Dustoff1970

I am called in once a year to the VA CPAP clinic so they can check me out. They told me I did not have to bring the machine. I have not used it for a while because none of the face mask work and allow air to blow into my eyes. If I tighten the mask to stop this then I get headaches and therefore having a CPAP does not help me sleep at all but just the opposite. I use a chin strap from Amazon to stop my snoring and sleep a little better with it. I have heard from so called knowledgeable persons that not using your CPAP will not effect your OSA rating or payments from VA but have never seen this in any official regulations, memos, etc. There is always a lot of uncertainty with anything to do with the VA system.

Vetquest, thanks to friends I happened to have mailing addresses in several states such as California, Nevada and Texas and I used these addresses to contact the many different senators and congressmen. A few did send me the get lost letters you experienced for not being a resident of their state but most wrote letters to the VA big dogs on my behalf because of the horrific inhuman type medical mistreatment I and a few other vets received in 1985 to 87 at the Temple, Texas VAMC by a Nazi German doctor. That area of Texas (Bell county) is full of Germans, Czech and poles and they seem to run everything important and unfortunately was my hometown area for many decades but no more now for a long time. If you are not a member of their clan then you ain't ****** OR of course have money. As far as I am concerned certain EU countries can go to hell as their history show them to be the warmongers that they are. Several years later the nazi moved or was moved to Arizona where I say with great glee he died at still fairly young age of 68 ( he of course was a PhD puke). I am tempted to post his obituary on here for fun but of course will not.

You are definitely on the Winning track with your list you just cited. There are hundreds of BVA decisions granting vets secondary service connection of OSA Sleep Apnea caused by and or aggravated by PTSD and or PTSD VA medications. In addition to interfering with sleep such as Zoloft some will cause weight gain in vets that in turn this weight gain contributes to OSA Make sure you do get an official diagnosis of OSA Sleep Apnea with required use of CPAP machine from a VA Sleep Lab/doctor or a private doctor's sleep clinic. There are also many reputable credible medical research studies revealing a very strong association between PTSD and OSA. To name a few are the Walter Reed Army Hospital and Brook Army Hospital studies along with the Madigan Army Hospital studies. There are many more from medical journals, associations and medical research institutes such as Mayo, Harvard, Cleveland, etc. Those buddy statements about your OSA symptoms are considered good evidence by the BVA but not so much the VA regional office raters who are **************. My info is not legal advice as I am not an attorney, paralegal or VSO. Good luck

Broconvet gave you a list of good alternatives to achieve an earlier effective date including CUE claim. One example of VARO CUE error is if important official VA and or military medical records were within "constructive receipt" of the VA adjudicator but not before him on his desk at time of decision then courts have ruled this is CUE. They have defined constructive receipt among other things as I just stated. How do you go about proving this I don't know. I have filed and appealed a successful CUE claim and appeal in 2000 to 2005 all the way up to the CAVC court but my CUE contentions were not about missing medical records.

Thank you for your indepth research and sharing this info with rest of us. Beginning in the late 80s every claim and appeal I have filed I have used the precedent CAVC court cases to support my arguments including a 2000 CUE claim I appealed myself all the way up to the CAVC in 2005. My experience has taught me the VARO raters at the regional office level ignore the hell out of our use of these court decisions even when the favorable decision is nearly identical to our claim details and some even resent it. The BVA however does make note of the CAVC and FED Appeals circuit cases extensively and use the cases to support their own arguments both for and against the vet. I think it is safe to say the VA does not hire the brightest bulbs to be raters and I am sure many suffer from LOW ENERGY. The fact that many are also veterans has absolutely nothing to do with anything. I say this to the VA apologist out there. The appeals I won is proof the raters would rather deny than grant on first instance including reconsideration request. I won my appeals on same evidence that the VARO rater first saw and then denied.

