tk3000

In the past I have worked in IT, mostly regarding Operating Systems, Servers and Software Development. Among other things, I am a certified Linux System Admin and used to host my own website on my own servers (apache or httpd) on linux boxes. Also, I used to write in HTML and some embedded code in Javascript. It has been some time though, so I am kind of rusty. Let me know if I can be of any assistance. Sincerely, tk3000

Recently in my email box landed some message with the subject "Veterans Benefits to increase by a whopping 8.7"(paraphrasing). The question is compared to what? At what cost of living? The CPI does not measure inflation with any level of accuracy; it is mostly a propaganda tool for the government. The Government (Bureau of Labor and Statistics) changed the approach and methodology on how they measure inflation over time. If we were to use the same approach and methodology that was used back in the early 1980s, the inflation for 2021 would around 16%. Thus, comparing the 2021 CPI with the one from the early 80s is simply not fair: it is like comparing apples to oranges. Our current inflation rate is most likely the highest in history (or at least since they started measuring the inflation) For 2022, the inflation rate is expected to be much worse. If you have at been at a grocery store recently you probably know that. Almost everything I buy went up in price for at least 20%. Some items went up in price by a whopping 80%. Purchasing power and the standards of living of Veterans has been eroded to an unprecedent level. And, likely, it is only going to get worse in the foreseeable future.

Buck52, thanks for sharing and your positivity! Yeah, in spite of what happened to me last year I feel excited again about this move!

Shrekthetank1, yeah, you are right; that horrible episode really broke the camels back. I had the intention to live in Germany when I was a teenager but life came in the way and eventually it faded away. I definitively appreciate all the advice, input, and insight that I am receiving here! I know some German, but I find myself reading most of the time instead of talking… so it is easy for me to read rather than understand spoken language. Currently, I am studying to attain a certificate in German language that the German government accepts (it is a test taken at the Goethe Institute) I am single with no kids, so it is just me and myself which makes things easier at first. I have a condo unit where I live, at first I plan on keeping it too; but in the future I plan of selling it. I guess we are never 100% sure of anything. But I like the language even though I am not fluent yet, and I had that imminent desire to move there in the back of my mind… One thing that weighs against relocating to Germany is the cost of living that is high and increasing in most cities. On the other side, being in central Europe makes it also easy to explore other countries in the vicinity

vetquest, thanks for sharing and for your kind words!

Wow, 20 years... you must liked the lifestyle there. Hope I can follow suit. I was mostly worried about having to travel to the US just to deal with the VA because I would not be going to medical appointments even though my conditions are stable not likely to improve. Besides I have had the same condition for over 10 years now (they are also granted some protective status)

Thanks for your input! I am planning on going to Germany during the summer of this year. Currently I am studying for masters in computer science, and also studying to improve my German in order to pass in a more advanced test in the language. At first I dont plan on staying close to base, but that is a possibility in the future. Also, not planning on trying to work for the time being. It is good to know that there is a VFW on base. I handle my claims myself, but always good to send them via a representative for verifying purposes and whatnot. But so far my claims are all settled (decided at BVA level) with exception of an appeal that probably will take few more years to be finalized.

GBArmy, Thanks for your input and advice. I realize that the US is a great country. And that I probably had a house in a less than ideal area (not a bad area though) and to make things worse the house seated in almost an acre of land and it was located in secluded spot. So... Circa 4 months... I was absent from my house for 5 weeks and a gang of low life form criminals and animals broke into my house and garage and stole every conceivable that I had (my riding mower, my high end appliances, electronics, all my belongs, my car in my garage), and what they did not only steal they also ruined, ransacked and destroyed everything (everything was tossed on the floor and destroyed). The police basically does nothing regarding the case. It can be argued that if I lived in an affluent neighborhood such episode would be less likely to have materialize, but I am not rich. I have lived in so called third/second world countries and never saw anything like that; there are crimes and crimes, and that was an extreme. I ended up selling the house at a loss. I feel that after all I went through that I want to try a different life outside the country. I did some research and also read the answers to this thread. As you said, it seems that sending money overseas to a bank in Germany would not be a problem. No in normal circumstances I could not be treated in a US military hospital. It seems that the VA would refund treatment for service connected medical conditions only, so I would mostly be on my own for my medical care. Also, I realize that there is crime in Germany too, but statistically it is much smaller. There are towns in Ohio whereby an employer cannot find a job applicant who could simply pass a drug test in order to fill the job position, and I am sure there are better areas and towns in the US, but the problem of crime and drugs seems prevalent in many places. Besides as a youth I was interested in going to Germany, so maybe that horrible episode rekindled that interest.

