GeekySquid

First and foremost I am sad you had such experiences. No one deserves that. One suggestion to find out the "status" and outcome of your TDIU and other ratings is to go look on Ebenefits at your letters section. If you are 100% schedular or 100% TDIU, you will see a letter that gives you commissary privileges and to get a base ID to use that facility. This letter only generates under those two conditions and since they don't include any financial or extra information they tend to promulgate faster then other letters and even the BBE and official notice. So if your VSO is not reachable or does not see the outcome yet in your file, check E Benefits Letters. As a reminder the other stuff in Ebenefits may not be completely reliable or up to date, but if that letter appears it does mean the decision has been made in your favor. Someone else may have information about the timeline for it to appear verses the arrival of the BBE, but in general it should show up quicker. My own bump up to 100% saw my letters update a full month before I got the BBE, or in my case the BWE with the rating decision. I would also ask your VSO to get you a copy of the DBQ, Raters qualifications and the request sent for the DBQ, and don't forget the final decision. You want print copies of these as soon as possible in case you need to file a NOD. You also need to make sure you get your C-File, or the latest copy of your C-File. If you are on MyHealthyVet download all the data in your Blue Button File. Set a custom range to a date BEFORE you went to the VA until today. That will pull in all the data they have made available to you. do the same for the electronic images they have under a different option. Good luck and i hope you don't have to file a NOD for any of your claims, just get yourself prepared. gather all the information you can as soon as you can. research the proper and effective ways to file a NOD.

I am curious, in the first pic under Granted it says "Increased rating, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 100% rating for Individual Unemployability" That does more than suggest a granted increase, it says an increase was granted as well as IU.

you were granted both by the way that reads. congrats. I assume you were less than 70% PTSD, and your combined total of all ratings was less than 94% (95% rounds up to 100) or you would not have gotten both. With IU there is a limit on the amount of 'income' you can earn over and above the 100% compensation that comes with IU. you can only earn up to poverty level income annually while on IU. However your other problems seem to still be in the appeal process. They don't show as granted or denied and one assumes (yeah I know) that if a decision on them had also been reached they would have also been updated. This means you may still end up being rated 100% Schedular, which is better for you in many ways, including having no limitation on income. This may be important to you in the future. Poverty level income for a single person (I don't know your situation) is 12K a year by Fed Guidelines. If you live some place where 15 bucks an hour is typical for work you might do occasionally, you could work no more than 800 hours (20 weeks) a year. A typical work year is 2080 hours. 800 hours is easy to burn through in a year without noticing even if it is part-time, seasonal, occasional type jobs. With Schedular you don't have this limit. even with your other listed physical problems you might still find sedentary work with ergonomic equipment available that lets you earn income 30-40 hours a week, which would be legal under a 100% Schedular rating. congrats and good luck on the other stuff.

