[Does the VA recognize common law?]

10 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

Not meaning to hijack this thread...but on the subject of the entitled benefits

What if a veteran is 30 years retired  from the US Army  Honarably  and was getting Retirement From the Army (no comp claims)....his wife never worked  just  a homemaker  raised the children...Now  her Hubby died  ...wil she still  get  his Retirement check?  or will she need to check with SSA office? he was also getting SS Retirement.

 but what I don't know is  if she can get her SSA Started  because she never worked?.I had her to contact both the VA & SSA..

I believe she can still get a part of his Army Retirement  and part of his SS Retirement..

but I am not sure?...I had her check with them both Army & SSA

Anybody know for sure?

Here's the information on the Survivor Benefit Plan; https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/provide/sbp.html

As for social security she can get SS benefits based upon his contribution.

hth,

Annie

[Anyone have their I-9 questioned this way?]

Berta, I am so sorry for what you are having to go through. I wish I could help. This treatment of you is shameful. It looks like you are being very thorough. The only base I do not see covered is your local congressman and senator might that help? Please forgive me if you already tried that.

Best of luck on this, you and all our vets and their families deserve better,

Annie

[Nexus statement question]

A Ph.D. organic chemist (does medicinal research), offered to write a nexus statement for my husband who was just diagnosed with Parkinson's with Dementia. My husband spent 16 years at Norton AFB, six of those years were spent working at the source of the TCE plume and for another 7 years his office was primarily in that building. He also pointed out his hearing range deficit appeared to be a known side effect of chronic TCE exposure and not jet engine damage. Currently my husband is SC for hearing with a 0% rating although they did provide hearing aids that do not work well.

I have plans to get a neurotoxicologist to write a nexus statement, can you have nexus statements from several people? He is working on getting a buddy statement from a friend or two who worked in the same duty station to attest to their direct use of TCE.

Thank you,

Annie

[Hello]

Berta the fuel supervisor at Norton is probably someone my husband knew, how sad and surprising. Thank you for all your information.

My husband's father was a Marine at Camp Lejeune from 1950-1953 who was called back for Korea. He died from aspiration pneumonia secondary to Parkinson's. There is no other family history of Parkinson's prior to that. My research has led me to believe that Camp Lejeune presumptive allowance is related to TCE and Benzene water contamination.

Hubby was sent to Neurology in 2015 for Parkinson's evaluation and refused to be forthcoming. Now he's scared and is being somewhat more compliant. He has an appointment with my internist tomorrow and VA Neurology later this week. I'm in the process of lining up a movement disorder specialist and a neurotoxicologist to connect his illness with chemical exposure. It's not that I do not trust the VA I just want to make sure I have the best medical records that attribute this to his past chemical exposure and not idiopathic Parkinson's or worse Parkinsonism.

In 1991 when he retired he claimed AO exposure (at Norton and Clark AB PI). They denied him SC (he had no symptoms). But his exposure is on record. But whether or not they admit that he spent 15 years working in the building that was the source of the TCE plume that is in the ground water at Norton. They even closed a well because of that after he retired. So all the time he was there he was drinking TCE contaminated water and there is EPA documentation of that.

Just talking about this to someone helps so much. Thank you for listening to me and giving me information. It makes this feel so much less lonely although the odds feel insurmountable.

Annie

 

 

 

 

[Great Radio show with Tbird!]

My hubby and I listened and enjoyed. Congratulations on your first 20 years!

Annie and Matt

[Hello]

8 hours ago, Berta said:

to add , there is a lot to filing a JP-4 claim...that too would need a diagnosis and medical evidence that it is directly due to his exposure (proven by his MOS) to JP-4.

Was he ever at any other AFB in the list in the link and time frame above?

 

I was at Clark AFB during those dates but I was assigned to the 604th MASS (MAC Enroute Maintenance) and I was an Aircraft Maintenance Technician, Jet over 2 engines. Although the F-4's from the 405th Fighter Wing were in very close proximity to our ramp I never touched them. We frequently drove by them and worked near them.

