john999

Yes, driving a wedge between generations of vets is a good way to divide and weaken veteran political action. We need grass roots support for fixing the current VA system. I think that has to come from veterans themselves across all generations. You know I use the DAV's mailing system to send emails to all my congressmen and senators. I can send 4 emails at once. I rarely get an answer from my representatives, and when I do it is a form letter email response. Groups like Hadit are the vanguard of the mass of veterans who just are uninformed and apathetic. One thing all vets agree on is that promises were made and promises were broken. We should keep the other political issues out of it and focus the mass of veteran's attention on the issues that affect them like compensation, medical care, G.I. Bill, insurance, VA home loan program, and DIC. For instance veteran home loan limits are not realistic. DIC is way too low. G.I. Bill is too little. etc.

The Tiger Teams, AMC and all the rest of that jazz are just places to send claims to pretend action is being taken instead of just doing good claim development at the VARO and making good rating decisions. They just pass the claims around in a circle to pretend they are working and to keep the boss off their back. If real change is going to happen at the VA it will come from the bottom up. Even vets who disagree politically probably agree that the VA sucks. The DAV had a million vet virtural march on Washington. That hit with a thud. Everyone knows the VA claims system is a failure, but there are so many vested interests in keeping it that way. All the VSO's support the current system in one way or another. I write my congressman about it and I get back some platitude about taking care of our heros. Maybe when the backlog hits 2 million they will do something. Probably they will redefine the meaning of disability instead of taking care of the disabled. Whatever is cheaper is what rules their decisions. The VA puts dollars before our lives every time. Congress is their master so the problems start there.

A DD215 is a corrected DD214.

When the VA and/or Congress wants to "study" something that means they put it on the shelf and wait for it to die. I have contributed previously to the panels to study VA compensation. Nothing happened. The Dole/Shalala thing died as far as I know. As soon as we pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan the hub bub about PTSD and TBI will just fade away. The WWII generation is almost gone. The Vietnam era vets are in their 60's and the Iraq/Afghanistan vets are a tiny minority of the population. Get your money now because the tap is going to be turned off soon. I think we vets who are getting compensation now will continue to get it, because of inertia. The new vets who serve after the these current conflicts will be screwed. If you notice most of the guys getting KIA'ed these days are from small towns where there is no opportunity to do anything else besides either leave or join the military. Not many college grads rushing the to join up and fight the Taliban.

With health care reform and other budget busters looking us in the eye I think it is far fetched to believe that the congress is going to grant vets an extra 25% for quality of life. However, they were Johnny on the Spot to help bail out Wall Street. That's where the money comes from to finance their campaigns. You have to give money to get money from these politicians. Right and wrong has nothing to do with it. We have these dud VSO's who don't even have PAC's to send money to buy us some politicians.

I would like to be able to prove that my back problems are due to my SC connected foot problems. My back did not start hurting until my feet were service connected. I don't have flat feet. I have Pes Cavus which is the opposite of flat feet but tends to cause that damn plantar fasciitus. I have PN also due to DMII.

I never heard of TDIU until I came to Hadit in 2002. It seems to be a VA secret. I bet there are lots of guys out there with 50% rating who are on SSD and have never been told about TDIU because they don't meet the percentage the VA clings too so tightly.

I think that the use of age in denying things like P&T happens, but it is like many forms of discrimination. You may know that it is going on, but you can't prove it, and the VA will never admit it. I think the use of statistical study might show the VA does use age as a factor in claims. A PTSD vet who is 22 years old may get IU or 100%, but I bet most cases the shrink will say there is hope for recovery, or improvement etc. If you are 60 year old PTSD vet with IU their realistically probably is not much hope of going back to work because no one will hire you anyway even if you could work. Age is a factor and we all know it, but the VA is not supposed to use age. They are supposed to go by the medical facts of the claim. Does anyone doubt that the VA is reluctant to give a 21 year old permanent and total for a mental disorder unless the vet is stark, raving mad. I was 21 when I got out of the army. I could not work. I got 10%. I think age played a big part in my claim. Having long hair, and being a communist in the eyes of my VA shrink helped kill my rating as well.

I am a big believer in a rainy day fund. Many vets get retro and go out and buy the big truck or Harley. They want to feel better and this is the American way. 30,000 bucks sitting in a special account can buy a lot of IMO's. It can also give you some peace of mind while you wait if the VA pulls a fast one. If you are debt free and have a nice pile of money you can out last all these geeks who want to make you suffer. Just think of all the accident victims who have to take a low settlement because they are desparate for money to pay bills. There are companies that buy up annuites and settlements at 20 cents on the dollar because some poor stiff has to sell their soul to pay a mortgage. Capitalism works if you have money to work for you instead of you busting your ass. It is a beautiful system if you have money to invest.

Yes, I think a personal hearing might get it moving. You at least get the chance to explain your position to a human being. I think getting things fixed at the lowest possible level is best inside the Beast (VA). Congress and the courts have no idea what is going on inside the VA. Since none of them are disabled vets they probably can't conceive of how screwed up things are at the VA.

Jayg With the VA it is two steps forward and one step back. Remember that many vets here have been in appeals for years, so a setback of a year is nothing new. The whole thing is a process of sending in your claim, and then plugging every leak via SOC's and ratings you get back before you get to your goal. Since VCAA the VA has to tell you what they need to grant your claim. Your attitude should be that you will not be denied even if you have to swing from the VA's roof by your fingernails. It is a matter of time only. You will overcome! If it were just as easy as sending in a good claim and waiting for the grant there would be no Hadit.