@megtwils PTSD was not a "Thing" when I got out, we were told to 'man up". The VA refused to help me, and I had to cope the only way I could figure out how to. Now decades later my path is set in cement. Don't let the happen to you. PTSD and MST share a trait in that they can "hide" or be "hidden" for decades, or at least we think we are hiding them. What we don't see/know/realize is that they don't stay hidden and in most cases sneak out an express themselves in how we react, behave, and respond to every day life, and that is rarely pretty. Those closest to us may not even realize something is "off" with our behavior simply because they are so close.. that old adage about not seeing the forest because of the trees. Our emotions and reactions can stay buried for decades but sometime, someday a barely related comment or event can trigger them to come flooding out. I just had an experience in a grocery store with a woman I had never met. She worked there, and I asked her a question. Which led to another question and then I commented that the store had set aside parking spaces for Veterans. This led to a conversation about my being a veteran and that her husband had been in the service 30 years ago. Out of nowhere she started to cry and her face went ashy. I asked her what as wrong and just our talking about their being on base 30 years ago dredged up a situation that happened to her on base 30 years before. She was bullied and physically attacked on station by her husbands coworkers when he was sent out on training. She is black he is white, and the good old boys on base found that to be enough reason to physically and psychologically abuse her, even their wives joined in to make sure she knew what her place was and what they thought of her/them. They got out and fled to the farthest corner of the U.S. away from South Carolina they could get and still be in the contiguous states. She put it behind her for 30 years, but her limited and short conversation with me about being a veteran pulled up all those old emotions. Her reactions were too sudden and intense to be anything but a flash back to those events; there was nothing contrived in her tears, body language or words. She had never spoken of the situation once they left South Carolina. I suggested she get counseling to work out the issues. I make that same recommendation to you. MST and PTSD only get worse if you don't deal with them head on. The longer you have waited, and I speak from experience, the more difficult it can be. I am rate 100% SC P&T for PTSD and without going into details my life has had some very serious problems and limitations. Suggestions for you: Don't rely on your VSO doing the paperwork or getting it right. Turn yourself into an expert on the VA, procedures and lingo. They are very different that the rest of the world in many ways. Get your C-File if you haven't and print out every page. Search this forum for how to organize that information. It is important for your Caluza Triangle and in case you have to file a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) about the outcomes of the rating decision. If they rate you at say 30 or 50% or something, and you feel they low-balled you, file the NOD. After you filed the claim, bone up on NOD's and what is required. Prepare yourself by learning the information you already have to use to refute their decision. Learn what the DBQ;s are for your rated conditions, learn the very specific phrases that the C&P examiner must put in their evaluation for you to get the different rating percentages. Don't make the mistake of being polite or putting on your best face when you talk to the counselors and the C&P examiners. You don't get points for "dealing with it" on your own. When you are asked about your conditions relate the worst situations, not the average ones, that you experience. for example they will ask you if you are depressed or get depressed and how often. Think about it carefully, have you ever just been unable to get out of your robe, take a shower, brush your teeth, answer the phone for days or weeks on end? Or have you had to fight off the overwhelming desire to do just that but life didn't let you? If that is true for you they will ask how often it happens. If it only happens 1 every couple years, you don't have a rateable depression based on that behavior (maybe on other behaviors just not that example). If it happens monthly or cyclically every couple months then you have a mental health issue and may be clinically depressed. Help the Docs diagnosis you correctly by telling them the true state of being and the really bad times/things/feelings. Do you ever go through cycles of being really energized for days or weeks at a time, and then crash into depressed slug states? like the above how long and how often that happens is very important to your diagnosis and your Service Connected (SC) Rating percentage. you don't get points for dealing with it on your own!!!!! so don't try and minimize it or seem strong. Admit that you try to be strong, just don't hide the worst situations from the counselors and C&P examiners. These conditions are/can be what are called Secondary to a Primary Diagnosis. Somethings are just documented to occur with different Primary Diagnosis. For PTSD Depression, Major Depressive syndrome, Chronic depression, Bi-Polar condition, and Manic Depression are just some of the Secondary conditions that affect your diagnosis and rating. All of this stuff is here in these forums. Read, learn, ask questions. be prepared. You are your own best advocate at this stage. If you have to get a lawyer later on so be it, but now you need to work to be the best advocate for yourself you can be, your VSO may or may not be a good one. For example some VSO's will argue that you should NOT file a disagreement with the raters because that will make them reduce your award. That is total B.S. and you should get rid of that VSO. Keep coming here, posting questions and providing updates. Every veteran on this board is in your corner.

You have to remember that with the VA our "disability" rating is a percentage of how much our situations have limited our ability to earn an income. Our income from the VA is compensation for that ongoing harm. If you reach 100% schedular SC P&T you can still legally work, but your conditions are such that on average, of others similarly situated like you, you would not be earning what you could. It is a recognition of cumulative effect of multiple factors arising from your military service. Just because you are 100% schedular or even IU, taking your kid on a family outing is not something to feel guilty about. I am fairly confident that everyone here believes you are honestly entitled to your rating and I am fairly sure that is the default position every veteran who posts here is viewed under, that they are honestly harmed and entitled to their rating. when that same feeling of "guilt" shows up again, give yourself five minutes to wallow in it and then shake it off. tell yourself that time is up for feeling guilty because guilt is a useless emotion. If you continue to feel a drive to feel "bad" about yourself, I can suggest you find a Sect of the Catholic Church called Opus Dei. They believe in self-flagellation to atone for their felt guilt over perceived sins. They will even lend you a whip so you can bloody your own back. Such thoughtful people.

