PTSD78

" When will they get a copy?,  if there us a report out there, and will they continue  with my claim as it has been proven by my c&P exam of my parts by VA psych "

The when is unknowable, and I am sorry to say that but it is true.

If you made a report anywhere in the III Corps, The 2nd Division, or any Division, Regiment, Troop, Squad etc in the U.S. Army, the UCMJ and Army Regulation requires that report be recorded at the Legal Office as well as the CID. There should also have been a report notification made to the base hospital.

I don't have a clear handle on the time line of your claims submissions, so I am speaking in generalities but if you 'recently' submitted the claim and notification of the evidence, then you unfortunately have to wait to give the VA time to request the info and the Army to respond.

If for some reason you feel that the Army has denied those records or said they don't exist or are dragging their feet then you have some possible actions to take. Just don't be precipitous.

Assuming your submission is still in what the VA considers a reasonable time (I know that seems like an eternity), and you feel the need to be proactive and prepare for some denial of evidence existing, set up lists of individuals and actions to take.

There are people in the U.S. Army upper echelon tasked with dealing with MST, find them. The names and contact information for your State and Federal Reps and Senators. The address at the Ft.Hood Legal office, CID, Hospital, and commander of the III Corps. As well as the III Corps Legal and CID offices. I would try to remember the name of the service member who drove you to the office.

With those addresses in hand I would prepare FOIA requests and a statement of demand to each of the offices for the records concerning the event and your attacker being pulled from and then returned to duty. I would try to find the guy who drove you to that office and see if the can/will remember the name and the event. Did you tell them why you needed that help? if so will they do a buddy letter for you? notarized?

The Sens and Reps can, if sympathetic to you, bring pressure to bear on the Army to produce those records ASAP. I am snotty enough that I would also include the Army General Staff and JCS.

MST is a big issue for several top U.S. Sens and Reps. I would identify them in the news and even if they are not your reps I would contact them. I would also contact Tammy Duckworth even though I think she lost her seat this midterm, not sure.

I would do all that in prep and if the VA comes back and says there are no records I would contact a lawyer and in fact even get the media involved if you feel up to it.

I hate that you may have to fight this fight, but it may just turn out that this is how you have to get the justice and results you need.

please keep working with your counselors and keep building your in-person support network.

Thank you so much. I read somewhere where I met victim doesn't  need evidence of a report, but not sure where I read that info. By placing the 1st Sgt back to our unit means to me that nothing was done and therefore no report will be found. In 1981 things were done differently then now (fortunately)

" I read somewhere where I met victim doesn't  need evidence of a report, but not sure where I read that info "

I personally would be wary of laying too much credence in that idea.

I will also say that MST is a difficult condition for the raters in that the rules are all over the place.

Federal law says there must be a nexus event in the service to make a claim service connected. Nexus events must be documented unless they are on the list of presumptive medical conditions and ptsd & mst are not on that list. buddy letters can serve as a buttress to a claim when an in-service diagnosis may not have been made, like with sleep apnea.

The one weird sounding caveat to non-service conditions being service connected is typically if a service member joins up and the military knows they have some condition. Then if their service aggravates it with a specific nexus then that aggravation is more correctly the service connected issue, not the actual issue they had before service.

a formal charge or court martial is not necessary. You might find a reference in military med records where it was reported to the hospital even if nothing was medically done. That would serve as supporting the nexus event of the claim. same goes if you confided in someone then and they provide a letter telling what you told them.

mst victims sometimes run into a harsh wall, in that often the sexual assault is not a physical beating say or being held at knife point.

such a charge is almost impossible to prove in court without physical evidence, and is made more difficult if the victim had multiple encounters over time with the accused. those multiple encounters, particularly if seen by others, makes them appear consensual to an outside observer or trier of fact like a jury.

In the U.S. we have due process in the courts and despite #metoo and all the ballyhoo they have created, that law must rely on facts an proof in court.

the good news for you is your claim is not in court, it is at a rater who is diligently looking for all the records they can find to support your claim. do all you can to help get them that evidence

I am hoping it is 100% or TDIU- but they might rate at 70 and you can appeal...or maybe file a CUE claim- for a faster result- but they mght do it right the first time.

I am so sorry you went through this-we have other SC MST vets here as well.

Glad you came to hadit!