USMC5811

Congrats! Thanks for your service and for sharing your timeline...

Not sure but I think you might be typing about the DBQ's (Disability Benefit Questionairres) - wish are very similar (only missing the is/is not as likely caused by military service etc) to the C&P exams. DBQ's may be found here: http://benefits.va.gov/disabilityexams/

Congrats Sparkle - thanks for your service! Happy for you that you got what you earned and deserved serving our country. Agree with John......should be a nice chunk of tax free funds- about 49,000.00 BUT I think you will need to subtract from that amount the 40% amount you have been receiving for 17+ months. Spend wisely and enjoy!

Thanks again everyone for the congrats! Rather then start a new thread.....I thought I would add the retro timeline to maybe give others some hope that are waiting. My retro was deposited a day after receiving the brown envelope - I am not a retiree. My husband retired after 20+ years. He received partial retro (16,000+) a day after receiving his brown envelope. Mid Feb DFAS paid their retro (he was at 30% upgraded to 100% P/T). Today the bank shows that his remaining retro from VA will hit the bank on the 28th Feb. He received his brown envelope on the 26th of Jan 2013 - claim originally filed in June 2011. He received partial monthly payments from VA in Feb. March will be the first full monthly (100%) payment from VA and the first full retirement pay according to the bank. I know this is fast in comparison to what I've read from other vets who have posted in regards to CRDP/CRCS - our RO is Winston-Salem NC. Last week we visited the Tax Office in our county and handed them the paperwork for the property tax deduction - NC does not tax the first 45,000.00 of property value for 100% P/T Vets.... I don't rate CHAMPVA nor does he because we have TriCare Prime. As long as we qualify for TriCare - we cannot get CHAMPVA. Thanks again for all the help that was given along the way!

Going back from prep decision to review is not abnormal and does not necessarily mean that your gonna wait a few months again for it to go forward.....hopefully yours will be like mine and several other vets on here that went back for a few days...then went to notification via a brown envelope. Hang in there.....

Mine did not hit until the day AFTER I received the letter in the mail......Congrats and thanks for your service!

Congrats! Never give up!

Congrats! Very smart move in reference to using some of the funds for IMO's. Thank you for your service!

Hey Mark...both my husband's and mine went into prep for decision, then back to gathering dust and neither have been marked completed yet, although we both received our brown envelopes and are currently receiving comp. I believe the reason why they have not been completed is because they deferred some items on both. I happened to check the Document Download page and saw my AB8 - this was when the claim went back to gathering evidence. Thought it was a fluke/error, but a few days later the brown envelope appeared. In regards to retro - my husband has not received all his retro (he's retired 20+ years) but they did give him over 15k less then a week after receiving his brown envelope, they sent a letter stating that a review by DFAS would be needed before he received the remainder. A couple of days ago he received another 6k from DFAS for what we believe is the monies they withheld from his retirement check (previously he was at 30% - changed to 100% ) because of comp by VA. No idea how long it will take for the remainder of the retro to show up but he is receiving his full retirement pay and also partial funds from VA. Guess it depends on the VARO again as to how fast things will move along.

Congrats to both of you! Thanks for helping this vet get what he earned and deserved!

Congrats again! Don't worry about the date on the AB8, it changes each month to show the last VA payment date ie., it will change to 01 March 2013...once we are in March. The date that counts is the effective date which will be located in the paperwork you receive in the big brown/white envelope you'll receive. Thanks for your service!

Congrats!

My two cents and an attempt to bump this thread so that the more experienced and knowledgeable members might share their input: My first question to you would be - Do you believe that the C&P examiners remarks/evaluations are correct in regards to describing your occupational and social impairment and your symptoms? Were you open and honest concerning the difficulties you have been having both at work/home? OR did you mitigate your problems because of your prior experience (being involuntarily committed)?

Welcome to hadit.com Lawrence1! If you want to discuss your C&P results...to obtain help from knowledgeable members...ask away. There are more then a few very knowledgeable elders and fellow vets that are here and willing to help or discuss things with you. If you could either scan or type as much info as possible from the C&P written report, it would assist them in answering any questions you may have. Just remember to leave out your identifying information (name, service number etc).

