Ask Your VA Claims Questions | Read Current Posts
Read Disability Claims Articles
Search | View All Forums | Donate | Blogs | New Users | Rules
Joey Ross
-
Posts
99 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
VA Disability and Benefits Information
VA Benefits News
Store
Posts posted by Joey Ross
-
-
On 9/15/2020 at 5:47 AM, Berta said:
Sometimes I wonder if the Vet reps out there are fully aware of the 2010 PTSD regulations, and if a veteran is not aware of them, they could easily be denied right off the bat:
"Effective July 13, 2010, the regulations governing adjudication of service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were liberalized, in certain circumstances, with respect to the evidentiary standard for establishing the required in-service stressor. For cases pending before VA as of that date, if a stressor claimed by a veteran is related to the Veteran's fear of hostile military or terrorist activity and a VA psychiatrist or psychologist, or a psychiatrist or psychologist with whom VA has contracted, confirms that the claimed stressor is adequate to support a diagnosis of PTSD and that the Veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed stressor, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, and provided the claimed stressor is consistent with the places, types, and circumstances of the Veteran's service, the Veteran's lay testimony alone may establish the occurrence of the claimed in-service stressor. For purposes of this paragraph, "fear of hostile military or terrorist activity" means that a veteran experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or circumstance that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of the Veteran or others, such as from an actual or potential improvised explosive device; vehicle-imbedded explosive device; incoming artillery, rocket, or mortar fire; grenade; small arms fire, including suspected sniper fire; or attack upon friendly military aircraft, and the Veteran's response to the event or circumstance involved a psychological or psycho-physiological state of fear, helplessness, or horror. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304 (f)(3); see 75 Fed. Reg. 39843 (July 13, 2010)."
https://www.va.gov/vetapp15/Files6/1547678.txt
As the regulations say- if the stressor is consistent with places and times of the veteran's service, the VA might not even have to verify the stressor, and will accept the veteran's lay statement on the stressor.
But I feel any details and even proof of the stressor, with the lay statement , enhances the VA's ability to concede the stressor without a lot of time wasted, trying to get JSRRC to verify it.JSRRC was as affected by the Covid crisis as the VA was. Everything is taking longer than it used to.
"fear of hostile military or terrorist activity" is a key component to the regulations.
C&P exam.pdf I have this in my C&P, should I ask the VA to finish claim with what they have?
-
7 hours ago, broncovet said:
Dont lose hope. Almost all of us are in your same boat. "If" VA followed all their rules correctly, we would have to fire the entire BVA as well as the CAVC, as there would be no need for these organizations if VA fully complied with their rules each and every time.
Almost all of us eventually won our benefits only after some sort of appeals.
Be happy you know where to go if they deny you.
I've called Whitehouse vet number, plus got a congressman on it as well.
Just now, Joey Ross said:I've called Whitehouse vet number, plus got a congressman on it as well.
What is CAVC?
-
VA is still pushing records request, but my C&P ,plus CFR 3.304 paragraph F.3 shows they are not following their own rules. I'm losing hope
-
On 1/24/2021 at 11:33 AM, shrekthetank1 said:
It can take a while. There is no set time limit on their side. What you can do is make an IRIS question to see where your claim is at. This can sometimes get them to start moving the ball again. I know they get overwhelmed and they can forget about claims. They need a little reminder to help get it back on track.
You can also call the Whitehouse hotline which i have received several calls back from with answers on issues I was having. They will try to push it to the side, but just be straight forward and let them know you would like an answer. This can also get the claim moving again.
What is the Whitehouse hotline number?
-
This is crazy. It's the 7th of April. I've been wait since my C&P in August of 2020 for the VA to finish records request. This is because of a Higher level review that found a number of errors to include the VA not getting my records to begin with. AT what point will the VA stop a records request to JRSSC? HLR started on March 5th 2020. I'm still waiting over a year later.
