Ricky

" there are no complaints of, treatment for, or diagnosis, showing this condition existed during service" These are the golden nuggets required for service connection. the absense of the continuity of symptoms or a diagnosis will ge you denied every time regardless of what you put in your exit physical. You are going to have to scour your SMR's and find any complaints, treatments or diagnoses. Keep in mind that hurting your shoulder with three or four complaints of pain won't get it.

If it is not remanded most likely 4-6 months after the hearing. Then there is the possibility the BVA will return it to the RO for the assignment of the appropriate disability percentage.

It is possible based upon your ROM and the medical evidence you have to support your contentions. Simply request the increase and provide copies of your medical. Be sure to include the info on your surgery and the reason for the brace.

Rich, I would not force my hand on this one. Date of entitlement is one of the basic rules of VA compensation and if you go throwing it up to the DRO you may piss them off. There are ways to word your cover letter such as: Please find attached my SSDI award dated XXXX which reveals that I was declared totally disabled due to PTSD and DDD effective 1 November 05. I thank each and every one of you who dedicate you lives to assisting disabled veterans.

It is my impression that your appeal is still at the RO level is this correct? If it is in the DRO's area due to the fact that you have formalized your appeal via a Form 9 then it could be there for quite a long time. Current BVA actions are taking 18-24 months and the Appeals Team at the RO will hold on to your file until the BVA calls for it. At any rate since you recently were approved for SSDI I would send that paperwork to the RO in support of your claim. Even if the Appeals Team is simply holding the file for the BVA and has not certified the file to the BVA yet, and you submit new and material evidence the DRO will review the evidence and either make the award or issue a SSOC and continue to hold the file for the BVA. At least this is the proper process, as you know with the VA it may take quite a bit of prompting them to get them to follow through the way they should. The problem is that you are going to get many varied opinions here on hadit. That is what makes the board so great. However, only you know for sure what can withstand in your personal life and must be the one to process all of the information and make the final decision on the claim. Regardless of the decision you make hadit is here to support you and we wish you the best of luck on your claim.

Military orders direct that something be done. Sp Instr = special instructions. Duty with TMP = what ever TMP meant in your area.......transportation motor pool.......etc....

he could have a new C&P and decision within six months - hmmmm.... guess we should not hear any more complaining from vets who have requested reopened claims for increases. Keep in mind that only during his initial claim will he fall under the super duper speedy processing. All follow on claims are thrown into the lake with ours so be careful with your wording. It could cause a vet to lose his "not always about the large retro" payment only to find out his or her request for increase is still pending 14 months later and guess what still no C&P either. So my question to livingrock what do you mean by 3rd and final appeal? As Shane has provided the DRO process can be quite lenghty. However, at your current point it would be less lenghty than a lenghty new claim followed by a lenghty DRO review. jmho You need to find another SO in your area that can take a look at your claim so they can review all of your medical evidence.

The lawyer is a toss up - jmho Reviewing your Cfile will not slow the process. Please keep in mind that when they tell you your appeal/file is with the DRO it is actually in a file room waiting its turn. Once the DRO pulls the file to make a decision it normally will only be with him/her for a very, very short time. Most have to review and rate 5-8 claims a day so your claim will be with him/her for maybe 1-2 hours.

"bva stated to th ro to look at the m/d an c&p me for the m/d state as likley or not and do it quickly i did have a stressor letter an it was confirmed" This does not make any sense as they will only award one mental issue.

Never heard of such and I feel that asking for such info is inappropriate. Hope I did not turn this into politics and get your post closed!

Why on earth would you recommend that anyone that has been in the claims process as long as this veteran has drop their appeal????? He already has a portion of it fixed in that he now has the appropriate disability rating code. Very, very bad advise. A more productive recommendation would be to obtain a new IMO or update older ones or obtain any other medical evidence available to support his claim and submit it to the VA. jmho

No politics please!

Keep in mind that the only thing that will prompt a SOC is if the veteran files a NOD and the informal appeals process ends in a continued denial or if the veteran never files a NOD and the one year period to file the nod expires. The primary reason for the SOC is to assist you in preparing your FORMAL appeal (VA Form9) and to get to that point you MUST have submitted a NOD in which the denial was continued. The second reason is to notify you that your appeal period has expired. If you do file for a reconsideration you must have new and material evidence. In the majority of cases the reconsideration goes back to the same rater who made the original decision. He/she will determine if the evidence is new and material. Once you have filed the reconsideration, as stated below you must keep track of the one year period. If not you will surely recieve the desired SOC but at that point it is to late as your appeal rights terminated at the expiration of the one year period. If you have a service officer, they can assist greatly in tracking and determining if the reconsideration is being worked. However, if they tell you 11 months after filing the reconsideration that the VA is working on it you MUST still file your NOD immediately to protect your effective date and appeal rights. If you miss this time line the VA will take its ball and go home quickly as they do not play games with time limits. Sorry to rant over and over but time lines in the claims process are set in stone.

The GI Bill, VRE, etc..... are all educational programs owned by the VA. It is either one or the other cause you can not be paid for two seperate educational programs. Now if the GI Bill's were owned by the services and were seperate from the VA you would be in better shape. However, the services are simply brokers for the VA educational programs and are simply trying to assist service members in planning for civilian life after their service. All of the programs have the same intent of helping you obtain employment/career status after your service life.

Wow, I never heard of a 12 month wait period for a copy of a 214. Most of the time it is supplied within 60 days.