I would contact the Kenneth Carpenter Law firm of Kansas and discuss this with them as they may be of great assistance. Kenneth has been practicing law cases before the BVA and CAVC vet court since at least 2000. If anyone can help you in this matter then it is him or a few others like him. The DAV or American Legion, etc may be of assistance. Just like I learned to do try all long shot options until something sticks. Another great veterans law attorney is Dr. David Anaise, M.D., JD who like carpenter has many years of representing veterans before the VA and BVA. His address is 1001 W. san Martin Drive, Tucson, AR 85704 and he has an email address that I use extensively for communicating with him.

If it has not been more than two years since your date of VA Injury or the date that injury was discovered then you can still also file a Federal Tort Claim action in district court alleging VA malpractice. You must find and use a highly experienced tort claims lawyer to do this for you. You can use online attorneys directories by specialities or go to nearest law library and use their up to date directories, and in Texas law libraries in the County courts building are open to the public with a librarian to assist you. Use only an accredited specialist lawyer for federal/VA medical malpractice claims. Large public libraries will have this info also. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) maintain a list of accredited attorneys on their website links who are allowed to file veterans disability cases before the court. These attorneys such as Kenneth Carpenter of Kansas are very experienced in all manner of vet claims including injury claims. If you have not done so you can file a claim for earlier effective date of your VA Injury based upon the facts you can prove such as any medical documents you can find, copies of yours and VA correspondence, etc. You may have a good case for this also being a CUE claim. Even though you have already been granted a VA Injury Section 1151 claim you can still file a Fed Tort Claim and if you win then the money already paid to you will be deducted from the tort claim win amount. I just reread your post and now see it has been over 2 years since your injury so best bet is now to file for the earlier effective date alleging VA error or CUE in their decision. It is a long shot. You can do as I did and contact many U.S. Senators and Congressmen in many different states by sending them your pleadings and copies of the VA injury that was done to you. I did receive favorable response and assist from most of them about my VA Injury Section 1151 claim in 2000. The above info is not legal advice as I am not an attorney, paralegal or VSO

Yes Broncovet you are completely correct about the extra scheduler and TDIU rating method VA raters ignore or dismiss. As you know I too was banned from the other site for speaking up about many things and disagreeing with them on several important issues based upon my 35 years of myself filing claims and appeals. I am still slow minded and it took me to long to realize the VB* website is nothing more than a VA Adjudicator's mouth piece and constantly gives out misleading negative opinions on many claims issues that discourages vets from filing claims and appeals such as for example CUE claims. Having said that I have heard from several knowledgeable sources that extra scheduler IU ratings are very difficult to rare to obtain for vets with the less than 4.16(a) required minimums to obtain TDIU. However with nothing to lose I also asked for extra scheduler in my first two or three disability claims. When my PTSD rating was finally reinstated to me in 1998 (effective date) it was at the 70% level and I was granted IU at same time of my new higher PTSD 70% level. May be others can learn from our experiences posted here.

Many years ago I had similar experience with an extra scheduler. Veterans like me/us are not suppose to file a claim directly to VARO for extra scheduler but this rarely granted claim is submitted by the VA rater to central office if he or she thinks the vet is entitled to IU based upon a rating or combined ratings that is less than the required 60% single issue rating or a 70% combined rating according that is normally required for eligibility to obtain TDIU. Broconvet has given you the 38 CFR regulations and good advice above. Like him I also ask for extra scheduler IU for my 1985 to 89 50% PTSD rating and was denied but still I ask for it in a later CUE claim filed in 2000 and I then appealed on my own all the way up to the U.S. CAVC vet court where they agreed and said the 85 to 87 VARO decision should have adjudicated me for an inferred TDIU Claim and the court remanded the claim back to the BVA to adjudicate me for that TDIU. I did receive TDIU P&T in August of 2000 and long before the court decision in my favor in 2005.