-
2 minutes ago, shrekthetank1 said:
It can take a while. There is no set time limit on their side. What you can do is make an IRIS question to see where your claim is at. This can sometimes get them to start moving the ball again. I know they get overwhelmed and they can forget about claims. They need a little reminder to help get it back on track.
You can also call the Whitehouse hotline which i have received several calls back from with answers on issues I was having. They will try to push it to the side, but just be straight forward and let them know you would like an answer. This can also get the claim moving again.
I've already got my Congressman on this also, but VA is just telling him the same thing. Waiting on JSRRC
-
I've be waiting on VA since my C&P exam on a Higher Level Review since August for Records request from JSRRC. What, if any is the longest they can hold up my claim with this records request?
-
On 10/27/2020 at 10:52 AM, brokensoldier244th said:
I wouldn't know unless I knew 'you' to look it up. Every fed records request we are getting at the VSR level has its suspense dates kicked out 30 each time it comes back around for the time being because the requests themselves are queued up and the only records that are being located are for terminal, AO, over age 85- stuff like that, and even that is on a limited basis. We don't 'close' records requests, at least on my end, unless there is a negative response- meaning "we can't find them...." not just a non-response.
We have to get something back from them before we close it out, otherwise they have been staying open as requests. This is for everyone, even me- if I were to file a claim for something that needed specific research, like a unit location to verify a stressor or something I would be in the same boat. As an employee Im locked out of my own records, and we aren't treated any differently than any other claim other than no one in our home RO can work a claim for an employee of that RO.
Ok, with that being said, are we talking next year or longer? It's bull$hit
-
Ok, 25th of Oct was 60 days for records request, and they have pushed it out until 25th of Nov. What is going on.
-
29 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:
That may be true, but the doctor can only opine on symptoms, and any stressor that you discuss with them is subjective evidence vs objective if it cant be verified somehow- buddy letters, daily musters, AARs, order, various decorations that indicate conceded RVN or combat stressors, stuff like that. There are a lot of MH designations that resemble PTSD, for example, that also come with their own side dish of paranoid fixations, delusions, exaggerations of time and place (meaning inability to keep track of things- not deliberate exaggeration). I say this as an MH rated person-not PTSD. Ive researched my own condition over the years as a coping mechanism so ive picked up a lot of background info on other things, too. (thats outside my VA hat- I don't rate, or evaluate evidence submitted for any other reason than to determine whether or not you qualify for an exam under Caluza). If the records of an action or event can't be found, its a lot more difficult for a rater to tie a stressor to PTSD.
I will say that its not always just official records that can be submitted. Did you journal? Send letters home that mentioned time/place- even if not pinpoint specific? (opsec and all that) I got one guy an exam for PTSD based on a stressor that I found documented in Navy Times because his duty station was the ship on which the incident occurred, so even though his own records were thin, I found enough to put him in time, place, space to the event in question that way (It was an SAR incident, he was listed on his 214 as an SAR trainee at the time). Its not just 'official' DA, DOD, whatever stamped stuff that can count as evidence, at least as far as justifying the examination. When it comes to ratings decisions and evaluations- well, thats a whole barrel of crazy that im not involved in so im not a lot of help, there, I'm sorry.
I'm like a paralegal beagle, or Radar O'reiley. That's my job- getting you the exams and making sure that all your submitted evidence is either of record, as complete as possible, requested, putting in repeated requests and followups to you or to the various records repositories, and requesting from you in accordance with M21. If I can verify MST or stressor, or at least plausibly do so, without bugging you guys/girls, I can and will schedule an exam for it. Thats actually in the regs, too- I try to be as hands off as possible and verify through whatever means I can without forcing you to relay it all to me over the phone or bugging you with letters. Certain things, though, require something more official, like exposure/AO type stuff. Those claims require me/you to actually prove you were in an area of exposure or an event(s) that would plausibly cause that to happen.
