john999

Really, it is idea for a disabled vet who gets disability retirement from the feds to apply for 100% or TDIU. You are ready have proof you can't work you job anymore. Now SSD is harder because they insist you not be able to work any job. If you get OPM and SSD for a service connected condition then TDIU is almost a given unless they start to play games with you. In the end you will get it.

Really, the only way to find out if you have a good claim is to file. You are lucky they put you out on honorable rather than cooking up some reason to say you were unfit due to some pre-existing disorder. At least you don't have to fight that battle. If there is stuff in your medical records then I think you have a claim. When were you discharged? Has it been a year?

Allan You know Sledge had a claim that was going nowhere until he finally hired a lawyer. He hired Ken Carpenter. He got his 100% for PTSD. It is a crime that the BVA had your claim on ice for that long. I would hire the lawyer and put it in his hands and then forget it for a while. It is good to have very objective eyes on your claim. John

The way to get seen in a reasonable time period is to tell them you are going to off yourself. It worked for me.

How did the VA use the concept of the "well grounded claim" to screw vets before VCAA did away with that idea?

Heaven forbid that a veteran would not cooperate in his own lynching by VA C&P exam doctor. Just be sure to mention every time you stayed out late as a kid, or took a drink, or smoked a joint, or the times you went to detention for clowing around in school, so the VA can say you are a sociopath. If you don't think they will do that you are living in a dream world. Everyone I knew in Vietnam smoked weed at one time or another. Does that mean they should tell the VA doctor this information, so he can label them as having a drug problem, and then say their problems are due to misconduct?

A GAF of 48 means you have serious symptoms. I had a GAF of 50 and I got 70%. I also had three medical opinions which should have put me at 100%. If your symptoms make it impossible for you to work that is the main question in mental claims. Being able to work is what separates those with ratings of 50% and those with ratings of 70%-100%. You can have paranoid delusions and hallucinations, but it you show up for work every day you won't get 100% rating.

Your average citizen who has never served has a hard time believing that their own government would poison it's own soldiers and then cover it up for years until they die. The more experience you have with the military and government the more skeptical you become of their denials and excuses. It is about money. It is always about money. You follow the money and you find some government contractor who gave money to Senator X,Y,and Z, and then harmed American troops like DOW or Haliburton.

Are you working? If you are working it does not matter about a low GAF you will not get a really high percentage rating. If you are not working with a GAF of 48 then you could get 70% or higher. This is speculation because you won't know until you get the rating, but if you are not working due to your SC conditions you should be in the TDIU or 100% ballpark.

I think you should do what Larry says and apply for TDIU with a 80% rating. If you are only able to work part time you would do better getting TDIU.

I think they stop reviewing for IU when the vet hits 70 years old, or if you have the rating for 20 years.

You are going to probably need your own doctor opinion to DX PTSD. I think there is no doubt that these VA doctors are tying not to diagnose PTSD. Every PTSD diagnosis is a failure for American Arms. It means the military is discharging soldiers by the thousands with PTSD instead of treating them. I bet the VA is using some strict criteria to diangose PTSD and if you don't hit all the slots you don't get the diagnosis. There have been maybe 40,000 serious physical injuries in the war on terror. If they count all the PTSD injuries that number increases by 150,000. The present and future costs of these wars is astronomical.

If you ever want to win a claim on your own then you should never, ever mention your dysfunctional childhood to a military or VA doctor. They will say you have a pre-existing personality disorder or mental disorder and will fight like hell not to compensate you. Symptoms that resemble PTSD like depression and anxiety can be compensated. Just don't call it PTSD. Call it what it is...depression and anxiety or panic disorder. These are the symptoms that make up PTSD in many cases.

VA motto regarding time frames for appeals..." I asked the captain the time of day. He said he throwed his watch away. The longest line I ever saw was at the BVA"...sung to the tune of In The Pines, In the Pines, Where the Sun Never Shines.

At least he did not say you were a wreck from the waist up and down. Only in the VA system is bad actually good.

You know it is almost Memorial day, and the VA is still plotting and planning new methods to delay and deny compensation claims. This makes a mockery of evetything said on Memorial day about honoring the veterans and honoring the dead. How many of these widows got cheated out of DIC, and how many vets committed suicide while waiting for their compensation cases to be approved. I wonder if the VA keeps statistics on this?

Ruby I might consider getting a lawyer to pursue anything involving a CUE claim. There are so many pitfalls. I would start to prepare myself for a trip to the BVA, and possibly beyond. This is why I say to get a lawyer because at some point you do not want any errors made due to being a non-expert in VA law to make it easy for the VA to throw out your claim on some technical problem. My experience with the ST. Pete VARO is that they will just kick your CUE claim to the BVA regardless of the merits. If it involves lots of retro you can count on it. They lack the guts to make hard and expensive decisions. Usually, I think a vet should try and get their 100% or IU and then go after the CUE claims since these things can drag on for years.

The DVA has a duty to infer IU if the veteran's records indicate he/she cannot work due solely to SC condition. The VA has a duty to consider all the evidence in a claim before making a decision. Just because the VA is underfunded does not relieve them of their duty to fully adjudicate all the evidence in a vet's claim. Blaming the vet for the failure of the VA to do their job is a strange way of thinking unless you work for the VA.

I think you need an orthopedist to make a connection between your ankle and your back. If the VA were to send you for a C&P exam and the VA uses a MD they will shoot down your chiroprator in a hurry. I think most MD's do think chiropractors are frauds even if they do good work.

Stretch I agree that most vets with emotional problems are probably not able to get it together enough to file a claim within the first year after discharge. Someone filed on my behalf within the first year because I was locked up in the rubber room. I don't remember filing a claim, but a claim was filed and I got 10% ( 28 dollars a month) given the fact I was homeless and unable to work. The VA really knows how to help a vet when they are down and out.

You can get night splints to help with pain in the AM. Sometimes the injections help if you have right in your heel. This is sometimes called heel spurs, but it is not the spurs that cause pain.

The kind of inserts you get from the VA are of the poorest quality. You need to see a real podiatrist. For heavens's sake don't let them operate on you if you want to walk again. Some failed surgeries for PF turn into RSD which is even worse.

I have a foot deformity. I think it is called Pes Cavis or something like that. It is the opposite of flat feet but also causes PF. What miserable pain! The conservative treatments are hit and miss. The surgical treatments are a disaster. I thought everyone had pain in their feet when I was in the army.

I do believe that complaining like hell does get results. You want to go to your VA appointments and tell them about falls etc. I got a cane because I fell at home due to foot problems and to the pills I take. I don't know how they can say a vet has a mild or even moderate condition if he is in a wheelchair or scooter. Obviously you have lost ability to walk and that is a big deal. At my VAMC I have found that the VA has a hard time getting doctors like neurologists to do C&P exams. The ones they do have seem quite willing to give the vet the benefit of doubt.

Do you have knee, hip or back problems due to the flat feet? You could be rated for the these things if they are secondary to the flat feet. You could even be rated for depression due to chronic pain and disability from flat feet. You can only be rated for one condition for your feet, but overall if your feet are worse you can get an increase. I have PF as well and it is no picnic.