GeekySquid

@berta is there a way to see only my areas backlogs etc? I in Seattle. I was under the impression that on the VA site I could drill down to my VAMC, but I seem to be missing the linkages to do that. Thanks

I should have also noted that on the Epworth sleepiness scale i am rated at 20/24, which is not a good thing. The sleep study result shows I get very limited amount of rest and very little REM sleep.

This is probably the only path open. I am literally making daily downloads of the notes section, at least when the site works, as that is the only way I know when she has made new comments or statements. Funny thing though, I know she knows how to send a secure message, as she has finally sent one, and its contents are not in the notes section. I can see someone reading their notes, forming their response next to it and then copying it to a secure message. That has a logic and a viable functionality to it. Leaving the info in the notes is a choice that I am not sure makes sense but is generally harmless. What I cannot see or understand is someone who swears they sent a secure message in the system but only wrote it in the notes section. The VA Secure Message system is what is called an "ensured delivery system". Without getting deep into the tech details, a message sent by the system is guaranteed to be delivered the next time the recipient logs into their own secure inbox. The system specs, oddly available if you know where to look, demonstrate that it is stand alone package that is "bolted onto" the VBMS system and others inside the VA domain. The coding to make a message be sent inline in the notes section is both obscene and wildly expensive to create. It also has to encrypt the notes with the same keys used in the secure mail system and that functionally means that every system secure mail intersects with has those same keys. That would be a massive security hole that DoD and VA regulations would not allow. It would literally break ISO and COMSPEC requirements. To take it out of geekdom, the reality is that each single entry in the notes section, literally every one of them, would have to be stored and tracked as a unique message. The problem with this is that each location that has write access to VBMS notes would have to maintain a live index of every message to every person whose in the data system and those would have to be live at every area that houses VBMS terminals. The cloud is one thing but this alone would dwarf Amazon and Microsoft and Cloud Flare clouds combined. Picture that amount of data and live indexes. over a billion unique messages per day are likely indexed live in what amounts to more than 1000 locations in the U.S. and possibly others outside the U.S. which would be another security issue. I know that is more geek than most want to handle, sorry. I appreciate the input and suggestions.

