GeekySquid

Times change and so did how cigarettes were made. I had two grandfathers live to 99 and 105. Both smoked from the time they were 18 or so and only stopped when they were bed bound. Not a cough or breathing problem for either of them. They smoked unfiltered chesterfields. It was not till the late 70's early 80's that the tobacco companies completely move to stripping out natural nicotine from the leaf using ammonia and 20 other chemicals and then adding back in a bastardized nicotine concoction to "control" the amount of nicotine per cig and make it consistent. All for corporate profits. Since then our western rates of cancer and breathing problems have skyrocketed. the disclosure of tobacco company studies showing the adulterated nicotine was causing harm led to the first $80 Billion judgement in U.S. History. They award was reduced but it was the opening salvo by anti-smoking people. I won't even start on the American Cancer Society which is more a marketing and fundraising agency and sponsor of lawsuits, than an actual research to cure cancer group. Both sides in those suits told lies and IMO both need to be smacked brickbat for the lies.

@seminoles you chose the confused emoji, I am guessing you don't live in a state where pot is legal, and with the name Seminoles, I am guessing Florida. I am originally from Miami and for a while lived near the Mouse House.

I know nothing about your interests, career, degrees, conditions, ratings for VA and SS (if any) but if your interested in considering an option that might make your future outlook better, then read on. being rated 100% schedular or TD/IU and/or getting SS disability is NOT a bar to getting Voc Rehab, even if you have 3 degrees, or 3 advanced degrees, it does not matter. It is a little trickier but not as difficult as getting a straight answer on Ebenefits claim status. being home bound or AA cannot be a bar to earning money using your mind and an internet connection. There are at least 3 U.S. Congressmen/women who are 100% and missing limbs, use a chair and have PTSD or other MH problems. If they can, you can too! So what you might consider depending on your interests and other factors is getting Voc Rehab to pay you to get yet another degree, but this time in Data Science or Business Intelligence. Even if all you have is Undergrad degrees, you could qualify (school wise) for an MS in either field. The only thing to be careful in choosing the program is what your focus of the future would be. Both fields are so new that even if you have Graduate Degrees you can get a MS in Data or BI focused on those fields and still meet all Voc Rehab requirements for acceptance. For example there are new MS Law Enforcement in Intelligence degrees coming on line every month, I think even Harvard has one. Both are high demand fields that can be worked as a contractor and done remotely if that is your desire. Contract work allows you to set your own hours and pick and choose your project and project length. Or you start your own consulting firm and gain customers that you want to work with. Both involve data mining and transformation, and programming, starting in languages like Python. If you have any interest towards programming and heavy mind work, data mining and BI could be a way to help you have stimulus and you could eventually use those skills to help other veterans. Even in online education there is a level of social stimulus too, though mostly virtual. The one beauty of programming as a career field is it really blind to color and physical abilities. For people who have problems typing Dragon Naturally speaking has a coding module and there are ADA groups that cover the cost. It is the one field, besides sex club bouncer, head-shop clerk, or circus sideshow act where having a full facial tattoo is not a barrier to employment. If you have any bent toward this thing PM me and we can discuss this out of the forums. There is opportunity for veterans with physical and home-bound limitations to work, be part of a team, and if they want take that new found knowledge and skills and help other veterans.

In doing research on my claims I ran across a VA regulation that says they banned claims for cig smoking sometime in the 80s' apparently when the anti-smoking campaign started growing legs, a few people won that particular claim and the VA got scared of the financial future impact.

hell if some people had there way whole states would outlaw smoking cigs...pot on the other hand they are all flocking to smoke. go figure

When i was at Sig we had ration cards. 20 packs per month Plus 2 full cartons total 4 cartons a month. Free. The Italians own the airbase and there were (are?) Italian air wings assigned there. Groupo 88 was a home-ported P3A squadron plus others. The non-smokers could illegally sell their rations to the Italians for 4 bucks a PACK and they could sell them in town for 8 bucks a pack because of the American Tax Stamp. Huge blackmarket operation in cigs at Sig. back then an extra 160 bucks a month was like having a part time job. lol

