Matthew Burnett's Story  To whom it may concern,  My name is
Allyson Burnett and I am writing on behalf of my father,
Matthew. He is a gulf war Navy veteran and now terminally ill
due to chemicals he was exposed to during his service. He has
been battling the VA now for almost eight years trying to get
service connection. It now seems that, after getting in touch
with Secretary Shinseki to seek help with the matter, his claim
has been patently denied by appeals management. It is out of
their jurisdiction to deny his claim, especially after the judge
that heard the case wrote a decision which stated “I find no
evidence on which to base a denial”. That being said; the law
which governs VA policy specifically states “in the absence of
contradictory evidentiary information, the Veterans
Administration is bound to find on behalf of the service
member.” Having been remanded to the appeals management center
for “further development”, it was not the mission of AMC to
“approve or deny” his claim, only to further devel