RangerWife

Quote of the day is right - fair enough!

@Heatherta4 -- I have this same status now. Did you ever get resolution to your claim that would give you insight to the meaning of this message?

This is a side question - but when you mentioned this @asknod, I took a look again at his code sheet and it has a #1 there even though they specifically noted the PTSD as combat/combat medal. Is this something he should worry about getting fixed? Any idea on the best way to get it corrected?

Thanks for the info asknod - I do understand that it isn't a guarantee of an EED, but he doesn't have any chance if they are completely confused somehow about how they received the records in the first place and won't recognize them as official service records. Once we get through the first gate, then we will have to contend with the second gate. I expect gate two will be too high a hurdle for most of his claims, especially given he missed his C&Ps back then (deployed to AFG after retirement as a civilian and didn't get the notices). However, they diagnosed multiple disabilities in his separation exam that was performed by the VA themselves, and he filed his claim less than a year after leaving service. Specifically, there is one for tinnitus and if they had the separation exam, it seems like it should have been an automatic award for that one without even needing a C&P. But...I'm just learning all this. I do love poker, so I will keep on learning and hopefully catch them on the river.

Great information on CUEs - thank you for the clarification on that, its an important distinction! Again, I appreciate your time and assistance on this - thank you!

Thank you - we were happy about the tinnitus CUE and the awards he did get. Excellent idea to move #6 to the top, I will do that! I have attached the original decision - it has the statement in there about the memorandum of unavailability of records. I have also attached the cover page, but do not see a code of any sort - maybe I'm missing it. As far as how to approach this, was thinking of submitting it first as an HLR - I know I can ask for HLR on a supplemental under AMA and I'm still in the time-frame for that. I thought approaching this way might be faster and still preserve the ability to CUE later if HLR and/or VBA gets nowhere. From what I read on here, the CUE should be last ditch resort because you can only play that card once. I thought I would exhaust other avenues first myself and then if I need to CUE maybe get assistance from an attorney. I'm trying to avoid that though and do this myself. 20100517 Decision letter_redacted.pdf cover letter copy.pdf

Hi Berta, I sure am sorry to hear all you've been through. It seems like a never-ending fight. Thank you for taking the time to review and answer my post and all that you do for others here as well! I have attached the rating decision and the rating sheet that we received via FOIA. The rationale addressing the denial of the EED can be found on pages 5 and 11 of the PDF. Thank you again!20190705 VA Decision & rating sheet_Redacted.pdf

Hello helpful Hadit community, I am trying to help my husband with some claims he originally submitted in 2009, all of which were denied. He never re-filed until 2019 but asked for an EED d/t missing STRs that appear to have been found in 2018. He did a FOIA for his file in February 2019 to see what was in there before submitting his claims again, and as a result, received copies of records that were previously missing and he had never seen before. Although some of those claims were now recently approved/SC'd they denied the EED's because they said HE sent them the records. They are so confused. I have put together the attached timeline with screenshots of their own records to try to un-confuse them. Would love it if some of the experienced folks could look it over to see if I'm making sense and/or if you think this is sufficient as far as an explanation? Thank you so much! Recovery of missing records_redacted copy copy.pdf

Part of the reason for the QTC exams was because he missed them on the original due to being deployed and not getting the information. Combine that with completely missing service records, and this is probably more of an unusual situation. I will definitely let you know what they key on in the decision letter.

We re-submitted missing STRs, some records from his personal physicians, and some statements in support of claim. Then the VA sent him to QTC appointments. I don't have the letter yet, since this just updated in the system yesterday, so I don't know on what basis they approved/denied and what evidence was most helpful.

@asknod - so how can one figure out the dates that records have been associated with a claims file & use chrono to make the timeline? We have denied claims from 2009 and a memorandum of missing service records. At some point we can tell they received records that are relevant but I don't know how to figure out what they received when.

We received the actual denial letter for tinnitus on July 8th. Later that same day, I faxed a form 20-0996 for an HLR along with a document of contentions/disagreement with it. The HLR claim still has not shown up in e-benefits or va.gov - but I when I went in to look, his disability % had changed and tinnitus was changed to 10%. Not certain if they caught their own error or if they processed the HLR faster than they could get it into the system, but good news either way...and lightning fast!

Yes, the supplemental claim was part of the new AMA and the ones they just rated took ~2 months. No idea how long the deferred claim will take. They received the supplemental claim on 5.14.19 it showed up in va.gov same as yours - "Status: We don't know your status" and has never changed. It never showed up in ebenefits under "pending disabilities". Called Peggy last week who said it was pending final decision approval. Just yesterday, his % disability changed and the approved disabilities were added to ebenefits and the benefits letter shows the new higher monthly amount. It also shows those claims that were denied and 1 deferred. The claim status still currently shows "Status: We don't know your status."

My experience so far is the the status on the supplemental never changes - it has said "unknown status" the entire time even though my disability % just updated to show new approved disabilities from the supplemental as well as some denied and one deferred. I don't know if anyone else is experiencing the same thing.

I found a VA training doc on Tinnitus (VA-Training-Letter-10-02_hearing.docx) that states the following: "Both constant and intermittent tinnitus are considered to be recurrent, which is the requirement under diagnostic code 6260 for assigning a 10-percent evaluation."