john999

Never admit the use of illegal drugs even if it was 40 years ago.

I think one of the possible ways to get reduced is to stop treatment. If you have a disability you should continue treatment. It does not have to be at a VAMC, but that is easiest since the records of your treatment are right there for the VA to see. I am sure there are individual cases where people get VA benefits who don't deserve them...big deal. There are also plenty of vets who should be getting benefits but are not getting them. Skid row and homeless shelters are full of such people.

When it comes to IU claims the VA also uses the" employer confirmation last date of employment" scam. The VA will insist that they get information from last employer as to when you actually stopped working. I was a federal employee so I had a a copy of the Form 50 that acted as my separation papers. I got a copy for the VA and hand carried it to them.

All claim files should be scanned onto a computer backup system so the VA cannot get away with this jazz. The VA even said they had no DD214 for me to delay a claim. Why not use these lame excuses if the jerks don't have to pay for their misdeeds? The VA acts like an insurance company that does not want to pay a claim. They find multi reasons to delay payment. When insurance company refuses to pay a claim you have your insurance commission to help, but we vets have nobody but congress critter. These guys are usually unavailable due to being at lobbyest office picking up their check.

MikeR We were told back in the day that those of us ETSing from Vietnam that if we wanted a discharge physical we would have to hang around stateside for weeks if not months to get the exam. Needless to say almost all just got their discharge papers and hauled ass. How many of us regret this now?

I had shoulder surgery a while back. The doctor used a pain pump inserted in my shoulder to manage post surgical pain. My shoulder still hurts years later and I found out that there is a condition caused by the use of pain pumps in shoulder surgery. I hired a law firm to look into it. I wonder if anyone else has had pain after shoulder surgery caused by use of pain pumps. The condition is rare and only pain pumps cause it. It is called PAGCL syndrom. I have not had the diagnosis confirmed because it can't be fixed except by shoulder replacement....yuck! I have some but not all the symptoms. I guess I have to go back to my shoulder doctor (not the one who did the surgery) and find out if he knows about the condition. It can be confirmed on an x-ray.

Mustang68 Yes, an ironclad medical report that hits all the right buzz words and dots all the I's and crosses all the T's. The VA almost always looks at claims (especially when you are asking for TDIU or 100%) with an eye to finding some NSC reason for denying the claim. If your doctor states that you have a drug and alcohol problem and also PTSD the VA is probably going to try and claim that the reason you can't work is due to the substance abuse problems unless your doctor says that you have these problems, but they are symptoms of the underlying PTSD which is SC. If you give them an opening they will take it. Sometimes you just have to go with what you have and add additional evidence to clarify and support your claim. That is why there is a appeals process. I have had to appeal every single benefit I ever received from the VA. You always have to be ready to go back and get more evidence if the VA finds a weakness in your claim to benefits. Sometimes you can have a really good claim and the VA wil force you into appeals in hopes you will give up or die.

Luvhim I tried to get to the point that no vet wants to give the VA an alternative explanation for any disability they are claiming besides military service. The VA will ignore ten tons of evidence that supports service connection if they can jump on one sentence that could be the explanation for a disability that is not related to military service. This happened to me more than once. If you give the VA a string to pull on they will pull that string and unwind your claim.

I also wish your doctor had been more specific. You are counting on the VA connecting the dots and often they won't do that. Things for the VBA need to be broken down like you would explain to a six year old. " Vet needs a knee brace becasue of nonunion or loose union.....etc". If you want more money for a disability it should be specific and detailed as to why, how, when etc. That is my nonmedical opinion.

Mustang68 You are right. When the VA does not want to pay for certain claims they will say that it is just the normal aging process that has caused it to get worse. If you have 10% SC for arthritus, and it gets worse over time the VA may argue that it is due to the normal aging process. I think this ploy can be defeated with a good medical opinion from an expert.

You don't want to provide the VA evidence of an alternative explanation of your PTSD that is not related to military service. Your existing PTSD has to be related to military service and you have to prove it via your military records. If you have proof that your Ex assulted you during your military service that would be a stressor. What ever happened after you got out of service does not count. It is hard to disentangle all these stressors, but you have to provide one that is directly related to your military service. For instance, a soldier is exposed to combat during his service. He gets out of the service and becomes a cop and sees dead bodies and shootings and blood and guts. If he has PTSD it has to be because of the combat experiences. You don't want to bring in the stuff that happened while he was a cop. That gives the VA an alternative explanation for his PTSD besides combat exposure.

Larry I thought you were Jewish, and now you tell us you are a Native American (politically correct!). I thought Kinky Freedman was the only Jew in Texas.

