Military Veterans' Lawyer Blog
At the Law Office of Robert B. Goss, P.C., www.attorneyforveterans.com, we have been going through a transition. Changes are sometimes very good, and in this case our changes are very good.
The biggest change has been the addition of the newest member of our staff. That member is me! My name is Hans Goss, and I am a U.S. Army veteran. I was in the U.S. Army for four and a half years, and served as an Airborne Infantryman in the 82nd Airborne. My deployments were to Haiti and Iraq. I am very proud of my service to our country, and like everyone at the Law Office of Robert B. Goss, P.C. https://www.attorneyforveterans.com/lawyer-attorney-1303353.html, I am a veteran or a dependent of a veteran. I am currently working towards becoming a lawyer. As it stands I am a proud member of this law firm dedicated to helping all veterans in every way I can. I will also be leading the Firms blogs from the position of a new veteran, with the goal of providing insight into the VA system that is not only helpful, but easy to navigate.
Today’s blog will begin with the story of how the Law Office of Robert B. Goss, P.C., www.attorneyforveterans.com, came to be and how we will proceed in the future.
It all started with a dream. Robert B. Goss, https://www.attorneyforveterans.com/lawyer-attorney-1303379.html, knew from the time he was born his dream was to fly. He never really felt like walking on the ground with his ‘legs’ suited him. Being raised in Houston, TX he would ride his bicycle miles weekly after school or on the weekend for years to Hull Airport (now Sugarland Airport) in Sugar Land, TX to watch the planes soar around the pattern performing countless touch-n-gos. If he was lucky a pilot would let him look inside the airplane. He would sit, and stare in amazement knowing one day he would be the high flying ace of the sky he so admired. Unlike most childhood dreams he didn’t lose sight of his goal of being a pilot. At the age of 16, he soloed his first plane. This event also was the beginning of an adventure that defines the rest of his life. Getting his pilot license was simply step one. Now he set out on a path to become a true pilot, and that meant making it a profession. After years of hard work he graduated from Texas A&M with his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Aerospace Engineering, even against all pleadings of his father who wanted him to go to medical school. With his Masters of Science degree he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force to be a pilot.
Although FAR qualified at Undergraduate Pilot Training, his flight Commander inspired him to choose the B-52, as the B-1 was slated to join the Air Force. He spent most of his career flying B-52s, and running missions all over the world. Through his career he had four children, and traveled to countries he never dreamed he would visit. It was all a grand adventure, and yet the happiness didn’t last forever. Almost entirely over night his life seemed to have spun out of control due to a service injury. In less than 2 weeks his vision was lost, due to lasers he had encountered in his travels. These injuries led to eventually blindness for multiple periods of time.
The vision disabilities along with many other disabilities career pilots suffer were present when Bob retired after almost 21 years of service. As the VA Vocational and Rehabilitation Counselor noted, “he could not find an airline who would hire a blind pilot.”
At retirement many variables existed, and many obstacles had to be overcome. Bob took inspiration from David Byrne of Montgomery, AL, who was Bob’s attorney, and Dr. Michael Lambert, who prior to becoming a world renowned Vitreous Retina Surgeon had also been a pilot who was grounded. Bob saw he could continue serving his fellow veterans and service members by assisting them get their VA benefits.
Not willing to sit on his retirement and serve out his days at a VA home, he promptly learned of the VA’s pattern of denial and impeding VA claims after retirement. He had been blinded in service, and the doctors stated the claim seemed pretty straight forward. Along with other common issues pilots had such as back problems due to G-forces and other service injuries the grant of VA disabilities seemed pretty cut and dry.
The VA, however, loves to deny or grant the minimum. That is why after he received an initial 20% denial letter he was in shock. The VA had claimed that, somehow, his blindness was a preexisting injury. He contested that he was a pilot, and they wouldn’t let a blind man fly planes in the military. After dealing with the VAs obvious disregard for himself as a valid recipient of disability a new dream started burning in his heart. He saw that someone needed to help veterans receive the benefits they had earned. So he fought back, and in the process went to law school at the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University to receive his Jurist Doctorate (J.D.) in law. Knowing he needed more he continued to the University of Houston Law Center to obtain two more degrees, Master of Laws. Many battles, and long nights later the Law Office of Robert B. Goss, P.C. opened at 5100 Westheimer Rd, in Houston, Texas.
Mr. Goss became the first full-time Lawyer certified by the VA to practice Veterans Law in Houston. His mission has always been to help veterans seek the benefits they earned from years of service. All of the members of the Law Office of Robert B. Goss, P.C. are either disabled veterans, spouses of disabled veterans, or me a veteran beginning his claims for VA benefits due to the standard injuries that paratroopers endure.
My hope is this article illustrates how much our hearts are intertwined into helping the veteran obtain the benefits they have earned, and why our passion is so strong. Now that we have been able to look at how we started we have to look at how we can evolve.
First, our core values continue to guide the Firm, “The Law Office of Robert B. Goss is committed to fighting injustice on behalf of the individual.” Our goal is to help veterans obtain the VA benefits they have earned and positively change veterans lives.
To provide veterans a location for resources for benefits and information, we have launched Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/TheVeteransAttorney and Google+https://plus.google.com/u/2/b/115647691553225089389/+LawOfficeofRobertBGossPCHouston/posts pages, and of course we will be more active on this blog.
These post and resources will bring prevalent news about the VA, veteran’s benefits and changes to you. The goal is to bring attention to the issues we see with Court rulings, laws the VA proposes or implements, and legislation applicable to veterans and service members.
To assist new veterans I will document the VA benefits process. I will blog about my experiences with the VA in getting my GI bill, and also my experiences with obtaining my VA disability benefits. I hope that my personal experiences will help some people more than just the black and white of a paper telling you what to do, and how to do it. I plan to keep my experiences up to date on as much news that is effecting vets around the country. Additionally I will direct the Firm to post to our Facebook, and Google+ pages as additional resources.
In conclusion, as the only Army veteran among the sea of Air Force blue at the Law Office of Robert B. Goss, P.C. I will bring resources and help to veterans with a unique perspective of ground troops and their injuries. Though the Law Office of Robert B. Goss P.C. is a law firm our hope is we give back more than just legal help. We want to reach our brothers and sisters in arms giving them another resource to make their life as a vet easier. Thank you for your service.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Hans Goss