Alex Graham also known as Asknod will teach us about the claims and appeals process. 

Alex Graham, a veteran of the Vietnam War. He served two years on the Indochinese peninsula in Thailand, Laos and the Republic of Vietnam in the Air Force from 1970-1972. He has diseases from Agent Orange as well as Hepatitis C virus from a transfusion there. In addition, he has degenerative disc disease from a fall and an airplane crash. Asknod filed his first claim with VA in 1989 and lost. He finally won in 2008 and is just now cleaning up the mess the VA made from claims never completed in 1994.  Read more at Asknod's site