My two cents: Will the VA C&P Doctor connect your secondary contention (depression) to your SC issue(s) - they may and they may not. In a perfect world they would, but all one needs to do is read a few posts by our fellow vets to find that dealing with the VA is far from a perfect world. I learned from reading other vets experiences in dealing with the VA, specifically C&P exams, to leave nothing to chance (hoping VA Doc provides a Nexus or a fair medical opinion/exam). The appeal process is a very long one, sometimes the appeal process can be averted with an IMO/IME prior to that first rating/upgrade. Thanks to the vets who went before me, I was ready with IMO's/IME's . Hadit.com provides very good information on what is required in an IMO and this information should be given to the Dr. you are requesting one from - unless this person is extremely experienced in writing them for the VA. http://www.hadit.com/imo_nexus_letter_by_dr_bash.html Some wait until they receive the results of the C&P exams (which do not automatically get sent to the vet - they must be requested from vet's Regional Office by the veteran if the exam was done by an outside source (contractors of the VA such as QTC etc) or from the VA Hospital/Clinic if done by the VA) to see if an IMO is needed. The benefit of the doubt rule is very important and should never be forgotten: Evidence relating to a veteran’s claim is subject to the “benefit of the doubt” rule, codified at 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b) as follows: The Secretary shall consider all information and lay and medical evidence of record in a case before the Secretary with respect to benefits under laws administered by the Secretary. When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, the Secretary shall give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant. Hoping the best for you ron68 - thanks for your service.

Thanks for the info hawkfire27!

Hoping the best for you RichSal2451. Same thing happened to both my husband and myself.....saw the AB8, AB3 etc change...then received the official paperwork and received retro (I'm not a retiree)/partial retro (husband's retired) the day after we received the paperwork. Definitely a life changing experience. Still having a hard time believing it - even with the paperwork and retro:)

I also received the same annotation.....the next day I received a call from QTC for an appointment...VA needed some pictures of scars and I went in the next morning. Not saying this will be the case with you, just relaying my personal experience. Mine also said that when it went from Prep for Decision back to Gathering of Dust....where it remains to this day.....but I do have the brown envelope in hand and retro - they deferred some things.

Thanks everyone for the congrats and kind words. My husband received his brown envelope today. He is also rated 100% now, thanks to hadit.com.

Congrats Sollnvictus! Glad to see you got what you deserved and earned..Thanks again for your service. Semper Fi!

After doing research via the internet more then a few times in reference to "Eligibility Determination" Claim....only the VA knows. On my own account I saw this appear after VA received my paperwork claiming VFW as my representative. Others posted that they have seen this when VA was working with DFAS on concurrent receipt stuff (CRDP/CRCS) retro payments. Others have claimed that they saw this when VA found something in the vets records that triggered another claim = found a contention that the vet was eligible for, but did not claim himself/herself. Calling "Peggy" did not help my research - Peggy was clueless (not surprised).

Just don't be surprised or too disappointed if it moves back and forward a few times before you finally see a decision. Mine moved forward and back several times and when I finally did get a decision (saw it via the AB8 letter) it had gone back to gathering of evidence phase....has never gone to completion phase yet but I did receive the big brown envelope. guessing the reason why it is still in gathering of evidence on ebenefits is because they remanded a few contentions.

Good to hear SSGmajik. Hope when you obtain the copy of the C&P report he was thorough in filling out the paperwork and it is favorable for you. Hollis to get a copy of your C&P you can: If the C&P was performed at a VA facility by a VA doc/np etc - wait at least a few days after having the exam (to give them time to write up their report) then go to the release of information desk to sign a release form to obtain a copy directly from that facility OR sometimes (not all VA clinics will do this) you can obtain one from the VA clinic that you go to after signing a release. If the C&P was performed by a contractor (QTC etc) of the VA - you will have to wait until QTC sends it to VA which can take anywhere from 1 week to 2 months or longer. Once VA is in receipt of it (depending on RO sometimes you can check on ebenefits to see if they are in receipt of it) then you can request a copy by writing a letter to your RO. If your requesting one from your RO...I would suggest on the outside envelope on the bottom left or right hand corner to write "Privacy Act Information Request" so that the VA mail room sorts it correctly.

In regards to recording C&P exams: SSGmajik hoping the latest C&P examiner will be fair and do things right this time.....please let us know how it goes for you.

yup, I got the same thing as Berta when I tried to listen to it.....