ADodge

I am a Certified DAV Service Officer and whoever told you not to put in for unemployability was lazy and did not want to give you one form to fill out for Unemployability. I am bitter towards some NSO because they don't care. I am presently in Philadelphia but I am leaving here this weekend and I am coming to work in the trenches, just like I did here. I will be moving to Tampa to be will my children and find some comrades to help. My NSO here is sad to see me go because I brought them packets with the veterans information to be processed. I apologize for your being mislead. I have more than I can do here but my season is up here. I volunteer my services and perhaps if some of those big wigs were volunteers for real, their passion for helping comrades would be better.

I think they are about the same DAV, AL it really doesn't matter. Some don't know enough, some don't care, some are good but extremely rare and if their office is adjacent, upstairs or just in the same building as the Veteran Affairs Office, and then there are problems. They have coffee, smoke breaks, breakfast, lunch and so on with VA employees and confusion sets in. They don't want to stop doing these things with their VA friends and they screw the veterans or allow VA friends to screw the veterans. So the bottom line is to keep close contact with VA and your claims.

I maybe wrong or off, so just ignore me.

JMO

"Since the Nexus is proven by that Doctor wouldn't the Local VA have to settle the case on that bases? I mean isn't that why that do the review before they issue the SOC?"   
Yes, I agree with that and also  that the C & P exam fully established your nexus......
but half of these RO people seem to be illiterate or too lazy to do this stuff right.
Hadit should be the VA training program for raters. They would learn SO MUCH.
 
 
 

OK SO in the continuing saga of this claim having been settled and now at 100%.  After going to the regional office in person and telling them to get rid of the dependent claim for my 20 year old daughter that was on my claim stuck there from the first claim.  That dependent claim that I had tried several times to remove back in 2015 and ebenefits had tried unsuccessfully to remove in 2015.  I was finally able to get it through SOMEONES THICK SKULL that there should never have been a dependent claim for my daughter on my claim.  And had they look at the original claim they would have been able to see this.  Personally I believe there are individuals that work at the Boston Regional Office that know all the tricks in the book of how to delay an approved claim.  Like how to set it on the back burner so they don't have to work that claim right away!!!  Now that might sound paranoid, but when I think about what is contained in my file and the crap I have been though with that office I prefer to call it intuition.  
So I hand delivered all the information regarding the need for a compassionate appeal to accelerate my claims and appeals due to terminal illness.  And then I told them that I found it unacceptable that fact that my claim show it was settled and all I was waiting on was the letter, then it was booted back to a waiting for more evidence status there by causing the settlement date to be pushed up to NOVEMBER 2016 sometime!!!  That November was unexceptionable.  Especially considering the error was theirs!!!  The person I was speaking to was all prepared to just brush me off until I said I wasn't gong to be brushed off.  That if he could not guarantee me that this issue of the dependent being the only stuck point having now been cleared up, which should now move my claim back up.  Then I will wait to speak to someone who can help me.  His supervisor or the person who actually works my claim!!!!  And so he told me to wait and I waited for about 20 minutes, while he disappeared down some hall.  When he came back he said it was all taken care of.  My increase should take affect in August and the claim would be worked on August 7th.  So I guess that is when they will figure out what they owe me retro.  
The next day when I signed on to ebenefits it reflected these changes it also reflected that I had requested a video conference with my form 9 on my appeal.  
I have, as this site is named so very well  "HAD IT" with all this BULLSHIT crap. HOOPS we have to jump through, number of times we are made to feel we are running around in circles, chasing our tails and getting nothing done.  We all have lives we want to live that DO NOT and SHOULD NOT  REVOLVE AROUND THE CONSTANT STRUGGLE with the VA!!!   For CHRIST SAKE every VETERAN that ends up going through this SHIT, ends up NEEDING a GOOD 6 MONTHS WORTH OF THERAPY, then ONE HELL OF A GREAT VACATION!!! Just so they can get back to LIVING LIFE!!!.   
I am so GOD DAM EXHAUSTED FROM FIGHTING with them.  And it isn't over YET!!!  I STILL HAVE TO FIGHT THIS ONE LAST APPEAL!!!   I HAVE TO LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT AND WIN THIS APPEAL!!
AND I WILL!!!!    
 
