john999

I got my SSD records and submitted them myself and I live in Tampa. The St Pete office held up one of my awards because they said they did not have my DD214. It was on the first page of my C-file. They are lazy.

When were you awarded TDIU? If you claims are not final you can't file a CUE. If you can get "S" without filing a CUE all the better. I got "S" via a CUE. Mine was obvious since I had gotten TDIU then 6 years later I got a 60% rating which made me Total plus 60%. My TDIU claim was final. If you can't work due to PTSD then I don't think they are going to be able to take it away from you unless you are working. Do you have SSD? Bradley vs Peake is the key to your S award. That needs to be in the NOD. From looking at your ratings you should have gotten "S" as soon as you got the ratings other than PTSD. You have total plus 60%. The VA did make an error, but maybe you should have asked them to call CUE on themselves.

Deanbrt That is good reasoning on why to get a veteran's lawyer. That is just how I looked at it when I got mine. He would not invest a couple of trips across the country and writing up briefs if he did not think I could win. He wrote up a 28 page brief for me. When has a DAV rep done that for you.

My last C&P for a MH condition ended with the exam doctor saying "I cannot comment on the veteran's claim for TDIU because he is unemployed now". That is when I went out and got me some good IMO's.

I think you will get either TDIU or 100% based on that C&P exam. That is a very favorable exam in my opinion. It is better than anyone I ever got.

No, I lost and went to the VA Court of Appeals. Both the lawyer and me thought we had a very good claim. BVA choked on the amount of potential retro. You really can't speed these things up because even a clerical error can send your claim back via a remand. You have to have the best representation and evidence possible and then you have to wait. I suppose if you believe your BVA claim is a slam/dunk then just get the review. I have never had a claim that was a slam/dunk even the ones that should have been. I like to look these bastards in the eye when I present evidence. My lawyer feels the same way.

I can't answer about how long VA will take to pay you since you have not been SC'ed as TDIU or 100% yet. Has you father tried to get a lawyer to help with the mortage reduction of payments? There is a law firm named KEL that does that stuff right here in Florida. They are on TV constantly.

Have you applied for SSDI? A GAF of 43 does not compute with a 50% rating if you are not working. If you need a representative on this I would hire a lawyer. Your VSO probably blew the case and is trying to cover up.

I had a traveling board. It did not make any difference to my claim. I have always believed that seeing people face-to-face is the best bet. My traveling board did not take any longer than a regular BVA review. If I had a lot riding on my claim I would get a lawyer and do the traveling board.

The VA has given you all the clues you need for a higher rating.

It would depend on residual disability.

Ranger Your SSDI benefits depends on your earnings. If you had pretty decent earnings over your working life you should get more than $1000. I worked at the post office for 20 years. I got around $1650 before medicare Part B. My wife had lower earnings so when she hits 62 she will only get around $600 a month. If I only had my SSD and my postal retirement I would be eating more peanut butter and day old bread. With VA and SSDI I do alright.

BVA is OK it just takes time. If you can get a DRO Hearing sometimes it is faster because you are solving the problem at a lower level. As Pete has said you can ask for a personal hearing at any time in the process. Send the request by certified mail to the VARO asking for a hearing. See what happens. Even the VA will attempt to solve a claim at the VARO rather than sending it to the BVA. They can snatch it back and reconsider it via a DRO Hearing. I know because I have done it.

Midnight You want to describe how the stressor affected you at the time and how it continues to affect you in the present. I know it is hard to talk about or think about, but this is what the VA wants in cases where there is a noncombat stressor that is not conceded by a combat badge or purple heart. They want the details to see if it rises to the level of the kind of stressor they are looking for. It is all crap since if you have PTSD then you have PTSD. You have to jump through the hoops for them.

Ask for a personal hearing. You can do that any time with a VA claim. The same thing almost happened to me. I caught the VA just in time to stop them from sending my claim to the BVA. I think you could get it back. Did you put the fact you wanted a hearing with the DRO in writing?

"S" is the SMC rating you get if you are housebound.

There is another thing about having a doctor state he has reviewed the vet's SMR's. You better actually have a copy of your SMR's in your possession. The VA can get picky and claim that unless you can prove you have a copy of C-File, SMR's etc that you don't actually have them.

Cooter If you are not eligible for SSDI then you won't be eligible for medicare until you are 65. You make too much to get SSI. You must be getting CSRS. I got FERS. I got SSDI, medicare and that crummy FERS disability pension. You know my FERS is offset by 60% of SSDI, so you did not miss much. I kept my insurance from federal service. Did you keep yours? You should check to see how much of your SSA is going to be offset since you get CSRS. John

The VA is much better at keeping records than the military. I think the military often destroyed records or went out of their way to "clean" them or censor them. I know they did it in my case. My basic training medical records disappeared. My dental records were censored. My psychiatric records were lost in part. The VA kept my records even if they did not share that knowledge with me.

It depends on your evidence and the nexus to your service. One year is not a long time to wait for service connection. I waited almost two years back in 1973 and I had tons of evidence. Consider that even after you get service connected you may have to appeal to get the right percentage. I got SC'ed in 1973 and have been appealing ever since.

SSD is social security disability. If your GAF was 40 for a mental health claim you should get 100% if you can service connect it. Like Pete says you need to post more information. I would file for SSD yesterday.

I was treated by a psychiatrist for 6 months at Hunter Army/Airforce Airfield next to Ft Stewart in 1971. I have never been able to get these records even though in my discharge the psychiatrist mentions that I was receiving treatment. I think the bastards destroyed the records. The army and the office in St Louis deny the existence of these records. Not that it matters now, but I resent that these people put the screws to me and covered up their tracks.

Don't be afraid to hire a lawyer for your brother's reduction. They get paid from retro. You don't pay upfront. Do as John as suggested. The worst thing your brother can do is to do nothing. You need to hire a lawyer who does VA and/or SSD disability work for a living.

The military and VA really made a mess of your records. You would have to prove via medical evidence that the tumors were caused by AO. The number of denials you got for issues that were clearly service connected is really shocking. It sort of reminds me of the vet who was denied for wounds that included embedded shrapnel because the VA decided he could not prove it came from Vietnam duty. It is again shocking that the military and VA would have allowed so much time to go by before they investigated and removed your tumors. If they were cancer you would have been dead years ago. You don't want to talk about CUE, EED or new and material evidence so I will let that pass. I sure hope you don't depend on the VA for all your treatments. We Vietnam vets all need to be hyperaware of possible cancers. All of them probably are related to AO exposure, but not all are presumptive.

One thing that the VA will evaluate is the question of your fear and helplessness in the face of this crash you describe as your primary stressor. They are going to want to know if you had good reason to believe you were in immediate danger of death or serious injury. They might also want to know if saw human remains. For instance, how close were you to the crash? Did you fear death as you saw it crash? Did you feel the heat? Did you hear screams etc. In your career as crash photographer did you see dead bodies and mangled remains? This would probably be enough for a good stressor in itself. When you send in your stressor letter you want to describe in detail every horrible thing you saw, heard or smelled or felt.