Mil T

I'm sorry for my ignorance but what is TRK? We did just learn that he could get 100% Temp for the Convalescence and will plan on doing that if he is to have the knee replacements. I have advised him to have one done at a time and that should turn into 26 months by which hopefully the rest of the claims issues will be completed. Just got a call from the Vet. The VA just called him. He was only able to get a first name as she said that she cannot give out a phone # or her last name. She has given him the details of where everything is at. It sounds like they have transfered the claims to different locations. He will be coming over in a couple of hours so I can get the details and I will come back and let you know what he has shared with me. By the way. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out here. I consider myself pretty knowledgable in these matters but when something like this comes along then I consider myself pretty ignorant but I am willing to learn to not let it happen again to me. It is upsetting to know that no organization wants to place a trained VSO in our community or have them come up at least a couple of times a week. Our community is full of Veterans and there are many that are just now understanding that they are entitled to VA benefits for their service. Most of these vets are War time Vets as well. I have WWII, Korean, Cold war atomic vets and Vietnam. The younger ones don't seem to want to engage the VA or have decided to go down to the Vet Cntrs in the Phoenix area to get their help.

Yes, we checked the list. He was on the USS Enterprise, a nuclear aircraft carrier and he never went ashore in Vietnam. Because of his diabetes II and the parkinson's the attorney just figured they should file it for AO not thinking that you actually had to prove you were exposed. The claim for AO was also made before the current list of ships were actually approved for AO. It was a crime that he went through all of the wasted time and frustration of 2 denials and a DRO hearing that was initiated by this attorney. He was on the flight deck as an aircraft launcher. He was the person closest to the plane to give the ok to launch the plane. He was exposed to some of the loudest noise exposure DB's in the military service with the F4's launching at full throttle and noise levels exceeding 150 DB's. No one advised him to turn this information in to support his claim and he was denied hearing loss and tinnitus. The parkinson's symptoms are there but the doctors have not said that it is definitly Parkinsons. The tremors don't resemble parkinson's. He is in the Wheel Chair because of his severe artheritis and the failure of his knees. His knees are SC yet he was never advised to file for an increase in award. He has an appointment for knee replacement evaluation and will probably be approved which means we will be able to file a 100% temporary unemployability while in healing process. The attorney also had put him in for IU but he did not meet any of the schedular requirments even though his doctors have confirmed that he is not able to have gainful employement and have said it on his medical progress notes. It is like the cart before the horse kind of thing. He needs to be awarded the necessary disabilities to meet the schedular requirments in order to have IU. I just need to understand how remanding claims from appeals will make all of his retro dates go away and they start all over? Doesn't make any since to me. I also will be in the same boat if that is true. I am 80% total with 70% ptsd and 20 for hearing and 10 for tinnitus. I was refused IU when I was awarded the increase for PTSD, so I went to Voc Rehab per the VA's recomendation in the award letter. I was told that I cannot achieve gainful employment due to my SC PTSD. So I used that letter form VR&E to remand my request of a hearing by DRO and appeal back to the RO based on the sufficient and material new evidence of the letter from VR&E. It was brought back to the RO level and is in the pending decision stage per my E-Benefits page. So now I'm thinking that instead of being a retro of April 2009 when I had origionally filled for the IU that it will be Aug 2010 when I asked to have it remanded for new evidence if this information is true about giving up the back dates for the origional claim due to remanding the claim from appeal to RO.

Hello, I am a Vet advocate in my small town. I help as many as I can with their claims and following them along the process. I am not associated with any organization. We don't have any organized VSO's in our town so I try to take up the slack where I can. I have an issue that I need to get some understanding of. One of the Vets I'm helping has had claims in for several years and under appeal. When he came to me his claims were very convaluted and all had been denied because no one had helped him with the processes. He even had an attorney that advised him to file for agent orange but the vet is a blue water and was never qualified for agent orange. I was able to get most of it straightned out by dropping the agent orange presumptive illness claims that were never going to be awarded. We turned in new evidence for the rest of the claims of PTSD, Hearing and tinnitus. Also unemployability because he has parkinsons and he is in a wheel chair due to his SC Knees that he was discharged from service for with a 0% award and asked to be reopened based on new evidence that I helped him acquire. We also asked to have the claims in appeals remanded back to the RO based on the new evidence. This was in October of 2011. We've been following this on E-benfits and never saw any changes. We visit the RO in Phoenix often and were told the claims were back in RO. Yesterday we visited again and this time the Service Officer finally went and got his file after seeing on his computor that all of his claims were still in appeal. When we inspected the file, the 4138 where we requested the remand of claims was there but there was never any action taken. The SO noted this and said he would take it up to appeals and make them aware of the 4138 request. Today the Veteran was called by the appeals dept. and was told that if they remand the claims that his initiation date of all the claims would revert to todays date and all of his back pay would be lost. Can someone clarify for me why that would happen? I've always been of the understanding per the VA website and on the e-benefits website that the appeals board should always automatically remand claims with new evidence back to the RO in the first place. I don't understand why he would loose his origional date for the filing of the claim. Some of the dates go back to 2007. Any help would be appreciated.

