I am an administrative agent based in Songdo, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. Here’s an anecdote about an incident I encountered while working.
## A Brief Account of the Circumstances of the Injury
The "Circumstances of the Injury" section read: "Injured left knee after slipping on stairs during maintenance work at the base facility."
This is a single line from a Fact Verification Letter sent by his unit to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. The sentence itself seems correct. He did slip on the stairs, and he did injure his left knee. The problem was with the beginning of the sentence. That night, he wasn't performing facility maintenance. He was on a metal staircase heading to the guard post for a dawn shift change at approximately 2:00 AM.
This single sentence changed the outcome of the decision. The notification he received stated "Does not meet the requirements for National Merit Veteran (injured military personnel), meets the requirements for Honored Service Beneficiary (disaster-injured military personnel)." The fact that he was injured and the fact that he was on military service were acknowledged. However, because the reason for the injury was recorded as 'facility maintenance,' a judgment was added that it was not directly related to duties related to the protection of the nation.
He didn't see the verification letter until long after receiving the notification. This article is the story of the three months it took to correct that single line.
## Same Injury, Two Names
This is the part that those experiencing veterans affairs review for the first time find most confusing. There are three main decisions that a person injured during military service can receive: National Merit Serviceman, Veterans Compensation Recipient, and Ineligible.
Among National Merit Servicemen, combat veterans are those injured during the performance of duties or training directly related to national protection and security or the protection of the lives and property of citizens. And that duty must be the primary cause of the injury. Veterans Compensation Recipients, who are disaster-injured veterans, are those who were injured during duties or training that do not have such direct relevance, but have a substantial causal relationship between the duty and the injury.
Both decisions mean that the nation has acknowledged responsibility. However, there are differences in the level of compensation and some support items. Specific differences vary depending on the grade and family situation, so individual verification is necessary at the relevant veterans affairs office.
The difference isn't just about the amount. Guard duty is the most basic operational mission of the military. If standing guard is classified as a duty 'not directly related to national protection,' many people would find it difficult to accept. He did too.
Therefore, the issue in this case was clear from the beginning. There was no need to argue legal principles anew. It was about correcting the facts: what he was doing that night.
## Application Submitted Alone
He was twenty-eight years old. He served as a non-commissioned officer in the Army for 7 years and was discharged as a sergeant. The injury occurred two years before his discharge, in the winter. He tore a ligament in his knee and had reconstructive surgery at a military hospital. After completing rehabilitation, he returned to his unit, but it was difficult to continue in a position that involved a lot of mountain maneuvers. He gave up long-term service and chose to be discharged.
After his discharge, he was in charge of inventory management at a logistics center in Songdo. His knee would swell when he stood for a long time or climbed stairs. His wife was due to give birth to their first child in the fall. They were barely making ends meet with their combined salaries, covering monthly rent and loan payments.
He submitted the registration application on his own, immediately after his discharge. He sent the registration application form, military service record, and family relationship certificate to the veterans affairs office in his jurisdiction. In the circumstances of injury section of the application form, he wrote directly, "Fell from the stairs of the guard post during shift change." After that, he thought he just had to wait.
In veterans affairs review, they don’t just look at the circumstances of the injury written by the applicant. The veterans affairs office requests verification of the facts from the relevant unit, and the veterans affairs review committee examines the data together when the relevant unit sends a verification form. If the circumstances of the injury written by the applicant and the circumstances verified by the relevant unit are different, the record from the relevant unit generally carries more weight.
He didn’t know what verification form his unit sent. He didn’t even know that a verification form was being exchanged.
He wasn’t silent after receiving the notification. The next day, he called the veterans affairs office. The officer in charge informed him that if he disagreed with the decision, he could file a protest. He wrote a draft of a protest form alone that weekend. It was two pages long, stating, "I was clearly injured during guard duty. Please review it again." His wife, after reading the draft, asked him one question: What difference would it make if you submitted this? He couldn’t answer. He had only rewritten what he had already written on the application form. That question caused him to delay submission, and he asked a senior colleague at his company, who introduced us to their office. That’s how eleven days passed.
## Remaining Days: Nineteen
The initial contact was via email. It came with photos taken on a mobile phone of two notices and a brief explanation. "They said I didn't qualify as a Meritorious Service Veteran but became eligible for Veterans Welfare Benefits, but I don't know if this is a rejection or an acceptance."
