Commander Bob

My most positive thoughts are with you and your vet, sunfish34. while waiting on that claim.

The VA is a stressor for me.... Some of us should get a medal for just entering the building... lol.

Are you working now, avatar ?

Some cases of PTSD have nothing to do with combat. The stigma of PTSD will not change with a colorful ribbon or medal. Our nation's mind set has to change. [ [ It's ( PTSD ) not a qualifying Purple Heart wound,” said Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez... PTSD is not a wound intentionally caused by the enemy from an outside force or agent, but is a secondary effect caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event, she said ] ]

You are amazing Berta.

I know what you mean jessejames , about helping Eleven Bravos. In the early 1980's, I volunteered at a Vietnam Veterans Outreach Center. "Help without Hassles" was our motto back then. Again, I commend you for reaching out and helping your friend. A long time ago, when I applied for a purple heart auto tag, I too had to get my DD214 corrected. The missing purple heart showed up on a DD215, in the mail one day, two decades after the fact. I never liked the idea of having to include an attachment to my DD214. Most people have no idea what a DD215 is... IMHO, although it's better than nothing, a DD215 just adds insult to the mistake. Good luck with your friend's Claim. RE; SP-4 and 11B, I agree with you. I carried a PRC 25, and had a friend, Max, who humped a M-60 who was a Spec 4 also. We had a corporal in our unit, however, if I remember correctly, he got his two strips due to a demotion. Long story about ol' Sarge

I had my surgery, chemo and radiation treatments in a pvt. hosp. I had a great team of doctors and caregivers. everything went well ( even the weather ). We chose the chemo and radiation at the same time. Radiation, 5 days a week for 7 weeks, the max allowed. Every 3 weeks I had an 8 hour "Cisplatin" chemo iv drip. Every day of the radiation I had to go to the oncologist's, and get an "Amifostine injection. I did not have stage IV, however I don't really know what stage I had. The diagnosis was upper respiratory, metastatic squamos cell carcinoma , with firm right mass right neck level II and one lymph node and the right tonsil. I need to make an appoint to have my 6 month PET scan soon. I'll ask the doctor what stage was it? I lost 50 lbs, and can't seem to gain it back yet. My thyroid got fried by the radiation treatments, and I still don't have my sense of taste back yet. I think that's why I don't have an appetite. I feel stronger every day. Last PET scan came back cancer free. I served in the Army light weapons infantry, Americal Div., I corps,Central Highlands, near Chu Lai, 67-68. How about you? How are you doing now?

["VA.GOV...VA HOME PAGE...SCROLL TO LEFT TO BOARD OF VETERANS APPEALS...CLICVK ON SEARCH DECISIONS...TYPE IN TONSIL CANCER 2008...GO TO PAGE 2...LOOK AT FIRST (#0824005.txt)THIRD (#0833482.txt)AND FIFTH (#0829366.txt) DECISIONS"]....#1 no AO included filed. Jet fuel........#2 non smoker/ drinker.......# 3 non smoker... Thanks for all the info CavMan. I used to smoke. Started at age 17, when I joined the Army. Did you smoke? I will use the PTSD /smoking nexus to conclude that one Service Connection condition contributed to another SC condition... Also I remember the 'Moonscapes" in the Central Highlands, that can be found on old AO maps. In addition, I participated in an "Upper Respiratory Infection" medical experiment at Ft. Dix in the mid 60's, where we were infected with URI by ingestion and gargling repetitively. Has anyone else ever experienced or heard of that medical experiment @ Ft. Dix NJ, in the 1960's? Thanks again Cavman for the heads up.

"... and for his widow, and for his orphan"... Abraham Lincoln

Happy Birthday, USMC HVEQ Cmdr. Bob

Dear morgan , I just wrote the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee about you and the VA DIC computer errors.