Good point Carlie. I may start issueing some of the studies to some of the vets I am helping that have not been awarded HL when they go to the VA or sometimes I will send them to Miracle Ear for a hearing test and tell them to ask the audiologist if their hearing loss could be as likely as not caused by their military service after they tell him what they did in the service. It has been helpful and counts as an IMO. If the MOS supports the high probability for hearing loss due to their service then I also send those study's as well. I have studies from the Navy, Air Force, Army that support job duties that experienced Acoustical Trauma. Sometimes their MOS will not support but an incident or a constant job duty while serving can cause the problem. For instance. I have a person that was a typist/clerk at Long Binh in 1968. He ran a press machine many hours a day. Press machine was very noisy. His duty station was just a 1/4 mile from the Ammo Depot that was blown up leveling his building, barracks etc. 15,000 105 mm artilery shells were destroyed. The concussion and loud noise was deafning to those in close proximity. He also was a security driver for top secret documents that he had to escort in a jeep with a mounted m60 that was fired just above his head on occational runs to special forces camp. These incidents should qualify him for the HL and Tinnitus. I"ve submitted the studies, the dates of Ammo Depot explosion, What the MOS is for the other duties that he did. But his MOS was 71R which is typist/Clerk. What you have mentioned is that they should submit supporting evidence for the other occasions that he was exposed to the loud noises I mentioned. Perhaps daily journals or after action reports?? All sorts of duties are accomplished by different MOS's that do not match what they actually did while in Service. This is the area that is more difficult to process and get a rating. If you have experience with this type of claim, I would appreciate any advise of other ways to help in this area. Thanks, Mil T

yes I agree that there needs to be direct medical evidence for the Veteran in question. I'm not sure if I really got my question presented correctly or not. What I am trying to figure is if these study's COULD be considered medical evidence? Many of them are by the Medical Association or by a group of doctors etc. I do use the fast letters and training letters to help as evidence in filing claims for some of these guys I help. Mil T

Hi. I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this but I'll start here and if it is necessary to move it, I'll let Admin do it. I have a question regarding using various study's regarding certain disability's that can be used as medical evidence. Case in point is using the following; NOISE AND MILITARY SERVICE Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Committee on Noise-Induced Hearing Loss and Tinnitus Associated with Military Service from World War II to the Present Medical Follow-up Agency Larry E. Humes, Lois M. Joellenbeck, and Jane S. Durch, Editors INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Washington, DC www.nap.edu http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11443&page=R1 This study was ordered by congress and commissioned by the VA. There is a lot of good evidence to counter what sometimes are flakey reasons for denials on claims from the VA. Such as the comment that there is no evidence from your medical service records of tests showing complaints of a hearing loss or tinnitus during or immediatly after seperation. The study clearly showed that there mostly were no entry or seperation Auditory exams to show this could have happened. In the Army, for instance that from WWII to 1970 only 4% military personel were given auditory exams upon entry or seperation from Service. This stat should be able to support the idea that the VA should not or cannot use the comments that they use to deny a nexus. The fact is that the miltitary never gave adequate exams. They relied on the whisper tests in those days and most of the time never gave those correctly. If you were given one of those then how can the VA deny based on what the law criteria says now that must use an Audio Test to show the disability levels for award of disability. I know most Vets I talk with and also my own experience, (Vietnam) were given one choise of that if you wanted to wait around for the test they would let you but most of us were getting dero's out of Vietnam and certaily did not want to wait around for anything. We just wanted to get out of town and home as quickly as possible so the test was to line up on a wall and the examiner was 20 feet away asking everyone if they can hear him ok. Of course everyone could hear him ok. Usually a response would be YEA, Were's the closest bar?? There are other disabilities that are supported by different studies that the VA has commissioned in the past that can be used for evidence. One comment in another study states that tinnitus is a symptom of hearing loss. I have seen award letters come back to say that tinnitus is denied but they get an award for Hearing Loss. Kind of an oxy-moron if you as me. I'd like to get some opinions from others that file claims and assist others in filing claims such as VSO's etc. I help Vets in my little town file claims all the time and have used some of these studies but have never really found out if they could be considered an IMO per-sey or if it is just good layman evidence. Thanks, Mil T

Hello. I need some advise for a claim for Korean Vet. I have been assisting a Korean Vet that was shot in the wrist during Korean War. His records were burned in the 73 fire. We have turned in picture of him in Hospital with arm in sling. Letters from sisters that confirmed his injury when he came home. He has turned in stressor letters explaining as much as he remembers of injury. My question is how else to submit information to help confirm injury and service. He does not have normal DD214. He received a certificate of service because of missing files. My thinking is that he should get the benefit of doubt since the VA can't produce anything more than we can. He was Infantry in the 2nd Infantry division. He remembers getting a CIB and Purple Heart but does not have any orders or records of any kind. He has a hard time remembering units, company's etc. We were able to bring up that he was there in 1952 Feb. March and April with the help of his sisters and his memory. If anyone has any suggestions for moving forward please let me know. I have seen the form NA-13055 request for information needed to reconstruct medical data that I figured I'd send in for him. Thanks for your help. Mil T

see highlited red text

Yes on the PTSD claim. He doesn't have the results on the C&P on the GSW. We can request them from the hospital but we are 2 hours away from Prescott where the C&P was done. This brings up another question. I'd like to know how to request Mental Health C&P exams since they are not in the records department of the hospital. Some of the guys requesting them are being told they can't have them. I tell them that they are their records and that they are entitled but it is hard to locate them sometimes. Would they be held in Mental Health area instead of the records department of the hospital?