Keep in mind that to get rated at a specific percent not all or even most of the specified criteria have to be met exactly. The MR21 manual guidance on it tells the rater that the list of symptoms is not exhaustive or definitive. You can have symptoms that are parts of higher and lower percentages, or you could have other combined situations that the doctor should have noted that are, for lack of a better term, "equal too" a specific rating. Additionally the rater is to sorta "round up" to the next level if there is evidence to support that rounding up even if you don't meet the exact criteria. This link is to the full adjudication process manual on the VA website, you can go through all the considerations for each rated item. It is worth getting to know. https://www.knowva.ebenefits.va.gov/system/templates/selfservice/va_ssnew/help/customer/locale/en-US/portal/554400000001018

I am fairly certain that it is early in the morning and that is a typo. I believe Buck meant to spell Diary Date but his morning coffee has not kicked in. A Diary Date is just another way to saying they plan to revisit your case in a period of time. As I understand it even those of us who are P&T can have those dates assigned, even if our paperwork says no other dates are to be scheduled. Buck is also right to point out that age factors into the decision to have a revisit. From the VA's perspective and the law, our being paid for our disabilities is a measure of how the harms affect our ability to make an income. Age affects our ability to make an income also. The older we get, the less likely we will be to get our jobs back if the disability lessens in only moderate and temporary ways. With that thinking the law contemplates that we are not likely to have the earning power we would have "normally" been expected to have if our injuries had not occurred and that after a particular age points it will never recover. Therefore the VA just elects to not spend the money on follow up exams if your condition is not likely to substantially improve. In other words in your case your back is not likely to get better no matter what you do, so don't sweat a re-exam if there is no Diary Date in your c-file associated to this award Some conditions however do get better after treatment, even years of treatment, and the persons ability to earn a 'normal" income is no longer affected. The law contemplates that situation and makes room for re-exams to make sure that has not happened. I am example of this situation. I am 100% PTSD P&T. My papers specifically state no future exams scheduled and I am over 55. Nowhere in my c-file does it say there is a "diary date" for this award. I also have an in-process claim for smc-k for ED. That will likely be rated at 10%. It will have an Effective Date of the claim. It is unlikely to improve as medications have already proved ineffective. I am also asking them to re-open my bilateral hearing loss claim as they stated I have the loss but disallowed service connection. They rated me at 10% tinnitus and provided a nexus, one of several in my records, for hearing loss. What they did not do is look at all my enlistments when they said my hearing loss was not service connected. there is another long post that shows all the hearing tests in my c-file. If the VA had accepted me 30 years ago I would have been rated for bilateral hearing loss; I had rate eligible loss in both ears when I left the Navy. With my conditions my life has not involved noisy environments and since then my hearing has improved. There is still a service connected loss, just not enough to earn a rating-for-pay at this time. Had they rated me back then and paid me back then a re-exam showing the improvement would have rightfully meant a reduction in my rating and payment. This would have been fair. Yep it is annoying if you are legitimately as bad off as you were before, but to prevent fraud and waste the VA is 'right' to consider that some people might just actually have gotten better. hope this all helps put your mind at ease over Diary Dates. Besides with your conditions you will continue to get treatment and they will document you along the way, it really won't get much better in any permanent way.

@ArmySgt2014 Yep it is. I see above you have a veterans rep, does this person have access to the VBMS? The E benefits portal is not reliable except as a source of frustration. If your rep has access go to them, if not go to your RO and ask to look at your record. You want them to print all your current/previous claims, all C&Ps past and scheduled and any determinations in the file . If you don't have your c-file, get it. Mine just took less than 2 months to get, not bad for the VA. Since you have other claims in process those two "missing" ratings could be important as you know.

Sadly the functional definition of expedited is wildly inconsistent and illogical in the VA system Each claim is different obviously, but one would think that a homeless vet, someone being physically abused, dying or being evicted should have their own "private" lane to process claims. As I understand this, the claim is marked as a Flash and that puts it on top of a pile, but whose pile and and how big that pile is remain something of a mystery. In the VA system there is in place a mechanism that "farms out" claims to different RO's based on workload. That system seems to be opaque to general internet searches so its parameters are unclear. It seems kind of sad if you consider the current Monday Morning Report numbers for example this week there is a reported total of 365,851 Compensation and Pension Rating Bundle Files of which 137,012 are for Original Entitlements and 38,552 are Pending > 125 days. It begs the question of how many "raters" does the VA employ? Say the VA employs 1000 rates across the entire system, a number that seems low but who knows? If correct each rater would have 1370 claims on their plates this week. If we assume 100% efficiency, and we know that is a crock, and a 5 day work week, 8 work hours a day. Each rater would "Review" 274 new claims bundles every day. That is 34.25 claims files per hour. We know that is not happening. What seems more reasonable is that raters are "expected" to spend 1 hour reviewing every initial claims bundle as a average. That would be 8 claims a day per rater. At that rate the VA would need between 3 and 4 thousand raters working full time to process just the weekly backlog of initial claims, and would still not be able to work the files waiting for stuff outside the VA's control. It is just sad and bewildering that VA and Congress allowed this to happen over the years and even trying to dig out of it with "new" systems the VA still reports numbers in a way that is deceptive.