[Hello]

Hi Berta, thank you for answering. He never touched a C-123. He spent 22 years on C-141s and occasionally C-5's (with some enroute maintenance of C-133, C-124, WC-135, and T-39),  during that time all they used was JP-4. The Air Force changed fuel in the mid 1990s and he retired in 1991. He spent his entire 22 year career exposed to JP-4.  He should have a clinic record for a severe rash from JP-4. He was prescribed a cream, bandaged and taken off draining sumps for awhile. After that he just gave up going to the clinic and there were many instances where it would run down his arms, into his armpits and torso.

[Hello]

 

6 hours ago, PatriotGames said:

OK so what you need to do is get a copy of his DD214 scan it or copy it and put it up on here BUT Black OUT his NAME and Social Security / Service member number.  

You should put it up on here and 2 other sites that will help you, I will place the links on the bottom of this page.

I'm curious did he serve in the middle east? Gulf War?

does he have a current diagnoses from a private Dr.?

Is he taking medications for this diagnoses?

Set an appointment up with his primary doctor at the VA clinic, trust me on this, always take the nurses name and dr.s name and time with date of whom you have talked too. They have a duty to assist. If you run into a wall with them go to the patient advocate and also take that persons name down, time spoken to that person. Mean while submit a claim with a VSO.

Get a copy of his C-File Mean While.

If you have any medical records of when he was in the Airforce go though them with a comb look for anything that is missing pertaining to his illness.

File SSDI with social security mean while.

here are the websites  http://ssdfacts.com/forum/index.php?action=register  
http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/index.html    

the next link is a group on face book called  veterans claim support they are awesome but so is this group here.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10206219292659975&set=gm.486585338181756&type=3

Thank you for your reply. He's 67 and did a 22 year career spending 15 of those at Norton, (a superfund site). The water is contaminated with TCE and Dioxins among other toxic chemicals. That and constantly getting soaked with JP-4 during sump draining. He's not eligible for SSDI because he is past full retirement. He retired instead of deploying to the first Gulf War. I believe they used herbicides at Norton and they most certainly did at Clark to keep the jungle back from the runway and flightline. That was why I insisted he make the claim of exposure on retirement. He just wanted to move on with his life! When you are young and healthy you rarely think of the future.

Here is his redacted DD 214. Unfortunately the software will not allow me to post an image (even via URL). I think it's because I have not been here long enough (it could also be size related I'll check the parameters and see if I can embed it).

Link: DD 214 - redacted

Until now he has refused to get a diagnosis so there is no prescribed medication. However this is changing and he is complying now. So far the VA has been incredibly good to him. It was not their fault he understated his symptomatology.

Thank you so much for your reply, Annie and Matt

[Hello]

Hi, my name is Annie and I'm typing this for my husband.

In 1991 he retired from the USAF and received 10% for B/P. He has SC with no rating for his knee, skin cancer and hearing. At the time of his retirement he informed them of his exposure to herbicides. They admitted his concerns and denied any SC for lack of symptoms. He did not appeal since he had no symptoms. We do still have that letter.

Over 2 years ago he started to show symptoms for Parkinsons (I'm an RN and I asked him to see neurology). Unfortunately at his neurology consult he down played the severity of his symptoms and was not forthcoming with others. Now that he was forced to retire related to the progression of these symptoms it looks like he is willing to face this and get the diagnosis.

He was exposed to herbicides at both Clark AB and Norton AFB. He was chronically exposed to TCE and JP-4 and went to the clinic for rashes, so that is on record. Anyway we are at the beginning. We spoke to a VA VSO who stated that until he had a diagnosis he could not file a claim. Further unless he was 'boots on the ground in Vietnam' he would not be considered SC. 

I'm not even sure what questions to ask first. His mentation is not up to this challenge so I'm elected to get this started. Where do you begin? Can you preserve a date? I can see it taking at least a year to get a diagnosis and then more time to prepare a claim to submit.