Post 9/11 GI BIll

So, just out of the army and my first post about "The VA dept sucks".

I am in a hurry, but here's the gist of it:
To get your GI Benefits, you have to submit a request through the VA to get a certificate to send to the school to verify you're eligible for benefits. (gripe #1--the VA can't just establish a database that schools have access to instead of making the veteran an unnecessary middle-man??)

I requested the certificate back in April, but they don't send it until you're officially out of the army, which for me was a week ago. So, a week ago, they sent it--to the address on file from April.

I called the VA and had to wait a week for them to call me back (this was actually kind of nice, although the week-long wait seemed too long). When they did, the woman on the other end asked me, "Why didn't you call to change your mailing address?" I said that I didn't know my certificate request had been sent or even accepted because it was showing online as simply, "submitted".

She then asked for a current mailing address. I'm staying with a friend who cannot receive mail for me here because technically we're breaking her lease by staying as long as we are. I told the VA lady, "I don't have a good mailing address here in Boston yet." Her response??

"Oh, what, you live on the street there? You just GOT OUT and decided to live on the street?"

Seriously.

At that point, I flipped my lid. I asked to speak to her manager and she relented and told me she could fax it to the school.  So, after a week of waiting, after months of online requests, and after several emails, the VA finally said they'd fax my certificate to the school themselves. Point one for me, I guess.