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Inarticulate&Distorted
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Posts posted by Inarticulate&Distorted
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My Commisary letter has disappeared from Eben as well. Good thing i.printed out a bunch of them for my records. As we all know, Eben is a horrible website and it's new counterpart Vets.gov aint any better
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Its almost a year now since i was approved 100% for IU and Total and Permanent. should i be expecting this form in the mail from the VA or should i be proactive and fill one out and send it in? Opinions would be appreciated, or even better, a weblink to the appropriate regulations.
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Robert Friedman out of Everett Washington got me everything i have. Took about a year, very thorough and no BS.
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On 11/28/2018 at 10:51 AM, vetquest said:
Remember there is such a thing as service aggravated. If they accepted you as healthy at MEPS without a waiver you were accepted as healthy. Trying to blame a condition on pre-existing is pretty difficult.
This right here is another way to look at your Claim as well. If they want to give you the ammunition for Aggravated by Service then start building on that.
We should use all the tools available when fighting for our Claims.
Sometimes an Examiner or the VA itself inadvertantly gives these little gems to further our battles. Keep an eye out for them.
Once again, i just want to say, if you go the IMO route i HIGHLY suggest reading up on IMO's and making sure your specialist does it how the VA Rater wants to see it.
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Hey man,
Take a deep look into what goes into an IMO when it comes to PTSD and Mental Health Exams. The VA rater is looking for Very Very VERY specific terminology. If this Psychologist(and you WILL meed someone with a PhD) has no experience writing Opinions for the VA, it may not even help you if he doesn't know how the phrasing needs to be. I am sure others here would be able to point you to good resources on how these IMO's need to be laid out, wish i could be more helpful.
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Hows about an update pardner....hear anything yet?
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No idea where you heard all those weird statements. Im 35 years old, T&P, IU, Mental Health, and on SSDI, so yeah thats a weird set of statements mate.
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Welcome to the Horrors of the VA system brother. You have a solid Claim, my suggestion, hire Robert Friedman and Assosciates. They specialize in PTSD and TDIU Claims, took them less than 2 years to get my Full Benefits win. Once again, just a suggestion, but 20% of your back pay if you win, but better than 0
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Strange, i could have sworn M.E.P.S. generally denies entry to anyone admitting any kind of drug usage, hell, maybe there were waivers involved but i find that hard to believe... more info would be appreciated if an opinion is being asked for
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14 hours ago, asknod said:
Someone (VA?) is blowing smoke up your rear end. I can get anyone SC for anything at any time regardless of how many times or when they got denied or in which order. Here's a pertinent example. My Vet goes to Vietnam and loads caskets on departing C-141s at TSN for 8 months. He helps unload wounded from Dustoffs. Finally, it warps him and he begins snorting smack. The AF pulls him aside and gives him a one-time shot at rehab and a clean sheet. They evac him to Wilford Hall MC at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. He is cleaned up but his psyche is irreparably damaged. They 86 him and give him a DD 257 as an incorrigible drug addict with personality disorders. I wrote this in 2015- a full year before I was accredited by VA. https://asknod.org/2015/08/20/the-good-humor-man-at-tan-son-nhut-ab/
He filed for bent brain as he left in '70. VA denied and said his Heroin and ETOH were the cause of his mental disorders. He lost 5 more times to the present (2015). I filed anew last fall and tuned up the claim with a good, rewritten stressor. No buddy letters. No evidence of PTSD or GAD (back in those days we called it Generalized Anxiety Disorder) in service. VA examined him and denied yet again this spring. Denial was for "no dx of PTSD". VA insisted he had a MDD secondary to drug addiction for 48 years. Suddenly, now, there's no mention of all those denials based on drugs being the reason he's bent. I promptly went to my nexus doctors and got a beautiful dx of PTSD due to all those human popsicles in caskets he was loading. I got the shrink to say the drugs were an attempt to self-medicate and good medical treatises on the fact that drug use doesn't cause bent brain syndrome. VA just scheduled a new c&p to rate him on Friday last. Never ever, ever depend on VES/QTC doctors to write a favorable nexus. VA denied for every reason under the sun for 48 years. I won on attempt #6 because it's a simple recipe. If you refuse to follow it, you lose. In the instant case mentioned above, you (dlove74us) are being given bogus info and told to believe it.
One thing I have learned in my 30 years of doing this is the need for essential, valid knowledge. There is a lot of incorrect info out there being disseminated to Vets-often by VSOs. Once you understand the "game", you cannot lose. This presumes you have a legitimate claim (but I treat that as a given). VA denies by depriving you of a nexus-not because you are not entitled- but because they are an Insurance Co. That's what they do. They deny and frequently in case nobody noticed. You merely have to get the nexus letter to win-even if you don't get it for 48 years.
One trick most do not realize is the old "benefit of the doubt" rule we laugh about. You file. VA denies. You get your IMO and file it with your NOD. VA is forbidden to develop negative evidence against you so the claim is now in equipoise. Equipoise = tie goes to the runner-ergo you win. You may have to go to the BVA on some contentious point of law like a jetgun claim for Hep C. In that case, you hand your IMO to a VLJ rather than a dumb-s__t rater. Bingo, you win. Let VA deny. They have to have a succinct "Finding of Fact" to deny with. Let them develop this finding so you can rebut it with a nexus. Turn their game against them. Once they commit with their negative nexus, you have the opportunity to rebut with your IMO and will win. Sadly, I see many develop their claims and think VA is going to see the light and agree with them. Not. The M 21 was not developed to grant claims. It sounds good but the manual is designed to provide the excuse needed to deny with. I buy my nexus letters for a flat $2,000 apiece. They are always bulletproof.
