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!

hey PTSD78,

As a preface, I am not a doctor nor am I a rater. I am just a veteran whose DBQ results make you look sane and healthy. I am not joking.

I don't see anything about your status or other info so I am not sure exactly where you are in the process.

Is this your first rating you are going for? or are you already rated for PTSD and or other things, possibly physical issues?

How long have you been out of the service? if filed within 1 year of your discharge date and these items are in your Service records, then they are considered presumptive and that makes them easier for you to get rated.

Is your nexus clear and well documented in your service record? I am not asking details, that would be intrusive and from the info you posted I would not want to pick at any "scabs". That is for you and your therapist, and I highly recommend you work with them two or three times a week, at a minimum. 

As for what you post from the DBQ. You are crazy as a shit house rat. .... so much for levity. No intention to be rude, just an old saying that applies. Your situation sounds like it was very traumatic and has caused you very serious life challenges that you are not yet able to take control of. You have my utmost empathy and I am so sad to hear yet another service member has had an MST experience.

the C&P doc has linked your MST to a nexus and used the magic words "...is as least as likely as not..." which means that it is at least 50% likely to be service connected.

It is my medical opinion that vet's MST stressor is as least as likely as not suppported by and consistent with the in service marker evidence.

What is missing from what you posted is a similar statement about PTSD and or your other conditions. Those magic words are important. More about this farther down.

The term "severe" is interesting as it does not appear in the DSM 5 for PTSD criteria.

click link below and on that page find the  blue heading Chronic and Severe PTSD

http://traumadissociation.com/ptsd.html#chronic

what you posted looks like you fit the criteria.

This is where it gets tricky and wonky.

 PSTD can be a secondary to MST.

MST is not a secondary to PTSD as a general rule according to the DSM 5 and ICD 10 codes.

However the VA can and has rated MST as a secondary to PTSD but only because the raters don't understand what they are doing in this area.

You can have a nexus for MST and a Nexus for PTSD that are not related and have no  overlap. In this case each would need its own rating % and service connection. or you can have PTSD as a secondary to MST and each would still have its own rating and service connection. PTSD ratings get convoluted compared to other conditions and problems.

Again I don't know if you are rated for anything yet so it is hard to list all the possible permutations but what you definitely need will be those magic words for every service connection you are claiming.

Based on your posted info alone, I would think you would be at least 70% on either or both MST and PTSD. Your OSA will likely be 0 or 50, those seem to be their favorite numbers. Your MDD, panic disorder and Agoraphobia  may be rated as secondary to PTSD/MST and lumped under that rate, but they will boost it/them. Since PTSD leaps from 70% straight to 100% these "extra" problems will likely boost your rating.

Depending on the severity of your Agoraphobia you may be eligible for the SMC for housebound. They may have to go extra-schedular to reach it. Make sure when you get your decision letter it clearly states that they did or did not look at Housebound. failing to and including the reasoning is a NOD from you and be ready to go to the Board over it.

Your OSA needs to be addressed in the award letter, if not it is a NOD.

You should also look into TD/IU if they don't rate you as 100% Schedular. Based on that write up I doubt you can hold a job unless the company is really protective of you or is a closely held family company. TD/IU pays at the 100% rate and is eligible for SMCs. Again make sure the decision letter says explicitly that they did or did not consider TD/IU. it is another NOD but you will need to fill out your work history, how often you were let go and I highly suggest getting your Social Security pay-in history as it will show any and all employers who you have had and shows any gaps in employment.

If I was a betting man, and I am, I would guess at the topside you will end up being between 100% and 200% when all ratings are tabulated with the VA math calculator. If this is your initial foray into VA ratings you will be listed as either Static or Stable.

All that means is your situation is not getting better but they don't know how it will change with treatment. In 2, 3 or 5 years (odd right?) the VA will do more C&P's on you and you may end up Permanent and Total a.k.a. P&T, or treatment may have helped you become more "normal" (and I use the scare quotes intentionally).

This is probably years in the future but being 100% schedular P&T has advantages over being TD/IU paid at 100% even if the TD/IU is P&T.

One final thing, okay two things.

First keep coming here, reading and posting questions. It will be at least 60 days before your award letter is in your hands. BREATHE. don't let it stress you. use the time to learn more.

Second when your award letter arrives, take it and your FULL DBQ's and redact all your personal information and upload them here.

You want to ask people here to read them and make sure nothing was skipped between them. Those skipped items would be potential NOD's . I know it sounds odd to seek to be beyond 100% but mental health issues and ratings are weird.

MH issues can get better with treatment, but more often than not the service member makes a verbal mistake that the C&P doctor runs with and writes they have gotten better even if they haven't. This means the vet has to fight just to continue to be deemed sick and deserving of compensation. In this context you can think of the additional ratings as "backups" in case that situation occurs. even if they do reduce the one rating, the other ratings would keep you at or above the 100% level.

I wish you luck and better health. Please keep us informed and please work with your therapist.