@Scottish_Knight In a perfect world it would be that way. The reality is you are exactly where most if not all veterans are when they start dealing with the VA and trying to get their just compensation for injuries the service caused or conditions service aggravated. You will soon learn how naive that position really is. The entire system from Military through to VA promotes that naive view. People are led to believe that everything is in their Service Record. That it is always complete. That the VA has the whole thing. That VA raters and Doctors are veteran friendly professionals looking out for us.....the manure just gets deeper. Just as a starting tip, most VA Doctors and Nurses are not VA employees; they are Contractors. What that means to veterans is that if one of them harms you in the course of treatment you cannot sue the Government, you have to go after the individual and or their company. This is more complicated than it may sound. Some immediate things you need to know about the claims process. To process a claim successfully there needs to be what is known as the Caluza Triangle https://www.hadit.com/caluza-triangle-defines-necessary-service-connection/ As you might guess from the word triangle it has three elements or legs. Current Diagnosis. (No diagnosis, no Service Connection.) In Service Event or Aggravation. Nexus (link- cause and effect- connection) or Doctor’s Statement close to: “The Veteran’s (current diagnosis) is at least as likely due to x Event in military service” When you file, a whole bunch of records requests are issued to collect all the federally held files, like your service records, service treatment records, etc. If you told them you had been to an outside doctor they will ask you for a "permission slip" to get those records if you did not provide it with the claim. This takes time and frankly not all locations have complete files, will find complete files or will get to your files in any speedy time frame. Be prepared to wait. This is also part of why you want to have your C-File handy. You can submit docs from your C-file with your claim and take them to the C&P Exam with you. As for the C&P exam. In theory the Examiner is a well qualified and experienced profession in the particular area of medicine you are claiming to have a problem with. That is absolutely NOT accurate or representative of reality with the VA. You may need to or want to challenge the decision based on the C&P examiners qualifications. The Examiner is supposed to review your entire file. The raters send out a request to have an exam and "tab" the files they feel are relevant. The Examiner has to look at those but is required to review the entire file. You might be able to guess how this plays out, and it is not always in your favor. To be fair these folks are human and make honest mistakes. It is just difficult to fathom the shear volume of documented mistakes before you conclude there is a lot of slack in their view of professionalism. The Caluza Elements "should be" in your record. Note the scare quotes they are there for a reason. The raters are not Medical Doctors, and really have no medical training at all. They are likely as not not veterans, so will have zero idea what your job in the CID entailed and in fact may not know or care what CID means. The same goes for the C&P examiners. The raters and C&P examiners are human and may have biases, known and unknown, about you and or your job. For example since you were CID they might have a buddy or relative that was arrested and jailed by the CID. This might or might not affect how much care the rater put into your claim. You will never know if that is true or if they are just sloppy or inexperienced. This post could go on forever but you should get the point that you need to prepare and submit your claim to include all the documents and proofs you want them to consider. You literally have to make yourself into your own best advocate for your claims. You tell them a detailed story and include the documents that prove your claim. That highlight you in the most favorable way. The point is to lead them by the nose to conclude you deserve the highest rating possible for your particular injury. On that last point. When you speak to your va doctors, nurses and C&P examiners DON"T do what most people do and try and put a 'bright face' on your problems. You don't get points for "dealing with it", "getting by" , "doing for yourself", "working it out" or any other way of proving what a "man" you are in how you deal with life. Not being insulting, but the stark reality is most people are taught to put their best face forward. It is why when someone says "how are you today" people invariably say "okay" even if we have a broken bone sticking out through our skin. In practical terms what that means is that you tell the truth to those people. In the case of the Exam they will ask you about levels of pain, harm, difficulties, etc. associated with your injury. You want to relate to them the WORST incidents, pains, and problems your injury causes. If for example you limp. remember the time that climbing stairs took you 2 hours to get up 4 floors because the pain was so bad. Don't lie, but don't make it seem like you dealt with it like Superman. You will want to get very familiar with the DBQ for your particular claim. You can find them on the VA website. Just google VA DBQ and you will find them. There is specific language in the DBQ that the raters will be looking for to determine the percentage and service connection. Each is different but the Examiner has to offer the opinion that your injury is at least 50% more likely than not cause by your in-service nexus event. Since you were CID you understand how stilted official language can be, particularly if it is mandated language. You may have or need an Independent Medical Opinion or Examination (IMO/IME). That doctor must use the VA phrasing for the VA to accept it. They must answer the DBQ like the VA raters are trained to read it. You will learn that somethings cannot use an IME/IMO for the initial claim, most can, some can't. You should be fine, just be aware of this when research similar claims. You will need learn terms and form names like NOD and VA Form 9. IF you disagree with the VA decision on your initial claim you want to file a NOD. You have 1 year from the decision date to file that, but don't wait that long. In short get them the documents you believe will lead them to get you the highest award, and then prepare for the roller coaster of getting the correct rating from the Earliest Effective Date (versus what they try to pay you from). It is a long ride for most. In short make yourself a expert. There is a site run by an attorney named Attig, and you will see posts and articles on here from his site. He has several training manuals and videos that will help you if you can afford them. The expense may be worth it to you so your claims are done right from the start.

