john999

Skunk You know the VA in-patient pain clinic might help if he is willing to commit to it. There is probably a waiting list a mile long. The way to get immediate help would be to go to VA ER on a weekday and just start screaming in pain. Otherwise he will sit there all day and they may give him a bottle of darvoset and send him on his way.

I lost my job that I had for 20 years due to chronic pain. The treatments for chronic pain are about 100 years behind other areas of medical science. Most who have severe chronic pain end up on opiates.

The VA is sort of like the old way to train a puppy not to crap on the rug. You put the dog's nose in it. That is what you have to do with the VA. The VA has never inferred any sort of problem or claim during my C&P exams except a personality disorder they tried to use to deny compensation later.

I wish Vietnam vets could sue for the harm done to us by the VA. Their treatment for mental health constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The first objective was to destroy your self esteem.

JustPls Just a point of fact. During WWII Janpanese soldiers did eat Americans. They would behead a prisoner and ear his liver. I believe at some point they ate them for food value since on some islands the Japs were starving and would scour the battlefield for dead enemy to eat.

If you retire at 62 non disability you get 75% of what you would get at age 65-66 non disability. If you get SSD before age for full SSA it is a figure between what you get at age 62 and what you would get at full retirement age. If you live a long life this adds up. It is much cheaper to die young.

When I shipped out for Vietnam from the states we stayed in barracks that were under guard because so many guys would bug out at the last moment. There were so many guys that were AWOL the army did not even go to look for them. A guy who is DX'ed with PTSD should not even be in the army. If this guy gets a real lawyer who is not sucking up to his command he should be able to beat this thing. I agree strongly with Phil on this. I know from experience the JAG will sell enlisted down the river even in the most obvious cases . If Mom wants to save her son she needs to come up with money to hire a private lawyer who knows military law. There are many around major military posts. She should take emergency leave and go see her kid before they chop his head off. Unless he ran in the face of the enemy this is just plain old AWOL.

Appeal!

If you got 70% you can get IU. You may have to do a few IMO's but you will get there is you can get a doctor to say you are IU solely due to SC conditions. I did it.

What about the deserters and draft evaders who went to Canada to avoid Vietnam and the draft. A few years later they came and all was forgiven. There were so many draft dodgers during Vietnam that only the crazy ones, and those who could not avoid the draft actually went. I would list myself as one of the crazy ones which is prima facia proof of a mental illness. To be drafted and sent to Vietnam was the booby prize. There were thousands of deserters living in Canada. Did all of them get BCD's when they returned after the war?

If you have any symptoms at all from the TBI I would bring it to their attention. I would look up TBI and see if any of my symptoms match. TBI can be subtle, and I don't think it will affect your PTSD rating. They sort of interact. There is co-morbidity which makes you total disability picture worse if anything.

Larry That's right! If every Vietnam Era vet who went over the hill was given a BCD just about everyone I knew would have gotten one. It was the guys who went AWOl for 6 months with no intention of coming back that got the jail time and BCD. I think Uncle is sending a message that anything that looks like resistence to the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan will be crushed. There was an officer who refused to be deployed and he did not go to jail. Being an officer they treat them differently because it hits the very core of the military. A thirty day AWOL was not that bad considering that many vets who went on leave after Vietnam did not want to come back, and had to be retrieved by the MP's. There were vets who went awol in-country in Vietnam and disappeared into Saigon. The people who got the BCD were those who were criminals not AWOL.

When did your claim actually get on the docket at the BVA?

These clinics are assembly line dental services. They make their money by doing cheap crowns and procedures you may or may not need. In Florida the dental clinics get sued all the time for doing sloppy work. You know if the VA sends you out for it you will get the cheapest care they can find. The clinic will depend on numbers of vets they can tag and not on quality. My VA dentist takes short cuts and does not do the work he should do. I go just to get filings maybe. If I think I need a crown or an implant I go to a dentist that is thinking about something besides saving money for Uncle Sam. The VA has refused to do a crown for me and an implant.

