NavyWife

Amazing news!!!! It's been a long road for you to reach this point. You studied a lot, kept pressing forward and didn't give up!

I certainly understand why you wouldn't want to deal with VA anymore. But it might make sense to talk your case over with two or three veterans disability lawyers and see what they think about the past decisions and if maybe he should have been rated 100% previously and if there is a cue etc. etc. VA continues to make mistakes and get away with it, because many people just don't want to deal with them anymore.

I think we are lucky to have Bob as the Secretary. The media is just blowing this out of proportion. Why doesn't the media focus on figuring out why there are so many homeless veterans in California?

Good info. Thanks

Did you ever get a letter from Voc rehab saying you were denied or unable to participate? If so that letter could be used as evidence that you qualify for TDIU. To seek one out on your own you could look up "vocational rehabilitation counselor" in the phonebook or Google to find one in your local area. They would need to write a letter saying that, "the veteran is unable to work solely due to his service connected disability of PTSD."

Like Berta says, You need to get a letter from a vocational rehabilitation counselor stating "the veteran is unable to work solely due to his service connected disability of PTSD." You can go to one through VA or find one in the phone book and pay. VA is really trying to screw you over by focusing on the nonservice connected personality disorder. You have to put the focus solely on the PTSD as the reason you cannot work. And forget about the tinnitus, that isn't going to affect anything regarding the claim for TDIU. Clearly a C and P examiner paid by VA is not going to provide you the evidence you need. That is why you must seek out vocational rehab counselor on your own and submit a letter from them to the VA.

This can happen if there is still one or more issues pending. In the meantime, You can go on E benefits under start a new compensation claim. work through the pages until you get to the disability section and there it will say what percentages you are currently rated for.

Are you serious? After all this time! Wow! Do you think it was your email to bob that made someone really take a good look at your evidence?

This link has a lot of info about SMC. http://www.purpleheart.org/ServiceProgram/Training2012/10-M-%20SMC%20final.pdf

Yes , do what georgiapapa suggests above. Once the claim is completed it should show there.

Yes, it's a great benefit for those with a TBI rating. Essentially you would need a doctor to write a statement that you would need care similar to a nursing home.

very interesting! thanks for sharing

Ok, so that says you did NOT get a Permanent and Total or P&T rating. But that is ok! Getting 100% is amazing. Also do not be alarmed Where it says "you are scheduled for a future reduction in 2020" It always says that for those that are not P&T, but what it really means is you will possibly have a C&P exam around that time. Sometimes it happens sometimes it does not. Sometimes they might send you a letter saying they want to reduce you around that time. If that happens you will want to state all the reasons why you haven't gotten better but be sure to review the schedule of rating disabilities beforehand and the DBQs. http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?rgn=div5;node=38:1.0.1.1.5 http://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/dbq_ListByDBQFormName.asp

Congrats! The actual effective date will show up in you letter in the mail. The effective date you see on ebenefits is actually the date of the last costbf living increase. It should be the day after you separate from service. If you want to know right away what your actual effective date is, you can go n ebenefits and "start a new compensation claim". Just go through the sections and at the "Disability" section it should tell the actual effective date for each issue.

For any issue that has previously been denied you need to find out what was the exact reason it was denied and then provide evidence to overcome that denial. For example if it was denied due to "no diagnosis ", Then you would want to seek out a doctor on your own and get the diagnosis. If it was denied due to "severity level is not high enough to meet a compensable rating ", Then you would want to have your own doctor write a letter stating what your severity level is. Here are some good links you may want to check out. http://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/dbq_ListBySymptom.asp http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div5&view=text&node=38:1.0.1.1.5&idno=38