I hope something in those suggestions are new enough and effective enough to help you. It is a sad reality that when you are in pain and overweight, you move less and moving less causes weight gain and that causes more pain...a vicious cycle. and the only way to break it is to break it. power through the pain or have surgery to remove weight. it is awful and a sad way to have to live our older years. good luck i hope you can lose what you need to.

I really hate to sound like "that guy" but in reality if you are not yet diabetic or pre-diabetic, one of the very best things you can do for yourself is change your diet. Instead of keto, look at Mediterranean. it is good for weight, cholesterol and BP. definitely the resistant starch and fish oil. I really hate saying this but, after every meal take a 15 minute walk. it does not have to be fast, in fact start slow. The movement is good for digestion and will help burn any excess carbs your body is waiting to turn into fat. I also take a statin for my stuff and what i learned in relation to that is that many of them are taken at night because when you sleep your body is going to be working hard to process all those carbs/glucose and with no activity there is nothing to slow down the process. When you walk after a meal, particularly a night meal, you burn off some of those excess carbs that are soon to become glucose and then fat. I am from FL originally and I am willing to be you don't want to be viewed as one of those guys in bermuda shorts up to the naval with black socks and black shoes, wandering around the trailer park every evening. Avoid the old man wardrobe and do the walking!

glad you weren't offended. I have had problems with my BP, Tri's and LDL all are very high. My HDL is low. My A1c was lasted rated at 6.4 which is at the borderline diabetic stage and my blood sugar has been on a roller coaster. Interestingly the VA Dentist put me onto those and onto the Keto Diet . The Resistant Starch is interesting. things like Potato STARCH (not flours) Green Bananas/plantains, Potatoes that were cooked and put in the fridge over night, or rice done the same way. The body uses that starch differently that it does regular carbs. Worth looking into considering your current situation which can all get exceedingly worse and end up where I am if you are not careful.

good I hope that your mind is a little calmer. Remember no one here is a lawyer or VSO etc. I provided you those links so you can research and verify if you agree with what you have heard. It is always a possibility that VA will find out and ask, but the odds don't seem real good considering all the relevant factors including those I mentioned and the reality they are neck deep in claims and have a backlog. Assuming everything you told us is accurate and correct, you can legally work as a 100% schedular vet.

Not trying to be nosy or rude with this, but because of your rated conditions are you out of shape? have high cholesterol and triglycerides? Blood Sugar issues? possible Diabetes? pre-diabetes? if so look into "Resistant Starch" and "Fish oil" to help reduce your chances of stroke and improve your insulin resistance to help prevent diabetic damage.

you will lose medicare. I know nothing about tricare. as 100% you don't need to have any other coverage no matter how much the VA pushes you to have it. That said, having coverage outside VA is a good thing.

