john999

As long as the VA denies half of the claims made by vets that will just expand the number of appeals. I do think the VA will eventually just lower the standards for OIF/OEF and Vietnam Era claims and grant 90% of them down and dirty. This is the only way to get the backlog under controld short of hiring 100,000 new claims examiners and that is not going to happen. We discussed the concept of the VA granting all claims a long time ago. How do you propose to get rid of 2 million claims and appeals? My CUE claim has been on appeal for 7 years with no end in sight. I started my claim in my 50's and now I am in my 60's. Do I have to wait until I am in my 70''s? Yes.....at this rate I will. Remember most living Vietnam vets will probably die from AO presumptives. That means DIC claims in the 100 of thosands.

I think the easiest thing for the VA to do to get out of this jam is to grant more claims fully, so there will be no appeal.

I got 10% in 1971 and my compensation was $28 dollars a month. The difference between 10% then and 10% now is all due to the COLA. A decrease in the COLA over 20 years will really put you behind the 8 ball if you get your money from SSA/SSD, VA, Federal Civil Service retirement/military retirement. I get $675 a month from a private disability insurance program. When I started to collect 12 years ago $675 seemed a nice sum. Now since there is no COLA it is fast shrinking in buying power. I got the policy in 1985 when $675 plus my postal disability seemed like a nice retirement. 16 years later when I started to collect it seemed tiny. John

There is still talk about cutting the COLA which will hurt us long term. It seems the administration is giving with one hand and taking back with another.

Did the CAVC admit you had a CUE, and then deny it rather than dismiss it?

If you are not working you have a shot at TDIU with the 70% rating. John

3.156 would not help in a claim where evidence in question is lost private records or VA records that were in the record but not considered at the time of original rating. 3.156 is just talking about service records for EED that should have been part of the record, but were not available at the time???

How does this doctor know your pain problems are not part of "pain disorder" due to SC conditions? As some of the physical problems I have from AO got worse I felt depressed and it was due to pain and disability that was already SC. The shrinks should at least give you an MMPI or something to see your overall mental status. I don't know how they look at you one time and determine your pain causing depression. John

Bronco Post that regulation if you can and break it down for me, so I can see exactly what you mean. I know that if you discover SMR's that were not part of the record but should have been that you can achieve an EED. I am trying to get about 30 years of retro via the CUE and I think I have a good case. Getting around "undebatable that evidence would have changed the outcome of a decision" is a big problem the way the VA interprets that term. You can have a mountain of evidence on your side and one shred of evidence on VA's side and then in their minds the evidence/decision is debatable. Reasonable minds would reject this if the VA was reasonable. John

"At least as likely as not" or " more likely than not" are terms you want." Less likely than not" means there is a less than 50% chance the disability or condition is service connected.

If you have new and material evidence it must be evidence that should have been before the adjudicator, but wasn't, or was before the adjudicator, but excluded from examination or review. Just because you have new evidence does not get you an EED. In my CUE I ask for an EED of rating of 100% because evidence that was in the record was not reviewed or examined by the adjudicator. This is not new evidence. It is evidence that was wrongly excluded. However, the VA still argues that this is not undebatable that exluded evidence would have turned the tide. This is a fallback position on all claims for EED unless you find lost SMR's, and even then the VA can still argue that your evidence in terms of ratings and EED is not undebatable.

Everyone loves veterans until it is time to pay, and then we become freeloaders in the eyes of the same people who sent us into harm's way. If you begin to see articles about supposedly 100% disabled vets running businesses and working full time for big money you will know the attack is "ON". It will come from the budget hawks as usual. "We can't afford to support a bunch of lazy vets in these hard times etc." They can always find individual vets who are scamming the system while ignoring the thousands who are being scammed by their own government.

I like the way the reporter gets in a final dig at Vietnam vets. RVN vets are to blame for climate change, death of polar bears, and problems with N. Korea. There are less than a million of us left to cause so much trouble.

