john999

I also think it is policy to screw vets on the effective dates. These guys at HQ for the VA get together had plan ways to save money. They don't give a damn about us. They do, however, care very much about their jobs and pensions.

If you are over 40 stay on SSD and IU. The over 40 crowd are not very hot items in the job market no matter what your qualifications. I say a show on CNN about all these very qualified workers who were over the age of 40 who got laid off and they were out of work for years. I am financially much better off being disabled than I was as a worker. What I get from the VA is just about equal to what my take home pay was from the post office.

Have you thought about filing for SSDI? When the VA sends you for a C&P exam for PTSD that will probably be a big factor in your rating. Be sure and let them know you are not working and why. If you have PTSD your work situation is probably the biggest factor in how high a rating you get. You can have severe PTSD but if you are working you probably won't get more than 50%. If you are not able to work with the same symptoms you get 70-100%. Many vets who have PTSD but are able to support themselves are sitting on a 30% rating.

You know the VA can hire plenty of NP's and PA's for the salary of one doctor. It is just about cost. My experience with a PA doing a C&P was pretty awful. Of course, some of the MD's at the VA were pretty awful as well.

I usually have an out of pocket expense when I get VA glasses. I am very near sighted and now have a cataract in my right eye. I get super thin lenses and this cost extra. It is still a good deal and the VA contracts it out to a private optical shop. They are no better or worse than others. You know the VA has a certain standard before they will fix a cataract. I am legally blind in my right eye, but not blind enough for the VA.

Google it to see if it is a secondary condition of DmII. If it is then I think you can get secondary for gerd.

VA Po-lice jumped on an old man and beat him up for speeding in the VA parking lot at my VAMC.

Bob You have done your part. Just because your wound is not visible does not mean you don't have it. I don't believe they would deploy a guy with one arm or one eye.

I know the VA is frustrating but you must use your head. The way to beat these guys is clear thinking. If you lose your wits you will lose your claim. You are dealing with idiots and people who don't care if you live or die. Play the game according to the rules and then shove it up their ^^%$.

VBM helped me win a CAD claim due to DMII. Every time I read the VBM I learn something I did not know. It has very good chapters on how to fight VA attempts to reduce benefits. Lawyers use it and every good advocate should have it. Your DAV man probably does not even know it exists.

Yes, if your meds make you unable to do any kind of work then it will matter for SSD. SSD has a very high standard for being disabled. You pretty much have to be unable to do anything useful. Just keep information about yourself to the VA limited to SC conditions. If you have NSC conditions that affect your ability to work keep that to yourself if you are going to use SSD records for VA purpose. To get IU from VA your inability to work must be solely due to SC condition. Don't volunteer information about NSC conditions to the VA. They may use it to deny IU.

If your service connected disability is aggravated by your job you can file for workers compensation. The workers compensation systems including state and federal are much tougher than the VA. Almost always you will have to choose to take increased VA benefits due to being unable to work or workers compensation. I worked for the feds and lost my job due to aggravation of my SC disability. I filed for workers compensation and got it. I also filed for IU from the VA. When I got the IU I then had to choose to stay on workers compensation, or to take the VA compensation. It was an easy choice because most workers compensation systems are much more hard ass than the VA. The biggest danger is that the VA will say your problems are all due to your job, and the workers compensation system will say all your problems are due to pre-existing SC disability. If you work for the feds the rules are very plain as to VA disabilites and work related illnesses or injuries. With private companies or the local government it gets more complex. I made the mistake of mixing my work problems and my VA claim. It gave the VA an excuse to deny my IU the first time around due to the fact I was taking pain meds for a back injury that was work related at the same time my mental health SC thing was aggravated. The VA said I was IU due to pain meds. I had to get another IMO to prove that it was not the meds but the existing SC disability that made me unemployable. You can see how this could get very complicated. Keep everything separate unless your different benefit programs don't offset each other. SSD and VA compensation are not a problem as long as you get SSD solely for your VA disability. My employer made it easy for me by firing me and throwing me into the briar patch.

I think you should just wait and get the letter from VA that gives you ratings and effective dates. You sound a little bit manic with this desire to get your hands on the money so fast. The VA does not do anything fast. You are bringing up the subject of compentency as if the VA has already said you are incompetent. I would not do a thing until I get all the information. I bet the best thing for you to do is to make yourself a promise not to start spending this money before you have it. Let the retro money sit for a while if you don't have crucial bills to pay before you go out and buy a boat or bike. A lot of vets spend their retro on toys and are worse off than they were before they get their money. Why do you need the money so badly? Are you being foreclosed or facing bankrupcy? Take a breath before you start spending. You may need that money to buy medical opinions.

Has the vet filed for IU with a 70% rating? That 70% is the key to get 100% payment rating via IU. An extra 10% won't mean a thing if it takes years to get there.

Even the most accepted and obvious secondary conditions need a medical opinion to show the nexus between the primary and secondary conditions. The VBM says this in bold print.