When you made your request of reconsideration did you print it in caps across the top of page one? Sometimes if it is not very clear the VA will interpret it as a NOD. Now you provide "new" evidence for the reconsideration. I think if you have new evidence it is a good step. If it fails then you file your NOD and ask for a DRO Hearing. If that fails then off to the BVA. However, I have gotten two DRO Review/Hearings on the same claim. The review was denied. I asked for a hearing and it was granted and I won my claim. I don't know if this is normal but it worked. If it was me I would try and stay at the VARO and just keep providing more evidence until you win.

I would squeeze everything out of the VARO before I went to the BVA. Normally, anything you get at the BVA you can get at the VARO. If it involves 40 years of retro then the VARO might just deny it and let you take it upstairs. I see nothing wrong with testifying at your own DRO hearing. I brought my wife and she testifed about my disability. If you have the evidence what the hearing is doing is putting a face on your claim. I think it also shows that you are committed to the claim. I think evidence is the key, but showing your face can tip it in your favor. I get the feeling that my VARO wants to solve claims at the local level if you push them. Claims with decades of retro are different. Nobody wants to go out on a limb and grant that claim without lots of cover.

I think you would be a lot better off just going for an increase based on the MRI results rather than chasing a CUE claim. Get the maximum for the back and while you are at it fill for depression as secondary to your chronic pain. This may be how you get to a rating where you can apply for IU. If you get 40% for the back and 30% for your chonic pain disorder you would be close to IU. You have to find ways to skin the cat. If you are taking handfulls of pain pills to keep working I know you must feel like hell. If you have been suffering pain for many years you have chronic pain disorder and this is compensable on its own apart from your back. You should get referred to a VA psychiatrist.

At my VARO it has been my experience that once you get the C&P exam your rating comes pretty fast. It may not be a good rating, but you get a rating. I think things differ from VARO to VARO.

If given the choice between a written review of the record, and a personal hearing I would always choose the hearing. At a hearing you can present your issues and the VA man can ask questions. That give and take can get the issues straight. It is hell to wait a year and find out that an issue has been misunderstood that affects your claim in a big way. The only question I have is if you have to wait a year for a hearing wouldn't you ratehr have it from a DRO who can decide your claim rather than someone who can't decide your claim? Now if someone can show me that requesting a generic hearing is faster than a DRO hearing I might change my mind.

I would bring an example of what the VA is looking for in wording. Do you have private medical insurance? The insurance might pay some of it. She should say that in her medical opinion all your problems were caused by your military ordeal. Get your money's worth.

The court order has to be delievered by FBI with guns drawn to get a result.

Sqmdae I think the social worker's comments were good. I was just hoping she was not saying long term goals for education or return to work blah, blah. I would check with the VA about every two to three weeks to make sure there is nothing they are missing. They will never tell you until you get the rating and then they tell you they had to defer your rating because some document was missing you could have provided if you had known about it. You had the C&P exam so I think you will get a rating pretty soon. That is how it usually works, but who knows? Don't be shocked if you get a low ball rating. This is how they weed out those who have the persistence to keep trucking and those who will take the 30% and just quit.

I guess if your claim was featured in an article in the New York Times you would get instant approval, but that in the only way. If you get medal of honor and die in the effort your spouse should get DIC pretty quick, maybe.

They give you the school and then send you to Vietnam where they don't need guys who work your MOS. Then they send you to some miserable place and your learn how to burn human feces with diesel fuel, and you have to stir it. At this point you wonder just where you went wrong. I hear they are doing the same thing in Afghanistan burning human waste. What a life! That is a smell you won't forget.

Get the lawyer! These companies are pros at trying to get out of paying for LTD. The actual insurance company will probably try to weasal out of it as well. I have LTD insurance and have had it for 8 years paying me. It was a private policy. The group policies are awful and are full of loopholes. Any increase in compensation from SSD or VA or workers compensation comes out of the amount you get usually from a group policy like you get at work. ERISA is also the enemy. It is a terrible racket. They take your money for years and then try and not pay you when you can't work.

Try to get a job with USPS if you have a bad back. They are going to want to know about you SC disability. They asked me if I could work 12 hours a day on my feet. How many with a bad back could do that? Also you have to be able to lift 70 pounds. If you are rated 30% for a back problem they want to know the details before they hire you. They do deny employment to people based on their disabilies, but not on their ratings. Disability discrimination is rampant in and out of government. Government may hire disabled but then they start process of firing them.

VSO's really drop the ball on IU. I never even heard about it until I came to hadit, and I spent 15 years rated 10% and never made more than $5000 bucks a year. Never once did the VA ask about my work situation even though I had multiple C&P exams. I used all the VSO's and they let me down every time. I got a 10% rating in 1973 even though my own private medical report said I could not work. The VA just ignored that report, and relied on their dumbass shrink to comment on my haircut and ragged clothes. He thought I was a hippie or a communist. It took 30 years to go from 10% to IU. I was worse off in 1973 than I am now.

Congrats and never mention the word "work" at the VA again as long as you live. Now you just have to do it all over again with SSA. One tends to help with the other.