I've had 4 losses in about 1000 attempts since 2008. Reasons? 1) Liar (was never in Vietnam); 2) Liar (admitted to drug addiction in 1993 and then testified in 2014 he was clean as the driven snow); 3) Lied about OTH discharge; and 4) Liar (lots of UCMJ violations for more things than I can list here and most were not LOD). You win because a) you're right and b) you told the truth. If the STRs and the claims file bear out your contentions, you will always succeed. If you failed, you forgot to supply one of the needed three ingredients. If I can get a Vet SC for glioblastoma for Camp LeJeune water and it isn't on the list, then you folks can do it too. https://www.va.gov/vetapp18/files3/1815897.txt
I'm not a miracle worker nor do I profess to be one. I use VA's game against them. I suggest you do the same.
Love how you said you use the VA 's own bullshit against them. I had a Psychologost who pompusly told me, only a PhD can diagnose a MHD, how did i use that against them? Simple, i refused to see a psychiatrist or counselor, i would only use a PhD, helps when you can pick up those little tidbits of info to strengthen your case, and i know it helped me win my SSDI as well, sent them a load of my medical files, they sent me to 1 exam, from start to finish my SSDI only took 4 months.
To the original poster, keep fighting, you Win or you Die, anything less is unacceptable imo
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Just a little added information for ya.
My father is now adding his Thyroid Issues to his Claim because of this article. He was a Fireman at Grand Forks AFB from 79-83.
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I think 100% wouldnt be too off, all it would take is one bad day and Total Occupational Imparment would be there. A Rater who sees the whole picture on this Vets file would see that theres not going to be any improvement. My opinion of course. Good luck and keep us updated please.
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I want to throw a little information in here, aboit your PTSD exam marked confidential. A little while back, the VA made a decision that Mental Health exams are no longer available to us Veterans on the Blue Button, they are affraid that if we read them and dont like what is in them we will "go postal". Happened to me, happens to others, as soon as your Claim is adjucated and closed out it will show back up on the BB. It looks like you finally got an Examiner with a SOUL! hope you are doing better, as much better as we CAN be anyways, as mstmale said, please update us when you come back to Hadit.
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I tjink you are wise in gaining an accredited VA lawyer, they may be in it for the money, but at least you know you have a solid case if an attorney takes you on, they get nothing if you lose so they tend to be really picky. Good luck to you and keep us posted.
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your Claim's looking good. and as some extra info, my father has COPD, never smoked a day in his life, he was in the Fire dept from 79-83, all those chemicals they used back then are now known to be carcinogenic and caustic, get ready in another 10 years or so to file a COPD claim.
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never ever ever ever ask for a reconsideration, it burns through your 1 year to appeal time frame, and it is literally not part of the legal process with the VA, i.e. they deny you on your consideration, and you've lost your right to file a NoD because you burned through your 1 year time frame waiting on that "reconsideration"
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I think, as long as your are not sitting idly by as your Appeals timer is counting down you should be okay for now. Personal opinion, Initial Claims filing are always the worst because that is when we have the least amount of information. Good luck
Also, EBennefits is CANCER, if its your only resource, try to find a good VSO, i.e. an Advocate who may be able to point you in a better direction.
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One thing about posting here brother, more info is always better than less. If you have questions regarding your C&P exams feel free to post redacted(blotted out personal info) copies here and many of us will be glad to look at them. Do yourself a favor, find an Advocate, i personally had a hard time with Disabled Veterans of America but there are many Good hearted advocates out there from Purple Heart Assosciation and Veterans of Foriegn Wars. But you ARE off to a good start, research research research is the best weapon for your fight ahead!
Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
I understand it can be overwhelming at first, but you already did the hardest part, admiting to yourself that the Military broke you and you are now on the Hunt for just due compensation. Good luck, look forward to seeing more of your posts
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On 5/1/2018 at 4:45 AM, broncovet said:
"Deferred" means that VA is missing some information and they wont adjuticate it until some period in the future. For example, they may have requested your military records to confirm/deny a "stressor" in service, which is necessary for a PTSD rating.
IMHO, you are relying far too much on ebenefits. Ebenefits is unreliable. Its almost like I cited my next door neighbor's 9 year old girl, "Emily". "Your claim will be denied, because Emily thinks you are not sick".
"Emily's" opinion is not reliable, and we should not take it seriously, and this is the same thing with ebenefits. Dont take it seriously.
This happened to me, when i first started my Claim i was low balled at 50%, filed my NoD, was bumped to 70% Schedular, and my Infered TDIU Claim was Deferred, it pretty much means those Issues are going to go back in the process to gather more evidence, keep your chin up, Deferred doesn't mean Denied, and it means that Claimed Issue is still alive and kicking in the System.
Good Info for the Poster Bronco!
Commissary Letter
in VA.gov Questions (formerly E-Benefits)
Posted · Edited by Inarticulate&Distorted
Yes Buck its on my to.do list. Been dealing with a new house, getting married and working on Immigration for the wife. We hope to be home around September at the latest from Asia. We will get her CHAMPVA when she gets to America, and i plan to get us both a DoD ID. Plus, after we get her Permanant Residency taken care of she can get some College Education through my Chapter 35. It's a slow process all together for us, but we've learned patience is key.