yes it is a win-win and perfectly legal. I also want you to read a couple more things https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=6d1a1893d2e091e0526c640b807b93e6&mc=true&node=se38.1.3_1343&rgn=div8 This ecfr deals with continuation of TOTAL ratings. note that even for TD/IU the material change in employability has to be permanent and employment must be significant. You are P&T so the barrier is higher. This is from the VA M21, which is their manual for adjudicating claims https://www.knowva.ebenefits.va.gov/system/templates/selfservice/va_ssnew/help/customer/locale/en-US/portal/554400000001018/content/554400000014214/M21-1-Part-III-Subpart-iv-Chapter-8-Section-D-Reductions-in-Awards?query=rating reduction read this and do more research in that manual on your own. You are looking for anything that references PTSD/MH at 100% P&T specifically. It is complicated but you can do it, and lets face it right now you have time on your hands. I want you to consider a couple things. 1) you are P&T so you don't have to submit annual income statements to the VA. If you were TD/IU you would have to. 2) VA and SS are not on the phone chatting about you and even if they were 100% disabled means different things in each department and is controlled by different laws. 3) Even if you get called into a Review C&P you don't have to tell them you have a job. Now if they are investigating you for fraud then you have to tell them, but that is not applicable as of now and based on what you have said here. 4) The only way the VA would "know" you had any major increase in income ( without you telling them) would be if you had say a girlfriend or EX that went to VA and said "johnny gets money from you and he owes me child support" or some other such thing. This could be a problem but as long as your 'material condition" has not changed, no amount of income matters legally. 5) you have not said what kind of work you want to do. Say it is manual labor and you earn 50K. You get hurt on the job and go to the VA and said "i'm hurt by working. fix me". They will fix you, but VAMC is different than VA Benefits, and no one is specifically monitoring your med files to see if you get hurt on the job. Another example is you do computer work and can work remotely at any time of day online, and they find out. big whoop. Income alone cannot be the material increase in your condition to justify reduction. working from home on line involves not socialization and certainly does not stop night terrors. You should be good to go.

What this means is that you are P&T at 100% for PTSD and a Bipolar condition. Same as me, except you don't have psychotic elements. P&T has a high barrier for VA to overcome I would like you to read these two links from CCK-law.com https://cck-law.com/news/newsfaq-friday-permanent-and-total-pt-disability/ https://cck-law.com/news/rating-reductions/ As explained elsewhere there is a high barrier for VA to reduce a P&T rating. There has to be such a dramatic improvement in your daily life that it counts as a "material change" to your existence. 38 CFR DOES NOT BAR 100% P&T MH VETS FROM WORKING. That means income alone cannot be used as a justification for reduction of your rating. Don't get me wrong, some VA rater may try to do that, but how will they find out you are making more money? you won't be telling them. As a P&T there should NOT be any more C&P reviews planned for PTSD. (get your letters to know for sure!) 100% MH does NOT mean you are housebound. It does not mean you are so non-functional you cannot speak, walk, talk or make sense. no

you can try. I never have luck getting through to Peggy. Hope yours is better. Try the ID.ME route. are you close enough you can go the VA Hospital or Regional Office? Finding out if you are P&T is for your benefit. If you don't care it does not matter. The only effect P&T would have for you is that it creates a higher barrier for VA to cross to reduce your compensation rating. Again I doubt that will even come up in context to your original post. So it just depends on how much effort you want to put into knowing your status and getting hooked into ebenefits and vets.gov

@paulstrgn I have to ask, are you rated at all for depression? or any MH condition? I can't rightly remember all your conditions but google them with the phrase VA rating Depression Secondary to ZZZZZZZ condition. Many physical problems have depression as a secondary. yours might. Either way what I would suggest is that if you are NOT rated on any mental health issue at this time, you fill out an Intent to File to hold the earliest possible effective date. You have a year to file the actual claim and keep that date. Later you may try for an EDD if applicable.

Sorry, we all assume you have an Ebenefits account or a Vets.gov account. If you have one of them, log in and find the Letters section. That is where they are. Each site has a different menu selection so I cannot guide you further. If you don't have either account, then get them. for Ebenefits the main link is https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage for Vets.gov well its https://www.vets.gov You will need either a DS Logon which the sites tell you how to get. Tip: Pay attention to each step and screen of the DS Logon application. There may be one question asking if you have a "badge", say yes. It bypasses needing to have an in-person meeting at your VA Hospital. The other may be easier for you: There is a site called ID.ME The VA has contracted them to verify veterans identifications and use those to log into certain VA sites, including Vets.Gov (ebenefits is NOT on their approved list yet). ID.ME is basically a marketing company that finds discounts for its members including cops, firefighters and veterans. I don't know how or why they were chosen by VA to be provide logon credentials or to access our DEERS records, but they did. It took me about 30 minutes to get approved via ID.ME two years ago, not sure what they do now.

SS provides for a legal "Test period" for going back to work. There is nothing dishonest about using what the law specifically allows. It is there by design and intention from the U.S. Congress. Don't create more problems or worries for yourself; life and the VA will do that for you without you adding more.

