Davo68

I hope my question makes sense and is in the correct place. I have a question on evidence and the value of establishing a trail for a potential future claim. My son is in the Air Force Reserve and has been for around 25 years, he has served two tours in Iraq and is about to begin a tour in Afghanistan. When he is not on active status, his day job is the same as his Reserve job, he is an F-16 mechanic. He has four areas of concern, bad lower back, neck problems, numbness to left hand, and Tinnitus. He has been to a civilian Doctor about the lower back and was diagnosed with a torn muscle, which he was treated for. The question is one of SC, how would he show evidence of service related vs civilian related, it's the same job, same shop, etc.? He will be deployed shortly to Afghanistan and I've told his to seek medical attention when he's on station, since his pain is constant, as well as letting a doctor know about his Tinnitus. He's sure that his problems were caused by the heavy lifting required with his job. He is hesitant to complain as he's afraid they will kick him out of the Reserves. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I understand that he can't submit a claim until he retires but wanted him to establish a history along the way.

Thanks Berta and keep up the good work, I read a lot of your post and get a lot from them, Thanks again.

Thanks to all, received by new SC rating, received 50% for hearing loss and 10% for tinnitus, this added to previous SC of 20%, more than satisfied, wishing everyone success.

Have requested a copy of my C&P report (several weeks ago) but have not received it, did get an acknowledgement of my request.

Harleyman, thanks for the quick reply. The numbers came from an exam by the VA, and they did provide hearing aids, which don't help alot. I had an exam through the VES for my claim a month ago but have not received a copy of the exam/report yet. My claim is at the gathering information stage after being kicked back from the reviewing evidence stage. I'm assuming the VES exam is the same as the C&P exam. With the above numbers, do you have an idea of the per cent determination?

Received some very good information but would like to take this a step further. Trying to figure out if there would be compensation involved based on my hearing results, seemd like most Vets get denied. Not sure how to interpet the audioligy report so will pride some data and see if anyone can determine what my numbers would represent with regard to compensation per centage. Right ear 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 10 60 65 80 95 95 Left Ear 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 15 50 85 90 105+ 95 The more confusing part Right Speech Recognition PBMAX 84 Level 75 ML 40 Left Speech Recognition PBMAX 72 Level 75 ML 40 Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Sambo808, good information. Sounds like the VSO can be beneficial depending on the VSO. I appreciate the input. I did speak to one VSO and the input I've received from this site was much more informative than the input I received from them. The two replys I have received from this site both stated that the tinnitus would be automatically considered due to the hearing lost claim and the examiner's input concerning tinnitus. The VSO I spoke to said I should submit a tinnitus claim even though I have a Hearing Loss claim in.

I'm new to this site, very helpful and informative reading. I filed a claim in early January 2013 and have been going through the process. My claim is for hearing loss and had an audioligy exam by the VA at their hospital in Bonham Texas and at one point my claim was at the Reviewing Evidence stage, it was then sent back to the Gathering Evidence phase and turned over to VES. I was contacted by VES and underwent another audioigy exam. A few questions: 1) Since I was sent for another hearing exam after the evidence was being reviewed stage can I assume that the SC aspect was not an issue? 2) My claim was for Hearing Loss, but the VES examiner also checked out my tinnitus and asked asked a lot of question with regard to the tinnitus. Do i need to file a seperate claim for the tinnitus? 3) If I file for tinnitus will it slow my current claim decision? 4) I am not using a VSO for this claim, should I get VSO support at this stage?