@Nobby I am assuming you have a copy of the Sleep Exam results and diagnosis. Does it have an Epsworth scale rating in it? I can't say how the C&P examiner will react to being "told" things, but gently pointing out /directing them to information in the file is helpful. My Epsworth is 22/24 which basically says I am tired all the time and fall asleep standing up. (not quite but you get it). The one question I have is does your diagnosis explicitly state that your "cpap/bipap" is a medical necessity or issue? There was a recent change to the SA rating requirements that necessitate that type of wording. The law firm Perkins and Stoddard shows this change at this link https://veterans.perkinslawtalk.com/post/bad-secret-change-to-va-sleep-apnea/ this is the important line from the M21 adjudication manual “When determining whether the 50-percent criteria are met, the key consideration is whether use of a qualifying breathing assistance device is required by the severity of the sleep apnea.” Good luck, just be honest and complete. If your Caluza Triangle is solid you should get your rating.

in reading through the VA determination explanation in the formal letter I found this " Although right ear hearing loss is not shown in service, acoustic trauma or military noise exposure may constitute injury of the ear. Medical expertise is needed to establish a link between your current hearing loss and in-service military noise exposure. However, to this date, we have received no medical records showing that your right ear hearing loss is due to service. You have in-service acoustic trauma, but service connection for your left ear based on military noise exposure alone cannot be granted. For service connection of the left ear to be considered there must first be a s Although right ear hearing loss is not shown in service, acoustic trauma or military noise exposure may constitute injury of the ear. Medical expertise is needed to establish a link between your current hearing loss and in-service military noise exposure. However, to this date, we have received no medical records showing that your right ear hearing loss is due to service. You have in-service acoustic trauma, but service connection for your left ear based on military noise exposure alone cannot be granted. For service connection of the left ear to be considered there must first be a showing of actual hearing loss in the left ear for VA purposes. Your VA examiner opined that it is not at least as likely as not than not that your hearing loss is due to military noise exposure. Your examiner provided the following rationale: Hearing was within normal limits on enlistment and separation, and there is no evidence of an OSHA-defined threshold shift during military service. Your VA examiner opined that it is not at least as likely as not than not that your hearing loss is due to military noise exposure. Your examiner provided the following rationale: Hearing was within normal limits on enlistment and separation, and there is no evidence of an OSHA-defined threshold shift during military service." These items are all in those records in my c-file. At this point I have asked to re-open that claim and based on all I have heard so far on here, I suspect they will deny. If they do I will try a NOD on their denial to re-open, obviously if they re-open I won't have to NOD that action. If they deny SC after re-opening I will NOD that. What I think sounds like the best NOD plan is to layout that the files exist in my c-file, they show in service harm and then lay out three possible scenarios about the data, hoping to lead them to decide it is "new and material" I think something like this: "As far as I can tell the C&P Doctor and the RO made their decision for one of several reasons. I am loath to put forth derogatory performance or skill as a reason, but that determination is not for me to make. 1) The specific hearing tests had not yet arrived from St. Louis, NAS Signonella, NAS Jacksonville and/or NAS Cecil Field when the determination was made. 2) The RO and C&P doctor both elected to ignore the files in my records at that time, through intent or sloppiness. 3) The RO and C&P Doctor, though certified and employed to perform this type of evaluation lack(ed) the skills and knowledge to do so properly and with the full care and attention necessary to do the job correctly. In the event the records were not in the c-file during this time, they become new and the test results not previously evaluated are most certainly material to determining service connection as they show in service loss." I suspect wording like that will lead them to choose Item 1 with out explaining or proving their explanation to re-open. Most people will take a provided exit over blaming themselves. who knows this may all be moot, the delay in getting a determination is because they are thoroughly reviewing the entire file and will re-open and grant service connection without me doing anything....and I fart rainbows every Tuesday.