Hello. I have been helping a Korean war veteran with a claim for gunshot wound while in 2nd infantry division. He was wounded in March of 1952. He filed a claim with little help from VA in 1989 and was denied. He never received any correspondence from the VA. The first time he learned anything was from the correspondence of a claim we just submitted. We submitted a claim recently with new evidence. He just received his initial " WE ARE WORKING ON YOUR CLAIM AND WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU" letter. The claim was filed Sept. 28, 2010. He received this response Sept 23, 2011. I couldn't believe he was just now getting this response. We had resubmitted same claim Sept 6, 2011. we had checked with VARO a couple months ago and they said they did not have a claim for him. I think our Sept 6 resubmit claim caused someone to open his file to see there was actually a claim there. Anyway, in this new letter from VA, it stated that He had been previously denied on August 3rd, 1989 and because there was no response in the appeal year after the notificaiton that the case was closed. In that statement they also referenced reason for denial. They made a reference that made me very confused. It said that "your claim was denied because available Surgeon General Office records are negative as to your sustaining a gunshot wound to the left wrist." He is one of the Veterans that his files were destroyed in the 1973 St. Louis fire at the archives building so there are no records for them to check. Has anyone ever heard that the surgeon general's office keeps records for combat wounds of members of the armed forces? He said that he never had a c&p exam for the original 89 claim that he can remember. He has had c&p for this new claim. He does have a certificate of service that a lot of the vets received that their records were destroyed. We submitted stress letters, letters from his sisters that collaborated his wounds, a picture of him in uniform prior to Korean War assignment, Picture of him in army hospital with left arm bandaged and statement that he had received the CIB and purple heart and Korean Service Medal, but there are no records to show the awards because of the files being destroyed. He never kept any records when he got out of service. I have a couple of questions. 1. For those that records were destroyed in the fire, doesn' the VA have to give benefit of doubt to the Veteran with the type of evidence we submitted? and if the C&P exam the doctor shows that it was a gunshot wound and the VA has no way to dispute it with records? 2. If he receives an award for claim for his wound, can we ask for retro all the way back to 1989? Thanks, Mil T

disregard, I found what it means. the 1 year anniversary of the claim.

Hi, I need some clarification on my claim. I have been waiting for an appeal of my claim for IU since Aug 4, 2010. I went on E-benefits and asked the appeal management if it could be sent back for a re-review since I have a letter from VRE saying that I can't work due to my SC disability. I saw that it had been removed from appeals on 5/02/2011 and sent to the RO. They recognized the letter from VRE on the ebenefits C&P claim site. Then there is a notation below for WHAT HAVE WE DONE with an open date of 6/6/2011 but there is another column that says SUSPENSE DATE and under it is the date 7/05/2011. Can someone explain what that suspense date is? Thanks, Mil T

I worked for a public agency and we did not pay into SS. We had a separate retirement plan. I only have 25 quarters in for SS from part time work over the years. I wonder if I can file under my wife's SS. She does have enough. She is 59 and I'm 60. Mil T

Hello, I don't want to hijack this thread but my situation and timing is just about identical to this one. I am currently 80% total SC. 70%PTSD the other 10% is for hearing and tinitus. I applied for IU and was denied in July 2010. I applied for VR and was evaluated. I received a letter from the counselor that stated; "After carefully reviewing the evidence, I have determined that it is not reasonable to expect you to be able to train for or get a suitable job at this time. We can provide Vocational Rehab and Employement services only if we are able to determine you can both: 1. Succeed in a program of training or education and 2. Get a Job in an occupation that matches your skills, talents, and interests." He writes under, What evidence did we use to make decision? "In reaching my decision, I considered the following evidence: The combined effects of long-term unemployment, (I have not worked since 2005) living in a rural area with limited employment opportunities, and the interpersonal difficulty you experience as a result of your PTSD make any level of employment very unlikely at this time. Regretfully, even with the consideration of a self employment goal, it does not appear that you would have the mental stamina or the interpersonal flexibility required to formulate a business plan, deal effectively with customers, manage conflict and maintain accurate business records. These skills are required in abundance for business success either at the gainful employment level or for marginal, supplemental income." The bold letters in the statements are also in the letter that he wrote. I submitted this as a review by a DRO rather than a full appeal on Aug 4, 2010. I got a letter yesterday telling me they are still working on my claim. Anyway, I am just wondering after reading the thread here if any of you felt that the way the letter is written where it recognizes my SCD what my chances are of receiving the IU? Thanks Mil T. We Were Young We Were Soldiers We Are Brothers Forever