Hello Folks, After a horrible experience with crime I am considering leaving this country for good. I want to emigrate to Germany at some point. Living overseas creates a whole new set of potential issues regarding VA in terms of medications (would the VA ship them overseas?), appointment follow ups, and even potential C&P exams (even though in my last C&P the examiner stated that there would no likely probability of improvements for my conditions). The VA is known for its discrepancies, irregularities, errors, and for not follow its own rules and regulations; so even though I am may be entitled to some medical care overseas that would probably introduce a whole new can of worms in terms potential mistakes, errors, and wrongdoings on the VA side of things. When the VA commits errors, mistakes, and wrongdoings the burden of dealing with them often fall on the veteran which then is translated into years of processing appeals,etc. Unfortunately we do not living hundred of years, and life is short; and the whole prospect of dealing with the VA administration again (after having had all my issues settled down by the BVA) is truly a nightmare. I, for example, have a BVA appeal which is going on for over 5 years and there is no prospect of any resolution any time soon. So it is all more worrisome if I am not living in the US. So, I was wondering what insights, inputs, and opinions your guys would have about it. Maybe some of you may have experience living overseas whilst receiving compensation and benefits from the VA

GBArmy, it seems since I got 100% TDIU I got too accommodated and somewhat lazy, so I haven't really started process yet. But that is about to change now. I am on the planning phase now doing the research and preparation process. I plan on retrieving medical records tomorrow, and if I find out more relevant research papers I will share them here (this one that I posted is not all that interesting...). But the mainstay of my claim is going to be set of secondary conditions that I hold, all of each play a role development of sleep apnea: anxiety disorder, major depression, gerd, and obesity due to the lack of regular physical exercise (then due my physical disabilities) . I will share the main developments of my claim process and steps here with you guys. It just happens that the VA is too dysfunctional and too slow to be real as we all know so well, so it will probably take longer than what I would wish or what any rudimentary civilized society would expect: I anticipate 50% chances of it going to the BVA.

There is also a nexus between GERD (chronic heartburn, or acid reflux) and sleep apnea. A causal relation of the former with the later. Below, I am attaching an article from an academic publication regarding this issue. So, if you have GERD and it is service connected you can add it to the list of secondary conditions that could contribute to the onset of sleep apnea SLEEP_APNEA_GERD_PAPER.PDF

According to VA laws, regulations, statues the goal the Voc Rehab is to provide training that fulfills veterans aptitudes and interest (be it going to Law school, Med. School, a Phd, etc) and which ideally would lead to suitable and gainful employment. Therefore the law states – and there is plenty of legal precedent to back it up – that it is up to the veteran (and not to the VA counselor) to decide what school to go and what coursework to pursue. The latitude of decision making that a VA counselor has is very much limited to situations whereby the veteran demonstrate an inability to pass in his coursework (veterans has failed all his/her classes), and not to whether or not the veteran should or should be approved to go to school based on any other criteria (the decision has already been made and is within the preambles of the law) “There are too counselors “within the agency who refuse to fulfill the true purpose of the program – to help a veteran become as independent as possible and as successful as possible in employment; the emphasis herein is in the “as possible” so the sky is the limit. They instead claim they have a mandate to get you back to work as quickly and cheaply as possible, which is a claim written no where in the actual law.” (military.com), and it is otherwise a direct violation of the law. The right to go to school and to whatever school the veteran so choose is up to the veteran and the veteran only. The law clearly states and the doctrine of legal precedent restates that and thus any pretentious pathetic pseudo-decision of the voc counselor crafted in order to deny the veterans his legal rights and legal entitlement is nothing but a blatant violation of the law (where is the accountability Act) and an attempt to jeopardize the veterans legal rights and legal entitlements. Again, it is the legal right and the legal entitlement of the veteran to choose whatever school or training route he/se sees as suitable to his interests and aptitudes. The approval of the voc counselor is merely a formality, and the voc counselor must follow, obey, and observe the law, regulations, and statutes instead of pretending to be any type of powerful decision maker because clearly a counselor is not one – at best the voc counselor is a facilitator who should provide for and help the veterans in his training endeavors (unfortunately that is not the case the vast majority of the times as they tend to be liars, crooks, and manipulators).

Ddsr, I just tried it and it also shows "Appeals feature has moved to VA.GOV" Thanks

I saw the same message whenever I tried to look up the status of my appeals (currently at the bva level); a message in a large font size says that my opened appeals have moved to va.gov. But it is a failed state of affair -- at least in my case. Whenever I log on into va.gov and then look up my opened appeal status, it shows none opened; in other words no currently appeal opened. It shows some old appeals and some oddball closed appeals that at first does not make much sense (it may be be phases or aspects of my current appeal or even past appeals that have been completed; but to my current opened appeal is not shown). By the way, I know that my current appeal is opened because I contacted VA via iris and was informed that there might be a glitch or malfunction within the webservice and that my appeal is still open (it is an appeal for an early effective date). Now I have no way to check out the status of my appeals.

L, an interesting article that somehow confirmed something I conveyed and knew from my readings of analogous BVA claims. Sure enough, but even certified mail can somewhat fail with the hectic way the VA handle paperwork. I did not know about sending it through ebenefits was an option, that is convenient!

I got your point. And also there is a need to file and send that notorious form every year to showcase that we got no gainful and meaningful employment. Sometimes it occurs to me: what would happen if this correspondence gets misdirected by the USPS during transport? I would imagine that there would be some failsafe mechanism and that they would not instantly kick one out of IU; after all, correspondences are know to get misdelivered during transport sometimes.