Dear Honorable Senator Akaka, I am concerned about my wife's DIC payments after I die. I am a former resident of Hawaii. I write you today as a combat wounded Vietnam veteran, recovering from cancer treatments and surgery. While putting my affairs in order, I came across a veterans website posting which brings me to you today. I read this veteran's widow's posting on Christmas, . ...I have come to Hadit this time with a broken heart. My kind and sweet husband of 27 years died last Friday. ... Saturday, January 3rd, the widow wrote, ...I was glad to see that VA had deposited his payment as usual for the month of his death. Auto payments were due to post in a few days -- and..... But late yesterday afternoon, VA withdrew the entire deposit. I'm wondering how VA could withdraw the entire amount. Reference is made to the "Honolulu Star Bulletin," Dec. 20, 2008.; <H1 id=storyTitle>VA to fix spousal-payment glitch</H1>"A Maui widow's plight highlights a computer error that wrongfully denied certain benefits By Gregg K. Kakesako POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 20, 2008 ****The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin issuing retroactive payments this month to eligible surviving spouses of war veterans who have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years. The problem was pointed out to VA director James Peake last week by Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, after the Hawaii Democrat received a complaint from Ruby Sasaoka of Kula, Maui, who was told by the VA that she wasn't entitled to her husband's last pension and disability check of $2,669. Her husband, Raymond Sasaoka, died last December and she had used his last VA check to pay for funeral expenses. He had served in the Korean War as an Army corporal and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and hearing loss. In January, the VA told Ruby Sasaoka to return the money and nine months later the U.S. Treasury took the money out of her checking account. However, Congress passed a law in 1996 giving veterans' spouses the right to keep their spouses' final month of benefits. But the VA never updated its automated computer systems, which sends out checks and notification letters. As a result, spouses were either denied the final month of payment or asked to send the checks back. If the checks were already deposited or spent, the U.S. Treasury moved to seize the money directly from their accounts. "This flawed practice has caused serious hardship for many widows," Akaka said last week. "Now that this problem has been brought to light, I trust that surviving spouses will receive the benefits they are due." Based on Akaka's inquiry, Peake established a special task force to identify and pay the beneficiaries who never received the benefit or were inadvertently required to repay the money issued for the month of a veteran's death. The task force is reviewing VA's payment records for veterans who died after Dec. 31, 1996, and who are survived by a spouse. The review will identify those to whom VA owes retroactive benefits for the month of the veteran's death. Because there are deceased veterans for whom VA does not have marital status information, a special Survivors' Call Center has been established for spouses who believe they may be entitled to this retroactive month-of-death benefit. Surviving spouses are encouraged to contact the Survivors' Call Center at (800) 749-8387, Mondays through Fridays. Inquiries may also be submitted through online at www.vba.va.gov/survivorsbenefit.htm. Akaka's committee estimates that 50,000 surviving spouses each year since 1996 could be affected, based on VA numbers. Out of that 50,000, some spouses might have received the payments they were due if they called the VA at the time to inquire about their rights.**** It is arrogant of the bureaucrats responsible for correcting the problem, to have failed you and the widow, whom I don't know. VA director Peake needs to be brought before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and be chastised for his slow action to your comments to him. It also makes you look easliy beguiled by those you are burdended to oversee, and if I may be blunt... ineffective as a leader. What are you going to do about this? Again, I am concerned about my wife's DIC payments after I die. Yours truly, xxxx xxxxxxxxxx

A VA computer glitch stole your money. They will replace it soon. The director of the Department of Veterans Affairs is aware of such problems. I think it is arrogant of the bureaucrats responsible for correcting the problem, to have failed you. VA director Peake needs to be brought before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and be chastised for what he did to you. The buck has to stop somewhere. If Peake and a few of his cronies went to jail for 30 days or so, I'm sure he would fix the problem instead of giving the Chairman of the Sen. VA Committee lip service. Here is an excerpt from the Honolulu Star Bulletin,Dec. 20, 2008. "December 20, 2008 - The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin issuing retroactive payments this month to eligible surviving spouses of war veterans who have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years. The problem was pointed out to VA director James Peake last week by Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, after the Hawaii Democrat received a complaint from Ruby Sasaoka of Kula, Maui, who was told by the VA that she wasn't entitled to her husband's last pension and disability check of $2,669." Again here is a link to the newspaper article http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/11945%20 Call your congressman"s office and refer them to this article ask for help. This is so not right!!!

Does it cost you anything$$$ to email the photos to your own email address and then save the photo attachment in a photo file? When my roxio photoshop type software crashed, I was able to email myself the photos I had stored there and save them in a photo file. There has to be a better way.

Thank you Berta

"Surviving spouses are encouraged to contact the Survivors' Call Center at (800) 749-8387, Mondays through Fridays.

