Bono Program–prepared summary and sorting out what seemed viable or not, what jumped out at Petrocelli were “the blatant errors.” It was apparent to him that the Board was not correctly reading the stressors Trout had expressed; among other things, it had failed to determine Trout’s whereabouts during the time of the stressors, despite having the necessary logistical information.

Trout had served on the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga when it was sent to waters off North Korea in the wake of the Pueblo intelligence ship’s capture. However, according to VA, there was no record of his deployment or service ergo his stressors could not be validated and thus the basis for VA’s denial of PTSD. “He gave them his unit and the time frames; what more is needed?” Petrocelli asks.

“You’re telling me you didn’t even know where an aircraft carrier was? They knew Joe was assigned to a certain squadron, but couldn’t put those 30 aircraft on the Ticonderoga? You wouldn’t think it was possible to say that, with any honesty or integrity.

“Joe’s experience on the Ticonderoga was clearly stressful—no one knew if their ship would be taken, and he thought they all would be dead. The information was there. The Board didn’t do its job.”

Nor had the Board of Veterans’ Appeals provided necessary medical examinations for depression and exacerbation of an eye injury. “When you look carefully through the documents, there are so many mistakes. A lawyer for the Board even told me that if we appealed, we’d get a remand,” Petrocelli remembers. A year later, they did appeal, and the CAVC granted the motion. Now they await the decision.

“It will probably take two years,” Trout says, admitting he has no illusions about VA being on a veteran’s side. “They drag their feet waiting for us to go away or die. I know I will win. The only question is, ‘will I win and then die; or will I die and then win?’ ”

Petrocelli concurs. “It’s mind-boggling that we commit people to wars and do not commit ourselves to those returning from war. If they’re going to put their lives back together they need support right away. Veterans should not have to fight for what they have already fought for. Help delayed is help denied.”