mandyp

Sorry I wasn't sure where to post this so I will post here and in the TDIU section as well because I want to help my fellow veterans who may have come across this same issue and had gotten confused just as I did. My TDIU is currently on appeal at the BVA and shortly after a CP I received a letter from the VA stating my appeal had been remanded for further development and that they needed additional information from me. The letter stated I may be entitled to TDIU and to fill out forms 21-8940 and 21-4192. Ok great! Except I ALREADY filled these forms out and that is what is currently on appeal. So I called the 800 and asked "do I REALLY need to fill another form out" to which the gentleman replied NO!! It is on appeal do NOT fill out 2nd paperwork, because the VA is working on my case and as it is progressing the system recognizes that I now qualify for certain benefits and it automatically generates the letters to be sent. So I guess it is a good thing because it shows progress on my appeal and that I do qualify for TDIU which hopefully the BVA will award. So as I have learned to do I came to hadit to see if anyone else had this similar experience and to share my experience with you so that maybe I can save you sometime and confusion as well. Because if I had filled those forms out the system would recognize it as NEW and not on appeal, and that my friends would have led to another battle.

Sorry I wasn't sure where to post this so I will post here and in the appeal section as well because I want to help my fellow veterans who may have come across this same issue and had gotten confused just as I did. My TDIU is currently on appeal at the BVA and shortly after a CP I received a letter from the VA stating my appeal had been remanded for further development and that they needed additional information from me. The letter stated I may be entitled to TDIU and to fill out forms 21-8940 and 21-4192. Ok great! Except I ALREADY filled these forms out and that is what is currently on appeal. So I called the 800 and asked "do I REALLY need to fill another form out" to which the gentleman replied NO!! It is on appeal do NOT fill out 2nd paperwork, because the VA is working on my case and as it is progressing the system recognizes that I now qualify for certain benefits and it automatically generates the letters to be sent. So I guess it is a good thing because it shows progress on my appeal and that I do qualify for TDIU which hopefully the BVA will award. So as I have learned to do I came to hadit to see if anyone else had this similar experience and to share my experience with you so that maybe I can save you sometime and confusion as well. Because if I had filled those forms out the system would recognize it as NEW and not on appeal, and that my friends would have led to another battle.

Thank you all for the info I am overwhelmed with joy for the help. I have put in a request for my military records per the archives and as well as made an appointment to get a copy of c-file so I can see what all the VA has and doesn't have. And I can go from there. Boy when they said the Army will give you 100 just to take back 99 they weren't joking!!! Been in a 20 year battle with the VA because they didn't want to give service connection for any of my issues including the broken hip I received because they apparently or should I say conveniently had no record, luckily I have what I did save from in-service or I would have been SOL.

Thank you for your response. I did look at my DD214 and it says AR 635-200 Chapter 11, Entry Level Performance and Conduct. And the only "in service" treatment records they have are my entry level exam and the ones I sent which were only Dr notes and sick halls slips. I didnt have an exit exam or anything such as that I was on crutches. So according to the VA these are the ONLY records they have if that is true then everything I have claimed is in what I gave them.

Hello, I am curious how I should proceed and I will give a little background to my claim.... I was given a Chapter 12 in 1999 for what they called "failure to adapt". Before this I had broken my hip in training and was on crutches for several months ( almost 1yr) I had became very depressed that resulted in me overdossing on my meds and falling down 3 flights of Barracks stairs. I was then rushed to a nearby hospital by ambulance where I was medicated and treated for the depression. 1 week later I return to post from the hospital and they finalized out-processing and in 2weeks I was out of the Army and still on crutches. At the time I did not realize it was a civilian hospital and that I needed to get the medical records myself (I was barely 19yrs old just a dumb kid) flash forward 20 years and I am just now finding out the VA didn't use any of this information because what they told me at the time I filed in 2000 was they "lost all my medical records" so I believed that meant ALL records. So now I try to obtain these myself and the hospital states they PURGED all medical records and now I have no way to prove I was there or my claim. I thought for sure if I could get the civilian records it would show proof but now I am being told those records no longer exist, does this mean I have no more claim to fight for? I also noticed the VA didn't request my records from the correct duty station when they processed my original claim they requested records from Ft Hood Tx but the incident occurred in Ft Lee Virginia and it is noted in my original claim that I had records in Ft Lee. As proof by the "medical information release statement" I signed giving them permission to get these records back in 1999. And the only reason I noticed this was because in my original C&P exam the Dr mentioned they had my records from Ft. Hood but nothing about Ft Lee. I went ahead and requested a copy of my records from the archives and am waiting for those now. Hopefully there will be some type of record from Ft Lee in there. I also have scheduled an appointment to see my c-file as well so I can verify if they used my records from Ft Lee or not and then I can go from there. I am just at a loss on what I should do because they screwed me when they Chaptered me out rather than for medical because of my hip which was the ORIGINAL discharge they were gonna do but they kept telling me when I got to Texas to go to Ft Hood and they would take care of me except when I did get to Ft Hood they told me I had to go to the VA and that is how I got to where I am. I started with 10% for hip 20 years and now I am at 50% (combined rating) The only reason I was able to get service connection for my hip is because I had copies of Dr excuses, profiles, and xray notes where he requested a bone scan that of coarse was never done due to me being discharged. But VA has denied PTSD, and in their words "any mental health disability" so they refuse to acknowledge anything for mental health. I am at a loss because the records from the civilian hospital were my proof and it has been PURGED....i am looking for ANY advise....thanks in advance