I'm so sorry to hear about this... I remember reading where a widow could keep the veteran's last comp check. I couldn't find the reg., however here is a link to some info on that. http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/11945 Do you have someone close by to help you? Can you withdraw money from elsewhere to deposit in the checking account today, due to the automatic bill payments that you said will post next week. Go to the bank now, or at least call them, and tell them what happened to your deposit. If you do not have enough deposited money to cover the automatic withdraws coming up, maybe the bank can stop payment on the automatic bill payments, before you accumulate bounced check charges also...

Happy New year Mike. Did the VA mention anything about a "Bilateral Factor" for both knees in the award letter.?

TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRSPART 4--SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES Subpart B--Disability Ratings 4.129 Mental disorders due to traumatic stress. General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders: Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name....................... 100 Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships........................... 70 Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to such symptoms as: flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships........... 50 Occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks (although generally functioning satisfactorily, with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation normal), due to such symptoms as: depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent events)........................................... 30 Occupational and social impairment due to mild or transient symptoms which decrease work efficiency and ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or; symptoms controlled by continuous medication............... 10 A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but symptoms are not severe enough either to interfere with occupational and social functioning or to require continuous medication..................... 0

Are talking about a CUE?..... doubtful

Hi jessejames, I think we jumped over here, from the other PTSD topic post. ( Ptsd But Can't Prove Stressor, Need some help on this one ) I follow you though. This is the same vet your helping. He is lucky to have a good friend like you. I reread your posts. I noticed the vet had a rank of sp4, a technical slot, in an eleven bravo world. What was his job in the Infantry? No problem. a RTO could be sp4 instead of a corporal in an infantry unit. I'm just trying to get a handle on the reason for no CIB on his DD215. You said the records came from the VA, not the NPRC. The vet has to request the Brigade and company journals and daily logs for his stressor period from the NPRC himself, via you, or through his congress rep. From what you presented, he earned the CIB, and should be presented it by the Army. I know a service ribbon or medal and 25 cents won't get you a cup of coffee, these days, however, he needs to set the record straight, as well as sc comp.

Ah, yes. "The smell of napalm in the morning" The movies thrive on combat. However, falling off a duce and a half with a CIB, in a combat zone does not justify combat PTSD. It does litter the path to a timely rating though. Happy New Year All, Cmdr. Bob

Thanks Berta for your response. Congratulations caveman on a clean Pet scan. I am glad to hear that you are keeping on top of it and following through with the check ups. Where did you receive your treatment? Berta is correct about the Agent Orange settlement.... IMHO, The vets, with the help of incompetent council, gave away the farm, a long time ago with that $180.million dollar, "dog and pony show". If you can find a loop hole with a law suit, please tell us about it. IMO, you won't find one. It sounds like you let the time run out on your A.O. NOD. Sorry. I searched out the BVA cases that you mentioned as well as the one Berta posted, till I am crossed eye, and cannot find a connection between squamous cell cancer and an approved VA AO claim. In my NOD, after I get my VA denial letter, I will introduce what I call the Agent Orange Kool Aid evidence, as well as other evidence to link squamous cell with the ingestion of dioxin, as well as unique evidence to my AO appeal. We owe it to our widows to keep our claims alive long after our deaths due to the criminal actions of our Gov. and the use of AO. Reopen your AO claim, somehow caveman. I am tracking down a lab in Europe, that measures dioxin in the fat tissue. Here in the States, there is a cheep bogus blood test that can be performed. However it's not worth the paper its printed on. Please tell me more about the side effects you are experiencing. Did you have chemo, or surgery also? I need to have my 6 month check up, but wanted to wait till after the holidays for the new PET scan. I lost 50 lbs. and can't seem to gain it back or thrive in the way I anticipated, this far along. I'll know the score soon. Happy New Year All, Cmdr. Bob

You should be commended for you service in helping out this vet, jessejames. Good to see that you kept his claim alive with the timely NOD. His "light weapons infantry MOS", his Vietnam service, his unit citation, his stressor letter and the new PTSD rules you provided here proves his prima facie case. Did he receive his DD215 yet? Where is his CIB???? Or the daily morning reports or brigade daily journals that the Senators' staffer should have requested?. Does he remember certain days and incidents that would be helpful to locate his unit in Vietnam? I'm surprised that after serving in the war zone for a full tour with an Eleven Bravo MOS, that he never received a CIB. That is an insult that just adds salt to his wounds. My most prized medal in my collection is my CIB. Good luck with his claim. please keep us posted on this one

Who would you sue?