I zoomed in on the photos, and the first thing I noticed wasn't the decision itself, but the dates. I checked the mailing date on the notices and the date he received them by mail separately.
Article 74-18 of the "Act on the Preferential Treatment and Support for Meritorious Service Veterans" stipulates a deadline for filing an appeal of within 30 days from the date of the decision. This is much shorter than the general claim period of 90 days for administrative review. Many people mistakenly believe it's 90 days and miss this 30-day deadline.
Calculating from the date he received the mail, eleven days had already passed. There were nineteen days remaining.
We scheduled an in-person consultation for the Tuesday of the following week. Before that, I requested a few things over the phone. Bring all available documents, including discharge papers, medical records, and documents received upon discharge from the military hospital. Write down the names of people who were in the same outpost with him at the time of his injury, as best as he can remember. And write down the events of that night in chronological order on one A4 sheet of paper.
There was a reason for the last request. People's memories are more accurate when written down than when spoken. Writing down the time, place, and who was with him will reveal details that might be skipped over in conversation.
## Filing a Reconsideration or an Administrative Review?
The first 30 minutes of Tuesday’s consultation were spent choosing a path.
There were two options: file a reconsideration request with the Veterans Affairs Review Committee, or file an administrative review directly. The option to go straight to administrative review without a reconsideration is also open. If you file a reconsideration, you have 90 days from the date you receive the notification of the result to file an administrative review or an administrative lawsuit.
In practice, there’s talk that going to administrative review after a reconsideration is rejected can be disadvantageous. This is because the record of the same logic being rejected once remains. Therefore, I don’t blindly recommend filing a reconsideration first.
In this case, we decided to file a reconsideration first. The reasoning behind this was threefold.
Firstly, the issue was one of fact, not legal principle. It was more likely that the review committee made a judgment based on incorrectly recorded data, rather than misjudging the law. In such cases, the original decision-making body has a greater opportunity to correct itself based on new data.
Secondly, even if the reconsideration result comes out, the path to administrative review remains open. Another 90 days are given from the date you receive the reconsideration result.
Thirdly, time was important to him. With childbirth approaching, it was better to receive a conclusion as quickly as possible.
However, one condition was attached: The reconsideration request should include newly secured objective data. The result will not change with a written document repeating existing arguments. If there is no new data, the reason for filing a reconsideration also weakens.
## Started with Review Materials
There was something I needed to know before searching for new materials. What did the review committee look at and how did they judge?
The notification only contained the conclusion and a brief explanation: "It is difficult to consider the injury as occurring during the performance of duties directly related to the nation's protection and security." It didn't state what materials were used as the basis for that judgment.
Before the consultation ended that day, I submitted an information disclosure request to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. The request included the requirements-related fact verification form related to the applicant's registration, a list of materials submitted for review, and the review result document.
According to Article 11 of the "Act on Disclosure of Information by Public Agencies," a public agency must decide whether to disclose information within 10 days from the date of receiving the request. There were nineteen days left, which meant about a week and a half would remain after receiving the materials.
Of course, a week and a half might not be enough. So, while waiting for the information disclosure results, I also proceeded with securing other materials. Even without knowing the contents of the verification form, I was able to gather materials beforehand that would show he was on duty that night.
## The Roster Was Already Gone
The first document that came to mind was the guard duty roster. It's a record of who was deployed to which post at what time that night. If I had this, the problem would have seemed simple to solve.
He requested a copy of the roster from the unit he was discharged from through an official inquiry. A week later, he received a response stating that the guard duty roster for that year had already been discarded as it exceeded its retention period.
He was silent for a while after hearing that response. The most likely piece of evidence had disappeared first.
The same request included a request for accident report records. The unit responded that they could not find the accident report document within the unit. They stated that further confirmation was needed to determine if it was reported to a higher command. Waiting for that confirmation could have extended the deadline. I decided to keep the accident report records as useful material if found, but not to wait for them.
However, this is not uncommon. A significant portion of the unit’s daily documents have short retention periods. If more than two years have passed since the accident, the records often do not remain. Therefore, preparing a benefit claim requires combining multiple records rather than relying on a single roster.