@SgtE5 Hey SGT, I cannot help you with your case, but since I am trying to re-open my own claim for bilateral hearing loss your information is of interest. In that vein, I have located an PDF copy of the infamous missing VA Fast Letter 10-35 which contains lists of all service job classifications (NECs, MOS, etc) with the level of hearing loss marked as high, low etc. I cannot say if this has been superseded by a different one, but I see lots of web references and even on HADIT of it being a pain to find. I had to go through the wayback machine and pull down an archived copy of a Tenn. State website to find it. This particular one is from 2013. That is why the funny file name. hope it helps you or others in some way from wayback machine state of tenn website Duty MOS Hearing Loss Probibility Chart-VA Fast Letter 10-35.pdf

@ocean that's a lot of pages, i hate to sound gleeful but good for you!. I know they were expensive, time consuming and probably felt like delay after delay, but if they help you get your earned compensation then they were worth the expense. procedurally I don't know that they wait to post your C&P until they wade through it and any evidence you submitted to the doctor, but as I understand if you did give the doctor papers (and they are allowed to use that) you still have to do the upload yourself or mail them in. This may apply only to outside C&P examiners, maybe one of the Edlers know different.

@asknod That is kind of what I asked in another post. can you please message me any info about where I can get reliable training on certifying as an agent? I would love to begin the process for my own benefit and to help others. Thanks

@Jaydog Good luck. My experience with the VES examiner up here in the Seattle region was not that 'nice'. I hope yours was better and you have good outcomes. Started with getting 5 notifications in under 12 hours that i "had' to call them ASAP to confirm the appointment. They came ever after i confirmed. When I called the number to confirm, the guy on the other end pushed at me 4 or 5 times to elect to have VES as my "preferred" outside provider for exams. I had to forcefully tell him to stop asking that question. At the time I knew nothing about VES, literally zero, and their attempt to force that selection amounts them being all-but guaranteed business. There is no way that I can see to change that designation through our portals so I have no idea how that could be done The C&P was for ED. The doc opened with "this is not a physical exam", which actually becomes important later. Then instead of asking about my actual condition, he decided that he was going to ask questions about my nexus events for PTSD. They are in the file that he was supposed to have read, and there is no place on the DBQ that insists he make me repeat the nexus incidents. After 3 or 4 questions my blood pressure was rising and I was nearing the point of not controlling my tongue and I told him that he was making this a hellish situation. His response was to get a snotty tone and said, 'well i can just close you out as being uncooperative." That set me off and I told him so. I also asked for his bosses name. He calmed down and changed tracks and I took a bunch of deep breaths and my grip on the arms of the chair relaxed a bit. I hate having to act like a jackhole just to stop intrusions that are unacceptable. He went through a bunch of the DBQ points and then got to the question of "how many "pads" do you use a day. I told him I did not know what he was talking about, "pads" are a ladies product. He told me what they were, which was new info for me. All i knew about incontinence products were the Depends style "diapers" and refuse to wear/buy those. It is not a discussion I ever expected to have with anyone, much less in relation to "pads". I just own a lot of skivvies and wash them out every day. I usually change them two to three times a day. He went on for a few more minutes, and then we were done. Skip forward several weeks and my c-file arrived. I did not consciously know that I could have called the RO and asked for copy of the C&P be mailed me, or i would have. I looked into the C&P and he did connect my situation to my PTSD and said 50% more likely it is caused by my SC conditions. Which is good. but then I went into the detailed questions. This is where his opening line (from above) comes into play. He marked: [X] The veteran declined the xxxx exam in every spot possible. he also failed to note my discussion of "pads" and other urinary related answers. some he just marked whatever amounts to "none' for that question. I am fairly sure I will get the smc-k award for loss of creative organ, and I read someplace that is "Retro'ed" for a year before the claim though I am not sure of this. I just cannot do anything until the rating decision is made and sent to me. I don't wait well, a serious character flaw. I suspect I may file a NOD and I am researching for an Early Effective Date. I think I keep reading the ED is a secondary that is 'inferred' by PTSD and the original rating should have reflected that, but I am not yet sure of that situation. I do know my VA records show the ED plus both those and my Military records show UTI's started popping up after the nexus events. Anyway, I hope your experience and outcomes with VES were better than mine.

