Speedier benefits will be plea of Fort Lauderdale vet

Most of the attention and analysis of tonight's State of the Union address will focus on how Congress and this divided nation respond to President Obama's agenda for 2014.

Hopefully, some of the attention will spill over onto Fort Lauderdale's Jeff Colaiacovo and the reason he will be a guest in the House gallery. For he is somebody whom Americans should unite in caring about. His cause is of great importance.

Colaiacovo, who earned two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam, will be representing the hundreds of thousands of service members who continue to endure bureaucratic delays while seeking benefits. He will be there as the guest of Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, who also is the mother of a retired Marine.

Colaiacovo, 65, still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, herniated discs and exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange, which caused him to lose layers of skin on his hands. His injuries date back to 1967.

Upon returning from the war, he got married and worked to support his family, but his injuries caught up with him.

Frustrated by paperwork demands and doctor appointment delays that lasted two years — he hadn't received a response from the VA since filing a claim in 2011 — he contacted Frankel last year. She sent a letter to the Veterans Administration asking its chief for an "expedited review" of his disability claim.

In May, he was awarded $2,200 a month, with appeals raising it to $3,014. Both he and Frankel think the process for vets must be made easier.

"We need to have a process that does not require a member of Congress to look into it," said Frankel, who has worked on legislation in the House to accelerate the claims process. She has 54,000 vets in her district.

It is an issue in dire need of attention.

There is currently a backlog of 382,250 veterans who have waited more than 125 days for the VA to process their disability claims. According to VA statistics, 26,320 Florida veterans have backlogged claims, averaging 311 days, which is far too long.

VA officials say they are reducing the backlog and hope to eliminate it by 2015. Resolution can't come soon enough for thousands of vets who have sacrificed so much, and now face inordinate delays for benefits.

Last year, Sun Sentinel reporter Ben Wolford reported the saga of 82-year-old James Gunn of Coral Springs, who suffered debilitating frostbite wounds in Korea in 1950 and fought a six-year battle with the chronically understaffed VA before getting his appeal for benefits heard and satisfied.

Part of the problem, according to Frankel, is the VA and Department of Defense weren't communicating well because they use different computer systems. And some of the records from people seeking benefits are very old.

"Sadly there are too many veterans who are still waiting for their benefits," Colaiacovo said, "and I want to help bring attention to this so that no man or woman who served our country is ever left behind."

"There's been progress," Frankel said. "However, there's a lot more we must do to end the unacceptable VA backlog."

"This is a bipartisan issue," she said. "Most people deal in statistics. This (Colaiacovo) is a face. It is different when you are dealing with a face."

Frankel plans to introduce Colaiacovo to other members of Congress at receptions this week, with the hope they will lend their muscle to reducing the VA's backlog of disability claims.

Amid all the noise involving the State of the Union address, Colaiacovo's story and plea must be heard.