 
 

Thanks everyone for the input and advice.  It really has been helpful.  Does anyone now how long it take for them to decide exactly how much is owed retro and when the 100 actually kicks in.  I'm asking because every time I check ebenefits for an estimated time when the claim will be settled or closed the date keeps getting further and further away?  First it was July 8, 2018 then July 11, then July 25, then August 9, then September 12, 2016.  I mean what the hell???  I feel like they are just dangling this decision over my head like bait of some sort!!!  Am I jumping high enough for the powers that be or are they wanting me to jump just a little higher????  I would LMFAO but it really isn't funny now!  

I suppose my saying I won't NOD the denial of the previous COPD claim and other items is just from being so GD tired.  Maybe when my get up and go comes back I might.  But I just want to see the larger appeal settled and maybe enjoy life for a while. This Chemo is kicking my ass lately!!!  So that just might be why I feel like that.  I'm sure in a few months once I get more Iron built up and I have gotten use to this new Chemo I will regain that fight back.  Then it will be a different mind set.  
As far as it goes for the SMC S I didn't apply for that it seems to state I am being granted it, I think?  But I am not really sure why?  That is what I was asking.  What exactly is the criteria for getting SMC house bound with an S rating at 100%?    I am married so I do get the allowance for having a husband.  I also have a 20 year old daughter with a learning disability who I am hoping will try to go to Art School MAYBE this year???  I finally found her an advocate that can help her with her disability and help her get the services she needs.   
Sometimes it is NEVER ENDING!!!!
Aileen 

So I hope I am not JINXING myself.  I have received notice from the DAV and also unofficially from ebenefits that a combined evaluation of S has been assigned as a result of the following actions:  and it goes on to list at least 10 different actions.  Some don't apply at this time and some just restate decisions that were already in place or made in the past. such as the rating of 60% for Asthma.  And the denial for COPD, restrictive lung disease, anxiety disorder and idiopathic hypersomnia.  It states the effective date which I feel is wrong but I wont NOD it since I currently have a NOD in for an effective date that goes back to 1984.  I also am not going to contest or appeal the COPD or restrictive lung disease decision for the same reason.  It's been hard enough just getting them to recognize the fact that the Asthma an in-service injury for Christ sake!!! 
Anyway I was given 70% !!!! for the PTSD (MST) which was very surprising!!!  And then Entitlement to individual unemployability.  And then there is this sentence that I don't understand which I hope someone can explain and answer what this benefit is.  I have read the official regulation regarding this benefit but needless to say it simply confused me even more because none of the regulations are written in plain and simple ENGLISH!!!  (And that really pisses me off  considering they were suppose to rewrite all these regulation so that they were in plain ENGLISH.  But that has not happened!  And for the ones that they think they have done that too!!!  Well I don't know who it is that is translating the complicated English to Plain English but who or whom ever it is, DOES NOT SPEAK OR KNOW EXACTLY WHAT PLAIN ENGLISH IS!!!)  
Sorry I had to say that.  Got distracted.  Anyway on with my question.  I don't under stand what the ENTITLEMENT TO SPECIAL MONTHLY COMPENSATION BASED ON HOUSEBOUND CRITERIA BEING MET IS GRANTED FROM Then there is a date.  
So if someone could explain that to me and I also was wondering if there is a site someplace where I could figure what the retroactive amount will be.  (I realize the VA will figure it out for me but I would like to double check what they are figuring)  Ya so I guess I don't trust them 100%   Does anybody else???
Thanks for the input and help.  Aileen