@broncovet Not trying to be disagreeable but this is an incorrect description. Judges are typically lawyers. Lawyers, in most states, must have a Juris Doctorate obtained from an accredited Law school before they can take the bar exam. A JD is the legal professions equivalent of a PhD. and focuses solely on the laws and specific areas of practice like torts or constitutional or environmental to name a couple. JD's like PhD's can and are often very narrow areas of expertise. A JD is NOT by definition proof of a "broad education" and neither is a Bachelors degree. Bachelors degrees, for the majority of them, focus an a single area, business, computing, health, etc. The underlying associates degree amounts to two years of learning how to write and the names of things in the area of study. Louisiana is one example of not needing a JD to pass the bar. In LA you can get that "education" by finding a licensed lawyer who will let you learn by OJT, an apprenticeship if you will. you do not need any degree at all to be a lawyer in LA, which should explain a lot about that state though this option is rarely exercised and they still have to pass the bar exam. Any person with a Bachelors, in almost any field, can apply to law school to earn a JD. They just have to pass the LSATs and or other required admissions tests the particular law school demands. It is no different than applying for a seat to get a PhD in social work. You don't have to step through a separate Masters program first, it is inclusive. I am glad for you that you are working towards a Masters in something. For the record, I have two masters, business and computer science, and I am currently ABD in my Doctoral program. l have Bachelor degrees in Business, Computing, Engineering, & Adult Education A Masters degree in English no way prepares a person to rule on the intricate legal aspects of Patents, Medicine, Military or Criminal Law. The same goes for an MBA or MSCS. An MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) by no means qualifies as a "broad" enough education to understand how the Internet works or the effects of Net Neutrality, much less medical malpractice or injury case law. Simply having a Bachelors amounts to someone showing up for 3-4 years and not behaving like an utter moron. Associate and Bachelor level degrees are about functional operations, broad concepts and even skills/certifications in certain areas. They are called Undergrad degrees for a reason. Masters and Doctorate degrees are Graduate degrees and have a predicate expectation that critical thinking is a skill that the degree holder has attained. Sadly the expectation is a myth. Almost anyone with a BS/BA and $24,000.00 dollars can get a Masters degree in under two years and still be dumber than a box of hair, and lacking in the critical thinking skills a typical 8th grader is expected to have. As for your complaint about writing the rules by the agencies. That is exactly how our constitutionally constructed system is meant to work. You truly cannot expect that Congress will pass laws on each and every aspect of day to day processes at every agency. That belief would defy logic and reason. Instead of elected lawmakers trying to create laws in areas they have a) no experience in, b) expert level understanding of and/or c) have a bias based on political donations and lobbying; our system has long established, since the founding, that Government agencies make the functional rules based on the Laws enacted by the Congress and signed by the President. The agencies are literally the experts. The agencies, outside the much abused political appointee system of presidents appointing the leaders (a very serious and highly politicized problem), are expected and supposed to be staffed with experts of experienced policy making professionals. They are expected and legally required to use processes MANDATED by Laws to ensure that viewpoints are heard, public input is heard, and that proposed processes meet or exceed any legal mandates. Do the agencies fail sometimes? certainly they do and we see that most often when a political appointee is the one who changes rules that don't follow the legally mandated processes. The VA is one such agency that over the decades as been a political football and its leaders have created programs and processes to protect it instead of those they serve. The Chevron Defense in itself says that the people (agency staff) with the best knowledge and scope of understanding on a particular regulation is the proper and correct group to interpret the regulations. Sans a law being passed mandating a different regulatory outcome, the agency is the single best entity to interpret the rules they wrote. That does not mean a regulation cannot be challenged in court, it means the definition, scope and intent of a regulation is best viewed in light of the agency interpretation. Chevron demands that deference be given to that expert level of knowledge and experience but does not foreclose the court from finding for the claimant and overturning the application of a regulation. Courts are required to operate using the "best evidence" standard when considering cases, and the experts who wrote the rules are typically the best source of the best evidence. This is exactly how our system is designed to work and it was intentionally made that way. The founders had huge problems with the way European Courts handled things and made random decisions based on partisan reasoning and in favor of those they liked. Judgeships were often an heredity position of power or could be outright purchased from the Crown. Frequently the judges were not even barristers or trained in actual law. Read the Madison papers and the sources behind the Monroe Doctrine to get a fuller view of the founders thinking. I am sure your statistic of 46 percent is right though you don't cite your source, a bad habit if you are pursuing a Masters Degree. For your own benefit you should practice citing every source not matter what you are writing. It will help you in your school work. What that statistic means is the rules of Mandamus are working. Remand is the outcome when the Court (any court) finds there is an addressable error as claimed in the Writ. The CAVA has jurisdiction and power to only do certain things, and like with SCOTUS and every other level of Appellate Court, most often the legally correct, and constitutionally required, action is to send the case back to the lower level jurisdictional court to fix their error. Our legal system wants as public policy for legal decisions to be made at the lowest level and that appeals and escalations are rare things; structurally it is why we have more lower courts than higher courts. The BVA acts in the stead of a "court" by operation of law and structure. You are literally objecting to the court operating as the laws of this nation requires it to operate. I get your frustration and in the specific I experience the same frustration, but the answer is NOT to overturn settled law and precedent. Doing so only ensures that more problems and abuse will arise, particularly in a heightened partisan environment. The answer can be found in bipartisan legislative action specific to the VA and its processes. The answer depends on the American voters gathering the political will and desire to oust the overtly hyper-partisan legislators who are gumming up the works. The answer is removing the billions and trillions of dollars in political dark money that floods our system. The answer lies in having a transparent process, staffed to the appropriate level to handle the volume of work. Veterans and our needs have become a political football. played with by teams of extremely partisan players out to pander to a specific constituency, and we are not that constituency. We have enough issues as veterans to deal with. It is harmful to us, as a group, to misdirect energy and anger inappropriately at the Chevron Defense. The net result of overturning it will opening the flood gates of outside political actors trying to influence the courts to line their own pockets at the expense of care and services that veterans need and are entitled too. It will allow political actors to set or overturn rules at a whim and that can (and will) change with every election. I cannot fathom that any vet wants that level of chaos interfering with an orderly process to attain legal benefits, or any positive outcome. I can imagine the wealthy and powerful wanting chaos in order to create profit and give themselves the ability to leech off the taxpayers, hell they do it already and some are damn proud of it. Look at the article ToddT posted a link to in this thread. It shows a perfect example of the value of Mandamus and demonstrates why political will can fix the problem instead of getting rid of the Chevron Defense. The assumption that overturning Chevron will fix anything amounts to wishful thinking, it would only create more chaos, not less.