I revisited the unit records that might not have been discarded. When an injury occurs, the unit files an accident report. The injured person goes to the medical unit and is transferred to a military hospital. The hospital leaves medical records when the patient is admitted. These records have different rosters and retention systems.
The next target was hospital records.
## The First Line of the Hospital Bed Log
Copies of medical records from military hospitals can be obtained even by veterans. I instructed him to apply directly and specified exactly which documents he would receive: emergency room initial examination records, admission records, hospital bed logs, surgical records, and discharge summaries.
The most important of these was the initial examination record on the day of admission. There's a reason for that. The 'reason for visit' or 'chief complaint' sections of the initial examination record are what the medical staff wrote down immediately after the patient or their escort arrived at the hospital. It's a record of the situation immediately after the accident, before considering compensation or registration. It's closer to the time of the accident than any confirmation later written.
The copy arrived six days later. The 'reason for visit' section of the emergency room initial examination record read:
"Approximately at 02:00 today, while moving on the guard post stairs to change shifts, he slipped and twisted his left knee. Brought to the hospital under the direction of the duty officer."
It was almost the exact same sentence that he had written directly on the application. That record had remained with the hospital for over two years.
There was another noticeable point. The four characters 'duty officer escort'. The fact that a duty officer brought the injured person to the hospital at two in the morning means that the unit was operating under a normal nighttime duty system at that time. Facility maintenance work is usually done during the day. The circumstances in the confirmation stating that he was injured while doing maintenance work at two in the morning didn't match the time from the start. This point too would be noted in the statement of objection.
The hospital bed log also recorded the same circumstances by the attending military doctor on the first day of admission. The surgical record listed the injury mechanism as 'torsional damage,' which also matched the circumstances of slipping on the stairs.
## Why the Verification Form Was Written That Way
The information disclosure results came out the day after the hospital records arrived. The verification of facts related to the requirements and the list of submitted documents were disclosed, while the committee opinions regarding the review process were kept confidential.
Looking at the date of the verification form, it was around two years after the accident occurred. The author was a newly assigned logistics officer who came to the unit after his military service. He was not someone who directly witnessed the situation at the time.
The circumstances are understandable. When the Ministry of Veterans Affairs received the verification request, the unit would have searched for the records at the time. The organizational tables had already been discarded, and it was likely difficult to find the accident report. If there were records indicating that facility maintenance work was being done in the area of the guard post that winter, the responsible person may have estimated the circumstances based on the remaining records and wrote them down.
There is nothing to blame. The affiliated organization writes the verification form based on the remaining documents within the requested deadline. The Veterans Affairs Review Committee makes a judgment based on the submitted verification form. Each step moved according to the procedure. However, the records of the day of the accident were missing in between.
Knowing this structure also clarifies what should be written in the appeal form. It is not enough to simply claim that the verification form is wrong. You must show that there are records closer to the time of the accident than the verification form, and that those records indicate a different circumstance.
## People at the Same Guard Post
Medical records are strong evidence. However, there was one thing that was a little disappointing. The initial examination records were transcriptions of what the injured person and their escort relayed to the hospital. The review committee might view this as "a transcription of the claimant's statement."
Therefore, confirmation from someone who was present at the scene was necessary. Among the names he had written down, one was a female sergeant who had been on the same day's guard post duty. She is currently serving as a sergeant in a different unit.
He contacted me, and she readily agreed to write the verification letter. The only thing I requested, along with the verification letter form, was to write only what she remembered, to the extent she remembered. Exaggerated or speculation-filled verification letters can actually undermine the credibility of the entire record.
A week later, the verification letter arrived via registered mail. It stated that we were scheduled for a night shift change at 2 AM, that frost was on the iron stairs leading up to the guard post, that he slipped and fell, and that I reported it via radio to the duty room. Copies of his ID card and certificate of employment were also included.
Inside the envelope, there was also a hand-drawn map of the guard post. The location of the stairs, the entrance to the guard post, and the spot where he fell were marked. However, there was a small cat drawn in the empty space next to the guard post. Beside it, a name was written: 'Choco.'
He laughed for a long time looking at the map. He said it was a stray cat that lived near the guard post at the time. The soldiers took turns feeding it. I submitted the map after covering up the cat drawing. It was a drawing that was a shame to cover up.
## What to Argue and What Not to Argue
Once the data was gathered, we needed to determine the scope of the appeal.