OK So the C&P exam was done and the doctor found that YES it was More than likely that the Asthma is a service related injury that began in 1980 soon after boot camp.  (As I have always claimed!!)  And that the current disability is a result of this service related treatment of this Asthma. But I will quote what the findings of what the DRO wrote on my SOC. Better yet I will attempt to scan and attach a copy.  Of course this time I will make sure all the personal info is deleted from the pages!!!  LMFAO.  SOC scan1.pdf         So I keep reading this and say WTF????  I wonder if anyone else has that reaction.  Or maybe I am just thick as a brickwall!!!  Of course I have filled out the form 9 and sent it to my rep to send it in for an appeal.  And I have again restated that case and have again asked that the VA CUE themselves.  Based on a couple of reason.  So now I wait.   Would love any feed back that might be given!!! 

So I'm wondering if anyone else has ever had a C&P exam that they do not have to be at??  I did this past Thursday!!! I found out about it because for the past week the ebenifits site has not been working right for me.  I cannot check my status or most information that is of a personal nature.  I keep getting this error code.  I reported it. Talked to a tech on the phone he took all the necessary information and said they would contact me via email.  Well that was over a week ago.  But I keep checking to see if they have fixed the problem.  But they haven't! Anyway I called again an was taking to someone at the 800 # that you would call about status.  And I happen to click into the VA appointment area.  And Holy SHIT there is an appointment that had been scheduled at 0800 Thursday!  And I knew nothing about it.  And the appointment indicates it is a C&P appointment!!???  WTF??  And what is really screwy is that I was at the VA on Thursday because I have a standing appointment on Thursdays 2 1400.  So I ask this person on the phone what they hell that is all about, considering I was never notified of the appointment and the status appears that it was CANCELED by ME???  And believe me I am really pissed at that point!!! 
SO this person explains to me that this appointment was scheduled by the VA and it was a C&P appointment but the type that I don't need to attend.  I said REALLY?  And can you tell me exactly how they perform an exam without the patient being present??  And this person tells me they use the records they have from the VA???  I told him that was going to be the shortest exam in VA history considering I only go to one area of the VA for a class which wouldn't help in any way with my current claims, so honestly EXACTLY WHAT INFORMATION and who is giving this MEDICAL information that supposedly has anything to do with me and any of the claims I have open at this time?   This person said they didn't know and that these exams are a normal part of all claims????
 
WELL I don't know about anyone else on this site.  But I certainly find that rather STRANGE that a Veteran can have a C&P exam done with out being physically present???  I also want to know EXACTLY the who, what, when and where of any medical information that was obtained Thursday morning and EXACTLY how it is to be used as far as any open claim I have at this time with the VA?  

So I'm wondering if anyone else has ever had a C&P exam that they do not have to be at??  I did this past Thursday!!! I found out about it because for the past week the ebenifits site has not been working right for me.  I cannot check my status or most information that is of a personal nature.  I keep getting this error code.  I reported it. Talked to a tech on the phone he took all the necessary information and said they would contact me via email.  Well that was over a week ago.  But I keep checking to see if they have fixed the problem.  But they haven't! Anyway I called again an was taking to someone at the 800 # that you would call about status.  And I happen to click into the VA appointment area.  And Holy SHIT there is an appointment that had been scheduled at 0800 Thursday!  And I knew nothing about it.  And the appointment indicates it is a C&P appointment!!???  WTF??  And what is really screwy is that I was at the VA on Thursday because I have a standing appointment on Thursdays 2 1400.  So I ask this person on the phone what they hell that is all about, considering I was never notified of the appointment and the status appears that it was CANCELED by ME???  And believe me I am really pissed at that point!!! 
SO this person explains to me that this appointment was scheduled by the VA and it was a C&P appointment but the type that I don't need to attend.  I said REALLY?  And can you tell me exactly how they perform an exam without the patient being present??  And this person tells me they use the records they have from the VA???  I told him that was going to be the shortest exam in VA history considering I only go to one area of the VA for a class which wouldn't help in any way with my current claims, so honestly EXACTLY WHAT INFORMATION and who is giving this MEDICAL information that supposedly has anything to do with me and any of the claims I have open at this time?   This person said they didn't know and that these exams are a normal part of all claims????
 
