scienter

When making your request do it in both the FOIA and the Privacy Act. The VA must do both, and for the FOIA request, if after 20 days of no request, you have exhausted your FOIA and can file in Federal Court. You can also file an application for Extraordinary Relief in the form of a Writ of Mandamus. The VA has been ignoring FOIA requests, and only responding as Privacy Act requests because it has no time limits. It's important to obtain your complete C-file prior to agreeing to the Record Before the Agancy (RBA). The GC only puts documents in the RBA that they think pertains to the BVA's decision, but you need to make sure that all relevant documents are includedd such at the relevant V9, NOD's ect.

But if you file to reopen, then you lose any EDD and it starts from the date of filing to reopen?

SSA is far better- certainly time wise. You don't have to wait for years. The hearings with SSA are before a Federal Administrative Law Judge separate from SS, as opposed to the BVA which is part of the VA. Not only that SS appeals take about 8 months, and you can view your SS file including medical records online. And you can appeal a SS appeals decision to the Federal District Court which you can't with the DVA system; you can file with the Court of Appeals for Veterans claims on a BVA decision, and, if necessary to the Federal Circuit for the Federal Circuit. I have been in both systems and there's no comparison; SSA is far superior in my view.

My understanding and experience with VA is that the VBMS is your digitized C-file. What's unfair is that a pro se veteran can't get access to his VBMS but a VSO (and now attorneys) can. Yes, you can request to see it but have to go to some RO or VA office and use their computers to see it. I know from personal experience that the RO can't be trusted contray to their Congressional mandate. The system is a maze which is easily gamed by the DROs and a pro se veteran doesn't have a chance in my view.

When you go before the BVA, it's your entire c-file, which is now digitized but, you need to see the entire "C-file" before the BVA rules on your claim. The RBA is a file selected by the General Counsel attorney which is only select documents, he or she selects (not your entire c-file), and the GC only selects relevant documents to the BVA decision and that is filed with the CAVC. The veteran does have to agree to the RBA and if a dispute, then the CAVC decides. The problem in my view, is that the RO can manipulate what's in your c-file; I know this from personal experience, therefore, you must get a copy prior to it going to the BVA. You can also do a FOIA request, which the VA characterizes as a Privacy Act request so that they only have to give you e.g. what's in your c-file, but if you file both, you can get all that is on file with your name. There are for example, internal memos on you discussing your case, and contrary to popular belief the VA non-adversarial system, pro-claimant system is often silently adversarial; again having perssonal experience with it. The whole VA benefits system takes so long (years for many) because you can always appeal it, and hence, stay in the hampster wheel. It's important to have a qualified VA attorney because the rules, laws, including many CAVC and FCFC case law, that it's almost impossible for a Pro Se veteran to represent him or herself properly. And if you get a VA attorney, he or she must have had at least one case they represented go to the BVA, and at least one they represented before the CAVC, and one before the FCFC. This is a must, because many "VA certified attorneys" havent't been before the CAVC for example nor the FCFC.

If he has an attorney or VSO, they would tell him to file a notice of disagreement (NOD). Read the decision letter, it explains.

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! That's why you have to have your c-file before your BVA appeal because the RO can delete certain documents, it's all digital, and you would never know it. Now if you appeal the BVA decision to the CAVC, you get a chance to agree to what's in the record before the agency (RBA), and ask that other documents be added, but the RBA probably is not your entire c-file. The General counsel picks what documents are going to be in the RBA based on the issue before the BVA that the judge made the decision on, but if you two can't agree, then the court has to decide it. Further an appeal to CAVC is adversarial so a good experienced veterans appeals attorney who has done at least one CAVC appeal, and at least one before the CAFC is essential- or a pro se veteran who's on top.of his case and the law. This is not legal advice but my experience in going through this. The CAVC uses the ''clearly erroneous'' standard but there can be no plausible reason found for the BVA's decision or it won't be remanded.

As I have been told by the General Counsel the VBMS is your digital copy of the C-file. But if a pro se can't access it without a VSO or lawyer prior to your claim being heard by the BVA, then you don't know what's in it and the RO can put what they want or don't want in your claims file. To me this is critical because this is the only record that the BVA is looking at de novo is that record.

Your c-file is the evidence of your claim, and what's in it is what's before the BVA, but the pro se veteran can't access it. Why not? It's because the DVA doesn't want you to.know what's in it even though your representing yourself. A VSO can look at it but a pro se can't. Why not? And why is there no law or DVA regulation that defines what is required to be in a C-file? That's even worse, if you appeal a BVA decision to the Veterans Court of Appeal for Claims (CAVC), an adversarial process, General counsel attorneys get to.pick what records from your C-tile go before the CAVC. So what's legally supposed to be.in your c-file is critical. The RO controls your file and they take stuff out without notice to the veteran, in order to- in my view- defeat or prolong your claim. The system is rigged against the veteran cloaked with the Congressional mandate of pro-claimant, non-adversarial, when in my view, is a manipulative corrupt process, propped up by "well you can.appeal it".

What law or regulation defines what the contents of a c-tile is?