Bill (USAF Retired)

E-Benefits states that my significant other's claim is in "Preparation for Decision." "The Veterans Service Representative has recommended a decision, and is preparing required documents detailing that decision. If more evidence is required, the claim will be sent back in the process for more information or evidence." Also, "your Regional Office is unable to provide an estimated completion date for this type of claim." The mobile site gives a "Temporary Office of Jurisdiction" (Togus) in addition to the regional office of jurisdiction. My understanding: The claim has been brokered to Togus, should have been ready to rate before that happened, but nobody is necessarily looking at it, much less preparing required documents. It'll take as long as it takes, hurry up and wait. Does that about sum it up? While hurrying up and waiting, she did get her SSDI approved. Since one of her claims is for TDIU for same conditions, the SSDI award correspondence was forwarded.

I had a clinic call ME and say they were calling to confirm a medical appointment and would I please give them the last 4 of my SSN to confirm I was the patient. No, but I'll happily call the clinic using the number I have in my cell contacts and once I know with whom I'm speaking, then we'll talk about personally identifable information

Congratulations!

Congratulations from a fellow Veteran. You earned that compensation through service that most of our fellow citizens never pursue, and you kept it together during the lengthy process of adjudication.

Filing for SSD is a requirement to file for FERS disability. I did file for it. No go. I'm a retired paralegal, so that helps ... but can't trust my analytical skills as much thanks to the stuff that had me applying in the first place. Fun stuff.

Personal success: This week started out rough but I got through it. I identified a serious, suicidal depressive spiral for what it was. I involved the right people, professionally and personally. I'm still here, Legal success the next day: I am recently tdiu (still working collateral stuff like property tax refunds, etc.) but had a claim pending for disability retirement from my former federal job. I had spoken with an attorney back when I wanted to file it and he wanted to charge me 10% of my annual GS salary, lump sum ... over $6700. I didn't have it (who does? *laugh*) so I did the paperwork myself over the course of almost a year (I worked on it during my more functional periods), I had even asked that attorney if I could pay him a lesser amount just to QC my filing before I did it, and he was pretty rude about declining. A gentleman from OPM called yesterday (a Veteran himself) and told me he had approved my disability retirement. He thanked me for my service and I returned the thanks. The retro should be a rather sizeable chunk when it all gets worked out. I cried right there on the phone. To that gentleman and those like him who are suited for the jobs they hold and who realize there are real lives and people attached to those case files ... thank you. To the rude attorney who declined the offer to review my filing for a lower fee: Thanks. I didn't need you anyway, and you saved me a lot of unnecessary cash.

VERY nice work, Carlie. Enjoy the win, enjoy the fruits of that win ... you earned every penny and more. Bill

Thanks, all. For this go-around, 15 months for everything. There was a remaining disability to be adjudicated on a prior claim, and I claimed TDIU during that process. The Cleveland Tiger Team pulled it from my local VARO, who (charitable mode: ON) were apparently swamped and just unable to get to it for a year. The Tiger Team handled it in 3 months, give or take a day. I also have to say that the VA point of contact at Cleveland was a genuinely pleasant person to deal with, gave accurate answers to questions, and they basically need to just clone him and have at least one of him at all the other VA offices. This is my second experience with Cleveland, both positive. Having supportive comments re TDIU from my treating doc AND the C&P doc was helpful, if not crucial. I believe my "avoid calling VA when I'm cranky" rule is a good one, too. I think It helps me keep folks on my side (or at least not actively rooting/working against me) during the process. Fortunately, I'm length of service retired from the Air Force so ID cards and CHAMPVA aren't issues for me. Property tax is, and car tags, etc. will be. Paying off bills felt good (got the back pay today!) and not having those recurring expenses will be an additional monthly "raise."

*Refresh* *Refresh* *Refresh* :)

Per telecon with VA, it's done. My rating remains at 90%, but awarded TDIU retroactive to the date I left my last employment. SMC (S) plus a K. Things to do 1. Breathe 2. Wait for the envelope. 3. Wait for the money (it looks like a pretty good chunk). 4. Check the paperwork and see what was/wasn't said about P&T/Chapter 35 stuff. 5. Depending on 4, get property tax credit (they want totally disabled/P&T). 6. Send copies to OPM (they're pondering my federal disability retirement) and SSDI (they're pondering that). 7. Breathe some more.