@asknod I may just take you up on that. I am up in the Redmond area. Looking for a job and a permanent place to live. Gig Harbor is not really that far away. My primary driver in moving up here from New Orleans is that Louisiana, and much of the south, have very small tech industries. In Louisiana it is almost non-existent. They literally post jobs for MS degrees in Comp Sci with /10 years experience and and want to pay $11 bucks an hour. few tech people are that desperate to stay in NOLA. I did the whole dot come thing right from the beginning, and yep I made money, and actually retired. Twice. I was fat, dumb and happy to be retired. If all had stayed relatively the same I would have lived the next 50 years with few concerns. Then my conditions took hold, then the 2007/08 economic crash, followed by the country .losing 1,000,000 good paying jobs in tech. When I got better I went back to school and got some shiny new graduate and undergrad degrees( to go along with my older ones) and right now I am ABD on my doctorate and in a holding pattern for a year long post-grad certification course at Harvard. My age and the work gap are barriers in my old field, and I did expect that. Dealing with the VA in any comprehensive way was not on my schedule. I had had enough of them and was just grateful for my 70% rating. That all changed when the VA forcefully intruded on my life. Even though I got a bump to100% P&T, they have chapped my hide and demonstrated that the VA problems are still systemic and, at least in part, caused by poor leadership and poor training. Since my interactions here on HadIt, and with the physical VA people I seriously want to know where to get the training, real training,, to become a VSO. I am done with the bad American Legion experience. Amer Legion VSO's up here saying they didn't know they could have access to the VBMS. That really happened. Another one, located in the main VA building on 2nd street, said they had "gone above and beyond for me (for answering questions) and was tired of it". My first AL VSO went to the mat for me and was the sole reason the VA finally accepted my claim and "found" my service record, or at least part of it. He however is dead from pancreatic cancer. This happened right after I got rated, and no one there took his place and of course he could not be humanly expected to concentrate on anything but his own life and family. I do miss him but I am glad his pain is over. He was a disabled marine himself and he really cared about the veterans he worked with. It seems that becoming an accredited advocate for veterans would be more personally fulfilling than just working in geekdom. I might make more money as a geek, but having had money and having lost money, taught me a few things. What I learned is that if I have enough to be comfortable, bills met, a few bucks set aside for future bad times and a safe place to live, then I will be okay with that and get a personal satisfaction out of helping other veterans wade slog through the VA swamp.. I still need to control my work spaces and hours and establish social parameters to avoid becoming a hermit but also avoid triggering my bad times. Long story short, I might just end up living over that way and would be glad to meet up with you. I need friends up here and if that happens, having one that understands the veteran experiences is good.

@asknod Thank you that piece fills the hole I kept hitting trying to understand that part of the process.

@asknod Thank you for the explanation and sharing the document. It makes informative reading. not trying to be pushy but I still cannot understand the method of communicating with them you described as "Whazzup, homie?" type paper. I am certainly not at a level of 'I need this' but I am trying to wrap my head around the different processes and how to execute them properly. on a slightly different note, since I have begun this latest push to deal with the VA it has become plain to me that I don't know enough to know what I need to learn. With that in mind it occurred to me that you are a "veterans rep" and carry some type of certification to be one. Certification typically means first getting training and then some type of "proof" of competency such as a test. Would you share the starting point and possible providers of training towards that certification? One of my skills that is prodded on by my method of controlling my issues involves keeping my mind busy with new and challenging learning or gathering/researching information. It seems that the training and gaining certification in this are will provide multiple benefits to me and I might be able to help other veterans along the way so I would view it as a win-win-win situation. Thanks again for the already supplied information.

@asknod as usual you provide information the rest of us don't know. thank you. After reading this I was wondering if you would mind providing some clarifications on terms you used so I can learn. Ex Writ - I don't know what Ex Writ is short for. decision on an EW. - Same for EW With the new decision on TRAC factors (5)-i thought TRAC had 6 factors, which one changed if that is what you mean. Or do you mean they only relied on 5 in some new decision? As I saw above, always send them plenty of paper saying "Whazzup, homie?"-0 this is sort of the biggie conceptually. How do you send them "plenty of paper"? Email, letter, text message? is this some form? where do these go? I appreciate anything you can do to help me learn and not have to ask questions that more experienced people might now think are silly.

@Buck52 thanks for responding. The C&P was in 2013 and it was not until 2017 that I found out the C&P only looked at one enlistment. I believe a NOD is not possible on the existing decision, is that right? In my situation item 1 in the above list is satisfied. The RO closed it in 2013. item 2 is questionable as the "Error" is, in one part, that she did not look at ALL the evidence that was in the file and part two that there is evidence that is not in the file. At this moment the VA is unaware that the other missing exams even exist. So until I tell them /find them, only part one is in play. So does her NOT using existing evidence qualify for this Item? Item 3 it is undebateable in that in the C&P she explicitly states that A) I have a hearing Loss B) that she only looked at the two specific tests and no others, C) the loss is NOT SC based on her reading of only those two tests. 4) she assigned an IDC 9 code to my right ear for bilateral hearing loss but nothing for the left ear despite what my actual final exit exam shows. It is listed as [X] Sensorineural hearing loss (in the frequency range of 500-4000 Hz) * ICD code: 389.11 . In the section for Tinnitus however she sates my job and its loud noises are the nexus for tinnitus. She does not mentions the other Nexus's (nexi?) in my record including the nexus for PTSD and the accompanying explosions, but they were in the file and were mentioned in our interview though I had not yet been rated for PTSD. My contention is for service connection and no more (right now) but I know my hearing will get worse as I age. So the change I am seeking would not specifically be about the diagnosis but about her statement that it is NOT Service Connection. Is that a correct way to understand the rules of the CUE process? thanks for any input and the information