@buck52 Thanks for your response. I am done waiting for the VA and staff to do the right thing and I am looking for the proper ways to address certain things. Another example of the problem is that in the "notes" section I see under Blue Button, the PCP has made statements that are patently false. She has written after my appointment, that I refused certain things. Things that never came up in our conversation. The intake nurse at the local clinic did the same thing. The only "method" i have to dispute those statements is through secure messaging to document my objection. She has so far been unwilling or uninterested in correcting the record. She is more interested is claiming she didn't make a mistake and that I did "say those things". I am collecting them now for evidence of my attempts to keep the record clean and hoping that the 'new' guy shows up on schedule and I am transferred to his care. If not I will take these messages to the Director and if that does not get things rectified I will figure out which person is above the Director and what I have to do to have my file annotated with my objections.

Thanks @Buck52, I am certainly not against having the courts review, and faster, some of the bizarre an harmful behavior of the VA functionaries. A comprehensive review, in my opinion, needs to be done. The VA needs to 'hire-up' to the level of their workload, they need to have a better response process and better status indicators as well as processes beyond "calling peggy" for a veteran to get a handle on where their claim is. For example I just found out that my "stuck" claim that is holding up my retro-pay on my recent bump to 100% is in region 320 instead of my local RO. I literally know of no way to get to them that my retro-pay should NOT be held up as they decide a different non-related claim. As I understand things, that is not supposed to happen even at the basic RO level claims process. I just don't know how to get them to move on that issue. Outside of that we all know that, despite the supposed veneer of impartiality, there is serious political effort in motion to stack the courts with specific ideologies favored by the controlling political party. While this is not the sole behavior of either major party, the current situation is akin to being the Autobahn of Court stuffing that will affect our lives for decades to come. This is an admitted long term goal of the specific party and one they are crowing about at all levels of partisanship. I just hope to be alive long enough to hear the howls when the pendulum swings back the other direction and the current minority party becomes the majority. The faux-indignation and accusations will be legendary. The current party will try and erase their own culpability in fomenting that future action. Note: I oppose the concept of Lifetime court appointments now that our average life expectancy is 80 years instead of 30-40 when our nation was founded. I just hope our now-better educated population starts to actually think before they engage in rancorous partisan behavior.

@toddt Thank you for that link. That case as well as TRAC mentioned in it provide what seems to be very significant bounding detail, in specific the 6 steps and the opinion and concurrence opinion quotes. I do appreciate this. AS I mention to Buck52 in an above post, I am nowhere near this stage, but i am frustrated by the mish-mash of competing information. Part of which is result of experienced people using acronyms or form numbers that are unfamiliar, and another part is the lack of a visualized timeline for the different stages (along with associated docs and forms) that show what can be expected as a "normal" process and or timeline. It is a basic fact that the VA has more work than staff, and under the current political assault on hiring Federal 'Workers and towards privatizing the VA, there is not a realistic hope of an increase in staff. With that said, the case you provided shows that 1000+ days to execute what amounts to a managerial process is obscene to anyone, much less the veteran scraping by, who is homeless/about to be homeless, or dying. People in these situations have a definition of "reasonable" that is a far cry from that average 1000+ days. on a side note if you read my post to Buck, I hope you will consider using your experiences to help put together a timeline of steps taken (along with expected docs, forms etc) for the different stages of the claims process. This would be an invaluable tool to help new people understand the process and set their expectations. The Hadit Elders have a wellspring of experience that they do share and it is appreciated; some things however are better served up as static visualizations of a basic process than from a third party trying to evaluate (in a forum) the steps a stranger needs to be taking. Such timelines for each step could easily be turned into flow charts that show what can be expected at each stage. This includes case-decisions, docs, forms, letters, abbreviations etc. that the person just starting that part of the path may not know they need. Thanks again for your information and help. I hope you get a favorable determination on your Writ.