WELL I don't know about anyone else on this site.  But I certainly find that rather STRANGE that a Veteran can have a C&P exam done with out being physically present???  I also want to know EXACTLY the who, what, when and where of any medical information that was obtained Thursday morning and EXACTLY how it is to be used as far as any open claim I have at this time with the VA?  

Ain't that the truth ADodge  if they don't kill ya first.

I found this by accident while searching the BVA today:


Better than a daisy CUE, this one is a beautiful Rose Garden

And, like my SMC CUE, it grew out of a Section 1151 issue.
very unusal to find 1151 CUE awards

"ORDER
The veteran's motion to revise a June 1959 Board decision on
the basis of clear and unmistakable error is granted. The
veteran's motion to revise an August 1998 Board decision on
the basis of clear and unmistakable error is denied as moot."


(It was a 1959 decision and BVA correctly denied the other moot CUE claim because they properly awarded this one, with 41 years retro!

http://www.va.gov/vetapp00/files1/0006555.txt

Also this goes to show what I say here from time to time ...

CUE is NOT a one shot deal.

Gastone not really sure what Redacted Evidence of Record you are talking about??    There never was evidence missing even in 2014.  They just decided that my Asthma was no service connected due to allergies???  Of course the VA never stated EXACTLY what allergy it was that I had that was so bad to have caused me to have Asthma so bad that the symptoms followed me from Florida to Georgia to Great Lakes???  And yet it  was an Allergy that I didn't seem to have before I joined the Navy???  But that Allergy was so bad that I ended up having to be on medication for the Asthma on a daily basis starting from the time I began having a problem breathing through the 3.5 years left to my enlistment.  I personally think that there was a fungus or bacteria in the Air condition in the Seaman apprentice Training barracks that I happen to breath in and that since they never checked to see if that were the case that for over 3 years I had this hellish fungus growing in my lungs or a bacteria that was incubating in my lungs and that eventually it got treated with the proper antibiotic but not until it killed at least 10% of my lung capacity with scarring in the left lower lobe of my lungs.  
You know I just thought of a really important fact in the history of this Asthma I have dealt with since 1980.  In 1981 every Chest X-ray that was done always had a question of possible Atelectasis in the Left lower lobe.  Which meant there was possible scaring in that area.   Now all the X-ray slips from the Naval Hospital radiology department just state the X-ray is a normal study.  But if those reports are matched with what the Doctor notes state it does indicate that there is possible scaring or what is known as Atelectasis.  Isn't it strange how the Doctors notes differ from the X-ray reports!!!  So I wonder how hard it will be to match all those X-ray reports with Doctor notes.  And if I do this then I believe ( and of course this is just me) that to do this would show what should be considered new evidence to further support that claim back in 1984!!! 
Well guess what I will be doing this weekend!!!  LMFAO 

Consider yourself blessed.  My DAV experience was the exact opposite.

ROF LMFAO  Thanks I needed that laugh!!!! 

