GuaymasJim

If there is a substantial amount of treatment records, a telephone C&P is common. Usually, it is a positive thing. wish you well!

No one has responded to your post, so I will give you the bad news. The VA doesn't take a veteran's financial needs into account when processing claims. There are exceptions-terminal illness, imminent foreclosure, imminent homelessness- but I doubt that Christmas needs would qualify. In fact, I am certain they won't. I doubt the rater would take offense to your calling him, but I also doubt he would do anything to speed up your claim based on Christmas. You didn't post the date of your claim, so we really have no way of knowing even a ball park decision date.

The quick answer is yes on the P&T, but without more information it's impossible to say. You list 90% on your bio, so are you 100% TDIU? There are additional benefits for having more ratings in addition to the conditions used for any type of 100%, but there are some straight forward qualifications for them. Do a search for SMC here on hadit or Google the universe. Semper Fi!

Do you have the actual rating decision in hand? We need to see "Reasons and Bases." How long were your rated for the conditions? Did you receive a "Proposal to reduce" letter?

Congratulations! It took me exactly 5 years to the day to get P&T awarded after the initial TDIU award. I did not apply; just got a letter in the mail one day.

You failed to provide any dates. These are important! The facility itself has retention, storage and disposable protocols which would give you some idea if they still have your records. They may ship them to another site for storage. I once actually got 40 year-old original Camp LeJuene sickbay records! You MUST contact the facility directly and ask. Try by phone first and follow up with written correspondence. REQUEST THEIR ASSISTANCE AND BE POLITE. This will work much better than "ordering" them to do something for you. (I say this out of experience! I am not always my cheerful friendly self and have paid a price for being an a-hole. Please, don't follow my example!) You should also start locating any buddies/peers, officers (CO, OIC) and NCOs (Platoon leader, squad leader, NCOIC) who were stationed there with you who might have memories of the incidents. Don't procrastinate! Be persistent, but nice. If they can't help you, ask for options, references, and advise. Good luck, Semper Fi and keep us informed.

Your "estate" has no bearing what so ever on SSDI or Service-Connected Disability compensation. None! Earned income can have effect both. You can win Powerball millions and it won't matter. If you are awarded a pension, then everything matters.

No to your question: Is the Schizophrenia a diagnosis? It is Scale 8 on the MMPI2. Depression is Scale 2. Neither one is a diagnosis. Your two highest standard deviations from normal (what ever the hell that is) give you a 8/2 Profile . Either way, your MMPI-2 RF results are the most common for veterans with PTSD. The MMPI-2 RF and PK Scale for PTSD are relatively new and there is some controversy attached to them. Your scores do indicate Severe PTSD (according to the people who accept the MMPI-2 RF and PK Scale for PTSD as valid assessors of PTSD-not everyone does including me). Do not freak out! The names of the 8 Scales have nothing to do with diagnosis! It was only one of the components of your C&P. I have uploaded a fairly good (but nerdy) explanation of the MMPI-2. Google " MMPI-2 RF PTSD 8/2 Profile" without the quotes. You will get a ton of results. "(X) Occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgement, thinking and/or mood" That is the second highest DBQ severity level right below Total. I don't see it matching the test results, but there is now way of telling how a rater will look at it. I hope this helps. MMPI2.pdf

I call bs also. We used to regularly get hadit newbies trying to get information on how to game the system. They quickly learned no such information was available here; and left just as quickly. It cannot be stressed enough that veterans be completely honest with their claims! It is perfectly legitimate to describe your average, or even your worse day, as opposed to your best day when discussing your condition; but it isn't alright to make up or grossly exaggerate your condition(s). Once awarded, everyone should read the award letter very carefully! Cross reference your awarded rating with the rating schedule in order to clearly understand exactly what you were awarded and why. The degree of occupational and social impairment is critical! We are not being compensated for our diminished quality of life. We are being compensated for our diminished capacity to gain and maintain employment at the national poverty level or above. If you are in better medical and/or mental condition than your rating, the VA will get around the discovering that information through regular medical exams and C&P exams. Until a vet has his/her rating continuously for 20 years, no rating is permanent and total. This is especially true with TDIU and total ratings for mental health. In many cases, it does not matter if you are being paid for what you are doing-the fact that you are capable of doing what you are doing matters. History repeats itself. Several years after the end of our involvement in Vietnam, the American taxpayers became aware of the huge cost of treating and compensating damaged veterans. They didn't want to pay the bill, so they didn't. As a consequence, veterans suffered and died alone and silent. It is estimated that the cost of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans will exceed 5 trillion dollars over their lifetimes. The taxpayers will not want to pay that bill either; and they won't. So, once again, veterans will suffer and die, but hopefully not alone and with the internet-not silent. If the newer generations of vets make enough noise, maybe those taxpayers can be shamed into honoring their obligations, I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Your attorney is correct. Here is almost everything you need to know: https://www.vawatchdog.org/divorce-alimony-child-support.html

