Veterans Administration and the Department of Motor Vehicles

Two Different Bureaucracies—Identical Processes—Both Employ Good People but the VA is Also Packed with Kind-hearted Volunteers

What a bureaucratic and institutional journey I experienced in the run-up to my birthday. Four months ago, I got a notice from the California Department of Motor Vehicles that I need to renew my driver’s license. I had to pay $36.00 and take the written exam, have my eyes checked, and picture taken to renew before my July birthday.

REAL ID

Because of the post 9/11 era we live in with our politics, Americans must have a REAL ID by October 2020. Hmm… isn’t that right before the Presidential election?

Furthermore, we cannot travel DOMESTICALLY without a passport. We now need the REAL ID stamped on our driver’s license or get a new separate ID. I opted for the all in one strategy.

Veterans Label

The DMV made the REAL ID convenient. But there is more! When I logged on to the DMV website, I discovered that I could get a Veteran’s designation on my renewed driver’s license too. At first, I declined because I wondered what good will it do, but Georgiana encouraged me to get the VET designation on my DL also. Her persistence and encouragement overtook my initial resistance.

Simply Get a DMV Appointment and bypass the crowds

I freaked out because I thought I could get an appointment promptly. Little did I know that it’s not till August or September. Well, that’s past my birthday! I tried to get an appointment from several DMVs throughout in Southern California. I was willing to drive back to the desert and go to the Palm Desert office! No luck. So, I fell into my gloom and doom imaginations about not getting my DL renewed in time for my birthday because of the crowded DMV offices all over Southern California.

Veterans Administration (VA) Nightmare

I stopped by on a Thursday and soon learned that the Long Beach VA is a HUGE campus which included the hospital along with the Veteran’s Administration offices.

VA Volunteers Are Kind and Want to Help

After asking a volunteer at the front desk on my visit, I found the correct room quickly. Another volunteer informed me they only offered this service on Monday mornings and to bring my DD 214 form. Every Veteran has a DD 214 document which shows the history of military service on a single paper.  I never recalled ever using this form since I was discharged 50 years ago. The problem was that I am staying in Long Beach for the summer, and my DD 214 form was at home in Rancho Mirage. No problem because Georgiana and I were going back home to run errands anyway.

Documents, Documents, and more Documents

At home, I grabbed all of the documents I could get my hands on. I not only got my DD 214 for my Veterans Designation, but I also retrieved the following:

• Passport
• Two utility bills to verify my California residence
• Social Security card
• Birth certificate

While DMV required the following to get your REAL ID or identification card:

• Proof of Identity
• Proof of Social Security Number
• Proof of California Residency (2 residency documents)

I Didn’t Take Any Chances!

I had four Proofs of California Residencies. The powers to be wanted to know I was a real American Citizen, living on American soil.

Back to VA for the Second Time

With the DD 214 clutched in hand, off to the VA, I went on Monday morning as previously instructed. However, at 9:00 AM, I was too late. The waiting room was full, and the volunteer said that they only serve five veterans. I was told that they open the office at 7:30 AM. My strategy was to return EARLY. The following Monday, a full week later, for the third visit, I got to the VA at 6:45 AM, and there were two veterans ahead of me. Soon there were about 20 lined up when they opened the office doors promptly at 7:30 AM. I felt confident that I was going to get that form!

Always Surprises

We were told that the person in charge of getting the Veteran’s form would not come in till 9:00. And sometimes not till 10:00! But I was determined. I have come a long way with no turning back now. With my history of persistence, I know I will eventually get that damn form even if it took me all morning.

Veteran’s Discounts

While we were waiting, I enjoyed chatting and listening to the political and economic banter of Veterans. One financial discovery is that the Coffee Bean coffee shop offers a $1.00 off for Veterans. Another veteran said that perhaps the veteran designation on our driver’s license might get us out of traffic ticket. I already knew that Lowes and Home Depot offers 10% discounts on all purchases.

In the Restroom!

It was an hour before the person in charge was scheduled to show up. So I went to the restroom. Upon my return in just ten minutes, another veteran informed me that they had called ME! OMG! I wondered if I missed my turn. But they called me in five minutes so all was good as I got the form to take to the DMV. 1.5 hours was a lot shorter than the four or five hours that I was expecting to wait. I was concerned about the reality of getting that form, knowing that the VA system is also overwhelmed, crowded, and lacking resources to serve the veterans on time.