First of all if the VA made a previous error in calculating your ratings level, pay level and or a diagnosis you do not owe any back pay due to their CUE error (if any). Any time a vet files a claim, a claim to reopen or ask for an increase in a rating level then the VA can and sometimes does order up a C&P exam to review one or more of your disabilities to see if your conditions has worsened or improved. It is a risk many of us take on recurring basis. Best bet is to find an experienced and MOTIVATED VSO located at a regional office as they are paid full time "professionals' to assist you with your issues. My information is not legal advice of any kind.

You received very good advice from Broconvet. If you received any treatment and or prescribed sleep medications such as valium, seconal, etc while serving in active army and or Iraq then copies of these type medical records can be very helpful. Same goes for your allergizes. Even a sick call slip is considered solid medical evidence. If you have been diagnosed and VA service connected for a mental disorder and or physical disorders then you may be able to claim your SA is secondary to one of those disorders and their medications. I agree with the others you seem to have clear case of CUE due to your condition and diagnosis occurring within one year from separation from active duty and I THINK this applies to other medical issues besides those on a presumption list but I am not sure here. Your VSO sounds like he is on the ball. My info is not legal advice as I am not an attorney, paralegal or VSO.

Like all of us humonids both VA and private doctors have their petty prejudices and jealously toward other persons and patients. Many treating doctors and/or their staff are down right lazy and will not write you a favorable nexus letter and or DBQ unless you pay them extra significant money even though their own medical evidence shows you are properly diagnosed with their own diagnosis. I believe some of them do not want commoners like me get "Free government disability" unless we are missing all fours. I have never had any luck getting VA or private doctors write a nexus letter or DBQ for me because I am not a member of one of their pet groups of patients. However these same ass holes have been helpful to me in other ways so I stay with them for other medical services such as continued medications and referrals, etc. Magnet Ass 1970.

Have you had a sleep study performed by VA or private doctor. If yes and you were already diagnosed with sleep apnea then the prior OSA diagnosis is proof positive for you to show to the examiner and file with your response to any BVA request. If you have not received a diagnosis then your treating doctor notes, opinions are also very good positive evidence to show to examiner. Take copies only to your exam as the examiner may keep them as C&P examiners have done at several of my previous exams. My above info is not legal advice as I am not an attorney, paralegal or VSO.

You can also do a Google search using terms like Fort Gordon, Agent Orange. Do this search with the other search engines also and there should be many references to that topic some of which may be useful. If my memory serves me correct (?????) I did read from another source that only a small test area was involved and only civilians were involved with only army game wardens supposedly being exposed. HOWEVER this info maybe highly inaccurate and the others have given you good advice about filing. My info here is not legal advice as I am not an attorney, paralegal or VSO.

In the year 2000 I filed two separate claims 1. for CUE and 2. VA Injury section 1151. Because of the inhuman and horrific medical mistreatment I and a other vets received in 1985 to 87 at Temple, TX VA hospital I filed both of these claims as "Petition for Equitable Relief" directly to the VA central office in D.C. Copies were sent to VA Secretary and Under Secretary for Benefits. I also sent copies to many U.S. Senators and Congressman in many states and they almost all wrote letters of concern on my behalf to the VA Secretary and Directors of Waco, Reno VAROS and Director of VA Central Texas Health Care System. In order to get their attention I sent these claims as request for Equitable Relief directly to big dogs at VA and it worked. They of course received a lot of letters from the Senators and Congressmen about same time as my claims. My claims of course were sent to the Regional office for adjudication and in August 2000 I received P&T status and several years back pay at the full TDIU rate.

As a recipient of the PH I can say no as to an automatic 10% disability. However PH veterans are automatically placed in Priority Group 2 or 4 for VA health care eligibility benefits and care. There are also a few other bennies given to PH holders including benefits from many states such as free or $5.00 license plate annual registrations, etc. Soon along with 100% P&T vets they will be eligible for free access to military base PX, commissary MWF recreation facilities including military hotels.

