Since it is VA ticketed and involving only VA flights, in normal circumstances VA would notify Delta to post miles (and I presume, VA would pay DL for miles).

The first Delta agent I spoke to said VA had to initiate the mileage request. VA says they cannot manually post to DL Skymiles (which I know, but seems like they could initiate the posting just like they do for normal flights?).

I did call this AM and spoke to another DL agent who took all my information and said they would contact VA, so maybe that will work. She said maybe 2 weeks though.