What bothers me is the top paragraph of page 4 of 8 .   To Quote it states " The effective date of this grant is September 9, 2014.  Service connection has been established from the day VA received your claim.  When a claim of service connection is received more than one year after discharge from active duty, the effective date is the date VA received the claim."   SO What I gather from this statement is even thought it states that they had my file in front of them at the time this decision was made, they did NOT look through my file and see that I HAD PREVIOUSLY filed a claim for SC Asthma!!  And that  the previous claim was in fact filed the same year I was discharged from the Navy!!!  There was no new information to supply except for the fact that my condition had gotten worse over the years.  That is all that had changed.  My FEV-1 was a lot worse but the medication side of it was basically the same. ANd that is how it normally is with Asthma.  Some days the breathing tests can look good and some days they look real bad.  IN my case though by 1983 the Navy Doctor I was seeing while active duty was talking about Early COPD or some kind of restrictive lung disease.  But as I looked through my medical records I don't see any notes like that from him!!!  Why am I not surprised!!!!  I have gone though my records and what I have come to realize is that no matter what you are treated for while you are active duty, unless there is an undeniable diagnosis to be made it will not be listed in your medical record.  Such as the fact that I was diagnosed with endometriosis while I was active duty.  And it specifically states that I have endometriosis through no fault of my own!!! Get that!!! I didn't give myself or cause myself or no act of mine cause me to have endometriosis!!! Several times it states in my medical record that I have Asthma.  It does not state that I developed Asthma while I was in the service.  But that diagnosis suddenly shows up in my medical record right after I finished Seaman Apprentice training and reported for my first duty duty station.  I was then offered a medical discharge and said NO WAY!! I hadn't joined the Navy to get Asthma and be sent home.  I joined to become a Hospital Corpsman.and other things but well the best laid plans of men and mice right!!! SO every year that I couldn't complete the running part of my PT test I was given a medical waiver due to having Asthma.  Boy I'll tell you this really pisses me off and this is just Asthma.  I can most certainly sympathize with those Vets that have had to fight for Compensation for an illness or diagnosis of an illness that is so much worse!!!! 
I think I am going to go and have a talk with my Congressman about this BS.  Because as far as I see it that is all it is!!! Either someone was just too damn lazy to actually look at my record or someone just decided to make some quick decision thinking I would look any further into the matter.  This would have totally slipped by me if I hadn't been denied the PTSD Claim, Because once that happened I started to look for help with my claim and the eBenefits site kept listing that I had picked some Veterans organization back in 1984 to represent me in filing my Appeals???  And I was thinking why the hell would I do that???  Then the person I called from eBenefits said it was the DAV in Chicago.  And I started to think about it and slowly it all came back to me.  Now wouldn't that have been grand!!! 
I do have to say thank you to those on this site for educating me though about getting copies of my files and all the other VERY useful KNOWLEDGE I have gotten from this site.  You have all been invaluable to me!!!! I am so VERY GRATEFUL!!!!
Aileen  

OK Never Mind disregard the Question about Peggy!!!  LMFAO  I realize now that it is the 800 number on ebenefits!!!!  ADHD is horrible when the meds wear off!!!!!
 

I had a friend with 4th stage ovarian cancer that was reversed using cannabis oil.  Yup, pot might actually have a medical use after all...some Dr in Canada cured 5k people with the stuff...now they want to toss him into the pokey instead of fund his work.  Go figure...
 
BUT, the VA will be sidestepping this for some time to come.  The deal with cancer, you need to put in a request to expedite your appeal.  Just do it. I dont think it would hurt anything.  If you get lucky, oh well, if not, you dont lose anything because you are going to be in line no matter what. Don't worry about any letters from any doctors, just write a nice, brief factual letter about your condition requesting that your case gets expedited, collect any non VA health records on your cancer if there are any, and upload it on EBenefits site.,Then, call up Peggy and ask her to file the form requesting that your case gets expedited.  Then let it go.  No stress needed!  Just do something that brings joy into your life, you are better off happy than not. and this isn't worth the stress.