Good on you and save for a rainy day.

I got a general under honorable discharge. I went to a hearing and I can tell you that if I had not had good representation I would have been hard pressed to get the upgrade to honorable. My crummy judge advocate lawyer told me to take the general discharge. Considering he should have fought for a medical discharge I was poorly represented. To accept a BCD is crazy. Does the Army propose a dishonorable discharge instead of a BCD. The lawyer probably just wants the case off his hands and is quite willing to sell the soldier down the river and get his fee. A BCD is poison and there is no automatic upgrade. For a soldier with PTSD there must be a better option than a BCD. This is the army trying its best to limit its liability. What kind of lawyer would bargain for a BCD unless the soldier was facing lots more time in jail? Tell the mother to help her son get a new lawyer.

I believe my SC CAD is what will knock me off and I have about 1.5 years to reach the ten year mark anyway. The "automated Presumptive system" may not be so good. Your clailm could get bent,folded or mutilated in the process. They can automate a host of denials just as easy as a host of approvals. Then there is the disability rating percentage itself. I was told by SPKelly, the AO guy, that even though I am 60% for CAD as secondary to presumptive DMII (AO) that it might behoove me to file a claim for CAD as direct presumptive for AO. I am not sure why.

The ten year waiting period for DIC is far too long and DIC is far too little. I think the spouse should get the entire 100% until she/he dies. Most spouses earned it.

It should be soon. The question will be what your effective date will be. The VA often trie to cheat on the effective date.

Get a lawyer!

Who here would have gone to the trouble of getting SSD if they could use a ticket to get back to the work they could not do in the first place. I lost a $50,000 a year job to get $1500 a month. Just like the VA sends you the paperwork for voc rehab when they grant your IU. Hope springs eternal in the hearts of bean counters.

Hula I spent 2 months in Army mental hospitals. I can tell you right now I don't think the VA is just going to roll over for you.

C-Span should have a little truth-o-meter over the heads of every congressman when he starts to speak. This should be followed by an electrical shock when they tell outrageous lies. Most of our congressment fit the definition of a prostitute....taking money for special favors done in the dark, or in a back alley. Given that fact they should be able to manage a whorehouse since they have had so much experience.

I think I would do as Pete and Hoppy have said and go in person to the VARO. They may be able to fix this thing if you see someone face-to-face.

You can find a lawyer to help you on both the upgrade and the VA disability claim. You don't have to use a lawyer just from the Chicago area. If you have an active psychotic condition you need help beyond some VSO. Your psychosis has caused you to make some bad decisions. That is why you need to turn these matters over to a legal expert who will work on your claims. You probably deserved a medical discharge, but the more time that goes by before you appeal the worse it gets. Call your local bar association. There has to be someone in Chicago who does VA claims. You need a lawyer who understands discharge upgrades. You really need a lawyer for this I think since your discharge was not honorable conditions. This is not your fault since you were nuts at the time. I just basically agree with what Hawkfire is saying. I was DX'ed with a psychopathic personality disorder by the Army and kicked out, but got general under honorable. I had that upgraded to honorable. The VA dx'ed me with schizophrenia, and I got a lousey 10% which I appealed many times until I got IU. The Army treats really sick individuals like dogs. They take advantage of their sickness to cheat them out of their rights. I also was up for a courts martial and my SOB Jag officer told me to take the 635-212 discharge. You have to fight these dirty sons of bitches and you need to start now. What happened to you is disgraceful. I am in the process of asking for 100% retro to the day I was discharged and if I get it I will go back and try to get my discharge changed to a medical. How in the world can a person go from being a PD to a 100% disabled mentally ill person in 24 hours? My compensation rate went back to the day after discharge. I was discharged for demanding help for my psychiatric condition. The Army somehow trumped my demand into disobeying a direct order and sent me for a courtmartial. I was dumb enough to believe the Jag Officer who represented me was looking out for me. You got even worse treatment. Time is of the essence for discharge upgrades.