His notification listed two disabilities: a torn ACL in his left knee and a sprain in his lower back. Veterans Affairs (VA) reviews each disability separately. The knee met the eligibility requirements for VA benefits, while the back did not.
He wanted to challenge the back issue as well. He said he frequently lifted heavy equipment during his service, and that’s when his back pain started.
Reviewing his medical records, we found that his lower back treatment began at a civilian hospital after his discharge. We couldn't find any records of him receiving treatment for lower back pain during his service. There was essentially no objective evidence to show a connection between his service and his lower back disability.
I recommended excluding the back from this appeal. Including a weak argument alongside a stronger one could weaken the knee claim as well. If the review committee sees "worthy of recognition" and "unreasonable demands" mixed in one document, the overall document loses weight.
He thought about it for a moment and agreed. He decided to review the back issue separately later, when more medical records and new evidence become available.
This decision was also about staying within the bounds of what an administrative agent can do. Whether the lower back disability is medically related to his service is a medical judgment, and whether it meets the requirements is determined by the Veterans Affairs review committee. What we can do is accurately identify which arguments have supporting evidence and which do not.
## How I Structured the Statement of Objection
I completed the Statement of Objection five days before the deadline. I kept the structure simple.
First, what was incorrectly stated. In the first paragraph, I noted that the 'repair work of ancillary facilities' in the Confirmation of Circumstances Related to Requirements was not factual. I also addressed the fact that the person who wrote the confirmation and the writer did not directly witness the scene at the time. I avoided accusatory language, writing something like, "It appears the circumstances were estimated due to the absence of records at the time."
Second, three records close to the time of the accident. Emergency room initial examination record at the military hospital, the hospital bed log on the first day of admission, and a confirmation from a colleague in the same shift. These three documents were written by different people, at different times, and for different purposes. However, they all describe the same circumstances. The records written by medical staff for treatment and the confirmation written by a colleague recalling the events aligned with each other.
Third, the reason for the lack of unit records. I attached a response from the unit confirming the disposal of the personnel roster. I preemptively explained the point where the review committee might ask, "Why wasn't the personnel roster submitted?"
Fourth, legal assessment. I briefly summarized that if the circumstances of the injury were during a shift change for guard duty, guard duty would be considered a duty directly related to national protection and security, and injuries sustained while moving to the guard post could be considered injuries sustained during the performance of that duty. I didn't write much about this section. I believed that the legal assessment would naturally follow once the facts were corrected.
I submitted it via registered mail. I needed to be able to confirm the sending date and the date of delivery to prove compliance with the deadline. After submission, I called the veterans affairs office to confirm delivery and the responsible department.
## Medical Examination Was Conducted Separately Apart from the appeal, the schedule for the medical examination was also approaching. This is the procedure to determine the disability grade for the knee injury recognized as meeting the criteria for veterans' benefits.
He asked if the medical examination should be postponed since he filed an appeal. There was no reason to postpone it. Whether you are a Meritorious Service Veteran or a Veteran with Compensation, registration itself cannot be done without a grade. Grade determination was a necessary procedure for both decisions.
I pointed out what needed to be prepared before the examination. I instructed him to bring the recent medical records and imaging data from a private orthopedic clinic he attended after his discharge. This is because bringing only records from immediately after surgery would not properly reflect his current condition. I advised him to consult with his attending physician to determine what records are needed.
As discussed in the previous article, if you have any objections to the medical examination results, you can apply for a re-examination within 60 days from the date of receiving the notification of results. I also wrote this deadline down on the calendar along with it. 30 days for eligibility, 60 days for the grade. Two separate clocks were ticking.
The examination result was Grade 7. It was a grade that met the registration criteria. There was no need to go through a re-examination.
## Notice in Three Months
There was one contact while waiting. About a month after submission, a veteran affairs agency official called to ask if I could confirm the contact information of the person who wrote the verification letter. They wanted to directly confirm the facts with the person who wrote the letter.
I was able to immediately provide the contact information because I had already asked for her understanding in advance. A few days later, I received a message from her saying she had received a call from the veteran affairs agency. She said she had stated exactly what was written in the verification letter. This was the reason I had asked her to write only what she remembered when receiving the verification letter. The answer must be the same if anyone asks later.
The reconsideration result arrived about three months after submission. It was the result of the veteran affairs review committee’s reconsideration.