@broncovet Thanks for the input and information. I completely get that Mandamus as a legal and procedural matter is an activity of last resort in the process. I am nowhere near that stage but I am collecting information on the procedural steps and what could be considered "reasonable" time frames. I don't know that I will have to use that information personally but having it complied and organized as I go through the process. I tend to be upfront about things and one of my biggest flaws (as i get older) is that i am no longer willing to "hurry up and wait" just because a faceless functionary somewhere has not gotten around to doing what seems like their job. I know the VA people "don't care" what I wiling to do, but knowing what is possible and the avenues open to me makes it easier for me to deal with and plan contingencies around. Here is a thought, do you think you, berta, asknod, toddt, and other Hadit Elders would be willing to create "timelines" of typical actions and associated docs to send or expect back? If so I could easily put them into a flow charts that might help new veterans starting the process have a visualization of what to expect? I am sure that stuff is readily available in your heads but would be a hassle to put into coherent docs, but they would greatly help with the myriad of form names, abbreviations and levels that claims might be sitting at. Just a thought Thanks

@buck52 Thanks for the response Buck, it's approximately what I expected, an unknown "known" requirement with few boundaries. This post and your other response to me brought up a new question. In both there is reference to VA Counsel and in this one VA Director as "respondent". I know there is a VA Regional Counsel that gets involved with some cases or actions and that there is a Regional Director. There are also similar titles of people over the Entire system. Which ones are being referred to in these posts. Thanks for any more info

@spearhead91 Your list of events reads like someone does not like you at the personal level not the corporate level. Did you check your credit reports? if not I would suggest you do so. I seriously doubt the VA is hacking your twitter feed, though dropping appointments is part of their bag o' tricks. The idea that someone "blackballed" you because you smarted off to a PT is out on the edge of things. no matter what I would check your credit reports, change all your passwords and make sure you set up separate accounts for different internet activities. For example I have a gmail account that gets 1 to 2 spam messages a week. No more. That account is known only to the closest people to me. I have another for each of my banks and credit cards. they literally account names like geekysquids_amex1@xxx.com or qeekysquids_internet_cruising@xxx.com or like my va account qeekysquidsvastuff@xxx.com I know when any account name is sold and my credit tracking accounts with FICO, Experian and Equifax all include identity monitoring. My Discover includes the same from Transunion. It might seem like a lot, but if you have ever had an identity theft issue you know it is worth the extra work. My internet trolling accounts all get tons of spam, but if they get "hacked" they have no connection to any thing important. Even my twitter account has a Google Voice number attached that only attaches to twitter. It rings no where and every six months I have to attach it to a phone, make a call and then change it back. Making sure to flush my google data afterwards. There are literally a thousand spam calls in that google voice inbox and I just don't care as they never ring my phone, or connect to any of my other online id's. hope you get it all straightened out.

@broncovet While I understand your issue with the Chevron Defense, it is much more than just the VA and veterans issues covered by that decision. Pick your favorite issue (besides the VA stuff) and then decide if you want a random judge with zero actual experience in that area of law, life or business, deciding that the experts who write the rules at the agencies are wrong. Are you into the environment? how will/would you feel to find out that a judge 3 states that you are downwind from, away decided that the EPA rules on smog get thrown out and all their factories can now belch out billions metric tons of smog and poison with no regard to the environment? Of how about water rights. Imagine you are a farmer on a river and Nestle or Avian opens a bottling plant upriver from you. A judge with stock in the company decides that they can suck out every drop of water despite Federal Law and Interstate Water Rights Treaties. What about Transportation and Driving? say a judge decides that DUI laws or speed limits are out despite what the NTSB and DOT say. What if he says Insurance is not required and if you get hit by someone that is your tough luck? Those and a million other examples rely on the Chevron Defense ruling to prevent activist or uninformed judges from making rulings that void regulations without concern for anything or anyone other than the case at hand. Just something to think about.

@pwrslm My current PCP is a nurse who literally wrote in my file asking me (like she was responding to my secure message) if I wanted to be treated for a condition I discussed with her in the office two weeks earlier. She literally thought I brought up being in daily pain as a conversation item. DERP> The only way I found out was I looked at the Blue Button notes two weeks after the office visit and one week after I sent her a secure message asking why I did not see a referral in my file. She literally wrote her response inline in the notes with my description of the problem. There is an new MD due in next month and I am supposed to be transferred to him. I cannot wait, he almost has to be better than she is. In the mean time I am still waiting for that referral, even after 5 secure messages asking for it.

