( CNN ) -- Imagine you served for one year with the U.S. Army in Iraq . Imagine you served an additional tour in Afghanistan a year later . And imagine being injured in that last tour after a roadside bomb exploded from beneath a trashcan as your Humvee rolled by . Your buddy sitting next to you was killed . After you left the Army and returned home , you had trouble focusing . You had headaches and issues with your vision . You realize you returned with what might be a Traumatic Brain Injury . And maybe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder , too . Imagine you also have two kids younger than 7 who have n't seen you very much for the last half decade . Imagine you 're struggling to find a job . You 've got a lot on your plate . And you 're understandably stressed . You do n't want to let down your family . And you do n't want to be viewed as weak or a wimp by your buddies . Opinion : Why women are less free after Iraq War . You summon the courage to overcome the stigma , and you go to your local Department of Veterans Affairs to get some help . You file a claim for disability benefits to get the care and compensation you 've earned and the support you need to keep your family afloat financially . You 're hopeful . Now imagine waiting 600 days before you get an answer from the Department of Veterans Affairs . 600 days . 600 days of staring at your mailbox . 600 days of phone calls to check in . 600 days of bills piling up . 600 days of disappointment . Sounds crazy , right ? Well , for thousands of veterans nationwide , it 's real life . If you are a young vet who 's filed a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs in New York or Los Angeles , you will wait an average of 600 days . And you 're not alone . More than 900,000 veterans of all generations are stuck in a bureaucratic logjam that , in 2013 , is the almost too absurd to believe . After 10 years of war , three VA secretaries , and an increase in the overall department budget of 40 % since 2009 , an incredible 97 % of veteran 's claims are still on paper . Yep , paper . America has soldiers in Nevada piloting drones remotely that can strike a target thousands of miles and two continents away , but 97 % of our veterans ' benefits claims are still on paper . Earlier this month , the Center for Investigative Reporting released a leaked internal VA document that showed the entire world what veterans nationwide have known for years : the VA backlog problem is even worse than reported . The VA has reported that the average claim wait time was 273 days . For the first claim filed , it 's longer : 316 to 327 days . In Los Angeles , that figure is 619 . In New York , it 's 642 . In Indianapolis , it 's 612 days . And vets with first-time claims in Reno , Nevada , wait 681 days . The VA has testified that it has hired 3,300 new claims processors , but it has failed to report that , because of staff turnover , the net increase in processors is only 300 since 2010 . And , in Chicago ; Waco , Texas ; and Oakland , California , the overall number of claims processors has gone down . Since the internal documents were leaked last week , we 've yet to see a public response from VA Secretary Eric Shinseki or from the commander in chief . Some 2.6 million men and woman answered the call to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan . But now , a decade later , President Barack Obama is not answering their calls for help . And the public still does n't seem to get it . That 's why this week I 'm joining veterans from across America as we take our stories to Washington . Hans Blix : Why invading Iraq was a terrible mistake . Veteran leaders from some 22 states are converging on the Capitol to `` Storm the Hill , '' where we 'll be pressing elected officials to confront and solve the backlog . You can see their faces and read about their stories at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America website , www.IAVA.org . They are an amazing group of men and women ( and one dog ) that have overcome tremendous obstacles . And now , they 're taking on another one : the VA backlog . Just like we 've been trained , we wo n't quit until the job is done . No matter how long it takes , we 'll keep fighting . Our brothers and sisters deserve support for their sacrifices . And every single American should stand with us to # EndTheVAbacklog once and for all . Ten years after the start of the Iraq War , there are a lot of folks who say they support the troops . Now is the time for them to show it . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul Rieckhoff .
John Rieckhoff : Afghanistan , Iraq veterans can wait 30 days or longer for claim filing . He says after two years of war , 97 % of claims are still on paper , a logjam that hurts veterans . He says VA says it has many processors , but high turnover keeps number low . Rieckhoff : Veteran leaders in D.C. to ` ` Storm the Hill , '' get officials to deal with backlog .