The decision regarding the knee injury changed to meet the requirements for recognition as a war veteran (disabled veteran). The reason for the decision stated that the initial military hospital record and the verification letter were the basis for recognizing the injury as occurring during a shift change, and that a 7th grade disability rating received during the medical examination would be applied.
The back injury was not the subject of this reconsideration, so the existing decision was maintained. That was the result I had anticipated from the beginning.
On the day I received the notice, I received a short message from him. There was a photo attached. It was an obstetric ultrasound photo. He said the due date was in three weeks.
About a month later, I received a message that he had received a notification of the registration decision and a guide to issuing a veteran affairs card. Compensation is paid based on the registration decision. He would know the amount of money that would come in each month before his child was born. He said he could discuss with his company whether he could reduce shift work on days when his knee swells.
## The Meaning of 'Directly Related'
The change in outcome in this case wasn't due to a new legal principle. It was already present in the hospital records and in the memories of colleagues. It simply hadn't arrived before the review committee.
Veterans Affairs (VA) reviews are structured around the applicant proving their eligibility. It may seem like the unit confirms and the VA review office assesses, but the applicant often doesn't know what will be written in the confirmation documents. And that single line can change the name of the decision.
Looking back, the initial draft of his appeal, which he wrote alone, didn't contain a single incorrect statement either. The claim that he was injured during guard duty was true from the beginning. What was lacking was the documentation to support that claim. The review committee doesn't look at whose words are more heartfelt, but which documents are more credible. The difference between the draft and the final appeal wasn't in the sentences, but in the attached documents.
Therefore, in VA cases, there's something you need to do from the day you receive the decision letter. Read the reasons for the decision, verify the documents used as the basis for that judgment, and look for records closer to the time of the incident than those documents. This must be completed within 30 days.
He said this before hanging up: his father was also a career military member, and he was fortunate that the injury from the guard post was properly documented in official documents. He mentioned this before talking about compensation.
## If You Received a Determination of Eligibility for Veterans Affairs Compensation, Verify These Things
① Check from the date you received the decision letter. An appeal must be filed within 30 days of receiving the decision. Many people miss the deadline, thinking it's 90 days. Write the date of postal receipt on your calendar.
② Distinguish between 'Eligibility' and 'Grade' in the reasons for the decision. If it's an eligibility issue, you need factual documents showing the circumstances of the injury and its relation to duty. If it's a grade issue, you need medical documents showing the current condition and a re-examination (within 60 days of the date the results are notified).
③ Review the confirmation received from the relevant agency as a Freedom of Information Request. If your account and the confirmation content from the relevant agency differ, that discrepancy may be the reason for the decision.
④ Find records close to the time of the incident. Documents like unit rosters and daily logs may have been discarded due to short retention periods. Gathering records with different creators and dates, such as initial medical records and patient logs from a military hospital, and confirmations from colleagues who were present, can corroborate each other.
⑤ Focus on claims with supporting evidence. If there are multiple grievances, each grievance will be reviewed separately. Including weak arguments along with them can diminish the persuasiveness of the entire written submission.
Requirements, deadlines, and necessary documents vary depending on the case, so verification with the relevant veterans affairs office and individual confirmation are necessary.
This article is reconstructed based on actual consultation cases, and the characters, names, place names, and figures appearing therein are not related to any specific individual or event.
- --
We are an administrative agent office located in Songdo, Incheon (Posco Tower Songdo). We handle administrative litigation, licensing/permit applications, foreign entry and immigration (visas and residence), and regular administrative management. We assist with tasks such as applying for recognition as a national merit veteran or a veteran’s benefits recipient and filing objections, where deadlines are short and supporting evidence determines the outcome. If you are facing a similar situation, feel free to contact us.
📍 165, Consia Ave., Yeongsu-gu, Incheon, Posco Tower Songdo 2697 📞 010-3374-2687 🌐 www.hwangadmin.com
#HypotheticalCase #NationalMeritVeteran #NationalMeritVeteranRegistration #Veteran’sBenefitsRecipient #NationalMeritVeteranObjection #CombatVeterans #DisasterInjuredVeterans #VeteransReview #FactVerificationRelatedToRequirements #RetiredMilitaryPersonnel #IncheonAdministrativeAgent #SongdoAdministrativeAgent
