john999

Bring back the draft and make those with a family income of 250,000 or more top priority to serve. All our problems would be over. If sons and daughters of ruling elite were the first to serve in combat units I think the VA would get an immediate face lift. As long as poor boys and girls do the heavy lifting these "Fallen Heros" will just continue to rot in their graves as the rest of the nation goes to the Mall.

My point is that there are a lot of emotional disorders that can be triggered by events in a person's life while they are in the military that are not PTSD, but are disabling mental conditions. PTSD is a specific kind of anxiety disorder, but other types of anxiety and depression or psychotic disorders occur and it is easier to service connect them than to chase a PTSD claim. The last mental C&P exam I had the doctor tried to say I was claiming PTSD when I was claiming an increase for other accepted conditions of long standing. I felt he was only interested in PTSD claims. By encouraging a vet to claim a weak PTSD disability it is setting him/her up for failure when he/she might have a strong and documented claim for depression, for instance. Unless you have a PTSD claim based on some verifiable and pretty horrible stressor you have an uphill battle. This is just a needless fight sometimes that is a diversion. If you were hospitalized for depression in the service why would you want to claim PTSD? That is the point. The VA and Military are focused on PTSD because they are catching hell from OIF/OEF vets, congress and the media. This will fade to black as soon as these wars wind down. PTSD is the hardest mental claim to win because you have to show verifiable stressors. The others you just need to show treatment while AD or at least diagnosis while AD.

If you really want to fight this you are going to have to get a podiatrist or orthopod to do an IMO for you. I am surprised the VA did not say that all your problems are due to your weight. Since everything to do with this kind of disability is based on ROM you need help.

You can sue your VSO.

I am not sure your father's suicide is going to be considered a stressor for PTSD purpose. That is probably why the QTC doctor focused on it. If you witnessed the killing of the two citizens in Iraq that would be a good stressor. Unless you discovered the suicide of your father I think the VA is going to say this is not a line of duty stressor. I think you need a private doctor to write a report to focus in on the killings you saw. Did you actually witness the killings? Were you close enough to where you might have been killed yourself?

When I call the VAMC or the VARO I am greeted by the salutation "Welcome home, OIF and OEF vets". I expect to get a salutation soon saying "No Vietnam vets need apply. Aren't you guys dead yet"? Gulf War vets are forgotten and they will have a hell of a time with the presumptive diseases in the future. Vietnam era vets are the predominate group using the VA at this time. We have the numbers or we would be sucking wind completely. However, the Vietnam war is forgotten by most Americans. I never thought that would ever happen in my life time.

Yes, the only way to win over this kind of slander is to get your own medical opinions to rebut it. These jerks can say anything and if you don't have a medical opinion of your own to overrule them they will go with the lying evidence and deny you. The VA said one time that since I had a degree in psychology that was evidence of fraud in my mental claim. It is such an outlandish lie that all you can do is get an opinion to shoot it down. It is the fastest way to deal with it, otherwise you may win another C&P exam on appeal and they will shaft you again just to teach you a lesson.

If you want a really early effective date based on an SSD date the VA has to have known you were on SSD for the SC condition. That should trigger an IU claim. If the VA knew you were on SSD for your SC condition and did not infer an IU claim then I think that is an error. It is the same with other sources of information the VA might have that demonstartes the vet was unemployable due to his SC condition. This knowledge is supposed to trigger an IU claim. For instance, a VA social worker documents the vet is unemployed due to his SC. That is enough to infer TDIU according to the VBM. I have known vets who were on SSD for ten years and the VA only had them rated 50%.

Just be aware that you don't have a rating decision until you have the written decision in your hand. No matter what anyone tells you at the VA you have to have it in writing. With the VA everything can go wrong from them losing your file to saying you are not even a veteran. I think it has all happened to me at least once over the years. They never get smarter or more careful. They just put you and your claim into the sausage grinder.

Pete The Tampa VAMC dental turned me down for an implant. They said I would never miss that tooth. My dentist on the outside said that was BS, and that if I did not get the implant I would lose the opposing tooth. They are just cheap bastards and that is all there is to it.

Go to your congressman's office and tell them you went to your local VAMC and told them you were suicidal and they turned you away. Take a bag with you and your toothbrush.

You get dental benefits if you are 100% or IU or your dental is SC. Otherwise they just pull the teeth in an emergency. They will still charge you unless you just got out of the service.

It is a long and rocky road to get the rating your deserve unless you are a double amputee who stepped on a mine with 20 witnesses, two years in a military hospital, and a PH. If the VA can't see it they don't believe it.

Get yourself admitted via the ER to mental health in-patient.

At least the Mob guys usually just put a slug through your brain. The VA likes to torture you to death over decades. That is your reward for serving your country.

You need help from a good psychiatrist who will review your service medical records and rebut the VA's determination that you are a PD. Were you a combat veteran? If you were it will be eaiser to get a PTSD diagnosis. Why did you wait five years? What were the conditions of your being discharged? Do you have records of treatment for mental health problems in the military? You can seek to have the general discharge upgraded to honorable but every day you wait makes it harder.

Over the years the VA has claimed that I skipped two C&P exams. One exam they cancelled themselves and the other exam they did not even notify me about until my claim was denied. I appealed both denials and won in the end, but I think it shows gross incompetence. They don't know what they are doing and they don't care. Get the money anyway you can and just &^^% them.

You have to have a medical opinion to make the nexus between the service connected respitory condition and the heart condition. Secondary conditons almost always require a medical opinion to make the connection even in obvious conditions like the complications of DMII.

If you are not working then 70% is the magic percentage for IU.

If you back is really bad you may get 40%. The way to drive up your overall rating is to then put in a claim for depression due to chronic pain as secondary to the back injury. If you are taking pain meds all the time that would make anyone depressed not to mention the limitations on your life.

If you have the ammunition for IU then file for IU. You can file for the other issues at your leisure while you collect your 100% rate. There is no quick way to do it, but there are claims that are going to take a lot longer if the VA has to look at 20 different claims. Probably half will be deferred. The CUE you can work later if there is money involved. That is just my idea if you need money and don't want to wait years to get it.

If you have a good depression claim as a secondary claim I don't think you should go off on a wild goose chase to get PTSD. Stick with the depression claim since you have such good evidence. PTSD is one of the hardest claims to prove. One psychiatric claim is as good as another so why reinvent the wheel.

A county service officer once told me that the VA fools around with DIC and aid and assistance claims in hopes that the claimant will die before the claim gets approved. This way the claim dies with the spouse. 18 years makes me believe that.

Overhaul VA healthcare while they are at it.

I have used IRIS to check out claims in development.