I have pics of me at the stressor, plus book about my unit in Iraq that the pic is from. I'm the first guy in the pic
-
31 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:
Yes. That’s always been the case, and that’s why we send like three increasingly amplified versions of the letter indicating finally that if they can’t be found, you need to get them to us out it will be rated without them. Vba processes the benefits, we don’t have anything to do with Nprc or your old unit/s not having records unless it’s Vamc related, and even then VBA and VAMC are different organizations so if Vamc doesn’t have them it’s not anything VBA can correct.
this is a good time to remind you all that if you transfer Vamc it’s not assumed or automatic that your records transfer. We have a lot of vets that use more than one Vamc at a time, and each Vamc is separate from the other when it comes to record sharing. I can log into 1 program to look at records from vamc, but within that program I have to log onto each facility individually.
so if you move somewhere else make sure you tell your Vamc that you are because just like civilian doctors there is no legal obligation to hold those medical records for more than a few years with no activity. Eventually they will be purged if you don’t say something or stop going to treatment entirely.
I've tried twice to get my service records from NPRC, and both times was told that they didn't have them. My DBQ's for MDD and PTSD look good from 2010 PSTD stressor guild lines.
-
13 hours ago, brokensoldier244th said:
All due respect, Shrek, but that is not true. When requesting military personnel records and strs we legally have to wait for a negative response- that isn’t silence, that means we have to wait to be told by NPRC that No, they can’t find “it”. and continually request until they do.
Personal medical records are two attempts to the provider, same with requests for employment info from employers for IU. VA will also not pay providers for printing or burning cds if your provider charges then we request from them 1 more time then send you a final attempt letter and it’s on you to get them.
WITH NPRC being being on extremely limited staffing right now it’s taking forever- we have no control over that. If we need to verify a stressor, areas of ops, in service stressor incidents etc and your discharge is before a certain year then that is where your records are. That’s not us, that’s DOD. Without verification of stressor, events, area of service we can’t legally satisfy AO, exposure, or mst claims. Some more recent records, last 15 -20 years have mostly been scanned but older than that it’s still ongoing. Even electronic records have to be sent by NPRC. We can’t just log in. Someone needs to be on that end to find them and send them.
if you request them from Nprc you are going to wait as long as we are, or longer even.
So if NPRC can't find the records, the claim is reviewed with the records the VA has?
-
How long can the VA hold up a Claim, if they are requesting records. Is there a limit on the number of times they can make the same request, before they are forced to go with the info they have?
-
22 hours ago, GBArmy said:
Joey You said at the HLR there were some errors made. If you knew exactly what they found, then you would know what additional info they must eval to adjudicate your claim. You don't know exactly. And, the VA isn't going to make a decision now until they feel they have all the POSSIBLE evidence necessary. So, they request records. On top of that, the absence of records may now require an additional C&P to fill-in the gaps. The COVID 19 thing is going on and records are really impacted, as well as exams, although I just got one scheduled out of state by the VA. Expects several months with the backlog and everything. Not the kind of answer you wanted, but expect 2-3 months at the minimum, If it takes less, you are lucky IMHO.
The error was a bad C&P for PTSD and MDD. that's all I know.
-
I had a higher level review, in July which errors where found. I had a new C&P on August 7th. I was told they are waiting on records. My question is long long can they drag out a records request? They should have my records since this is just correcting errors.
-
1 hour ago, Buck52 said:
If a Veteran was serving in a combat zone rather or not he fired a weapon he is consider a combat brother VETERAN.
he should have no problems with his stressor he sure don't won't to over do this...his unit and date and location should prove his stressor about the kurds doing injury to them self's or just in fear for his life by just being in that hell hole.
They should have a list from his unit with all the names that served in that unit on the dates and location he mention including his name and rank and MOS
-
6 hours ago, Berta said:
I hope this link has their new address----I posted it here about 2-3 years ago ,but cannot find it yet.
https://www.rmda.army.mil/jsrrc/RMDA-JSRRC-Division.html
JSRRC Joint Services Records Research Center.