@Berta Thank you Berta, that is one more site I did not know of/how to access. I have bookmarked now. Right now I am just looking to see what my local RO is doing in terms of backlog and workload. I am in hold-hell right now. I mention it elsewhere but I did a sequence of things and the timing of those actions has my retro pay tied up with the other stuff. It would be nice to get it untangled but from what I understand that is not likely to happen. All I know for sure about the "status" is according to the Amer Leg rep inside the same building as the Seattle RO, my claims are all in Region 351 where ever that is. I do know that my original RO was New Orleans and is 350, but I don't know how contiguously regions are numbered. One of those claims was to re-open on bilateral hearing loss which was done in NOLA, and another is SMC-K for ED. I have had the C&P on this and what he marked for Urinary problems is inaccurate and not as I answered, the ed part is correct. What he also marked is that "Not examined per Veterans request" which never happened. He never asked. I never answered. in fact he opened the session saying "this is not a physical exam, I will just be asking you about your condition". The ED was in my file from my service time and at the VA when they rated me for PTSD. It was NOT mentioned in the PTSD C&P beyond having "no sex drive" but the VAMC had already been issuing me viagra to "Try" when the C&P happened. .So this may or may not be a reason for the delay. Thanks for your help

@broncovet, Thank you that was the distinction I was trying to understand. I have another question and will address your other responses here. The other question is that the "error" is the C&P doctors error. The administrative errors of not having some of the files in my c-file isn't part of her error. All the readings in my table are and were in the files when she examined me. Put another way she only looked at my induction test and the test I took to re-up but she classifies as my separation physical. Her opinion also explicitly states there is no "OSHA STS recorded" but my records show the OSHA STS and that they "reset" my baseline. But the C&P apparently did not look at that or see it ---------------------------next---------------- neither am I and with the other hearing tests missing I cannot began to fathom the changes. I will be trying to have them find those files. They should be Memphis, Pensacola, NAS Jax, NAF Sigonella, and NAS Jax again. There might be one from PAX River but I cannot remember if I got it there or just before I went there. I will have to look at the in service tests i have, I know one says Maryland CNC and all have an ansi number on them. The issue of speech discrimination is that it is not listed in the C&P anywhere and I have gone over every page a couple times and electronically search the pages. I also don't remember taking one but that could be because I was strongly medicated during that test. -------------------------------next--------------------- I have the nexus, actually multiple. The C&P even states one of them as being my job. -----------------------------next------------------------------ yep airdale here. got shot down, twice. lots of noise. lots of explosions. lots of actually hearing tests not in my record. nexus for lots of my problems. considering much of my record is still classified that may be where those tests are hidden. =---------------next------- My concern is the actual SC even at a 0%. She gave me an IDC9 code for Bilateral Hearing Loss for my right ear but nothing for the left. how that is bilateral I don't know. There are IDC-9 codes for loss in just one ear. Age will make this worse and since I am in fighting mode I want to clean this up now instead of waiting any longer. ---------------last------------ as I said the errors the C&P made include that she only looked at my first four years. She did not even acknowledge that I was in service for a subsequent enlistment of 6 years. She did not see that last hearing test and did not acknowledge that the very thing she complained about, and OSHA STS, was right there in the file. That is why I thought CUE. At this point it seems that the most realistic options are to have a private ENT look at me and test me to give an opinion about SC and then request another C&P to address the short comings. Hopefully I can also get the missing files too. Thanks for your input. It was helpful.

@buck52 I knew we didn't get mailed out copies of the C&P but until this year I also did not know they would mail us them if we requested them. Silly me. My job environment, and the C&P , says it, is considered one that causes hearing loss. My big issue right now is that the DOC only evaluated 2 hearing tests out of the ones I show in the chart. To me this is a CUE-seeming issue. She rated me as SC for tinnitus. She also gave me an IDC code for "bilateral hearing loss" but only in the right ear. In my records it only says my claim for bilateral hearing loss is NOT SC. She says in her reasoning that no OSHA STS was documented but my military med records show at least one OSHA STS and missing from the files are the other mandated OSAH hearing exams I took every two years. every service person should have an entrance and exit hearing test in their records. If you re-upped the separation exam is also your re-enlistment exam, and there should be one for each contract (re-up) for as long as you served. If you did 4 contracts there would be at least 5 hearing exams. If you were in combat, worked in aviation, were in a plane crash, were in artillery, etc you may have more than the minimum number of tests. as an example certain Airdale jobs had them every year because they dealt with acoustical tracking of sonobouys for sub hunting. thanks for your input It helps.