Yeah, I know that, but in a cinch it gives me safety net and a failsafe net in case I am out of IU for any reason. thanks for your insights!

I read somewhere that ones primary or originated condition would be the main condition, in my case it is the left leg condition from which other conditions are related. For instance my MH condtion (which is rated at 70%) is mostly attribute to my left leg condition (pain and difficult of mobility). But, then, I also read somewhere that the condition with higher rating is considered the main condition which seems to be the correct one. I understand how the VA math works, the whole body theory and how the main condition can precede the other conditions that it ties together: after 70% disability, there would 30% of a whole body which the other conditions would affect, etc. But what are the odds that any rater would give anything but schedular 100%? Besides the MH rated at 70%, I don't have any condition above 30% so the SMC comes from the fact that I have peripheral neuropathy on my left foot rated at 20%. The neuropathy would be considered a loss of a sensorial part of the body and thus would grant me the SMC. thanks

You are probably rated the SMC due to the 10% for peripheral neuropathy; a loss of a sensorial part of your body.

I also happened to have neuropathy in my left foot which is a lack of sensorial body part and I believe that is what gives me the extra SMC compensation. You should have SMC too I assume. Yeah, it seems that sleep apnea itself and the plethora of other conditions you have would have an impact on you gaining weight, and thus also contributing to sleep apnea in a sort of vicious cycle since sleep apnea itself can cause fatigue (the machine is supposed to help with the fatigue caused by sleep apnea). You have been diagnosed and are service connected for depression and PTSD which are known to cause obesity. I believe that these conditions combined could conjure up a good case of obesity causing sleep apnea, but I doubt the RO would give it to you; it is a case for BVA to decide -- likely favorably. There is an actual case that was decided at BVA level for a veteran whose claim was that depression would lead to overeating which would then lead to obesity and consequently sleep apnea. I know that the BVA is not an independent court and does create precedent of ruling per say, but it is a strong case on your side and shows the likelihood of a positive outcome. Sure enough, calories intake, genetic predisposition, aging all cause obesity but physical exercise is probably the main tool to combat obesity. Make sure you always sleep with CPAP machine, the machine should help you have a good night sleep and wake up refreshed and reinvigorated; and most importantly, it could also save our lives. John, thanks for reviving the thread, soon this thread will be old and abandoned and maybe someone will necro-bump it.

But according to the VA math that would put my overall rating above 95% which would translate to 100% schedular. Besides, I am already eligible to SMC, I receive it every month.

No, I haven't started it yet. But I will file soon (intent to file). I believe that it can be done on ebenefits? I was not i a big hurry for two reasons: 1) it is not going to affect my level of compensation since I already at 100% due to IU, but it would put me in another bracket; that is schedular 100%. 2) I have a pending appeal with the BVA, but I don't expect that to be finalized any time soon. Another thing that is worrisome is how the VA operates with its lack of accountability and some many horror stories to go along with it. I have well diagnosed conditions whose rates have been increased by the BVA, I am afraid that it can prompt reviews of such conditions by the RO (as indicated by broncovet) which could then bring the rates down however absurd it may sound. And it may seems absurd, but sometimes absurdity is the norm with the dysfunctonal VA whose employees often amass to plot against veterans. Besides some of my disabilities are more than 10 years old (original diagnosed) , so they may have protective status. Still, the idea that they can wrongly and purposefully review my conditions is worrisome to say the least. My very first post in this thread is actually a rough initial draft of what my claim is going to be. What do you mean by "Reverse Nexus"? A flipped nexus? As building up of the case, I am beginning to collect medical evidence. The following is an excerpt from the notes taken by the VA primary care physician: “SLEEP APNEA: Discussed the various causes of OSA, and purpose of F/U to titrate pressure & fit mask. Pt takes trazodone prn, and is not on any meds that I know cause apnea. He says he has gained some weight since his prior study, and I agreed that this may have some impact.”

Still gathering evidence. We can not go to the battle without body armor!

In England, US, and Commonwealth jurisprudence and thus court decisions have precedent over codified law. I know that may not necessarily applied to federal code of rules and regulations that is the domain of the VA. And while the CAVC is an independent court (as you pointed out on your case of the a/c for your vehicle), the BVA is not but still its decisions has some bearing and weight upon new decisions Sure enough, there are many overweight vets, but the vast majority of them do not have physical conditions that are service connected which then preclude them from doing physical exercise. And if somebody with depression has nexus to obesity (overeating due to depression) and then sleep apnea as a granted claim due to depression, I can not imagine how a real physical disability could not cause obesity and thus sleep apnea. It seems that the RO may not grant the claim, but likely the BVA would; anyhow it depends on my medical evidence too and what type of physical examiner one gets. Thanks for your input Richard

I confess that I have not read the whole thing; I read the main point and skimp over the rest. To my redemption I read the full content of the following case: https://www.va.gov/vetapp13/Files3/1325545.txt It is an almost carbon copy of my case since I also have right leg overuse issues related to my left leg condition (lots of hardware with impairment, pain, etc)