8 Year Appeal, BVA Decision and NOD finally coming to a close

[ScoutLT]

Well it has been a long winding road for 8 years.  I filed my initial claim in March of 2009 for foot problems.  I wasn't very educated about the problems I had and filed as flat foot as that is what I was always told by the PA's that looked at me in the service.  Conveniently upon leaving the service all of my medical records took a permanent vacation before I could get a copy of them.  I finally tracked down a buddy I served with and he wrote a great letter in support and I reopened my initial claim in 2012 following a denial on my 2009 claim.  It was sent to the BVA where is sat for about 4 years.  In 2016 it was seen and referred back to the VA for action.  In December 2016 I was given another C&P exam and given a rating of 10% in March 2017, I filed a NOD immediately and they did a record review in April and the DRO called me and told me that I was being rated at 50% and that the decision should be coming in the next several weeks.  I was at the VA Hospital and stopped by the American Legion representative that has been assisting me and there was the letter (draft I guess) on his system showing my increase from 10% to 50%.  I am just waiting for the envelope in the mail in the next several weeks.  This forum has been instrumental in keeping me going and providing me with the understanding and tools to accomplish this.  I can not state strongly enough that without this forum I would have given up and certainly would not have filed a NOD when I thought they were wrong on their initial decision.  I also read this forum in regards to IBS which I had been struggling with and filed a claim based upon the success stories I read on this forum and am now rated at 30% for IBS.  Following my official notification I will be rated out at 90% and I can truly say it is because of the information provided on this forum that educated me about the system and how to navigate it effectively.  

Thank you to all who post about their lessons learned and success stories on this forum.  I simply could not have done it without you and  your knowledge.

Armor and Cavalry U.S. Army 1988-1999

[Tbird]

@ScoutLT Thank you for sharing that and congratulations - it is great to hear about successes - live well and prosper

[Berta]

Great News and thank YOU for actually reading the info here that you needed.

It is bad enough the VA cannot or will not read our evidence, sometimes,

but claimants, too,  can fail to read info here that we direct them to. VA depends on us not to get smart.

 

[broncovet]

Congratulations.  Dont forget to give back by helping other Vets, too, with your knowledge.  In 8 years you learned a lot.