john999

You know that sometimes GERD can be the cause of certain cancers. Getting GERD service connected may seem like a small deal because I guess you get 10% or something like than, but if you got throat cancer it would be a real big deal. Not to wish this on you but all these things are connected in the world of health and disease. I got SC'ed for DMII and that lead to three other disabilities.

Prostate cancer and heart disease are on the AO list. We are getting fewer and the list is getting longer.

Really sorry to hear about Buck's loss. Hard decisions to make.

Bronco I became totally disabled in 2001. I got SSDI, OPM disability and worker's compensation way before I got the VA to do the right thing. I foolishly assumed the VA would help me right away since I was a disabled vet before I became totally disabled. I was wrong on that one. When I first lost my job due to disability I was scared shitless. It took about six months to sort of get things in order, but during that period I think I lost 20 pounds due to worry. It took about 18 months to get the VA to grant TDIU. I had great doctors and loads of documentation but the VA tried everything they could to low ball me or deny my application for TDIU. Eventually I had three shrinks working with me to get my TDIU. This was cruel and unnecessary since my disability was right there and all the other "harder" organizations granted me full benefits. Now VA is screwing around with my medical so I don't trust them one bit. Just using VA medical is a chore and I am sick of them.

Bronco Thirty years ago I bought my house for $70K. Recent estimate was $486K. Same house, same neighborhood, but prices for housing have exploded in my neighborhood. Most houses in my area are being torn down to build million dollar houses. A guy on my street sold his old house as a tare down and he got $500K for it and it was torn down in two days. I grew up on my father's SSA survivor benefit with my mother and two brothers and sisters. We made it on probably $400 a month through the 50's and most of the 60's. Could anyone do that now?

You may start by filing the official TDIU application. Get that filed and then supply all your documentation. You probably need to make PTSD the disability you are filing TDIU for since you need to specify which disability makes you unable to work. The main thing is to file your TDIU application/claim now.

Workers and retired people are always behind the eight ball when it comes to inflation. I believe that the cost of food, gas and most other essentials havs risen more than 6% this year. Some of those in congress have been trying for years to reduce the COLA for us. They are the believers in the "trickle down" philosophy. I got a disability insurance payment of $675 a month in the year 2001. There was no inflation adjustment to the annuity. 20 years later that $675 is chump change because the buying power of the dollar has eroded badly.

I usually take my evidence right to the local VARO and get singed copies of every thing I give them. The VA has lost every thing I have given them at least once. I tried to hand carry things with the VA. Can you imagine their mail room? These people could give a sh*t less if your claim is lost or denied.

Do you have a letter from a doctor saying you are unemployable due to PTSD? You need a shrink to do that or the VA might overrule you with a shrink of their own. I got TDIU 20 years ago. I had 70% for a mental health condition. I had two doctors who were shrinks write letters for me. The VA still denied my claim at first saying my being unemployable was due to my own misconduct. This was all bull but you got to watch them because they will twist the words of your doctors if they are able.

LHI is no worse than regular VA C&P exam IMO. I got a good exam from LHI recently. I was pretty shocked but not to look a gift horse in the mouth. The exams done by VA employees were by and large horrible and always required work to fix them out of my pocket.

Can't you have duel citizenship between US and UK?

After 20 years at a VA disability rate the VA cannot reduce you or cut you at all unless they can prove fraud. If on TDIU I don't think that means you can go back to work. If you are over the age of 65 I think VA stops looking at you regarding TDIU . I would be real sure about that however. If you were able to get 100% you could work all you want.

In Vietnam the clerks and cooks and drivers had to do perimeter guard duty. We often took sniper fire and fired our weapons every night. At my base we did have gooks in the wire more than once. This was scary as hell. We had choppers and the VC hated them. If you are in a combat zone like in Vietnam or Afghanistan you could have taken fire regardless of your MOS. When mortars are coming in it does not matter if you are a cook or a grunt. You can get dead just the same.

