[y04185]

This is a crying shame.

Full story

Senior Airman, Brian Kolfage Jr., the most severely wounded Airman in US history---a triple amputee---was informed recently by the Veterans Administration Debt Management Center that he would be back charged $4825.00. According to the VA, they had been overpaying Airman Kolfage for several years and they want their money back.

On September 11, 2004, while serving his second deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Brian Kolfage lost both his legs and an arm when a 107 mm rocket exploded three feet from the Airman, throwing him into a wall of sandbags. Brian miraculously survived the blast and after eleven months at Walter Reed Medical Center, he returned to serve in the Air Force at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona. Kolfage is no longer on active duty and receives monthly VA benefits compensation for the wounds he received serving our country.


Grave injuries: He was badly wounded in the 2004 attack and had more than a dozen surgeries in the months after

A few months back, Kolfage---who once served on former Congresswoman Gabriel Gifford's Veterans Advisory Committee and is an outspoken critic of the Obama Administration---received notification dated September 12, 2013 that his file had been pulled and investigated by the VA. After an Arizona background check, the VA claimed that Brian was overpaid, each month, for several years. According to the VA, Brian's indebtedness---for this alleged overpayment of $4825.00--would require monthly payments of $105 to be taken out of his benefits account until the debt was satisfied.

The VA justification for the back charge stemmed from Arizona court records---the VA claimed---showing Brian was not married and not entitled to the full amount of benefits he had been receiving.

Since Brian was in fact remarried, he provided the necessary legal documentation to the VA and was told that an error had been made and the problem would be cleared up and no indebtedness existed. Moreover, the Veterans Administration said there would be no back charge against his benefits. To quote Brian: "They even sent me a document last month [September] saying everything was reviewed, updated and good to go."

On October 29, 2013, Kolfage received a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Debt Management Center, and Operations Division Chief explaining that his indebtedness balance had been reduced by a $105.00 through a reduction of his monthly benefits.

After several frustrating attempts to contact the VA through the 1-800 number provided in the VA Debt Management Center correspondence, Brian has yet to hear back from anyone about the ongoing reductions in his monthly benefits. After losing an arm and two legs in service to his country, it appears that his government may require Brian to offer his remaining arm to resolve their error.

[Ken]

IS IS A CRYING SHAME THAT HE EVER WENT TO IRAQI  IN THE FIRST PLACE- WHeRE ARE THOSE WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTIONI???

[y04185]

ken, have you been drinking?

[Lonewolf]

Well all he has to do is file an appeal. It's that simple. All this grandstanding in the media is not going to help him. He needs to write a letter saying he appeals the decisions. I know that when received the debt letter there was another letter in there that told him if he disagreed what he should do,

[y04185]

Lonewolf, that Debt Management Center is a monster.  It looks like he did successfully appeal through the VA.  The problem now is the VA didn't tell the Debt Management people. 

[Lonewolf]

Still  even with debt management all he needs to do is call his VSR.Heck he lives in Arizona so when he calls that call goes to the call center in Muskogee. Depending on the dates he called. The call center was down during the furlough so no calls got through.but this is a simple issue to clear up,