I think maybe your friend is confused. First it has never happened that the VA required you to purchase a home more than xxxx amount of dollars. Now the lender may have told him/her that he could only purchase a home that is less than 144,000.00 which would mean that his current VA guarantee is around 28,800.00. Considering that today's limits are around 60,000.00 to 66,000.00 that is quite a bit and probably means that he owes the govt approx 37,000.00 (just an example as there is no way to tell how much of his original prior to 2004 entitlement he/she used). At any rate he/she can use any unused portion of their VA guarantee, if any remains. However they must repay any loss suffered by the govt due to a VA home loan guarantee. That's just the way the ball bounces. I think the claims that the VA Home Loan officer is responsible for the foreclosure is way out in left field. First, I never heard of the govt, especially the VA doing anything that would result in them paying out money. Second, if a vet really tries to work with the home loan guys at the VA it is kind of hard to lose your home. Well not hard to lose it but they will assist you quite a bit in working with your lender to keep the home. They always have and continue to do so.

Still here - you need to file your request prior to getting a decision. If you get a decision after you request a hearing keep letting them know that it is part of your due process rights and you want your hearing. Now with that said keep in mind that a veteran can ask for a hearing at anytime during the claims process. So if you do get a decision on the NOD prior to being able to request your hearing, as long as the RO has your file you can request and be granted a hearing with them prior to the file going to the BVA. In VA time this should provide you with a very long window as they normally do get around to sending your file to the BVA for quite some time after the DRO decision. And remember your hearing will be considered "new evidence" by its self and will prompt a new decision or a SSOC. Read through Part 3 Section 3.103.

I would use, as part of my argument, the presumption of soundness. In the senerio posted it should fit nicely as you have two enlistments and seperate periods of service. The only way the VA can get around this is if they can prove that defects, infirmities, or disorders were noted upon entrance into service and were not aggravated during service or clear and unmistakable error that the injury or disease did preexist. Now with no indication of the disability on his army entrance exam, during his period of service or his exit exam - followed by another service entrance exam where there was no indication of the disability - then only during his AF service did the disability surface I would say that a CUE would be a very high hill for the VA to climb. The icing on the cake would be a noted injury just recently prior to the diagnosis. This is a winnable claim. I feel that the presumption of soundness should SC the DS if you have a current diagnosis. Then jumping out on a limb I am going to assume that by your statement of "During his enlistment, he has records of treatment for sinusitis and rhinitis" you mean a diagnosis of these two were made. If so and if you have a current diagnosis then the claim should be just fine.

A return receipt requested which is the green card you fill out at the post office

Good luck my friend.

are you claiming straight service connection or service connection due to aggravation?

Rich - at the time you filed your claim the SS office should have made a determination on SSI. SSI is a needs based payment (most consider it Federal Welfare). You should have received a decision letter on it shortly after you filed your claim. Your SSDI claim which you recently won will go back to the date of onset, which according to your post was Nov 05. You will not get anything from Nov 05 - May 06 (6 month waiting period). Your children will receive back pay also. It may take a few weeks for all of it to come together but it will happen.

First I have to ask what was VA's response to your letters asking why the claim for hypertension was not acted upon? Are you sure it was not denied and due to a move or something you just did not receive the decision? You said that you developed hypertension during your service. Did you receive a diagnosis of hypertension from the AF? In the 2003 denial - how many high readings that meet the level required for an award of service connection did you have during your service? One or two will not cut it. When did you recieve you first diagnosis of hypertension? Just a bit more info on your case will allow for much more input from board members. Thanks

In short the answer is no. No Cue would exist in this case. The only argument you would have is inadequate exam which should have been approached shortly after the exam. Keep in mind a guide is a guide and not law. Cue only exist when there is a failure to comply with law (as cue is a legal issue). Although there is no CUE successful arguments of inadequate exams have been resulted in re-exams and the award of a claim. However, such an argument would have to had been made at the time or shortly after the exam.

There is medical evidence in my records that should have increased my compensation and it has been there for 11 years. I have filed claims a couple times for increase but have been denied. There is evidence in my C-File that show that the information has been there. Just to look at it from a legal view: How do you know it was not it was not reviewed? Remember, the use of and weight assigned to medical evidence is a judgement call of the rater. Judgement calls are not subject to CUE. Bell opened the doors for veterans in that it forced the VA's hand to ensure that all medical evidence was gathered and reviewed. In simple terms if a vet was filing a claim for actual loss of a limb and he/she was denied and then it was learned that the VA was in possession of his/her medical records from Walter Reed indicating that they had lost the limb in combat, however the RO failed to request the records - the mere fact that the records were in the VA system calls for Bell to come into play. A loss of a limb situation is an easy fix under Bell, however, a claim for x medical condition, where the supposed medical evidence is in the CFile and a claim by the veteran that it was not used gets a little fuzzy as the VA can simply claim the "judgement call" card. At this point it will be an UPHILL battle trying to prove other wise. That is unless it is a situation where the issue at hand is very clear ie..... vet claims his disability has increased due to the fact his knee has had to be completely fused - the va then says no it has not - then the vet says yes it is take a look at the medical records in x VAMC cause they are the ones who did the surgery, could not fix it so they fused it. Sorry to ramble but just wanted to let you know that if your disability and its increase are not clear cut and if the medical evidence you are attempting to pull in under Bell is not clear cut then you are going to have a long haul with such a CUE claim.