john999

So let me understand this: If a vet died today of an AO presumptive disease and his wife filled for DIC with or without specifically stating that this claim was for AO presumptive disease death the widow would get DIC? Also, does the VA have a duty to determine if the death is an AO death, or is that the responsibility of the DIC claimant? As I see it unless the survivor is up on VA law she/he might not even know enough to understand that the death is an AO related death. If the VA can just keep their mouth shut about this then the widow may never know. She might not even know she can file DIC. You just know if the VA can avoid a payout they will do it.

Berta Would a death certificate have to say ishemic heart disease to get the AO award? You know death certificates often are just a couple of words. I guess this is another reason for RVN vets to tell spouses to get a autopsy done on them. You know many people have a hard time talking about this stuff to a spouse.

What Wings Said with caps. Stay compliant even after you get your PTSD/TBI claim. You want to stay in treatment forever since this will help protect your rating and other conditions related to your SC conditions may be discovered. Vets who get their rating and then never seek treatment from the VA may find that as they approach the 20 year mark their rating is attacked by the VA. They have done it in the past to guys with 100% on the eve of their 20th year.

I got the former VA Secretary's email address off hadit a few years ago and wrote him. It seemed to help. I don't think they new guys posts his email address. Writing politicians never seemed to help me. They just vomit up what the VA tells them as if that is why you are writing your congressman to get boilerplate answer.

I believe every AFB is a toxic waste dump. Think of all the jet fuel that has leaked out over the years. I know that MacDill AFB near my home is a toxic waste site. It was the home of SAC for many years. Now it is the home of Central Command for the wars in Iraq and Agghanistan. The land it sits on is very valuable, but it will cost millions if not billions to clean it. I bet many military bases are toxic waste sites. They were going to close it, but pressure kept it open at MacDill.

That is great news. Now does the new reg for heart disease make an opening for widows to file DIC if their RVN spouses died from heart disease 5 years ago? If the VA grants an AO claim for CONUS I think the walls may be coming down on a lot of other AO claims for navy and others. It is sort of like the Berlin Wall. Once one brick is knocked down the whole wall may come down. We RVN vets are not getting any younger. I was at Ft Stewart and Ft Benning. Did they use AO there as well?

Did you ask for a DRO Hearing or a reconsideration? When you file the NOD you will get a letter asking what kind of appeal you want. They will ask if you want a DRO or if you want to go directly to the BVA. I advise asking for a DRO Hearing. You can still go to the BVA if you lose at the DRO.

The VAMC's are better which is sort of odd seeing they have many more vets going to the VA for care. When it was just for SC, and the indigent, the care was pretty awful. Clinton opened it up, but did not really provide the funding. That is still the problem. The funding is always behind the need. However, the constituency has gotten larger. The VA gets a lot more press than in the bad old days. We have had 8 years of war, so that has produced more disabled vets. Health care has gotten more expensive and more scarce. I think the VA health care system will grow, and the VBA is going to have to grow because vets in this day and age have no hesitation in filing a claim. They talk to each other and search the internet for information.

The VA could decide your claim next week or next year. Have you had your C&P exam? Usually the decision comes pretty quick after the exam. I would love to be a fly on the wall and see exactly what happens at the VARO. I know I would be mad because to them it is just a paper shuffling job, but to us it is our lives.

When the VA says a claim is in development it means it is sitting in a pile waiting to be put in another pile. It also means they are not ready to rate it. What kind of appeal did you ask for?

According to VA I have a rating of 60% for CAD and I have never seen a VA cardiologist. The first time I have angina I will be heading for the ER, and not the VA ER either. I also know the difference between reflux and heart attack symptoms.

I think Halos is on to something. Like I said the VA guards dental care like FT Knox. The VA can't deny voc rehab because you are working. I got it when I worked for the Post Office. I was 30%. I think I would try again for voc rehab and then get the dental work done. I get dental done at my VAMC and the dental hygenist tells me that the only people she works on are 100% vets. I know guys who are discharaged get a one time dental fix, but after that it is almost all 100% vets. My VAMC is the busiest in the nation and their dental dept. is tiny. The demand is huge. You would have an easier time robbing a bank than getting dental care.

