john999

I don't think it would be worth the effort to try and get earlier P&T unless you appealed the denial of the chapter 35 when you got the 100%. If you appealed the denial of chapter 35 your P&T date should go back to the date you got 100%. That is the way I did it. I got IU but was denied chapter 35. I appealed that denial and got P&T back to initial grant of IU.

Hmmm....in 4 more years most of us will be near 65 to 70 years old. One step closer to the government's problem being solved in a permanent way. This is really what it is all about like 40 acres and a mule.

You probably could not get a job in this economy anyway. You could go to school on your own dime and keep it under wraps. This would prepare you for possibility of working one day if you are able. To be 38 and be 100% P&T is what it is. Now what about the concurrent receipt. I thought if you did 20 and retired you could get your retirement and VA money separate. Then you would not have to worry about work I don't think. Get a lawn mover if you are able and cut yards. You take cash only and stay busy. It is something to do, but nobody here is putting you down for not working if you are 100%.

It is as if congress has no control over the VA. I know that the congress supplies the money to run the VA and to pay VA salaries. If they cannot control the VA and make them tow the line then who can? If they put some of these VA thugs in jail for contempt maybe they would get action.

The thing with the VA is if you complain about some SC mental health problem they assume you are talking about PTSD. They then begin the process of guiding you towards that path when it may be a dead end for you. I never claimed PTSD. I had a in-service MH disorder that was very well documented. Even so the VA somehow got the idea I was asking for an increase for PTSD. This caused problems. I set them straight before it went too far. I was SC'ed for PTSD anyway via a rating decision. If the VA says in a rating decision that you have PTSD then I guess you have it. Maybe vets are claiming PTSD but that is a big mistake unless they have it.

Larry You are on a list. It is called list of potential pains in the ass. The VA keeps this list in secret vault. We are all in it here at Hadit. You are lucky your identity as a vet was not erased. Just keep it up. You will be hearing from the VA/Seal team around 3am when you vanish with only your hat spinning around on the floor. The ninjas are going to get you.

If you become really disabled at age 60 you still feel cheated out of your "golden years", so young or old disablity is not fun. When you get older it is hard to deal with disabilites because your singificant others are also getting older. I cringe when I think of falling into the hands of the VA due to being really incapacitated.

It took a hump out to the VA just to get my HealthVet page to show names of drugs I was taking. I had to verify my vet status. The VA can't even handle what they have on their plate now. We were supposed to be able to see our VA medical records online. That did not happen. I did use the online compenation application process. It required physical contact with the VARO to complete the process. I did not need that at all. How come I can file my taxes via online process but cannot get access to the VA without complications? If I was going to file a claim I would stick with tried and true method of getting date stamped copies of what I submit. If I want to verify what I have filed with VARO get a copy of your file. Of course, you may not get the actual file. They held half of mine back, so it put me and my lawyer at a disadvantage at the BVA hearing. These people are not trustworthy in any regards.

Bob Guys like you who gave a leg in support of the governmen't policy of war in Vietnam should be more than a footnote in history. If you really examine the presumptive list for AO most of us surviving Nam vets will die from an AO disease. Most Americans die from either cancer or heart problems. I read every day in the obits of at least two or three Nam vets 60-65 years old who have died. Is this normal death rate? If I see a male who is in our age group who has died I check to see if he is a RVN vet. How many RVN vets are actually still alive. I had four good friends in Nam. Two are dead and one is very ill. They were all healthy young men 40 years ago.

If you don't have physical manifestations of the nerve pain you will get a low rating. I have the pain and some numbness in my feet and hands. I got 10% for each limb. You get more if you have some severe symptom that shows up on an MRI or X-ray. I don't remember the actual code but it is for PN. You get rated for pain as a symptom of some other disease. If they do an EMG and it shows major nerve damage you may get higher rating, but it won't be for just pain. They consider pain to be some nebulous symptom that is probably in your head.

We are statistical lab rats. That is what the AO Registry is all about. "The Army Waiting to Die"....a book. When I deal with my VA PCP she knows nothing about AO. My pain doctor knows nothing about AO. Nobody at the VA treatment side knows anything about AO. It is written on my records "exposed to AO....Yes". This is just ignored.