@buck52 Here is a question for you. In terms of the VACA what length of time constitutes "extraordinary delay"? To a veteran new to this your cited example seems to have reached that threshold at the second letter you sent to the RO. I find this relevant to me in particular as I am in Seattle but I know it applies everywhere. I am not at a writ stage, just an very impatient veteran who refuses to "hurry up and wait" ever again.

Okay so my C-file arrived, and did so amazingly fast. Less than two months, not bad time. Going through all the files and sorting them but one of the first things I need to get together is the claim on OSA. I know the rules have changed about OSA ratings and now the med file must have a doctors saying specifically OSA is a medical condition From the MR21-1MR “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.” “Use absent a medical determination that the device is necessary does not qualify. The regulation requires that the device be necessary and this is a medical question.” So here is my situation. On 07/07/2013 I had my initial PTSD C&P which noted serious sleep problems, chronic fatigue, hypersomulance but it did NOT mention the SLEEP STUDY diagnosis given on 4/13/13 At that time the simple issuance of a CPAP was considered sufficient to getting a 50% rating for OSA, but as the change listed above notes that is not the case now. I have already filed a claim for OSA secondary to my PTSD. I did this before my Review C&P for PTSD exam, which resulted in getting bumped to 100% PTSD P&T. With the change in MR21, I suspect they may disapprove the OSA claim. If they do, would my path be to file a CUE because the record showed the apnea existed and a cpap was issued when they rated me for PTSD. The retro pay would be awesome! That would seem to be an error on their part and under the old standard I would have gotten a 50% rating for OSA as well as my 70% for PTSD and 10% for Tinnitus. The 70+50+10 calculation is 87 which rounds up to 90 for pay purposes and getting that retro 20% difference for 60+ months would be a nice holiday or new years present to me In the alternative, would I submit a NOD with the same information? or would I have to get a DOC to say that the CPA was medically necessary and would that mean I needed another Sleep Study? Thanks in advance. I am just trying to get things ready for whenever they make a determination on the existing claim.

@Patriot3g would consider looking into TDIU if you don't get bumped up to 100% Schedular for PTSD. Be careful with TDIU, know what are the pro's and con's. If you are 100% schedular then you probably don't want TDIU. TDIU limits you to only being able to earn poverty level wages (except in very special circumstances) and unless you are P&T you will have to fill out income verification every year. A single person at poverty wages can only earn about 12K a year. A 100% schedular rating, not attached to SMC's for aid and attendance or housebound can earn as much as you want over and above your va compensation. If you are P&T you will likely never have another ptsd review again unless they decide you are committing fraud or something. your site profile says you are currently rated at 70% PTSD. While no one can say for sure until your decision letter arrives there are some indicators you can look for. Look at your past C&P results and compare them to this result. are these worse? are they closer to the 100% description for PTSD? did this examination use stronger words or new behaviors? I so you have had two PTSD C&P exams in 2018? if so did the last one bump you up to 70%? or did it keep you at that level? If it bumped you up, it would appear they are viewing your condition as getting worse or at least is not yet stable. If you are not in counseling you may want to attend. in general if you are 70% PTSD, the RO is supposed to evaluate for TDIU automatically but it does not often occur that way. If you plan on going back to your job or other work, you can ignore the document they will send you for "requesting" TDIU (assuming they evaluate you for TDIU without your asking). They cannot force it on you. Good luck and I would really look at counseling and finding out why you blacked out and cant remember attacking your friend. That is dangerous for anyone but in your field even more so.

@rbarroso1830 The reasons may be found here §4.20 Analogous ratings. When an unlisted condition is encountered it will be permissible to rate under a closely related disease or injury in which not only the functions affected, but the anatomical localization and symptomatology are closely analogous. Conjectural analogies will be avoided, as will the use of analogous ratings for conditions of doubtful diagnosis, or for those not fully supported by clinical and laboratory findings. Nor will ratings assigned to organic diseases and injuries be assigned by analogy to conditions of functional origin. and then look at this Eustachian tube dysfunction and Meniere's disease: a report of 341 cases. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7457579 Broncovet is right look up those items he mentions as well .

