john999

Teac I don't believe what the VA told you about not getting retro for your HB before the Bradley decision. I would test that via the process. Since neither one of us will live forever I might run it by a Lawyer to get an opinion. Even then I would test it. It seems wrong to me from a gut level and common sense level. Does not sound like due process. It sounds like the VA trying to just save money because you represent a group of vets who are asking the same question. John

You have SSDI don't you? Do you have all your state benefits?

I was told by a VA couselor that the St. Pete VARO gets 10,000 pieces of mail a day. Can you imagine the mail room at the VARO? I live 20 miles from the VARO. I have made many trips with documents in hand after they have lost my documents. I know not everyone can do that trip, but this is one reason I stay close. If they tried real monkey business on me I would just camp out there. I would be there every day in person. If you can talk to a person sometimes things can be fixed in 2 minutes. I asked for a DRO hearing about 10 years ago on my TDIU claim. I went to the VA to look at my C-File. I found out by accident that the VA was in the process of certifying my claim to the BVA. I had not asked for a BVA appeal. I told the guy watching me look through the file that I had asked for a DRO and showed him the letter that was date stamped sitting in my file. He fixed the situation. All this by accident. I got my DRO and I got my TDIU within 5 months. My entire claims career with the VA has been an accident with me asking questions and not knowing the answers.

I don't think I have had a decent night's sleep since I was DX'ed with apnea and started to use the mask. I was DX'ed in December of 2011. I have been through five masks. I still wake up about five times a night due to thirst or some damn thing. I am getting used to falling asleep at 2:30 am and getting up at 8am feeling like a zombie. I am discouraged but I guess as I told Scooter if I want to keep living I have to do this. I was so healthy up until about 20 years ago. I hit about age 42 and my body began to just break down due to abuse heaped on it in early life I guess. Every time you get in a wreck or fall off a bike or strain something it comes back to haunt you at age 40. The apnea is probably due to getting fat due to being unable to do much without pain.

The VA is not going to change your rating unless you appeal or wait and reopen with new evidence 5 years from now. I would appeal and get new evidence while you are on appeal if you think you should get more than 10%. My latest orthopedist thought my shoulder pain was referred pain from my herniated disc in my neck. My neck does not hurt at all. I went for years with doctors just telling me they did not know what was wrong with me. Now they want to operate on my cervical spine. Somehow I don't trust them.

And the beat goes on! A lot of us are waiting for the VA to do the right thing. Teac, you did get HB from the date of Bradley did you not at least?

I remember the army kicked me out after my tour in Vietnam saying I had a PD. The VA said I was schizophrenic and depressed and gave me low ball rating effective the day after discharge. I went from being "bad" to being "crazy" in one day. The quality of care and diagnosis in the military and VA was so poor and so guided by the desire to avoid liability that I must believe what happened to me happened to many thousands. The VA never even asked if I was employed. I spent weeks in VA psychiatric ward. I wonder if they thought I was on vacation. I had no visitors ,but escaped one night. Good thing or I would still be there. John

Buzz That condition of yours is presumptive on its own if you were "boots on the ground" RVN vet. How did you find out about it?

If my SC was at stake and I thought I needed some paid help I would find a way to get the money!!!!!

Give your POA to a national VSO like DAV or VFW if you want to use them. Either that or hire a lawyer.

If you were hospitalized before you filed for TDIU sometimes you can get EED. I did. The VA went back about 6 months from actual date I filed for IU. I had based my claim on my SSDI date, but since hospital date and SSDI date were the same the VA said they were giving me EED based on hospitalization where I got GAF of 40. I was only in for a day or two but long enough to be seen. My advice for anyone who is fired for issues to do with your SC disability is to go check in to nearest VA hospital. John

If your TDIU claim has been pending since 6-1-2012 that is not even a week. I would not think in terms of weeks for a claiming that is pending. Are you able to live on the money you have right now? If so I would relax. I don't think there are tricks to make claims that are pending hit the bank. If you worry about a claim that is pending after a week you will go insane.