If you read my last post on your question then you would have seen that VA does not require a specific form to be used to file a CUE claim but can simply write a letter claiming CUE and listing your one or more CUE error contentions. This is what I did with eventual success in 2000. See my last post on page 2 or 1. Above info by me is not legal advice.

If you cannot find a doctor who will write such an opinion on your behalf as is the case with many vets such as myself you can still file a claim asking for P&T as I did in 2000 for my long term static 70% PTSD (TDIU). In 2000 I filed several claims including CUE, VA Injury Section 1151 and in 1998 I filed for and received the TDIU award. In every one of these claims I filed from 1998 to 2000 I also ask VARO to award my PTSD TDIU rating as P&T and they did so in August of 2000. I argued that my PTSD was over well over 5 years in existence and that PTSD never improves on it's own (according to medical history of PTSD), my older age, and LT unemployability due to PTSD, etc. There were other arguments that I now cannot remember. There are so called experts on another forum that constantly incorrectly tell veterans they cannot file for or ask for P&T status and that it will only be granted when an adjudicator determines on their own whim that you are entitled to P&T. I call BS on that misleading crap being put out to other vets based upon my own 35 years experience. The VA may consider your request for P&T as a claim for increase and call you in for C&P exam review of your disabilities so be prepared before hand and have all your arguments and supporting medical evidence with you at the exam as the examiner may or may not look at it. Take only copies to the exam and in your claim quote the 38 CFR rules on static disability of over 5 years and your age of over 55 (if so), etc. My information above is not legal advice as I am not an attorney, paralegal, or VSO but only a vet expressing my personal experiences and opinions. Good luck

Very good Cali unfortunately most of us vets must always fight the VA for the benefits we earned and are entitled to by law and evidence as I am doing now as we speak and after 35 years of doing this. This helps to keep me going and you also have proper attitude for doing this. We vets must always be our own best advocate for claims and not depend on A VSO to be diligent and do everything for us. Do keep an eye on your DAV rep as in 1985 to 91 an older DAV rep sold me down the river so I started doing everything for myself in 1998. Another active Veterans Benefit forum will not tolerate any criticism of VA adjudicators or C&P examiners and banned me forever from the forum for making these honest statements about the VA as I just said here. That forum is run by present and former VA raters, DRO officers and lifer military and VSO officer who constantly give out misleading negative advice to other vets visiting their forum and I can examples if anyone wants to know. They never admit the VA raters and examiners make serious mistakes but only minor honest mistakes. Again more BS from that VA forum. Being the old dog that I am i still have access and friends to their forum and can see everything as if i was still a member as there are a few good apples on their forum

In the year 2003 I filed a BVA CUE denied appeal to the U.S. CAVC veterans court and in 2005 (December) the court made a ruling that one of my four CUE contentions was correct and remanded my CUE back to BVA with instructions for them to properly adjudicate an inferred 1985 TDIU claim that the VARO ignored from 85 to 91. Evidence was ignored by VA raters which is still very common today. I filed this CUE claim in 2000 with VARO as a pro se veteran representing myself all the way up to the CAVC court. A vet must file his appeal to the CAVC within 120 days of receiving a denied decision from the BVA. Today I have no idea how long this would take but may be filing another CUE claim in the future between fishing trips weather permitting.

Yes the VA follows the Administrative Procedures Act by law. For example the fed courts have ruled that the VA and BVA are allowed the "Presumption of Regularity" rule that means as with other Fed agencies the VA is presumed to operate and do things honestly that they are suppose to do as for just one example when VA says they mailed you a claim decision then they are by law and court rule given this benefit of the doubt unless the vet can prove otherwise. Another very important example is VA C&P examiners are presumed to be efficient and honest in their evaluations of veterans medical condition during C&P exams for disability benefits exams for claims and as we many know from years of experience this is a crock as they outright lie and omit/disregard favorable medical evidence for the veterans many times. The same goes for adjudicators in their decision making of our claims and appeals. It is a very tough nut to crack by truthfully arguing that the examiner was incompetent, dishonest, not qualified, prejudiced etc. and wast of time unless you have very strong solid evidence to the contrary. You can try to impeach his opinions by saying he said something differently on another vet's exact claim as your conditions but this may not work either. Both my recent and 35 years of doing my own claims and appeals plus many VA C&P exams has taught me this.