Okay, so I got the CDROM with my C-file this week, and I already knew that there were problems with my C&P for bilateral hearing loss conducted in 2013 but needed the C-file to do anything. I found out about the error in 2017 when a paper copy of my c-file showed up out of nowhere after more than a dozen statements from the VA, St.Louis Rec Mgmt, and the Navy saying no one could find my records. When the C&P happened I was never mailed a letter with the results and that justifications. I did receive my rating later for 70% PTSD 10 % Tinnitus as being SC. My American Legion rep said the bilateral hearing loss claim was denied. I took his word for it and went on about my business. The paper copy of the c-file arrived and besides a cursory look I did not dig much into it. One day I did some more looking and found the C&P and it clearly stated that the examining Doctor only looked at the hearing tests for my induction and end of my FIRST enlistment. She completely ignored my second enlistment and even called the second enlistment a separation instead of a reenlistment. I did not deal with it at that time because I was doing a hundred things and then I moved up to Seattle and put that box in storage back in New Orleans while I decide if I can last the winters here. I have found several distinct problems w/ my c-file and her determination reasoning and what I want to find out is if these readings mean anything but more importantly if this is properly submitted as a CUE? The lack of service connection for the left ear will make getting hearing aids a problem later in life and frankly I say 'huh' a lot as it is. 1) she only looked at one enlistment 2) she stated that "...an OSHA-defined STS during military service CANNOT be established from this audiometric data." Yet in the file is that very document but from my second enlistment period. 3) Including the C&P there are 6 hearing tests in the file. There should be at least 4 more, as my job required an OSHA hearing test every two years, these are mandated tests and do not substitute for reenlistment and discharge hearing tests. 4) The one OSHA test in my c-file is marked in writing as "an OSHA-defined STS during military service CANNOT be established from this audiometric data." This file says it occurred 3 days after another OSHA test which shows a 20 DB loss in my left ear at reenlistment but none of the intervening tests are in the file. This one "reset the baseline" to 0 for the 4000Hz frequency. I Don't understand this and do not remember ever taking back to back hearing tests or being told to sit in a quiet place for 3 days before being retested. 5) The final in-service test is off the charts compared to my other tests. I have 70's and 75's in my right ear and 30's in my left. My AVG for the right ear is a 37.5HL. 6) the C&P says there is loss but not enough to be rateable. which is fine but it also says the loss is not service connected. which is flat out wrong. 7) For the right ear she lists an IDC 9 code of 389.11 which is for BILATERAL Hearing Loss, but says there is no loss in the Left ear. sorry about the huge table, but it shows the readings for every test in my c-file. The one in blue is the OSHA baseline reset test and the numbers in red are the noted 20 db difference the triggered the supposed reset of the baseline. any CUE help would be appreciated. I think it is one but I am not sure. Induction 250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000 Avg not including 500 right na 10 5 20 0 0 5 na (30/5) = 6 left na 15 10 0 0 5 15 na (30/5) = 6 Re-up 250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000 Avg not including 500 right na 30 10 5 5 5 10 na (35/6) = 5.8 left na 15 10 5 0 20 5 na (40/6) = 6.66 osha 87 250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000 Avg not including 500 Right na 10 5 0 0 10 -5 na (15/6) = 2.5 Left na 5 5 5 5 0 5 na (20/6) = 3.33 osha 87 3 days later 250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000 Avg not including 500 right na 10 5 10 -5 0 5 na (15/6) = 2.5 left na 15 5 5 5 0 10 na (25/6) = 4.16 Discharge 250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000 Avg not including 500 Right na 5 70 30 25 20 75 na (225/6) = 37.5 left na 10 5 10 5 0 30 na (57/6) = 9.5 C&P 250 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 8000 Avg listed in C&P right na 30 20 15 15 40 25 20 22 left na 20 10 15 15 15 20 10 14

yikes. @paulcolrain I too apologize, it was not intentional and I did not realize it was happening until Buck52 posted that. mea culpa