The 900,000 does not take into account the numbers on appeal which is another million I think. The appeals system is beyond a disgrace. Many of us wait ten years while claims are bounced from one adjudicator to another. My CUE is seven years old at least.

To do a CUE your decision must be a final one. Did you appeal the 10% rating of your lumbar?

Once upon a time Pete53 got hold of the current VA Sec.'s email address. I sent him an email about my stalled claim and I got action. The email was changed or disappeared soon after it got out here at Hadit. That is the only time I got help from anyone who was supposed to be able to help.

If you are denied TDIU I would add new claims for increase for the worsening upper PN. I would keep the TDIU appeal separate from new claims PN I think. What is your TDIU claim for?

If you want to know what kind of shape your blood vessals are in get a doctor to do a CT scan of your legs. It will show if there are blockages and calcification in and of the vessals. The first signs of heart disease often show up in your legs. If you have calcification in leg vessals you probably have it in your heart and brain as well. Some calcification is normal as we age. Nobody gets out of this life alive.

Did you ever have your nose broken in service or take a injury to the head? I had trouble sleeping for many years but no apnea DX since, like you, I did not even know what it was. Perhaps if you have complaints of sleep problems in very early VA records it might help. I am going to look at my VA hospitalization in 1972 and see if it mentions sleep problems. For whom it concerns: There is an organization American Sleep Association that will make a dental device for you very cheaply. I am getting one made with no co-pay. They take most insurance and medicare.

What happened to all the AO after they stopped using it in RVN? I can imagine the military burying it all over the place in drums, and those drums leaking into the ground water. About the only people in the world concerned about AO these days is the Vietnamese and RVN vets/exposed vets. Consider that lung cancer, DMII and IHD are now presumptive for AO almost all of us living Nam vets will die from AO especially since prostate cancer is so common to older males. It would be a contributing factor in almost any death after age 70. We should all claim SC death since we all probably have some stage of prostate cancer. John

If you have 90% now a 50% rating for sleep apnea would put you at 100%. Also, If you had gotten TDIU when you were first eligible you could probably get SMC "S" with you other combined ratings that are discussed in your SSOC. Are you shooting for 100% schedular? I am at 90% as well. I know I need at least 50% to get to 100% from 90% using VA math since I am considered 10% able bodied. What a bizzare concept. What part of me is 10% able as opposed the 90% that is disabled? Anyone who meets schedular for 70% should probably be 100%. John

When you are told your case is complex it usually means it is going to require some work and expert knowledge. Your senator's helper won't understand the fine points of VA law. This is what your lawyer is supposed to do for you. I am at the CAVC as well. John

My DAV VSO told me not to appeal my denial of TDIU when I was rated 70%. I was already on SSDI. At that point I fired him since I knew he was just trying to protect his "win" for the DAV internal record books. I would still use a VSO for a DRO hearing for something that is not a really big deal or complicated claim. The VSO is a witness and a paper drop. That is about all. I find it upsetting that VSO's, in general, will encourage you to drop appeals when you get a win at the DRO or some other hearing. If a claim seems complicated to me then I know it will probably fail with a run-of-the-mill VSO. I would go looking for a lawyer if it is worthwhile in terms of cash or some other benefit. John

From what I have read it is almost impossible to correct a credit report because the credit reporters don't read the appeals, or don't act on them. John

Blacks back in the 1960's did not get their rights by depending on Uncle Tom organizations like the DAV, VFW and AL. They marched and protested in the belly of the beast. They took the fight to where the injustice was strongest. This is what we must do I think. It is easy to forget the vet after the war is over. In less than two years we will be out of Afghanistan and in less time than that veterans will be out of the national mind. It is only in time of war that Americans think about vets and active duty. After these wars are over politicians will be thinking about how to cut back on benefits. They cut the G.I. Bill after Vietnam and that was the only good thing that came out of that war. John