deedub75

SDVI is no more anyway. Hasn't it been replaced?

I was responding to Carl.

You do not have to have flat feet to develop plantar fasciitis. High arches, overuse, overstretching can cause it too.

Mine are rated the same. I think they are inextricably intertwined meaning they can't be separated. I applied for Achilles' tendinitis as well and they said it was inextricably intertwined with the pes planus and plantar fasciitis.

People suffering from chronic pain usually suffer from depression due to the chronic pain. I've seen a lot of veterans successfully apply for depression secondary to chronic pain caused by service connected disabilities. Have you tried pregabalin. I have the same back issues and radiculopathy and it seems to work for me.

I was granted 100% P&T with an effective date in February 2015, but my back, knee and left ankle claims were denied on that same rating, and I originally applied for them in 2010. I kept the appeals going until they were all finally granted in 2021. I had also had back surgery in 2014. I ended with a 40% rating for my back and I also got 10% in each leg for radiculopathy that was inferred. I believe ROM is the most important thing for a back rating.

The FED is killing the high COLA projections.

They aren't. Congress sets the COLA increases for active federal employees. The President usually proposes an amount but Congress has to back it, which they usually don't and the President ends up signing an executive order.

Everyone's experience is different, but contractor exams have been great for me. My VAMC exams almost always ended up in wrongful denials and when de novo reviews were requested, the exams usually ended up going back to the same VAMC examiner who erroneously and incorrectly denied my claims. Some VAMC C&P departments are more notorious than others and it shouldn't be that way. It wasn't until I started seeing contractors for my exams that things were granted and I finally got to 100%.

That's basically what happened to me! I filed for service connection for pes planus/plantar fasciitis and I filed for knees and back secondary to that. The pes planus/plantar fasciitis should have been an easy grant since pes planus was noted on my Army exit exam with an abnormal gait and I had a current diagnosis or plantar fasciitis. I knew the knees and back would probably be a bit more difficult even though I had current diagnoses for both. Well, my pes planus/plantar fasciitis claim was denied so all the dominoes fell. An ACE exam was done and the examiner stated that I did not go to the doctor enough times for my feet while I was on active duty even though there is no set number of times to go. I got treatment, insoles and was told to take a lot of ibuprofen. I was service connected for my right ankle and the rater could have tied my knees and back issues to it since that mostly caused my abnormal gait, but they did not. I asked for a de novo review and the pes planus/plantar fasciitis claims were granted but the knees and back were not. I appealed and was eventually able to get them approved but it took years. I originally filed those claims in 2010 and finally got them all granted in 2021 with a lot of back pay.

I've never gotten a card before from Lowe's. They do verification now through ID.me I think. I just give the my phone number and the discount is applied. Now Home Depot has the verification process too. Through the app, it gives a bar code to scan at a register or self checkout and the discount is applied.

Lowe's still gives the 10% for military, but they did stop giving the discount of sale or marked down items and they added a lot of restrictions. For now, Home Depot still gives the discount on all items even if they are on sale, well at least they still did a couple of weeks ago. I bought a mini fridge for my garage a couple of weeks ago that was on sale for $209. I didn't have a Home Depot credit card so I signed up for one and they gave me $100 off and still gave me the military discount. By the time all discounts were taken, I ended up paying $89 for the fridge.

The Lowe's discount is a corporate thing. The individual stores should not be allowed to deny it. You have to enroll for the discount through ID.me and it will show up on your online account so you can order through the website or app and get the discount. If you do it in store they just type in your phone number and you show an ID for the discount. If they are denying it at the store level then you should report it to corporate. https://www.lowes.com/military/validation

Housing is so bad right now, home builders are cancelling contracts with buyers so they can sell the house for much higher than the original contract with the buyers. For example, you sign a contract with a builder to build a house for $200,000. During the process of the build, the market value of that house goes up to $300,000. The builder may have something written into the contract to let them out for almost any reason so they cancel the contract and list the house for $300,000.

Yep.