In a word, Yes. Some VA people and leaders think it will harm the VA if things were plain and clear to veterans. AS it is some leaders at the VA are whining that knowledge of the process has increased the number of claims thereby costing the VA more money in Compensation. Not to get political but watch VA issues at Congressional hearings and in proposed laws. Some of them are not our friends. What's his name , Wilkie the VA Sec, has been spending a lot of time arguing against Blue Water Veterans and testifying to congress that they should not be eligible for AO connection. Not because he does not believe they are ill from AO but because it will cost the VA too much money to compensate and treat those still living. His testimony and claims are resonating with certain political factions that want to see the VA privatized and or shut down.

@babyface It depends on where you are at in the process and what you current status is. Have you ever made a claim prior to this? if so is it rated as Service Connected? Is this claim related to any other claim? Have you requested your C-File? if not when you apply for it make sure to state you want EVERYTHING. It may take longer but you will then have a full copy. Broncovet is right, it depends on where in the process you are. If this is a first time claim, either for this issue or any issue at all, and you are at the very beginning of the process you would likely file a NOD to start the initial dispute. If you post more specifics clearer answers might be available. Be aware there are time limits for each type of filing so you need to know which way to go. For example the VA is required to send you a denial that states the specific and clear reasons for denial. Did you get that? what does it say? If your service record clearly shows you had these problems in service or that service aggravated a condition that the military knew about when you entered, and they still denied you a CUE may be your best path. If you are just starting this stuff, please KEEP EVERY PIECE OF PAPER the VA sends you, including the envelopes they come in! this can become evidence and show timelines if it has to get that far. Prepare to keep this stuff for life. scan in copies to a computer and backup to to several places. this forum has lots of information but you need to supply more to the wise old elders here so they can offer you suggestions and pointers. Find the page with Abbreviations used, and bookmark it so when a poster uses one you can look up what they mean. learn how to access the relevant sections of 38 CFR which includes all our possible benefits and claims information including rating schedules etc. it is a long road and a lot of learning to manage this by yourself. Ask questions and take notes. Good luck. let us know your progress.

@broncovet They did that same stunt to me for almost 2 decades across 12 different VARO's and VAMC's. I walked in with DD214's in hand and the Jax RO denied I was ever in the service. Which was hilarious because I was discharged from NAS Cecil Field and spent almost 6 of my years attached to NAS Jax. I had all those records in hand and the VA said 'we can't find you" DERP DERP DERP

@Ocean I am sure you know this, but just in case someone doesn't. VA C&P's show up in MyHealthyVet, but those from outside contractors don't. The search I suggest you do is to check ALL but limit the date range to the last 2 or three months. This will capture everything in that time frame and save a lot of other searching through the full file or not checking the right box to download. I will respectfully restate a slightly different version of what Buck52 said in one of his responses. In terms of filing all those other claims. It is not totally a myth that your claims and payments can get held up by subsequent claims. I know as I am in hold hell right now because of a recent claim approved, a recent C&P that says service connected and the filing of additional claims. They are all tied up together. I did get paid my monthly increase form 70% to 100% P&T what is tangled up is the retro pay on that claim as well as the SMC pay form the second C&P, any possible retro pay on the SMC, and the other claims I filed before I got the rating determination on the 100% P&T I followed advice similar to what buck said instead of doing what seems to be the smartest option, which is Intent To File. An ItF sets the effective date just like actually filing a claim does. But since there is no actual claim at that moment, anything in the pipeline gets processed completely and totally unfettered from any other possible claim. Once you get the pipeline clear, assuming it is less than a year from your ItF date, then file the new claims. Buck and other may be correct that they are not supposed to interfere with each other, but my experience right now is that getting paid can get tangled up with non-related claims. Had I known that ItF's set the Effective Date, I would have waited instead of tempting the VA's "Let's F^&* with a Veteran" habit. Good luck

@ArmySgt2014 That is good news for you,,, at least it is sorta good news :). There is movement is what I mean, hopefully the approval comes quick. My stuff is all mucked up so at this point all I can do is wait, and once I left the Navy the concept of "Hurry up and Wait" chafes me. Good luck with Congress and that position, hopefully it is one that will help regular Americans instead of pandering to the wealthy, corporate, & partisan groups that keep trying to reduce the individual human rights and liberties we all fought to protect.