Send in your private neurologist report as evidence to support a higher rating. As long as you get it to the VA before they make another decision it will be used as evidence. For the VA to rate you higher than 10% for PN you really have to have it bad. You have to have physical incapacity as in something besides the glove and sock type PN. I would stay in treatment with a private doctor and use his notes as evidence since this thing gets worse over time. You know PN moves from the hands and feet towards the center of the body. It can become disabling to the point you can't work. If you have severe PN due to DMII you may have other secondary conditions like cardiovascular problems. You need to monitor these things and not rely on the VA. How often do you get your eyes checked. It should be done once a year for diabetic complications.

A million vets need to go to VA HQ, and not a thousand. Massive numbers need to show solidarity, but that has not happened in 200 years. So we remain beggers.

Are you rated TDIU? I see you have an 80% rating. If you are TDIU then you can get dental care. If not you have to show an injury to your teeth and/or gums. The VA guards dental care like Ft. Knox. They will yank a tooth but beyond that you need to SC'ed for it or be 100%.

I think the congressmen let themselves be beguiled by VA mouthpiece because they wish to appear to be doing something worthwhile about vet issues when they would much rather be the chairman of a really important committee like appropriations or energy. Veteran's issues are a backwater a few steps above help for welfare mothers and homeless people. This is because vets have allowed themselves to be taken for granted.

Chuck75 Yes, I have heard how the VA cheated many WWII vets out of compensation. Another shameful epidsode in America's distain for its veterans. The vets were discharged with say a 60% rating and within five years the VA would find excuse to cut them back to 10%. A lot of these vets accepted this because they were working and raising families. I think there was guilt also since they survived and they did not always believe they deserved the rating. My father had a rating and he scoffed at it because it was such little money for what he went through in Europe.

If you were increased to 70% and are unable to work what you need is a letter from a doctor saying that your are unable to work solely due to your SC conditions. With a 70% rating you should be able to get IU. I had the same problem. I went from 30% to 70% but was denied IU. I got an IMO to say I was unable to work solely due to my SC condition. While you are at it say have the doctor say you are permanently disabled. That should get you IU and P&T. Just from reading your C&P exam you should have gotten IU or 100%. Did the VA say that the reason you could not work was due to non service connected issues? That is an old trick.

Korea is famous for frostbitten Marines. How does the VA believe you got frostbit by climbing Mt Everest? I remember hearing of Frozen Chosin and bitter weather in Korean war.

I have one of those water saving toilets. It's great except you have to flush it three times.

If you have no mention of foot problems in your SMR's filing a claim 40 years later for your feet, and all these secondary conditions may be hard to do. If you had filed a claim within the first year of discharge it probably would have been a slam/dunk. You will need really high class medical opinion to get the present foot problems and all the secondary conditions service connected. If you could show treatment for foot related problems by private doctors in the years since discharge it would help since you got a medical discharge for your feet. If you got a medical discharge for your feet there must be some records of foot problems in the service. I have pes cavus as well. It means to me chronic foot pain for the last 25 years. However, I never was treated for foot problems in service. I just thought everyone's feet hurt.

Halos I was rated 30% and retired on disability and SSD and the VA was still telling me I was only moderately disabled. Right.....those numbskulls. It took me almost a year after getting SSD to get IU. The VA squirmed and slipped and wriggled, but I had the evidence. Here I am on SSD for the exact same thing as my SC condition, and the VA is trying to find NSC reasons to not pay IU. It was not a mistake or honest attempt to make a good decision. The VA strove to find a way not to pay me. They looked over my two IMO's to find any phrase or sentence fragment to deny my IU claim.

It took me 30 years to go from 10% to 70% IU. What was I doing wrong all those years? I know....trusting the DAV, VFW and AL to help me. When I was rated 10% I was worse off than when I got 70%.

I would go to a VA mental health provider. All private shrinks do anyway is prescribe drugs. You can get those from the VA. Remember you can get SC for depression easier than PTSD if you have record of treatment or dx in your SMR's. Using the VA for conditions you want to get SC'ed for is good. You are providing yourself with tons of documentation that is at the VA's finger tips.

Southern Florida and North Florida are two different states. Norther Florida is like Georgia. The Panhandle is like the deep, deep south. The center of the state away from Orlando is not that populated except for farm workers, ranchers, and people who need dentures. My people moved from Georgia to Rhode Island during the depression to keep from starving and then to Florida. Florida has bad schools, bad roads, bad government and summers that are like Vietnam. I grew up here so I am used to it. One of my relatives actually fought in the Seminole war and got a land grant as a reward. He should have given it back.