Age is not supposed to matter at all in VA decisions. I think in reality it often does matter. The VA is reluctant to give a 22 year old vet P&T status for PTSD. They always believe you may get better until you prove that you won't. Legally, age should not be any sort of factor in VA ratings. They cannot use that as an actual reason for a lower rating. Age and education are not supposed to be considered, but in my TDIU claim the VA kept repeating that I had a degree in pyschology. Like that makes me very employable????

I think Carlie is just giving you the facts, Petty Officer W. You have to be able to establish a nexus to military service to win any VA claim unless it is a presumptive claim. Even those require certain facts to be in the record.

What I found at my VARO is that if you ask for the DRO Review (De Novo Review) the DRO is likely to just do a rubber stamp/cut and paste type reaffirmation of whatever the original rating was in the beginning. I asked for a de novo review in one of my NOD's and got back the de novo review in a week with the exact same language as the rating I was appealing. Now I always ask for a hearing in the NOD. I type it in CAPS. Me and Carlie have the same VARO and they stink.

I don't know if they are doing it now but during Vietnam the judges would tell some felon that they could either join the Army or Marines or go to prison. When their is a war going on the military will do whatever is necessary to get bodies for the machine. For instance, I don't know of anyone in my basic company that actually failed at the rifle range or the PT test. All were passed so they could go to Vietnam.

DIC is more complicated than it seems at first. We all need to read up on it. Berta is the master in this subject. If the vets dies from a SC condition the VA has to pay for funeral costs according to their regs. If vet dies from NSC reason the VA does not have to pay for funeral costs. There are other rules that apply as well. It is a subject in its own right besides service connection for vets. Then there is the war widow pension that can sometimes be obtained based on income. If the vet dies within 8 years of discharge and is SC'ed total then his widow gets DIC. That is another point if I remeber correctly.

I have chronic pain disorder and other emotional things. The VA just rolls it into a ball and gives you one rating on the worst mental condition you have. Many of us have things like depression, PTSD, anxiety disorder etc. The VA gives you one rating for all, but since having more than one problem makes the whole picture worse you should get a higher rating overall. Now some people with emotional disorders are 100% for just one diagnosis, but have others that are really not rated individually. One thing to remember is if you have something like chronic pain disorder and depression or PTSD then it is unlikely that your condition will improve because these things feed off each other, and one condition makes the other worse.

One claim at BVA and another couple of claims cooking in my brain to go to VARO.

For PTSD the big item that will give you a higher rating is "Can you work?". If you have PTSD and are still able to work then you probably won't get much over 50%. If you can't work due to PTSD then you have a good shot at 70%-100%. Your doctor needs to say that you can't work due to your PTSD. The VA won't just see that you are not working and then make the connection between this and your PTSD. If you are working and want a higher rating I suggest you go in as an in-patient at least once a year. After a while when the VA sees that you have many hospitalizations for PTSD you will probably get a higher rating than the average working stiff. Even if you go in for a few days it will help, and go through all the PTSD clinics and groups etc. You have to make it your profession. You have to go to the VA and get treatment and accept the scripts they give you. Never say one good word about how you feel or your work or family. This is just my advice.

I have filed countless appeals over the years and have never had a reduction due to an appeal. It is just the opposite. I recently went from 0% to 60% on appeal for a vascular disorder. Appeal it!

The "8 year rule" does not require that the vet died from a SC condition. You must be married to the same person 8 years of the ten years the vet is totally disabled prior to death. The years have to be consecutive. This is so that 80 year old vet does not marry an 18 year old to help her out with DIC before he dies. If he was total for 10 years before death the 18 year old would still get basic DIC but not enhanced. If you want to get a little revenge on the VA keep your old lady til the end. Don't divorce her and marry the 18 year old two years before you croak. Now if the old lady dies first marry the 18 year old and go out in a blaze of glory.

"Possibly related" is speculation. That won't get service connection for you. That is not the kind of language you want to beat the VA. More likely than not or at least as likely as not is better by far.

If you have any evidence of treatment or diagnosis for a mental disorder in your service records other than PTSD it is easier to get that approved than to start over with a PTSD claim. The VA has the nack to deny PTSD claims. Probably most get denied based on the stressor being verified. You need the combat awards or strong evidence of a stressor or your claim will sink. The VA knows there are waves of PTSD claims coming at them and they are working overtime to figure ways to deny them.

Any claim you have can be resolved at the RO level. Often the VA, being the gutless types they are, will deny a claim and force you into appeals. You try the DRO process first and if that fails then go to the BVA. I have had better luck at the DRO, but when the appeal involves a lot of money you probably will end up at the BVA because the RO people will just deny it and kick it upstairs. They hate responsibility and accountability. What VA employee wants to sign off on a claim that will cost the VA many thousands of dollars?