reform302

dear folks i'll try to lay this out without being too wordy so here is the situation: my husand spent two tours in viet nam, was shot twice and blown up once, (his best friend stepped on the mine) he stayed functional through the years until he was sent underground, he was a coal miner. in 2002 we filed a claim with the va and recieved 80% non-military related. at the age of 50 he started having grand mal seizures. his health has gotten progressively worse. in and out of the hospital with numerous problems including gastric bleeding. last year he got sick and was throwing up blood (civilian hospital) i took him to the er and they scoped him could not find where he was bleeding from, sent him home. apparently he continued to bleed, our doctor demanded he go to the er at a different hospital, where he recieved 8 tranfusions. he has a recurrent skin rash, and now has pain in his toes, heels and its moving up his legs, many days its hard for him to put his feet on the floor. he has jungle rot in his privates and on his feet. he was exposed to agent orange many times although there are no defomities to the children. monday the 12th we will meet with our va rep and register at the va hospital, the rep told me not to mention agent orange to the doctors, just his symptoms. i really didn't question this because he was going out of town on a family emergency and he wants to handle our claim. the va has all his records with 3 doctors stating he has ptsd. he was in a private facility for 28 days and recieved counciling 3 times a day. will they still require a C & P? each of these doctors probably have better creditials than the va doctors in fact i'm sure of it and the facility he was in was only 2nd to betty ford. when we see the rep i just want to be prepared, and why has it taken so long for the va to make a decision? by the way he was a marine sniper. thanks in advance

i am new to this site, but as i told tbird (love the name) my husband has a claim in. the dav is handling this for us but i continue to stay active in following up. i actually got pretty radical and wrote to sen obama regarding this whole situation, then my congressman. maybe i am an optimist but, well gee, there's a whole lot of people running for office with the additional title of commander of the entire military as a part of that job, so considering there are millions of vets who could sway the outcome of the election, maybe they will become active in the plight of vets. by the way, i am also a vet, everyone in my family are vets, excpect mom. one son just returned from iraq and my oldest son was in afganastan. i would not hesitate to go in their place, as would my husband, (not that i would like to see the grass from the wrong side). the military is federal and still allowed age discriminate, how come? but you guys, when bob woodward brought in the cameras to walter reed all of a sudden all the politcos were apalled. those conditions did not just happen, isn't that where the president goes for his annual physical? this is why there must be a president for the people, we are the people. lastly, i sat last night read the horror stories of disabled vets and i cried. there is and will never be justification for any of our treatment by a government who had no problem asking us to give our lives for this country. my dad died at 52 after serving in wwii, korea and viet nam, he taught me something and when times get tough i just remember what he said "don't let the SOB's win". thanks for listening. remember we are the people.