john999

Doing the alcohol abuse program is not only good for you, but makes you look like a motivated and compliant disabled vet who is making all the right moves. They won't be able to beat you up for alcoholism any more. They know that many vets with PTSD and other mental health problems abuse alcohol to self medicate, but they use it against you anyway. They will say that "We can't evaluate this vet's mental health issues because of his alcohol problem".

What do you have to lose by filing the NOD?

That sounds like a good TV show. The Denture Repo Squad.

I think I would wait for a decision before I start guessing about your rating. It is safer and less painful to just wait until you get that letter in the mail saying your are 100% P&T before you start to worry about Chapter 35.

If your W/C case is settled and done then I would forget mentioning it to the VA. You are SC for your back and if you give the VA records regarding a job related injury to your back the VA may dispute any claim for an increase for your back. Does the VA know anything about your W/C injury? I would keep these issues completely separate. When you have a job related aggravation of an existing SC injury it gets a bit messy. Did you work for a private company or the government? I worked for the postal service and aggravated a SC injury. I had to sort it out between the VA and W/C and it did cause me some trouble because I used the worker's compensation doctor's report to help me get TDIU. This was a mistake.

They test for alcohol in your urine as well as for illegal drugs. The VA believes that all vets are drug addicts and alcoholics.

NJ I think your claim is moving at light speed for the VA. You filed in May and had a C&P in June. That is fast. Did the C&P exam say you were unable to work solely due to your SC disability? If so then you are probably home free.

VA might say denial of a hearing falls under "duty to assist" and is not a CUE.

If you are not able to work then you should file for TDIU. Your SSD claim has nothing to do with the VA. If you want to file a claim just call SSA and tell them you want to file for SSD. They will send you the paperwork and schedule you for an appointment. You probably can get a lawyer for the SSD by just opening the phonebook. You don't need a VSO to do a claim with the VA. You just need evidence.

If you claimed your back then the VA should do a C&P on it. A month between exams is nothing. A month is not considered a significant time period by the VA. On you VCAA letter it did mention that you claimed you back for SC, correct?

When you get a big retro check sit on the money for a while. That is a once in a life time bonus. Think about what you need and not what you want. That money will let you sleep at night for a long time if it is sitting some place safe.

Ask your PCP to prescribe it. Maybe they will and maybe they won't.

For instance, you are retired on disability from your job ten years ago and you discuss this with a VA doctor or social worker. You file for TDIU in 2011. There is a possibility that your TDIU should have been inferred when the VA first learned you were disabled due to SC conditions when you were retired from you job ten years ago.

What kills me is the vet has to depend on the VA processing the employment questionaire in a timely way. These screw-ups could lose their butts if they were not sitting on them. I send the darn thing in early before I get any prompt from the VA. I am TDIU ten years.

You did not need to add a PTSD claim. You were already at 80% for your SC conditions. Maybe you should have just claimed TDIU?

Vets who got TBI before 9/11 are not good enough for a PH. Is that what the army is saying?

I have a feeling that sooner or later every OIF/OEF vet will file a claim. I mean there has been a war going on for ten years. This has got to produce a mountain of claims.

I think the VA knows that most vets will give up after a few years. Others will settle for a low ball rating. A few will persist until they get the maximum. Stonewalling is a great strategy for an institution that exists to give the impression they are taking care of vets.

If you have a complicated claim and you are trying for big retro get a lawyer. You need a strategy to win and VSO's don't usually provide that. They just send in what you give them and try to get something. I had my DAV rep discourage me from filing for TDIU after I got 70%. He was scared I might lose and his stats would suffer. I stopped using them and I do my own stuff or use a lawyer.

Do you have a successful PTSD claim? If yes did you use non-VA doctor to DX you under knew criteria? Any doctor can DX PTSD, but to be successful with a VA claim is the issue. Maybe you are the mystery man, but give us some concrete facts of your claim so we can judge how successful you have been. If you want to spend ten years arguing with the VA on appeals about your PTSD claim that is fine with me, but here we try and help each other win. We all have skin in the game. Your profile says "no service connected disability". What are you trying to do? This is not a debating society.

I don't think it is an awful plot against vets. What it is is the VA doing their best to CYA. People who are going to abuse drugs and OD and going to do it regardless of some agreement. The VA just wants to be able to say "It's not our fault" when some vet dies from a combination of drugs that would kill a horse. Then news media in Florida harps constantly about prescription drug abuse. The VA is scared they will be blamed. These guys want to CYA and get their pensions. Here in Florida if you go to a pain clinic now they want to test your urine and screen you for drugs before they prescribe. As long as I can get the drugs I need from the VA that's good. If they cut me off I go elsewhere.

Probably bad conduct discharge or LTH discharge. To get dishonorable you have to do something really bad and criminal. For instance, murdering civilians and getting caught at it.

Before the internet and Hadit I never heard of TDIU after being SC for 30 years. Within a year of posting on Hadit I had TDIU. The DAV,VFW or AL never even discussed this topic with me and I joined them all and paid dues. Hadit is the best site on the internet.

Roberson You are making a circular argument and discussing "original intent" of the law. Just tell me what the orginal intent of the new PTSD rules are? If you want to challange everyone one who knows something about this rule then defend your position. Don't run away. When you argue with people who have been studying this stuff for years you need to expect some opposition. The idea here is to get PTSD claims accepted. Are you SC for PTSD under knew rules?

The VBA only cares about money. Many VA employees believe it is their God given duty to deny vet's claims because they have been taught by their elders that most vets are frauds and freeloaders. Do you wonder why it takes years for SSD or VA benefits? They are hoping you die before you collect. Our mission is to evade and avoid their paperwork traps to get to the goal. I have always looked at it that way even when I was losing. If you blow your brains out before you win your claim a little bell rings at the VARO. Another one bites the dust....high five!