You'll have to wait for the award letter to know for certain. Now, let's address TDIU! IU TDIU just two acronyms for EXACTLY the same thing. TDIU is the correct one. TDUI is an accounting gimmick to patch up the 1943 rating schedule. Sorry Buck, I am not being critical, but your use of: " to use the extra schedular to rate you IU" is inaccurate and confusing. There is nothing "extra schedular" about TDIU! It is a rating in and of itself! If you meet the either set of requirements: (1) a single SC condition rated at 60%(or higher) rating OR (2) multiple SC conditions adding up to 70% (or higher) and one of which is rated at least at 40%, the rater MUST at least consider (as opposed to MUST award) a TDIU award. The term "extra schedular" ONLY refers to a veteran who DOES NOT MEET one of the above sets of requirements; but still feels (s)he is unemployable because of his/her service connected condition(s). The claim must be sent to the Compensation and Pension Division at the Central Office in D.C. for adjudication. Theoretically (will never happen) a veteran could receive the TDIU rating with only a single condition rated at 10%. However, a veteran with a single SC condition rated at and limited to 50% (migraine headaches for instance) or a veteran with four SC conditions rated at 30% each (Equals 70% over-all but no single 40% SC condition) and great medical and vocational documentation has a very reasonable chance of being awarded TDIU especially it the veteran has combat injuries (not required but can often sway a rater using BOD). Since the VA is obligated to "maximize" a veteran's benefits, the VA may (and should) juggle the combinations to arrive at a combination that could qualify for TDIU. Once TDIU is awarded, P&T must be considered (but NOT automatically awarded) like any other award, and a veteran may also qualify for statutory SMC-S (Housebound) if that veteran has enough additional SC conditions, not related to those used for the TDIU award, to add up to an additional 60%. The juggling of combinations I spoke of can be really important here. I believe (and many disagree with me) that TDIU is a better rating than 100% schedular because I believe it makes easier to qualify for SMC-S. On the other hand, there are some rather strong restrictions on working with a TDIU rating. These restrictions include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED, to earning less than poverty level income. The type and amount of work a veteran does can get TDIU reduced to the veteran's schedular rating. A TDIU veteran MUST read, study, and clearly understand the work limitations that his/her schedular rating indicates. Go volunteer for 40 hours a week at a VAMC with $0 earned income and you can expect a "Notice to Reduce" letter at any time. No amount of "Unearned Income"-including winning the lottery like I did-will jeopardize your TDIU. On the other hand, the rater must even consider you actual residence when considering TDIU. For instance, it your education, training, and work experience is in nuclear plant operations and you live in Big Piney, Wyoming. Not much call for that set of skills in Big Piney, and the rater cannot say, "but if the veteran moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee (s)he would be employable." I accept and try to answer PM questions, if you have any. Semper Fi!

Go to this page. It is pretty much self-explanatory. Good Luck! Semper Fi! https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10565.pdf MAKE SURE YOU IDENTIFY YOURSELF AS A 100% P&T VETERAN. REPEAT IT AS MANY TIMES AS IS NEEDED FOR THE SSA TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT!

Fat, he is a "boots on ground" Vietnam Veteran! The difference between a veteran of the era and a Vietnam combat veteran is huge when dealing with the VA. That is not a put down for veterans who didn't see combat. There are benefits for combat veterans which aren't available to non-combat veterans. Agent Orange--has he had a cardiac evaluation? Is he on the VA's AO registry? PTSD - both depression and anxiety can cause ulcers any problems along those lines? Many others! Great hit asknod, I've used for several vets successfully over the years! If well documented, it is almost impossible for the VA to deny; and can go a long way with TDIU 70/40% and SMC-S 100+60 eligibility. Buck, when it comes to VA benefits, there is no difference whatsoever between officer and enlisted-good or bad! Clean DD-214 is all one needs. (I have 4 HD's 2 officer and 2 enlisted-all Honorable).

RA44, It might be your browser. I have Win 7, 8.1, and 10 computers and a Win 8.1 Windowsphone that all load hadit without a hitch. I'm getting a little tired of Firefox freezing on all versions, but not specific to hadit.

Poodles, there is a wealth of information on IHD here on hadit. Search the hadit website, start a new thread, or PM the posters. We are all here to help. Most VN veterans have long felt that we have had "demons" chasing us since we returned to the world Agent Orange, PTSD, a hostile public and an apathetic VA. We literally wrote the book on PTSD and contributed to the understanding of IHD. I, and many of my VN veteran friends feel that the IHD presumptive was a gift to VN veterans by former DVA Secretary Shinseki, a VN combat veteran with two Purple Hearts and the loss of part of one foot. Unfortunately, he allowed himself to be isolated by senior VA executives who kept information about VA scheduling (and other problems) form him. He finally forced to resign under a unfair and undeserved cloud. He got sandbagged by the people whom he should have been able to trust to be honest with him. I believe Sec. McDonald has a similar fate in store for him in the not so distant future which would also be extremely unfair.