I was service connected in 2003 for the first time with back. That was 21 years + that I coped with my back injury and if I had known that my PTSD was ruining my life I would have filed for that then too. It's took me 25 years to educate myself about my injuries and try to honestly face them. That's along time for something to fester. You dig a big hole. My life is ruined because of this.
This board is a good thing. We can identify on what responsibilities we acquire in our VA quests. I'm still amazed at how someone can be service connected for PTSD in 2013 with the stressor events being 20-30-40+ years prior and they get around paying for those years of known disease?
I know this is the fault of the service member for not filing but it is right? My damn life is ruined because of something I knew nothing about. I knew I struggled with sleep, tough recovery from physical activity, couldn't tie my own shoes, couldn't reach around and grab something from the backseat of the car without suffering a day or three of muscle spasms, etc etc but I just done the best I could to deal with life and move on. I wanted out of here as fast as possible. Looking back it would have probably been best. Pure hell since.