Denise,

I have gone through that process a couple of times. However, I did not have to go through the FOIA. I merely wrote a letter to the VA Regional Office that was forwarded to the Washington office. The file, about an inch and a half thick came four to five months later, and there was no charge.

The first time I sent a letter directly to the Washington office who relayed it back to my regional office. I received a letter from the regional office stating that my letter had been forwarded to them by the Washington office and they would resubmit. The entire file was received in less than six months, and there was no charge. This was about five to six years ago, and keep in mind the process may have changed.

I have never been able to find out why those records are still with the VA. Hopefully, someone out there can explain.

Good luck on your research.

Bennie