@Skyler0311 That is a bad assumption. Go look at your letters on Ebenefits or if you have the rating letter there with you read it. It will specifically say the words Permanent and Total but maybe not in that order. You have not given us a complete list of your conditions and rating percentages so the bold section of my long post may not apply. It is only and specifically for a 100% rating related to Mental Health. Combined ratings each have their own criteria for the level you have been rated. For example you might be 70% MH, 60% Sleep Apnea and a bunch of 10% ratings for other stuff. each has its own rating sheet.

First and foremost get you C-File if you have not done so in the last year or six months. Get the CID to cough up the reports etc. Get your commander to write a letter. If you received a medal or other award for it, highlight it in the records you submit. Broncovet is right in that if you don't supply the records, the VA will likely deny you, even if they have the records already. You want to draw a line connecting all the dots for them. Is it galling? yep it is, but you only hurt yourself if you don't do it or get mad about having to do it.

@Buck52 Cure is definitely an inaccurate word for PTSD diagnosis. We just manage it and our reactions.

read my long post or just accept that unless you are TD/IU the VA will NOT say a word about your income. At 100% schedular you can make $1 Million a day and there is nothing in the law to stop you or trigger a special VA review.

taking home more legal money for as long as you can is the "better" option. IN this case use the 9 months of legal SS money to pay down bills, save it up etc. SS is hard to get initially, telling them you are all better before you are sure is a bad choice IMO.

@Skyler0311 The short answer is yes, most of the time. To focus this another way, until you have been rated for 20 years, are P&T and over age 55, the VA "can" reduce your rating if they prove you have had a significant and permanent improvement in your rated conditions, or you committed fraud, or go to jail. Since you didn't provide each of your rated disabilities it is imprecise to give a blanket yes or no. What you do say is you are in your 30's and have a combined 100% rating. You further state you are not TD/IU which means your rating is schedular. You do not say if your conditions are rated as Permanent and Total (P&T). A person with a VA 100% Schedular rating can work and earn whatever income you can, even with Mental Health problems, though there is some confusion over this and different raters might have a different decision. The challenge comes in with MH because of the wording found in 38 CFR, Chapter 1, Part 4, Subpart B, §4.130 Schedule of ratings—Mental disorders. There is a table called General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders This is used for all MH including PTSD ratings. for a 100% rating for MH (including PTSD) the top entry which says Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name. The bold words cause the confusion and disagreement. The way the rating system is designed to work for MH ratings is that you don't have to have every listed condition, they are just examples. You may have some or even none of the conditions but instead have others that are in the approximate level of severity. Further if you have conditions that say fit in the 70% definition and conditions that fit in the 100% definition the rater is supposed to decide which one your C&P results, med record and history combined fits more closely and assign that one. So you might have 1 or 2 of the 100% items but 6 of the 70% items and you will likely get a 70% rating. Complicating in more is that any benefit of the doubt is supposed to go to the veterans benefit. To be clear, if you are 100% schedular there is NOTHING in the law that says you cannot work, even if you are rated for Mental Health conditions. What it says is that for a 100% MH rating you have to meet the criteria listed in that section of the table or a close approximation of them. Take an agoraphobic. They cannot leave their home without severe trauma and reaction and get a 100% MH rating. But say they can work over the internet, on the phone or have sewing delivered to their home. Their social harm is still strongly in the 100% category and the VA will be unlikely to reduce their rating. Agoraphobia is one of those MH conditions that can and does improve so they may be static but not be P&T. If they are static it is easier to reduce their rating if they are P&T the VA has to do a lot of work to "prove" a materially significant decrease in their condition and money is not a criteria for Agoraphobia. In fact income is not a factor in schedular ratings at all. They only come in when extra-schedular ratings come into play like for TDIU. If you read that linked page and table you will not see the words income, salary or money anywhere. As for SS and VA talking. There is data changing hands, but VA ratings and SS ratings are not the same thing and are not based on the same criteria. The VA does not and can not assume that a change in SS status means you are better and it is unlikely to trigger a Review C&P exam, even for mental health. Unless something extraordinary happens you will just get your planned Reviews on the normal schedule. If the Review shows significant and material improvement then you might get a reduction. Look at your letters in Ebenefits, particularly the AB8 and Commissary letters. Both will say explicitly if your rating is P&T. If you have a Review date scheduled it will show that date. Good luck.