We have had a few vets here over the past 2 decades, whereby the VA told them that JSRRC could not verify their stressor.
I urged them to try with JSRRC themselves, and give them as many details ( as Buck correctly states) as possible.
In some of those few vets's situation, JSRRC did verify their stressor and the VA apparently had not even tried to ,via JSRRC.
Buddy statements as well can be incredibly important.
And also if a DD 214 is missing important awards, specifically ,awards or decorations such as receipt of the CAR, CIB or even PH, that too can be corrected with a DD 149, also available here at hadit.
This is also been uploaded to my file
-
1 hour ago, Berta said:
I have no doubt that you experienced stressors, and the pdf article you posted is good but it does not specifically refer to your unit- unless I missed that part.
In 2010 the older PTSD regulations changed.
They are here under a search and this and many BVA decisions reflect how the VA considers PTSD claims under the 2010 regulations:
I certainly hope that, if VA said they would try to valid your stressor via JSRRC, I hope they had enough details from you as to time and place, unit, etc.
to do that.
I cannot determine what specific stressor you have had that falls into the new regulations and I will try to find a BVA decision that quotes them ( my search here had so many pages to it- I didnt have time to find the exact thing I was searching for.)
Thank you, one of the stressors was the protest about us pulling out of Iraq. The book was about my units mission in Iraq. My squad was at the bridge when the protested started and we where there all day, watching kurds running their hands back and forth over the razor wire, plus other things that I want talk about.
-
-
1 hour ago, Berta said:
I asked you a few questions in another thread, maybe last week but didn;t get a reply.
It regarded your stressor.
You stated somewhere here that you were in a photo that regarded the stressor.
Did you send VA a copy of that photo?
Were you able to give them details on the photo? Did the photo have a date stamped on the back of it, that could narrow down the time frame?
A diagnosis is only one half of a MH claim, the proven stressor is the second half of it.
Photos can be problematic.
They often do not reveal who, what, when and where.
Have you tried to obtain a buddy statement?
Yes ma'am, they have a copy of the pictures. They also have the book in 7 or 8 base libraries, or schools. The Blue Falcons strike. The protest where on July 13th or 14th. I'm the first one in the picture
-
19 hours ago, Buck52 said:
According to this C&P exam,
In my Opinion you should get a 100% rating just from what your symptoms are showing and what the examiner checked in the boxes.
1OO% FOR PTSD now if you have other conditions that is rated above 60% you should be inferred the SMC S- AT THE TIME THEY RATE THE PTSD.
Note** when a Veteran has a 100% rating and another separate rating that is 60% or a combined set of rating that equal 60% that is a statutory rating for SMC S house bound.
So watch this it means you will get a bigger monthly check added in with your 100% if you have been living with your G/F OVER A YEAR YOU CAN ADD HER AS YOUR DEPENDENT. WHICH THEY ADD ANOTHER 160/175 to your check each month.
Also if you have not did this yet contact your Bank or your financial institution and set up direct deposit.
**Don't let the rater Lowball your ratings.
GOOD LUCK MY FRIEND.
The other dbq was for major depressive disorder, same boxes where checked on that one as well. What does inferred the SMC S mean? Bigger check than 100%? So we don't have to be married for me to add her
-
Does anyone know, how long it is taking for the VA to get service records, since we are in the middle of covid-19? It is part of the VA's DTA on my higher level review.
-
40 minutes ago, Tbird said:
Does seem like 100%, as far as what the doc said I don’t know what he meant unless everything is emeshed it would be hard to distinguish which one is causing the depression, a component of ptsd is depression or you can have full blow major depression and ptsd like me.
Thank you. I have Major depressive disorder, and chronic adjustment disorder, plus the ptsd
-
7 hours ago, Tbird said:
Yes you can post the DBQs just black out name address anything identifies you
let me know what you think
PTSD Claim
in PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Claims
Posted
I've been waiting since C&P in august. Records request from JSRRC.