@paulstrgn I found that odd. It is the technically right thing to do from a security aspect, let's face it anyone gets a hold of that disc and most of your history is on there. As for the C-file It has been a literal two decades of stupid to get mine. When I got out in Jacksonville, I went to the VA to apply for help and benefits. I had my DD 214's in hand. They told me they could NOT find me as ever being in the service AT ALL. ' My parents were still alive then, and they had my enlistment contract and all my files in storage in the barn. Even with those VA Jacksonville refused to believe I was ever in the service. 3 or 4 years later VA Chicago finally said yep you were in the service but we cannot find your service record. St. Louis said the same thing, as did the U.S. Navy. Since they could not find my service records, if they ever looked, they refused treatment or to even accept a claim. AT this time there was no "let's stamp your document to prove you submitted it" action at any of the VARO's that I had tried to get help from. I tried for years to get my records and got the same stone wall. I did not even know the term C-File until 2014 or so. When I finally got rated in 2013, the VA New Orleans, St. Louis and again the Navy said they could not find my service record, despite having rated me as 70% PTSD. DERP DERP DERP. I stopped asking for years, but in early 2017 a box showed up via USPS with over 4000 pages of my service records. DERP DERP DERP. No letter, no explanation, no idea which request was being fulfilled with this box. The label did not make it clear where it came from. There are still files i don't have due to classification and I doubt I will live long enough for them to be declassified. So in that context getting my C-File on CDROM in a couple months is like lighting. LOL. I have no way to "prove" that the VA refused help which is par for the course and in light of the known file shredding and hiding as well as veterans deaths that have been reported, more vets than myself were denied help based on bad VA behaviors.

@Buck52 you and I share the "lack of interest" aspect of this, as I am sure many others do too. I also have night sweats, nightly night-terrors, and I wake up screaming and swinging. During the day I have the added fun of every person I see (in real life) there appears one or more dis-articulated body parts sitting on their left shoulder. Every person, every day, every time, every left shoulder including over infants. The parts do change. If I look someone in the eyes for an extended period of time or get emotionally close to them, they become incorporated into my night terrors and I watch the flesh burn and be stripped from their bones. This lasts for as long as they are constantly in my near circle. The people closest to me I have "seen" this happen to every night for over 20 years. I know for a fact what I see is not really sitting on peoples shoulders and I know (almost instantly) that the night terrors are not actually happening but knowing that does not stop them. It does allow me to control and manage my interactions and reactions. Knowing this has allowed me to structure my life in such a way that during the good times I can earn an income and I save most of that up to cover me during the bad times. The explosion of the internet allows me to work remotely, lessening personal contact, which reduces episodes of "new" people being in my night terrors and other stressors.

@Buck52 This is the most salient point and the operative words are "theory" and "believed". I have nothing against CPT or any theory. I just have my own experiences with my conditions, life, and the jarring reality that theories and beliefs are multitudinous and rarely applied in real life as they are in the text-books. I am sure your therapist and other folks are nice people with great intentions. I say that because I don't know them and I am not interested in accusing them of a anything. What I do know is that most MSW's are desperate to get their PhD's and the typical VA MSW is using veterans as guinea pigs for their Doctoral research. As someone with lots of formal education, including a Doctorate currently on hold, I can tell you most "research", particularly in the areas of mental health, involve small scale studies on limited scopes of specific type candidate profiles. Additionally a lot of current and in process PhD holders in mental health do what are called "Meta-Studies" to earn their degree. These studies amount to collecting a bunch of other studies and massaging the findings to fit their particular narratives predicating their thesis. What this means is that even if that PhD eventually does large scale studies their underlying credentials are based on recycling other peoples works to bolster their preferred view point. You have to understand that now Universities don't really allow open ended research for PhD students in mental health and other degree programs. They have limited and prescribed scopes of what they can and cannot do in their PhD thesis and limited time in which to do it. Did you know you can "buy" study participants from some mega-profitable marketing companies? That should scare most sane people about the results of the studies. I truly hope it works for you.

Good. Interesting thing about the C-File process and timing is that I requested my mine in Sept and got it yesterday Oct 4, which is not bad for a couple thousand pages. The CD came requiring an "adult signature" so if no one is home be prepared to go to the Post Office. Good Luck