john999

Once you file the NOD you could actually hire a lawyer.

Yes, you can get the waiver and I think you might be able to get a refund on premiums paid after your were P&T. It is very easy to get the waiver if you are Total. I was TDIU but had no insurance. I got an extra 50% so I applied for the insurance 10,000 and asked for the waiver. I got it easily not like the usual VA claim. Same with ChampVA and the other stuff. The situation where you are trying to prove a claim is where the VA system breaks down completely.

There is a rating for pain and/or depression. Why I say not to tell the VA about drinking problems is that the VA will blame everything on your drinking. The same thing about illegal drugs. If it is in your urine then you have to admit it. If you stay drunk and sober up three days before you give urine then don't tell them you are staying drunk or taking an illegal drug. The VA should know this is a symptom of mental disorder. However, they tend to tie drinking and illegal drug use to personality disorders. This is really bad news. It is bad enough if they know you have mental health DX because medical doctors will presume your problems are mental and not go the whole nine yards to find a physical cause for some problems. What you want to project is that you are a perfect and compliant patient. All your problems are caused by factors out of your control. You were healthy in every way before military service. Now your health is wrecked because of military service. This may sound cynical but it will pay off years from now. As you get older your health is not going to get better. If you can tie future problems to military service that is good. If you drink or drug the VA will make it much harder. The VA is going to try and get by with the least without your helping them do it to you. This is my opinion.

If you can't work due solely to your SC conditions you can get TDIU which pays at the 100% rate even if you are not rated at 100%.

When the VA does not want to grant a claim they put you on the hamster wheel of the RO/BVA/Remand/RO. This can go on for ten years unless you find a way to break out. Evidence and a lawyer might be the key. I do believe the VA just does not want to grant these Gulf War claims. They have their hands full with AO and OIF/OEF. You know it is just about the money.

When asked by VA doctors about drinking alcohol just say "NO".

If the VA is considering Chapter 35(DEA) then they are considering 100% disability is seems to me.

Pete If you need assistance with daily life activities then you should ask for a higher level of SMC. It sounds to me like you do. You need help with your meds and your nurse or attendant does cleaning and washes you. I think you should ask for more! Without the nurse's help you might have big trouble with your feet so this to me shows a need for care and assistance with daily living. I really feel for you with the foot situation. One bad sore that is not identified early and you have big problems. This is why you need the extra care and compensation.

So right now you have a claim for TBI with the VA? You can also file a claim for PTSD? You can have both problems. Are you out of the military now? How long?

Keep your OWCP information separate from your VA claim. I would not use any OWCP evaluations because you will get to a point where the OWCP is going to ask you to choose between VA benefits/compensation and OWCP. You could also end up owing money to either VA or OWCP if you are getting compensation on the same body part from both VA and OWCP. It needlessly complicates matters. Are you getting wage loss for the knees now? If you get an increase for the knees from the VA and OWCP finds out (and they will) this is going to create a problem for you potentially. I have been in your situation with an work-related aggravation of a service connected disability. There is a set of rules for this under OWCP. The OWCP will ask the VA about the nature of your disability. The VA will tell them everything. This could even start a fight between VA and OWCP about the nature of your disability. In other words the VA will say you problem is work related and the OWCP will say it is pre-existing VA disability. Just get independent evaluations for the VA. You may have to spend some extra money but you avoid possible major headache.

Yes, I did it.

How about hearing loss? I never hear anything as loud in my life as being close to 155.

JHawks Are you suffering money pressue? That makes it harder to wait. Dealing with the VA is a career. It is a long term relationship if you want them to keep producing checks.

I spent some time at a fire support base with 155's and 105's firing all day and night. That was enough to give me a case of nerves. Anybody shooting those guns must have hearing problems now. If there is any record of this attack and you can produce it you should be OK. Can you get statements from buddies?

My lawyer is having some kind of hearing at the CAVA Tuesday. The lawyer called me to have me by the phone to consult if they come up with some settlement I guess. The hearing is at 11 am, so I will be sitting by the phone. I think my lawyer is anxious to get paid. I am not going to agree to some low ball deal just so he gets paid sooner.

Was this a private or public employer? Big difference if it was a public employer!!!

The question will be how they figure your rating in light of the remanded CUE. If you don't like they way they rate you hire a lawyer. They might give you some sort of graduated rating over the last 9 years. I have a CUE that goes back 40 years, but I don't know if the rating will be constant or a rating that is graduated over the last 40 years. You know I might get 30% for ten years and then 50% for the next ten and 70% for the next ten when I think I should have gotten 100% for the first 15 years and maybe 70% for the rest of the time up until I became unemployable. This is why I have a lawyer.

I got 10% when I first got ouf of the army. Now I have TDIU plus "S". If I had signed off at 30% 40 years ago I would be hurting today. My disabilites did get worse. Some of my conditions were AO conditions that only in the last ten years were SC'ed.

If you don't want this thing to go to the BVA you need to ask for a DRO Hearing. This will give you another bite at the apple. You will have plenty of time to get more evidence to back your claims.

You need a written statement from your doctor saying your SC conditions is the sole cause of your being unemployable. Phone calls don't cut it.

How did you get 30% for cataracts?

That sounds like one of those vulture companies that tries to get you to give up your annuity for an immediate payout. My insurance company tried to get me do this by offering me a payout on a life time annuity. I would be giving up 150 thousand bucks over a life time to get 50 thousand now. That to me is a bad deal.

Considering what we have learned from Nehmer all Vietnam vets should probably send in a claim for any type of cancer they come down with because it could be SC'ed a few years from now and the vet would have missed years of retro by not claiming the cancer. It is probably the same for any serious condition where there is any speculation that the condition might be caused by AO.

Berta I have gotten more than one "copy and paste" DRO Review or De Novo Review. Now I ask for a hearing. They insult our intelligence with these cut and paste reviews. Are they so arrogant, or do they just understand that they can get away with anything?

When the VA stalls on a claim for no good reason they should have to pay. We vets have put up with this abuse for 50 years. Everyone supports vets except the VA. The institution that is mandated to assist vets in getting benefits is the one who stalls and delays those benefits.