Nobody at the VA ever loses their job except maybe the janitor.

So the rule that the spouse had to live with the vet for the last eight years of his life is still in effect to get the higher level of DIC? Given that the spouse meets the ten year rule. I still think ten years is too long. IMO the VA should drop it down to 5 years for DIC and just go with the higher amount. I think DIC that meets the 8 year rule is only about $1400 a month. This is really small money for a widow to live on. I know because my mother lived on something like that after my father died.

The ten year rule is really an injustice to widows. Why does VA make it so hard? I guess they want to avoid fraud where young girl marries an old vet just before he dies to get DIC. They punish all vets to save a buck.

VA hospitals are dangerous places. Last year I was in the local VA hospital for a week due to my DMII getting out of control. After three days I was begging to get out. I was losing weight and getting weaker. I was in a tiny room with six other sick vets who kept me awake all night and all day. It was hell.

When the C&P doctor for hearing asks you how are you doing say " what was that you say?" "Can you speak up?" "What was that I can't hear you when you whisper". I went for a hearing exam at the VA and doc said I had hearing loss. Like others I am not filing a claim since it would get me no more compensation. When I was in Vietnam we fired weapons all the time and we had no hearing protection.

Broncovet I became disabled and lost my job in 2001. I was lucky because although VA did deny my claim for TDIU I did get worker's compensation. I had been a shop steward so I knew the rules about worker's compensation. It took another two years to get TDIU and I would have starved if I had not gotten SSDI and Worker's compensation in the meantime. Our stories are just the tip of the iceberg because you know many vets never got their compensation and ended up permanently homeless. Here in Florida getting any sort of help is very difficult. I don't believe an intact family can get public housing . When my wife was married to her ex-husband she had two kids and he got into an accident and was disabled for a year and she went to welfare office and they told her to hire a nurse for him so she could work. This was absurd because they were poor and could not afford a nurse. The world is a hell of a place for the poor and disabled.

Maybe what Bronco Vet meant to say was that vets have good reason to mistrust the VA. I certainly don't trust them 100%. The veteran's benefits administration is certainly untrustworthy. Everything is lovey-dovey until you ask for compensation and then it is usually war. I remember the VA claims office going over my claim for TDIU with a microscope looking for anything they could use to deny my claim. This was back in 2002. I did win but it took three IMO's. I also find the VA medical to be backwards and slow to address problems I have had recently. The VA often will not tell you about potential benefits unless you ask them directly and already know the answer.

I think we just have a misunderstanding here. Bronco Vet is no fan of the VA and most old guys here are not either. I filed my first claim in 1972. The VA lied to me and twisted and misrepresented my words and documents so many times I did everything three times over. 50 years of lies and treating my claims like a crap shoot. I remember seeing a dentist in the Army about my TMJ. He said it was inoperable. Later when I filed a claim for TMJ I found that he had not documented my visit except to say I came for a cleaning. This was a lie that led to me losing my claim because I had no proof of being seen for TMJ. This was just the beginning of the lies from ARMY, BCMR and VA.

VA and VSO's always want you to give up if you have 100%. I got some serious money by pursuing my claims beyond TDIU. You could possibly get some sort of SMC beyond 100%. I got "S" beyond P&T.

I had bad experiences with the VA dental system as well. I lost a tooth because of them and almost lost a couple more. I don't use them anymore. I will pay the money to get a real dentist. I used James Haley in Tampa and they are piss poor IMO.

Mr. Cue I know you are pissed and you should be, but if you are scheduled for an exam I advise you to go to it. None compliance with an exam gives them perfect excuse to deny your claim. The vets that win claims are the ones who play the game to the last inning.

The more you learn about the claims process the more you often learn how you have been screwed on effective dates and other issues. I don't blame any vet for filing for EED or a CUE. I was cheated out of thousands of bucks due to my ignorance of the process and duplicity by the VA.