You might want to track it on http://www.ebenefits.va.gov if you can get signed up for it, since you'd be able to see the status change there even before the mail arrived. I'm also waiting, so I can relate to how you must feel. Best of luck and hopefully we'll both be posting some good updates in the "SUCCESS" forum soon. Bill

Amazing Christmas news :) Congratulations to you both.

Specialized training UCMJ" refers to specialized training about the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It was probably the mandatory Article 137 training. Article 137 (10 USC 937) requires certain UCMJ articles to be explained to enlistees. At least in the ASVAB, GT is the general technical score. I don't know what AE is supposed to be.

My TDIU claim was in limbo because my last employer (a federal agency) wasn't answering VA's request for a VA Form 21-4192, REQUEST FOR EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH CLAIM FOR DISABILITY BENEFITS. VA would request it, my former agency wouldn't respond (not even to say "dude, we're not filling that out"), VA would request it again in a month, my former agency wouldn't respond, etc. I had all the information right from my personnel file, but it wasn't laid out on the VA form so I was stuck. The logjam is finally broken due to good fortune plus some effort on my part. The good fortune was that the HR chief at my former agency was willing to listen to my story and look at my documentation. The effort was compiling it all and demonstrating where her own agency records verified each answer. She transcribed the information to the appropriate blocks, signed off and faxed it off to VA. VA confirmed receipt and the development folks forwarded it to the rating board. Ebenefits now shows my claim moving forward from development to decision. It took forever to put together, then I had to wait for a "good" day (moodwise) so I'd have the patience to go down there and interact with the bureaucrats. Hoping it will resolve favorably (a VA M.D. psychiatrist and a VA Psy.D. psychologist both found me unemployable and wrote strong support for their determinations), but at least it's moving again. *deep breath*

LarryJ, With all due respect, it's not that simple. There's no requirement that it be "due to possible enemy or terrorist activity." If you can point me to such a requirement, I'll be interested to read it. Oh, BTW, among other things I'm service-connected for noncombat PTSD. I am always careful to draw the "noncombat" distinction when dealing with VA, so people don't make unwarranted assumptions. DSM IV 309.81: "the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others." For what it's worth, I can imagine multiple scenarios in which a relative's suicide attempt COULD meet the DSM IV criterion. Let's avoid detailed hypotheticals in the thread because I'd hate to trigger any bad memories for anyone. By all means, PM me if you like. This next part is just a general opinion directed at no one in particular. I'm a little disappointed that some people have seen fit to judge the original poster without knowing all the facts. One traditional complaint in here is that VA claims personnel make decisions without evaluating everything we send them: Judgment without knowing all the facts. It would be nice if we presumed good faith on the part those who ask questions here. It's the same sort of openmindedness we'd want VA claims personnel to have when looking at our submissions. It's also just simple courtesy. Give me a few minutes to take cover, folks, then fire away ... Bill

