User:Vajumper

DOUGLAS P. STRAND, Col, USAF (Ret) served an an air traffic control officer from 1977-2010. Col Strand deployed to four different war zones and was injured in the line of duty resulting in a medical discharge just after being nominated for Brigadier General. One of his key accomplishments while in the Air Force was recommending a commercial software program be modified to be used by Air Force air traffic controllers for training, since existing radar simulators were broken with no replacement parts forthcoming. His recommendation was approved resulting in a suggestion award and implementation throughout the Air Force.

Colonel Strand is a now a veteran advocate who has helped hundreds of disabled veterans navigate their way through the Department of Veteran’s Affairs disability system.

His primary focus is helping disabled veterans obtain fair disability ratings when many disabilities are not even included in the VA’s rating tables. One such disability is known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), also known as the “suicide disease.”

Colonel Strand testified before a congressional committee recommending CRPS be added to the rating tables and later received a letter from the VA stating they would indeed be added CRPS during the update of the tables by the VA Committee on Disability Compensation.