About The Author

Louis Hoffmann
Original Army of One

"Louis Hoffmann is a plain spoken man with a heart of gold"

Louis Hoffmann is a plain spoken man with a heart of gold, when it comes to veterans whom seem lost in the system not knowing what steps to take in the Veteran Centers or the VA hospitals, and without much guidance or information on medical benefits, or being compensated for their injuries incurred in the service.

Louis has been climbing the ladder of the Veterans Administrations System for decades now, in pursuit of his compensation for his physical and mental injuries. Along the way, he’s moved up and down the East coast, met hundreds if not thousands of veterans, given testimony before government committees, and authored two previous books on benefits for veterans. He has also challenged the existing benefits to save or improve the entitlements, of which have been earned by the men and women serving our nation. He’s a busy veteran and he’s one-of-a-kind.

Born in Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York, and raised by foster parents from age two, in Lindenhurst, New York. At the age of nineteen, Louis decided to enlist in the Army on January 5, 1967.

After basic at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Louis was assigned to the 11th Infantry Brigade that trained at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. In early December 1967, the brigade received employment orders to go to Vietnam. The USNS General William Weigel and the USNS General Walter H. Gordon transported the 11th Infantry brigade for a fourteen-day voyage, from Pearl Harbor to Quin Nhon, South Vietnam. Louis’s unit bordered the USNS General H. Gordon, after which the brigade was assigned to Landing Zone Bronco in Duc Pho, South Vietnam. Louis was a field wireman for the 6/11th Artillery, 11th Infantry brigade Americal Division.

Three months into his one year tour in Vietnam, Louis’s unit was involved in a firefight when the landing zone (LZ) was attacked by the Viet Cong at two or three in the morning in the February 1968 Tet Offensive. This was a favorite time of attack when most of the unit was sleeping. As we all ran to defend the perimeter a mortar round or satchel charge exploded near Louis, and caused facial lacerations, head, and back injuries. Another member of the unit and the unit medic dragged Louis to a ditch for cover until the attack was over. He was then transported to the other side of the base and given medical treatment. Within a few hours he was returned to his unit.

From Vietnam, Louis returned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he spent the remainder of his enlistment, which ended in early January 1970.

"The VA doctors denied the claim, insisting it was a prior injury before his military service."

Three years later, at the age of twenty-six, Louis missed the structure of the military and enlisted in the Marine Corps. After boot camp at MCRD, San Diego, California, and electrician school at Camp Lejeune, Louis was assigned to the Portsmouth New Hampshire Navel Shipyard. Portsmouth is also the site of a marine barracks and military prison. Louis served on flag detail and as a “chaser” for the Military Police, he escorted prisoners to and from the local lock-up. During the summer of 1974, his back was re-injured in the course of moving lockers. This injury led first to hospitalization, and then to a medical discharge on September 13, 1974. The medical discharge from the Marine Corps was rated at zero percent disability on his back injury.

As a veteran with service-connected injuries, Louis went to the Veterans Administration. The process however, began with the Army, since the original combat injury occurred in Vietnam. Louis began the Veterans Administration (VA) process in Togas, Maine. The VA doctors denied the claim, insisting it was a prior injury before his military service.

Louis obtained the medical records from the Army pertaining to his entrance physical and the re-evaluation of an auto accident, which showed no physical or permanent skeleton injury, and medical records extending back into childhood. He submitted all of these to the VA during appeal, to no avail.

Louis moved to the Tampa Bay area in 1977. At that time, the VA records were transferred from Togas, Maine, Veterans Hospital to St. Petersburg, Florida Veterans Hospital. A service officer from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) advised Louis to find someone in the unit from Vietnam to confirm the injury received in February 1968, when injured in an explosion by the enemy. The actual medical records from Vietnam were lost and no record of Louis’s injuries could be documented. Louis used the telephone information number, with operator assistance, to gain all the listed numbers of his medic’s last name. Louis started calling all numbers and luckily reached a relative of his medic. A message was relayed to the medic, and he testified at a VA hearing for Louis’s medical claim and Vietnam injury. The claim was still denied. The VA refused to reverse their decision even with the medic’s testimony. The Social Security Administration did grant a disability in 1977.

Back in New York State in early 1980, Louis pursued the VA claim at Northport VA Hospital on Long Island to little or no avail.

Louis pursued the denied VA claim, and then sent his application to the St. Louis, Missouri Military Center, requesting all documents of his military U.S. Army personal records. A few weeks later, he received a copy of his unit’s original orders to Vietnam. On these orders was a handful of member’s home of record addresses. Due to the Privacy Act, these personal identities (home addresses) had to be blocked out, using a black crayon, by clerks at the National Records Center in St. Louis, MO.

Louis examined his original orders, could not see the addresses, due to the black crayon, and decided to try and remove the wax. With Q-tips and lighter fluid, Louis removed the crayon wax until he could hold the orders up to the light and read the various addresses. As this was done, the print was darker than the black crayon and he was able to see the addresses. Back to the phone system, using the same procedure he had used to locate his medic’s phone number, he was able to contact his old combat buddies by long distance. This eventually turned up the former company clerk in California, a second friend in Maryland, and a third in Long Island, New York.

"For thirty years, Louis has had an adventure, a learning experience, and some fun, exploring the workings, of both the adjudication and the medical services of the U.S. Veterans Administration System. Do not ever give up your battle for your disability benefits."

Through buddy letter statements, signed and notarized, Louis forwarded these documents to the Department of the Army, Military Personnel Center, in Alexandria, Virginia. As a result, the documentation was established that awarded Louis Hoffmann the Purple Heart on May 28, 1981, for wounds received in combat in Vietnam in February 1968. Louis found his commander, who had taken command of the unit in June 1968, by again using the telephone service. Louis knew he was a Long Island resident, and located his brother and was advised he now lived in Michigan. He contacted Louis, and remembered him as the only member of the unit as being allowed to have a dog on the LZ. He mentioned he had typed orders for Louis to be awarded the Bronze Star, and Saint Barbara Medal (an artillery award from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, awarded by the Army and Marine Artillery Members). The statements from his former commander and comrades were submitted to the VA as proof-positive that the incident in Duc Pho, South Vietnam was as Louis had presented it. Finally, the VA would have enough documentation. The VA again denied the physical injury claim.

Louis’s service connected ratings occurred in four steps. The first step (post traumatic stress disorder; PTSD) was established in 1980, rated at 50%. The second step, Louis was given an increase to his PTSD to 100%--temporary. The third step, in 1996, the status of his service connection-temporary was classified to permanent and total. The fourth step, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, associated with herbicide exposure, was assigned at 20% on February 22, 2006.

My learning of this process started with the back injury claim. The following conditions were not service connected per the VA, and should have been as these were received by my service in Vietnam and my patriotic duty as an enlisted service member of the United States of America.

The original claim of the back injury, nerve damage to the sweat gland on the head, right eye vision impairment, and skin rashes from Agent Orange exposure have never been accepted by the VA as a service connected disability claim.

For thirty years, Louis has had an adventure, a learning experience, and some fun, exploring the workings, of both the adjudication and the medical services of the U.S. Veterans Administration System. Do not ever give up your battle for your disability benefits. This book is to help you establish documentation and avenues of information, which may give you leverage for your disability claim being approved.