Every town has a SSA lawyer. It is big business. The system is actually employment security for many lawyers and judges. Most who get SSD get lawyers. I got lucky and got it the first go round. Of course, my doctors wrote reports that made me seem just a little bit more capable than a cabbage. If I had been a horse they would have shot me.

My original claim is written on papyrus with strange signs and people figures with bird heads. I have a pretty old claim I think. There is a curse that falls on anyone who opens it. Many VA emplyees have died after viewing my file.

Iraqrecall I would appeal any denials of claims filed within one year. If you were in combat the VA must take into account that injuries are often not recorded in records. They should give the combat vet the benefit of doubt about alleged injuries, especially those claimed within one year of discharge. Did you get any kind of combat award while in Iraq? I have read this before in the regs somewhere. It has been discussed here before where a combat vet claims an injury where there is not record but the story of injury is reasonable.

American society and medical profession have a schizophrenic attitute toward pain. There is this moral judgement that is laid on you if you have pain that is not due to broken bone or bloody gash. On the other hand the VA, for instance, wants to treat your pain....yeah,right! If the VA can't see the actual result of some loss of use they tend to give low ratings for pain. I am SC'ed for chronic nerve pain. I get 10% for that but it is the real cause of many of my problems.

I think the VA will not award compensation for being obese. It is like alcohol or smoking. They exclude these things from compensation. Now when the alcoholic's liver goes out then they may be able to get compensation if the drinking started in service. If you get a tatoo in service and then get Hep C the VA will blame the Hep C on the tatoo.

I got a pretty good exam when I got the AO exam. That does not mean you don't have to file a claim. If you have one of the presumptive conditions you have to file a claim. I think that there are some doctors who do good AO exams, and others who don't know a damn thing. I think we Nam vets are very low on priority list at the VA. We are like the idiot child who the family hides in the basement or attic. I think the real purpose of the AO Registry is to do longitudinal statistical study on the effects of dioxin on human beings. In other words we are the lab rats. If they could they would have dosed "volunteers" with dioxin to see the outcomes. They did it with other drugs as Shad victims can attest.

The lawyers take 20% of your retro. 80% of something is better than 100% of nothing. If the VA has decided to play hardball with you then you need someone in your corner who can play hardball as well. No one knows more about your claim than you do, but you can be your own worst enemy when you represent yourself in deep or murky legal issues with the VA.

Cannoncocker I was with my wife when I saw the pain doctor. I was in a wheelchair due to an operation on my foot. The doctor must have asked me five times if I ever used illegal drugs. He told me I could not even have a beer on New Year's Eve. No question in my mind that I must have "drug addict or drug dealer" written all across my forehead. I guess they never heard of nerve pain or phantom pain which is very real to the person who suffers it. Pain is subjective. I want my pain to be treated, but the VA just refuses. I am supposed to drive 20 miles and half an hour just getting to the hospital from the remote parking to get an hour of PT. I have already been there and it did not work.

Pete If you take drugs for depression and for nerve pain (neurontin) you are bound to gain weight. The only drug for nerve pain that helps you lose weight is topomax, but it may make you go blind. I love the VA. They always put cost before life/health in medical care.

If you expect real help from VA pain clinic forget it. They have cookie cutter approach to pain. I went today and they again decided to take me off the opiates they have had me on for five years. Great, now I guess I can just bite on a stick when it hurts. They said all my problems are due to bad posture.....right. If you have serious pain you need a real pain doctor who sees you as a human being.

You can still hire lawyers now. They get percentage of your retro. You don't need to go pro bone route.

Iracrecall Do you remember the 1st Aviation Brigade in Vietnam? I was with them for a while. I can't believe they called you back to serve in Iraq forth years later. You pilots in Nam were the best in the world. I assume you flew at treetop level with gunship overhead to come in and kill those crazy enough to shot at you.

My original claim fell under the one year presumptive rule. All it meant was that my well documented in-service illness was granted effective date back to day after discharge. This is because I was hospitalized within one year of discharge and a claim was filed on my behalf. The VA still cheated me by low balling my claim. If I had not filed within one year I believe I never would have been granted SC. Us old Vietnam vets often did not get discharge physicals. If you did not have something in your SMR's you were dead in the water. Years later with AO and PTSD that changed to some extent.

For Berta the bigger they come the harder they fall!