I Agree with you pwrslm.  And a little over a week ago when I met with the congressman  who had an open meeting for  his district in Salem MA.  I brought this to his attention.  The fact that a lot of appeals that are backed up into the system are a matter of technical human error!  That a majority of these claims should simply be looked over at a regional level.  And not be held up in the appeal process of waiting almost 6 years!!! Which in the end either adds more retro years onto the claim or causes the claim to be shot back to the regional office for review anyway.  And what a slap in the face that is for the Vet who has been waiting all those years, who had known all those years that is exactly what will happen to their appeal!!! Yet no one at the Regional Office would listen or pay attention to what the Veteran was asking or explaining!!!  And why is that???  Personally I believe it's because for the most part those that work at the Regional offices 1. Don't want to hear what the Veteran has to say and 2. Don't believe that the Veteran ever knows what they are talking about (as in the Veteran doesn't know how to apply the laws or regulations to their case like the regional worker does)!!! 
It's like my NOD.  My NOD has been filed at the last moment because I was the one that brought it to the attention of the DAV rep that has been assigned to help me with my cases that I felt the Regional Office should have taken the 1984 claim into consideration when they made a decision about the Effective date of my claim. I asked her why they hadn't and if I had to file a NOD over that or could I just ask someone at the Regional Office why they hadn't taken that original claim into consideration?   It took her over a month to get back to me with an answer! Thank god  I already   had the NOD ready to send out!  
But since I found out how long the Appeal process can take I decided to call the Records Management Department and check with them about what was up.  Oh well lets see its about a five year backlog  on appeals.  I could file a CUE if I am not mistaken by the information that was given to me I can not have an Appeal and a CUE filed at the same time!!!  And that I might be better off filing a CUE because that is like a claim and won't take as long as an Appeal.  But of course this person was not telling me what to do or even suggesting what I should do she was just telling me about the amount of time each process has behind it. BUT what she doesn't say is what is involved with filing a CUE!!!!    All she said was that it might behoove me to hire a lawyer or to get some help with my claim so that I fully understand what each action is before I do anything to the NOD I currently have filed.  SO then I asked what happens when a Veteran has an illness like cancer or leukemia?  And Time is not on their side any more.  She said that SOMETIMES That is taken into consideration!!! If your Doctor will verify that you only have so much time left!!!
REALLY!!!!  WTF???  I Have CML  It is a rare form of  leukemia!  I am currently on my 2nd form of Chemotherapy.  I will have blood work done in a few weeks which will tell me if I have had some level of Molecular response to this Chemotherapy.   I'm Keeping  my fingers crossed and hoping for the best!!!  The last Chemotherapy I took  was good for almost a year!  Then it suddenly stopped working and that is just the way it is which this type of Leukemia and the Chemo drugs used to treat it.  Sometimes they work forever and sometimes they just stop working.  Then you have to look at transfusions and other messy types of Chemos!!!  Things like that have a tendency to shorten ones lifeline!!! Know what I mean!!!   But it is not like my Doctor can really say one way or the other about my prognosis.  He is as hopeful as I am!!!  We are both hoping that I will have a major molecular response and then stay there forever!!!   What exactly is it that the VA wants my oncologist to write.  That I will be DEAD in less than a year???? Honestly!!! Whose Doctor is going to write such a thing about their patient??   SO because of this I am a bit concerned and worried what the future will bring and is there a time when I should honestly think about having my  Doctor weigh in on this whole mess???  
It really makes me sick thinking about all the Veterans out there who wait so long over such stupid oversights!!! 
 
Sorry about the bitching. guess it's just one of those days plus I spilled coffee on my keyboard and now have to get a new laptop because this one is dying even as I write this!!!.  I do want to say thanks for all the advice!!! Everyone is always so very helpful on this site and I know I would be totally out in left field without a  game in play without the help I Have gotten from everyone here!!! 
Aileen
BTW it only took me 2 hours to write this note!!!! LMFAO        

One would think that as many remands that the BVA makes, that the Sr. member in charge of ratings in the RO would take this job more seriously!
According to the AL, more than 55% of appeals contain fundamental mistakes by the rating agency.  That's more than 1/2 of all appeals, which peaked last year at 433,000 pending appeals.  This is 215+K mistakes, which means that 215k Vets and their families will have to do without in many cases, sometimes living in poverty for years because someone got into a hurry and did not competently review the Vets medical history (which is one of the common errors).
These numbers (or approximations) do not reflect corrections that were made after initial claim decisions were made, before they actually got to the BVA (excludes de novo reviews, which occurs in every appeal before it gets to the BVA, when they issue the SOC) increasing the wait time for an appeal to get to the BVA and be assigned a case number  Many times, after a decision is made, CUE's are corrected before they can be forwarded to the BVA, requiring months more for benefits to be awarded.  The sloppy work at the RO is the core cause of this whole mess.  If the job was being done right, the first time, appeal ratings would drop by around 50% or more.