First, the disclaimers: This isn't a legal or medical opinion, just the opinion of some guy on the Internet. Void where prohibited. Cash value less than 1/20 of a cent. Not transferable. Second: Can a Veteran whose claimed in-service stressor is "multiple attempted suicides by a family member" present a well-grounded VA disability claim? It depends. I've attached 38 CFR 3.304(f), 38 CFR 4.125, and DSM-IV 309.81 (PTSD) below, but let's focus on the first part. Posttraumatic stress disorder. Service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder requires medical evidence diagnosing the condition in accordance with §4.125(a) of this chapter; a link, established by medical evidence, between current symptoms and an in-service stressor; and credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor occurred. It appears that in order to prevail, the Veteran would need: 1. A current diagnosis of PTSD which conforms to the DSM-IV and is supported by the findings on the examination report, and 2. A link, established by medical evidence, between the current symptoms and the claimed in-service stressor, and 3. Credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor occurred. With regard to the stressor, let's look at 309.81: "the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others." Do the Veteran's family member's multiple attempted suicides meet this criterion? If so, then those attempts could be the "in-service stressor" which (in conjunction with a current PTSD diagnosis, medical evidence connecting the diagnosis to the stressor, and credible supporting evidence that the stressor occurred) upon which a well-grounded PTSD claim could be based. I don't want to discuss hypothetical "qualifying" and "unqualifying" scenarios, because 1) those are ultimately matters of opinion about which reasonable people might disagree, and 2) such posts might be "triggers" for some of our fellow Veterans. Good luck, Bill _________________________________ (f) Posttraumatic stress disorder. Service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder requires medical evidence diagnosing the condition in accordance with §4.125(a) of this chapter; a link, established by medical evidence, between current symptoms and an in-service stressor; and credible supporting evidence that the claimed in-service stressor occurred. The following provisions apply to claims for service connection of posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosed during service or based on the specified type of claimed stressor: (1) If the evidence establishes a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder during service and the claimed stressor is related to that service, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, and provided that the claimed stressor is consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of the veteran's service, the veteran's lay testimony alone may establish the occurrence of the claimed in-service stressor. (2) If the evidence establishes that the veteran engaged in combat with the enemy and the claimed stressor is related to that combat, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, and provided that the claimed stressor is consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of the veteran's service, the veteran's lay testimony alone may establish the occurrence of the claimed in-service stressor. (3) 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 posttraumatic stress disorder 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. (4) If the evidence establishes that the veteran was a prisoner-of-war under the provisions of §3.1(y) of this part and the claimed stressor is related to that prisoner-of-war experience, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, and provided that the claimed stressor is consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of the veteran's service, the veteran's lay testimony alone may establish the occurrence of the claimed in-service stressor. (5) If a posttraumatic stress disorder claim is based on in-service personal assault, evidence from sources other than the veteran's service records may corroborate the veteran's account of the stressor incident. Examples of such evidence include, but are not limited to: records from law enforcement authorities, rape crisis centers, mental health counseling centers, hospitals, or physicians; pregnancy tests or tests for sexually transmitted diseases; and statements from family members, roommates, fellow service members, or clergy. Evidence of behavior changes following the claimed assault is one type of relevant evidence that may be found in these sources. Examples of behavior changes that may constitute credible evidence of the stressor include, but are not limited to: a request for a transfer to another military duty assignment; deterioration in work performance; substance abuse; episodes of depression, panic attacks, or anxiety without an identifiable cause; or unexplained economic or social behavior changes. VA will not deny a posttraumatic stress disorder claim that is based on in-service personal assault without first advising the claimant that evidence from sources other than the veteran's service records or evidence of behavior changes may constitute credible supporting evidence of the stressor and allowing him or her the opportunity to furnish this type of evidence or advise VA of potential sources of such evidence. VA may submit any evidence that it receives to an appropriate medical or mental health professional for an opinion as to whether it indicates that a personal assault occurred. § 4.125 Diagnosis of mental disorders. (a) If the diagnosis of a mental disorder does not conform to DSM-IV or is not supported by the findings on the examination report, the rating agency shall return the report to the examiner to substantiate the diagnosis. (b) If the diagnosis of a mental disorder is changed, the rating agency shall determine whether the new diagnosis represents progression of the prior diagnosis, correction of an error in the prior diagnosis, or development of a new and separate condition. If it is not clear from the available records what the change of diagnosis represents, the rating agency shall return the report to the examiner for a determination. 309.81 DSM-IV Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder A. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following have been present: (1) the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others (2) the person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Note: In children, this may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior. B. The traumatic event is persistently reexperienced in one (or more) of the following ways: (1) recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: In young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed. (2) recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: In children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content. (3) acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated). Note: In young children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur. (4) intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event. (5) physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event. C. Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following: (1) efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma (2) efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma (3) inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma (4) markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities (5) feeling of detachment or estrangement from others (6) restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings) (7) sense of a foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span) D. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following: (1) difficulty falling or staying asleep (2) irritability or outbursts of anger (3) difficulty concentrating (4) hypervigilance (5) exaggerated startle response E. Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in Criteria B, C, and D) is more than one month. F. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Specify if: Acute: if duration of symptoms is less than 3 months Chronic: if duration of symptoms is 3 months or more Specify if: With Delayed Onset: if onset of symptoms is at least 6 months after the stressor