Again this article is more proof and added to the pile of mile high proof that we vets are indeed considered 2nd class citizens by politicians and many VA government pukes for many decades now and that some if not many claims adjudicators are mean spirited, JEALOUS, hateful and stubborn toward us vets and this certainly includes many GD VA C&P examiners. Both my recent and 35 years of experience in dealing with VA raters and examiners confirms this to me. The fact i won my BVA appeals myself based upon same evidence that was denied by VARO is more proof of this.

Yet maybe another VSO screw up as I know from my own bitter experience from many years ago and learned to do everything myself (successfully) for past 30 years. You are receiving good advice from Berta, Broconvet, and others. It would be helpful to post the C&P examiners notes for us to help him. Redact any personal information about him.

This is information directly from the VA website and their Manual 21-1 for adjudicating disability claims and as you can see from this info there is no form required to file a CUE claim as you can simply write a short or long letter stating your CUE contentions to the VARO or the BVA decision you wish to allege CUE. A vet can file an unlimited number of CUE claims to a VA regional office decision on the same claim for different CUE errors you think occured or you can list all the CUE errors in one filing. However a vet can file a CUE motion for the same claim to the BVA on only one occasion for that particular BVA decision. If BVA denies your CUE motion then you have option of asking BVA for reconsideration or filing an appeal with the U.S. CAVC court within 120 days of the BVA CUE decision. In 2000 I filed myself a CUE claim with VARO and then on my own appealed the denial from VARO and BVA all the way up to the CAVC where they agreed in 2005 with one of my CUE contentions and remanded that part back to BVA for further adjudication of a inferred TDIU claim that should have been processed in 1985 to 88 by Waco VARO. I wrote my CUE claim as standard letter request of 6 pages. Here is info from VA Manual 21-1: III.iv.2.B.4.d. Considering Requests for Revision Based on CUE Although there is no specific claim form required to request revision of a decision based on CUE, the request must be submitted in writing and signed by either the claimant or his/her authorized representative. In a valid claim of CUE, the claimant must set forth clearly and specifically the alleged error, or errors, of fact or law in the prior decision, the legal or factual basis for such allegations, and why the result would have been manifestly different but for the alleged error. Notes: A claimant is not entitled to request CUE again once there has been a final decision denying CUE on the same basis. If the CUE alleged is different from a CUE issue previously rejected, use a rating to determine whether or not a CUE was made on the new issue. Important: If a CUE finding has been determined, it may affect subsequent rating decisions to the extent that revisions in the subsequent rating decisions may be required. See Pirkl v. Shinseki, 718 F. 3d 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Reference: For more information on responding to an invalid CUE request, see M21-1, Part III, Subpart iv, 2.B.4.e.

I am aware of the Dustoff association you now mention and I have visited their great website many times. I believe that the aircrews of the large 45th Air Ambulance company near Saigon started and maintain their Association and website and all former Dustoff units crew are welcome as well as others such as yourself. Unless held close to my hometown I do not attend reunions anymore. Nothing you can tell me about the VA treatment of Vietnam vets surprises me at all and I have had my own several very negative experiences with VA for past 35 to 40 years and still they pull new tricks and surprises on me. I am glad to hear you got some financial justice from them and are helping other vets in the process. In case the VA falsely declares me dead I have multiple copies of all my Army service and VA medical and other records from 1968 to today and including Social Security, IRS and FAA because VA has no common sense or caring and could try anything on me at my age 73. I also have current IDs including Military Tan ID card issued to 100% P&T vets, etc.