I  do agree that allergies can cause Asthma..you are correct...but I wonder if the VA even considered your SMRs properly.
I will loose internet in seconds. I am in a large cloud.
I am putting this BVA decision here, so not to loose it...as it could have some relevance to your older denial:
http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp14/Files7/1453495.txt

" The denial stated THE EVIDENCE DOES NOT ESTABLISH SERVICE CONNECTION FOR THE FOLLOWING BRONCHIAL ASTHMA DUE TO ALLERGY.  Bronchial Asthma denied. (Funny that is what causes Asthma Allergies."
Did you or the rep specifically state "Due to Allergy" on the claim?
Do your SMRs reveal you did, in fact develop allergies in the military?
Can you scan and attach here their reasons and bases for the 1984 claim denial and the evidence they used?
Obviously, with the successful outcome of the 2014 claim for the asthma , the VA certainly considered your SMRs but it seems they missed something in the older denial....so maybe this would even by a 38 CFR 3.156 claim.
I know it is confusing but if we can see the older decision (and we might need the newer one too) we can determine whether there is cause for potentially more retro due to a better EED.
Did the 2014 claim state the asthma was 'due to' allergies?
Cover C file number, name, address, prior to scanning and attaching it here.
I focused on the 'due to ' part because statements like that can lock us in to one theory of entitlement when other theories could be 'due to exposure to chemicals, via your MOS etc etc.
 
 
 