I applied for TDIU and had the same thing happen, a bunch of C&Ps got scheduled for long-settled and rated disabilities. I sought clarification from VA in correspondence and (gasp) the VA Tiger Team in Cleveland responded. Here's the relevant quote, word for word: "This letter is an addendum to our previous letter to you dated (XXX), and is being sent regarding your claim for individual unemployability. Due to a regulatory change, claims for unemployability are considered to be claims for increase in all service-connected disabilities except for those rated at the schedular maximum. We have accordingly provided the necessary language for increase claims for all of your service-connected disabilities except for (XXX), which is at the schedular maximum." For what it's worth, it appears to be the new SOP. Best of luck to you, Bill

Thanks for yours as well, CB. I kick in when life allows, and the prolific posters here offer a huge body of knowledge to those who are contending with the VA process for the first time. One of the tragedies of the VA system is that some very deserving Veterans are the ones least able to act as advocates for themselves, sometimes due to the condition that causes them to need VA in the first place. Bill

Put it this way. I retired from the USAF JAG Corps as a master sergeant and paralegal craftsman and I have a paralegal associate degree. I've worked on complex medical malpractice cases and am a trained, experienced legal researcher and investigator. Unless I were a licensed member of the bar or had other express legal authority to practice before VA for compensation (and was protected by a corporate structure and malpractice insurance), there is no way I would undertake the course of action you describe as being taken by this "advocate." I would be concerned about 1) being prosecuted for unauthorized practice of law, and 2) placing my personal assets at risk if my "client" sued me for malpractice, and of course 3) missing something that an attorney would catch. A lot of folks here are well versed in the claims process, but there's a big difference between carefully-phrased kibitzing about someone's claims issue (i.e., "this isn't legal advice, but you might want to consider Issue X or Issue Y, and here's a link to a case that might get you started") and a fee-for-service operation, no matter how penny-ante the fee is or how small the operation. Is it legal? Can't tell you, ask a lawyer :) Would I do it? Hell no. Bill

Appreciate the reply, it's my bad for not being clear. I agree with you that those are the three prongs of a disability claim. The WTEMS paragraphs really are 13 separate paragraphs, for separate types of VA claims. They use them as applicable in letters to claimants, i.e. you get the WTEMS paragraph for secondary service connection if you are claiming that, the TDIU paragraph if you're claiming unemployability, etc. http://jimstrickland912.com/uploads/FL09-013.pdf might explain better than I did, sorry. Thanks, Bill

When I evaluated evidence for claims against the Department of the Air Force and Department of the Army, I can tell you that a witness's military rank/grade did not automatically "settle the issue." The tradition of not questioning an officer's word wasn't the issue ... it was what ALL the evidence said and what conclusion was supported by the preponderance of the evidence. Rank neither won a losing case nor lost a winning case. That's fair, when you come down to it. You should get the same justice if a former E-1 clerk saw your incident than if GEN (Ret) Powell saw it. Sorry, I know it's not what you wanted to hear. Bill

For a long time, a common Federal managers' hiring practice was to post two lists, an all-sources list and a merit promotion list. Veterans got a higher spot on the all-sources list and couldn't be bypassed for someone lower on the list who wasn't entitled to preference. The merit promotion list is different ... veterans can get referred on those lists if qualified, but preference doesn't apply. There's no obligation to hire the MOST qualified person, just *A* qualified person. So the manager would get both lists back, and hire from the one where his/her desired candidate was in reach. A lot of the higher-graded jobs are going to be filled from that merit promotion list. Sure, you can apply for them and make the list if qualified, but it doesn't mean you'll get them. The manager probably has someone in mind. Vet preference doesn't guarantee a job, all it does is possibly get you some measure of consideration. (Been there done that, former GS-11 equiv.)

Hi folks, Does anyone have a good link to all 13 (I think it's 13) of the "What the Evidence Must Show" (WTEMS) paragraphs that VA uses in claims letters? There's supposedly a WTEMS manual out there online somewhere, but I'm not finding it. I just know the second I FOIA them I'll find 87 links and feel stupid :) Happy Tuesday, Bill

Thanks for posting this. I'm getting a room in Maine that normally goes for $170 a night. I get to spend that money on root beer instead :)

I know this is an old thread but I remembered the MUNJI issue being discussed here and wandered across this link. Maybe it'll help someone.