john999

Packrat How tall are you? If you stretch 140 lbs over a 6'1" frame you have nothing but bone and some skin and hair.

Berta When you see old photos of grunts in Vietnam most were walking scarecrows due to weight loss from horrible conditions. You wonder how a 140 lbs grunt can hump a 80lbs rucksack in blazing heat eating food not fit for a dog. The reason they drafted 18 year olds is because only the very young can tolerate and recover from those insults to their bodies.

If the poster himself were DX'ed or hospitalized for depression while in service then I think he has a claim. I just don't see that having a metally ill relative alone is grounds for a service connected disability. Did the poster witness the suicide attempts? Was there blood or horrible scene of self-inflicted violence that the poster witnessed? I pulled guard duty with a guy in Vietnam who hanged himself. Does that mean I have a claim for PTSD?

Considering the conditions at Ft Benning where I took basic in July 1969 all of us should have gone awol. Consider the guys in Vietnam humping 80lbs on their back in 100 degree heat you just won't get sympathy on that issue. You have to do as Berta has said and connect your awol directly to the MST. If you drag in drugs, forest fires, and being tired that is going to hurt you more than help. When you are in basic you are supposed to be tired and miserable. Those loving souls at BCMR will laugh at you if you say you went awol because you were tired and some people were using drugs.

If you look at the schedule of ratings for mental disabilites you will see that 100% means total occupational and social impairment. That means you can't work. If you do work and the VA finds out you will probably be sent for a new C&P exam to determine you actual level of disability. 50% for PTSD and other emotional/mental illness is close to the cut off between those who can't work and those who can work. Not many 70%-100% PTSD vets can work even if they wanted to work. These are people with serious symptoms. Someone with a 50% rating for PTSD can work, but I would not ask for more for that disability if I wanted to continue working. When you go for a C&P exam for PTSD or any other mental claim the first thing they ask is "are you working". Being able to work separates the 100% and IU vets from everyone else. Now while you are working is the time to build up your documentation and doctor contacts so that when the day comes where you can't work you have all those ducks in a row. I did that and it was still a fearsome period of uncertainty when I had to stop working.

If you are looking at a ton of retro the DRO and his boss my not want to be the guys who grant such an award. This is basic lack of guts. The DRO told me I had a good CUE, but then denied it on paper forcing me to the BVA and beyond. If you have the evidence you will win eventually. This is part of VA water torture. Some bean counter has statistics on how many vets die with a claim outstanding. The fool around while elderly widows wait for A&A, so why not kill time while the vet expires? This inspires me to live just a little longer to get my money. It is a big crap game.

Scout Have you applied for SSDI or any other disability benefit? If granted SSDI that is good proof you are unable to work. The VA denied my IU claim when I had 70%. I had to get IMO's to have it granted. Meanwhile I got SSDI and disability retirement from my federal job. They could not deny I was unemployable, but the reason I was unemployable they did argue.

Some group calling themselves Navy Veterans ripped off the public and government for 100 million dollars. This group consisted of some P.O. Boxes and a website. They operated out of Tampa,Florida from a P.O. Box. The guy who ran the group is probably in Argentina by now, or Outer Mongolia with all that money he stole. No one even knows his real name or identity. Even the Salvation Army was giving some crooked politician here 90,000 bucks a year as a make work job for favors of some sort. Who can you trust?

Yes, SSDI asked me if I would do an exam. I said "yes" and they never called me for the exam, but granted SSDI.

Larry Did you work for a CIA front airline company? I have pictures of CIA agents in the field in Vietnam. I wonder if anyone who did special ops missions into Laos would have volunteered if they knew their government would deny their claims for disability?

Many here at Hadit have said in the past the VA is like a merry-go-round. One has to step off (die) for another to step on (100%). The number of 100% vets is pretty stable for being at war for ten years. Terry Higgins flew over the Cuckoo's nest when he escaped the vet home with case in hand. When the vet home abused him he would pull the fire alarm. I thought he was crazy, but I know different now.

I think VA doctors have an obvious conflict of interest. If they write that your problem is service connected they may be hauled on the carpet. If they don't write what they really feel about your condition's origin they break their oath I think. Well, the oath goes out the window usually. I had one VA doctor who would actually write opinions for me, but I lost her. She got kicked upstairs. Now my doctor is good but will not write opinions for SC.

Papa I owed the VA about 200 bucks back in the 1970's from G.I. Bill and they hounded me for it. They owe me about a million dollars and I don't hear a word. Interest......only for what we owe them.

I read where they call oxycontin "hillbilly heroin". The VA would not prescribe it for me. I think it depends on cost. They will dispense morphine and methadone because it is cheap.

Back in 2002 the VA stated under "diagnosis" and "reasons and basis" that I was SC'ed for a bunch of conditions including PTSD and chronic pain disorder. However, they lumped it all under a DX of chronic schizophrenia. I would still be SC'ed for PTSD and Chronic pain would I not? This is due to a very good report my ex-VA psychiatrist wrote which the VA accepted word for word.

Soggy The VA seems to be finally doing what they are supposed to do which is to infer these disabilites when they have evidence instead of playing dumb and making the vet figure it out by themselves. Go to those exams come hell or high water. If they approve these claims good and if they don't appeal.

I would keep the VA as my ace in the hole. I just don't believe in giving up any government benefit. Even if you just see them twice a year for a check up you are staying in the loop at the VA. What I have found is by using the VA over the years I have increased my disability pay by at least 400 bucks a month just due to SMC. God help us, there may come a time when you actually need them. If you are at least 70% they do nursing home care. Otherwise, you have to get medicade. The VA has done one hell of a poor job in monitoring my meds over the years. Take from the VA what you can use and dump the rest, but stay in the loop. Every time you go to the VAMC and complain about your condition you help to generate a pile of evidence that protects you from arbitrary reductions IMO.

Can I get some fee base services based on being housebound. I find it very hard to gain access to certain service the VAMC offers because of being housebound SMC "S". Before I got "S" and asked for things like PT and other services off campus (VAMC) the VA told me I lived too close. Should I see a VA social worker? Getting actual access to my hospital is hell.

I think they get excited about any drug that might interact with narcotic meds. My private shrink prescribe soma to a patient and the VA had a fit. He had to write some letter, so the VA patient could continue to get pain meds from the VA.

I have miserable back pain when sitting. Does anyone know why this occurs? If I stand up the pain resolves mostly. When I sit and when I sleep for a while I wake up with pain in the lower back. Long car trips are impossible. I have had MRI and it really just shows minor disc problems, but nothing that would justify this type of pain. The doctors at the VA don't believe me, of course.

When VA takes my blood pressure they keep taking it until it falls in the normal range.

If soma shows up in your piss test or blood work the VA will get upset if you are getting narcotic pain meds from them.

If the major VSO's would really campaign for blue water vets it could happen. I think they are throwing those vets to the dogs in favor of younger generation.

I learned more on Hadit in 6 weeks than in 30 years dealing with the major VSO's.

If you have a existing rating for PTSD then you need evidence to show it has gotten worse. All treatment records from the VA and your private doctor should be sent to the VA.