DMV Expanded Their Hours

I also checked out the Long Beach DMV at 8:00 and it had a line of about 50 people, and the parking lot was full already.  I was not ready to take the exam, nor did I have the VA form yet. I was just checking out the nearest DMV office and preparing my next move to the DMV.

Because of the enormous demand for the REAL ID, DMV offices have been jammed with applicants. The DMV offices are now opening at 7:00, three days a week to cope with the demand. I went next door to Westminster at 7:00 and there were already about 20 people waiting. I got there on the wrong day when it opened on their regular hours.

I studied hard to prepare for the next 1.5 weeks. I read the DMV manual and took lots of sample questions (it’s not necessary to purchase exam sample questions).

I got a tip from my barber to go to the Stanton, CA DMV. I got the right DMV as Stanton opens at 7:00. It’s a brand-new facility and huge.

I Felt Like I was back in college and passed my finals. It felt GREAT!

I passed with one wrong. I thought we were told to stay in your car if disabled on the freeway.  I know I read somewhere that we should remain in our vehicle until help arrives because sooner or later help will come, even the CHP has helped get disabled cars off the road ASAP. But I was wrong! The correct answer is to leave your disabled car “when it is safe to do so, and walk to a safe area.”

The lessons are timeless when dealing with huge bureaucracies:

• As soon as you get your notice in the mail to renew your license, go online at https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv and make an appointment. I had a four-month notice that I should have heeded and would have avoided the extra work I had to do.
• If you don’t have an appointment, arrive 30 minutes before the doors open.
• Study by reading/skimming the official DMV manual and taking many practice questions found free online on the DMV website.
• Bring more than enough documents to make sure they accept your identity.

Veterans:

Get your DD 214 and head to your nearest VA Administration Office or contact a Veterans Service Organization (VSO) for more information. You will need to find out which day and time do they provide form VDS-001, titled Veteran Status Verification Form. You will bring this document to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Make a copy for your records.

Thus, with your renewed drivers license and build-in identity verification, you will be ready to vote, be eligible for Veterans discounts and fly domestically without your passport.

Steve’s Bio

Stephen A. Schullo, Ph.D. (UCLA ’96) taught elementary students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for 24 years and UCLA Extension teaching educational technology to student teachers. Because of his negative experience with annuity agents, unions, and his school district benefits personnel over the most horrific tax-deferred plan in history, the 403(b), Steve wrote investment articles for the United Teacher-Los Angeles (UTLA) newspaper for 13 years. 

So he became a 403(b) activist and talked to anybody who listened about reforming this terrible plan. He simply wanted to inform his colleagues that districts and the insurance industry are looking out for their best interests, and not the teachers. The media began listening for the first time in the entire history of the 403(b) plan commonly known as the TSA in 1998. From 1961 to 1998, nobody in or out of education ever talked about this terrible 403(b) specifically with k-12 school districts. I kid you not!

Consequently, he was thrice featured retirement plan advocate for reformed 403(b) plans for public k-12 colleagues that were in the Los Angeles Times and U.S. News and World Report. He co-founded an investor self-help group (403bAware with a colleague, Sandy Keaton) for teacher colleagues. He also wrote 7,000 helpful posts in three online investment forums since 1997. Frequently quoted by the media, testified at California State legislative hearings and honored with the “Unsung Hero” award by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) for his retirement planning advocacy.

For the last twelve years, he continues to serve on LAUSD’s Retirement Investment Advisory Committee (RIAC) as a “Member-at-Large” and former co-chair. The committee monitors the district’s 457b/403b of 55,000 former and current LAUSD employees, worth $2.5 billion in total assets. Lastly, Steve and his late husband, Dan, were participants for the award-winning documentary, PBS Frontline: The Retirement Gamble, aired April 23, 2013.

Steve is the author of two books, “Fighting Powerful Interests: Educators Challenge Tax-sheltered Annuities and WIN!“, a story of how a handful of LAUSD educators struggled for years to improve the 403(b) to no avail. But we never quit! We were instrumental in LAUSD’s implementation of the new 457(b) plan and earned a very rare “Plan Design” award. 

Steve is the co-author with his late husband Dan of a book on learning the investment process from the ground up, Late Bloomer Millionaires. It’s a heartfelt story about two ordinary chaps and how they discovered investing and money management without a professional financial adviser. They list all of their successes and massive mistakes and they still retired earlier than most Americans.

For a copy of both books, email Steve at steve.schullo@latebloomerwealth.com and he will happily email you both books, FREE pdf file format with no obligation except to read them and get informed.