If you get discharged remember to get treatment for your TBI at the VA on a regular basis. Even if they just give you some pills and make notes. No one knows the long term effects of TBI. TBI could be the AO of these recent wars. Make treatment for this TBI a life time mission because it will pay off one day. John

If the VA would give my widow an extra 100 bucks a month they can bury me in a cardboard box. A elderly friend of mine put in his will that he be buried in a pine box. You still get put into metal container in Florida.

If the military looked back over last 50 years they would probably find 100,000 cases where mentally ill servicemen and women were discharged as PD's, pre-existing conditions, bad conduct etc. Why just look from 2001. Many RVN vets with roaring cases of PTSD were booted out as PD's. After Vietnam the military downsized and what better way to do it than boot sick soldiers out as PD's. You get an Article 15 for missing formation and you become sociopath and get the boot.

I found out I had a chronic presumptive disease because I was in a VA hospital within one year of discharge. No one told me anything. I think I gave my POA to the VFW and they ran with the ball. I don't remember ever doing this but the VFW must have visited the ward. It took another year to actually get a rating for the chronic presumptive disease with a ED back to the day after discharge. It was just an accident. I had zero information and just fell into this category. I really think every vet should be required to go for a complete exam during the first year after discharge. There is almost no other way under 3.309.

Papa Focus on the QTC exam! Sribble if you have to scribble, but get it done and get to that exam. I know your are pissed off and nervous but the exam is the thing. Do the best you can with the exam paperwork but get to that exam come hell or high water. John

You can still take the college courses but just not through G.I. Bill since it makes no sense for a vet who is P&T to take these courses according to the VA. Just prepare with low profile. As far as VA is concerned you are a write off now. Do you have a spouse and dependents?

The VA held up one of my claims saying they did not have a copy of my DD214. I had been a claimant since 1971. I got a raised copy of my DD214 and took it to them in St Pete by hand. I know that this is not possible for you so send them a certified copy of your DD214. I bet 20$ there is a copy sitting on the first page of your C-File at St. Pete. Mine was sitting right there when the VA said they did not have it. John

K&K knows that you made claims in the 70's but were denied because SMR's were not available? It is not like you are reopening this claim with new evidence that was just generated. The evidence was there all along but just not part of the ratings. I bet the VA is going to try and say your effective date will be 2012 and not 1970 something. They are going to pretend the claims in the 70's never happened. You know what I mean in order not to pay retro.

Capt. Yes, I say if you can't go in the front door try the window or backdoor to get SC. That is how I got HB and other stuff. Your doctor (PCP) can be your friend and if you know something about your regs and disease secondary problems such as all those to do with DMII I think you can go a long way. When the VA makes a condition presumptive they open the door for all secondary conditions and there are a ton of them for DMII. John

You have everything you need except a DX of PTSD by the VA. You have verifiable stressors (CAR). Do you know anything about symptoms of PTSD? Google it. The VA changed the rules so that only they can make a DX of PTSD that will stick. Under old rules you would have had it made if you could get any shrink private or VA to say you had PTSD. Did you get any sort of treatment for nerves while in the service or sleeping problems? To my eyes all you need is the DX of PTSD from the VA by hook or by crook. I have seen claims with much less evidence get accepted. There are people here with even more evidence who have been denied because the VA won't make a DX of PTSD. John

0341 You reopened your claim for increase with new evidence, correct? What is your new evidence that your back is worse than 10%. Do you see a doctor for your back on regular basis? To win you want to show with medical documentation that your back is getting worse from original SC injury! Are you able to work? Do you require bedrest? The VA is about 40 years behind on current treatment modality for back injuries when it comes to rating the injury. John

If other evidence was excluded that was in the record at the time then you may have a CUE. SMR's are a special case and a good case.

The VA has to make a DX of PTSD. Do you see a psychiatrist at the VA on a regular basis? Do you go to PTSD group at vet center? I think the VA is asking for documentation that they should provide. You have to be really pro-active to get to a C&P exam where the VA must DX you with PTSD. What does the doctor who gave you sleep meds say is wrong with you? Do you have any combat medals or badges? I sure would provide that evidence if I had it on my DD214. Were you in Iraq or Afghanistan? John