I have the same kind of issues with my back but they are not service connected. The injections may help and they may not. Be sure you file for all these conditions within one year of discharge. These chronic back conditions are miserable. Don't accept the word of doctors that some surgery is going to cure all your pain. Proceed carefully with letting anyone do anything invasive. What did they say is wrong with your back? I can tell you that you should probably file for depression due to a medical condition. Chronic pain disorder almost always leads to depression because of the pills you take and you inability to do the things you used to do. I got service connected for chronic pain disorder due to a service connected medical condition.

My advice is not to tell the VA anything that they don't need to know. That includes any information that will hurt your claim. That means don't confuse issues of work or personal life with your combat stressor. The reason you can't work is due to your service related PTSD. That should be your story and you are sticking to it. Anything that detracts from that position hurts you. If you give the VA a thread to pull on they will pull and your claim can come unraveled. I know this from personal experience. One sentence that offers the VA an alternative reason for your unemployability besides PTSD or your AO issues can be used to deny your claim. It is like a cop show: Anything you say can and will be used against you.

Rock I agree we need more information about Israal's claim. You can see that this vet was too sick to protect his rights, and no one was there for him to advocate on his behalf. I think this happens alot with very mentally ill vets. If he had filed immediately upon discharge he would be in much better shape now. How does a person who is having a schizophrenic episode not get a medical discharge? The USMC took advantage of him because he was ill and helpless. I know you were in rocky shape when you were discharged, and so was I. I got lucky to get 10% because the VA disregarded and ignored my private doctor's report that said I was 100%. I was in the military nuthouse for two months and all I got was 10% as if I were just mildly ill. How many people who are mildly emotionally ill spend two months in a nuthouse and then two weeks in a VA nuthouse to get 10%? When we got out it was the bad old days. You got screwed almost as badly as ysarrl. Rock, they took advantage of you, me and Ysarrl.

I think I got banned from the VBN. One of their goons emailed me and called me all sorts of names. I was asking about CUE and they kept telling me to just be grateful I got anything. I took exception and it was on. Their guru is a VA employee who has a hard time understanding why anyone would question a VA decision.

Pigdriver Your VARO is telling you 14 months to get the initial rating. That may be so, but you will probably be appealing. Usually, you don't get the rating you want the first time. After I got serious with my claim in 2002 it took about two years to get IU with P&T. I was already service connected at 30% so it took almost two years to go from 30% to 70% IU and P&T. If you have really good evidence both medical and all stressors verified you might get IU in 14 months if you are not working. Are you getting SSD now? You need to look at this as a long haul project. The money you get from VA is going to be your retirement money for the rest of your life, so it is worth it to invest yourself in getting the proper rating. You cannot imagine how incompetent the VA can be, so you need to stay in contact with them about your claim. You may need to hand carry documents to them. Keep checking with them to see if they are lacking anything they need to make a decision properly. They won't call you and tell you. They will just make a bad decision and let you appeal. You can sometimes head them off if you know what they lack. For instance, the VA would not go forward with my agent orange claim because they did said they did not have a copy of my DD214. It was right in my C-File but they were too lazy to look. I had to get a copy and give it to them. Then I had to prove to them that I was a Vietnam vet which they were denying to my congressman. You just have to keep up with them. If you have private medical records make sure the VA gets them.

So you filed your claim and were denied? Has your claim been on appeal for 6 years? I ask these questions because if you file within one year of discharge when you win your effective date will be the day after discharge. Also, when you file within one year of discharge you are in the presumptive period where the VA considers your illness to be due more than likely to your service. If you wait ten years to file then the VA will claim that other factors between discharge and filing date could be the reason your illness became worse or chronic. You need to keep posting on this subject. I was granted 10% for residual schizophrenia in 1973. I had filed a claim in 1972 within one year of discharge. I was grossly low balled, but at the time I was too ill to really fight back in a smart way. There was no Hadit, and my private doctor feared that more contact with the VA would end with me being institutionalized. Above all, stick with your therapy and medications. You can show that your condition is chronic and that you have been in treatment since you got out it makes all the difference. I started treatment with a private doctor as soon as I got out even though I was broke. Things were different then and the docs were not so money mad. Stick around here and keep posting until you win your claim. You might even consider gettting a lawyer to help you. They get part of your retro so you don't have to front money. Are you rated service connected at all? I think you can win this claim, but you must be persistent. You have the evidence in your service records of a service connection.

Did you file a claim with the VA within one year of discharge. I think the USMC should have given you a medical discharge, but by giving you the honorable instead of bad conduct they got out of giving you a medical pension. You need to file a VA claim. I think I would also ask for a Review Board to reconsider the nature of my discharge. Time is of the essense with these things. Your VA claim is most important right now, but both things should be done pronto.

Have you applied for IU as well. If you can't do any work above the poverty level because of your disability or illness then you can apply for SSD. When you apply over the phone for SSD they will send you a bunch of information about what you have to do. They will probably set you up with an appointment with a SSA worker as well if I remember. You need a medical report from a doctor to say that you will be disabled for at least one year. That is the minimum you will need.

When can a surviving spouse collect her husband's SSA benefits? I mean at what age can she/he collect. I know that my SSA benefit is larger than my wife's SSA benefit. I am getting SSD now at age 59. She is 58. If I fall over next Tuesday can my wife collect a survivor benefit immediately, or does she have to wait until she is 62 or 65?

How did the USMC find out about your dx at 15 with schizophrenia?