I totally agree with Green! and I am eventually going to end up hiring an Attorney to handle my claim, whereas, it is far too complicated and stressful for me to handle on my own.  I am already approved at 60% for my pulmonary disease and that is for Asthma.  But that claim does not end there.  Because when I was discharged in 1984 I had already been diagnosed with Asthma, COPD and Restrictive Lung Disease.
 When I joined the Navy in 1980 there was nothing wrong with my lungs.  I began having problems breathing when I was in apprentice training in Florida! And believe me when I tell you those two weeks of Apprentice training were the scariest two weeks of my life. Every night I was taken to the ER because I couldn't breath.  I would wake up wheezing and gasping for air!!! The Ambulance would arrive they would slap an O2 mask on me and hit me with an Epi shot and fly to the ER. There I would get another Epi shot and breathing treatments.   This would totally freak me out.  Every night I would spend at least two hours in the ER then go back to the Barracks all hyped up on the Asthma medication!  I finally graduated and went to my first command.  
When I got there I was offered a medical discharge and refused it.  I refused it because I didn't join the Navy only to be discharge and sent home.  I wanted to be a hospital corpsman and there was NO WAY I was going to let them discharge me after going through that hellish experience at Apprentice training.  And I felt that it was just the building and the AC, because I had never had a problem with breathing so I kind of blew it off.  I was given a PT waiver for the annual PT testing and that was that.
 I never really thought too much about it.  And even when I went to Great Lakes I thought it was the extreme cold that kept causing me problems.  I had Pneumonia several times while stationed there and the Doctors said that was what damaged my lungs.  And by the time I turned 23 I was diagnosed with Restrictive Lung Disease and shortly after that COPD.  I really didn't take any of these diagnoses that serious simply because I was so young and felt that the only people who really suffer from those diseases are Old People.  After I was discharged I think one of my Doctors may have told me to put a claim into the VA.  And I think I did, but I think it must have been rejected or denied.  And I must have just thought "Oh Well!"     
SO that is all water over the bridge until it comes to the here and now!!!  I have been requesting a copy of ALL my records for sometime now.  My Congressman's office has also been asking for a copy of all my records for some time now.  His office is now starting to get a little pissed that they are having a problem with this request!!! Umm gee is it the same problem I have been having?  Now I know the VA has a copy of my Service Medical Records and I have requested a copy from them so why the delay?  Why not just give me a copy?  I just don't understand what the big deal is.  I do understand there are THOUSANDS of other veterans who have also requested copies of their records.  But don't they have enough people working at the VA to make those copies?  
I can certainly understand that there may not be enough personnel employed in Saint Louise where a good percentage of Military records have been stored for years.  And it may take them a long time to go through all those archived Service records and pull the exact record and then do what they need to do to get that record to the service member.  I mean that must really be one hell of a job.  But the VA already has a copy of my Service Medical Record as they have referred to it on several occasions after I have had a C&P exam.  In fact I believe they also have a full copy of my entire Service Record because they have referred to having that also. And I did ask for a complete copy of ever bit of information they had in their files that contained any reference to me or my service in the Navy or Marines.  (got a copy of a letter off the Federal Right to Information site and sent it along with the official request form and a copy of my license and SSI Card which I also had notarized for the signature.)    Anyway as I posted in a previous post (that sounds like an Oxymoron, LMFAO)  I am just playing the hurry up and wait game!!! RIGHT!!! 
So once I received all that I have requested, I will again contact the Attorney I had previously spoke to and just turn everything over to her and let her handle it!!!     SO I won't really give up!!! I just sometimes hate dealing with some of the individuals that I personally have come in contact with that work for the VA.   There have been a few that have been nice, they simply do their job and thanks so very much.  I do appreciate it and have told those individuals that too! 
There is just one more thing I must comment on.  My father was a US Marine.  He served in Korea.  He was injured over there when a Tank blew up.  His injuries were to his back, his legs, his hearing and some were internal.  He also suffered what was then called battle fatigue now known as Combat PTSD.  Back then there was no claim for his Mental Illness and we as his family suffered through his Mental Illness we also suffered through his battle with the VA for every percentage he was allowed.  He wasn't given 100% until I was in the Navy.  I remember this, because one of my sister wrote to me and told me how happy he was about it!!!!   When I became disabled in 1997 I never considered filing with the VA mostly because I remember what my father went through and thought there was no way I was ever going to put my family though that!!!  And then about a year ago a VSO told me I really should put a claim in.  That the VA had changed.   And they have changed!!! They have changed a LOT from the days when my father began his battle with them!!!   
I know that at times I may write that it seems fruitless and that I feel like I am battling the Evil Empire but I know that the current VA system has CHANGED and is NOTHING like the way it was when my father dealt with them.  And all I can say is THANK YOU to all those who cared enough to make sure that CHANGE did come about to this part of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.  And though more can be done  I for one am thankful for the changes that have come about.  
 
Can you tell I am feeling better today!!!! 
  

I completely "get" how it stresses you out.  Trust me in 14 years of this stuff, I got it over and over.  Berta says if you dont have PTSD before you apply at VA, you will after.  
I recommend you hire a lawyer that you are really comfortable with.  Give em every speck of information you have, then forget about it until you get the letter.  

brokensoldier,
I certainly appreciate your willingness to share your perception of Hadit and it's members.  I have a different viewpoint however. 
I don't see the site as negative.  I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion and this site allows opinions to be expressed.  I have visited other sites on the web that are supposed to be providing help to veterans and my opinion is that many of the members use those sites as means to show how much they think they know/express their opinion and in doing so they simply shut people down.  Often times you can read responses that are akin to "Hey Dummy, hire a VSO and all with be right in the world (and your claim)". I find many of the responses in these other forums to be offensive and belittling. 
I don't view Hadit as that type of forum, people are welcome to ask questions or even vent if they need to, and those that have experience provide ideas, suggestions, and support.  I understand that you feel that the VA may be presented unfairly through these discussions and the occasional venting.  I believe we can all agree that the VA is tasked with an enormous responsibility and that there are some great, even fantastic, VA employees.  At the same time I think we need to acknowledge that there are many veterans that have been treated poorly.  Any doubt of that point can be easily dispelled by spending some time reading through decisions at:
http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/bva.jsp
 
Green