Testvet

I don't think it is any secret most of us here at Hadit do not have much use for the Regional Offices regardless of what state they are in our frustration with the system is what brought most of us here many of us have had to fight the system for years if not decades to obtain the "PROMISE" the VA just does not automatically process the claims and stamp approved on them do they? They make the veterans prove the claim is SC and it better be without a doubt the only time "reasonable doubt" seems to come into the area is when the RO doubts the veterans are telling the truth....... I have nothing good to say about any regional office I have some pretty bad things to say about Dorn VAMC however I have some really nice things to say about the Augusta VAMC both hospitals 15th Street and Freedom Way now called Charlie Norwood VAMC I have been getting excellent care from 2002 thru 2009 I am not real happy with them right now it seems they are going back to the past no one wants to do their job and they will transfer you to the call waiting tape in a second and you are left on "hold hell" and pray someone will ever pick up the call I got mad and called the Directors office and they even have a new answering machine "leave your name and number" and they never call back I have been trying for 2 weeks to get my narcotic prescription refilled I have only been doing this since Dec 2002 I think I know how to do it you call the nurse call center and they send an e mail note to your primary care doc and 3-4 days later Fedex ad now UPS shows up and delivers it naw not anymore you calll the nirse call center and as soon as they hear the word prescription refill or narcotic refill they transfer you to the pharmacy and of course since it is an expired prescription the pharmacy can't help you call your doctor and have them write a new script so I call back to the nurse call center of course I get the same person I talked to twice already and now he's mad I tell him I am good and pizzed I have PTSD and he's pushing all my buttons and all I want him to do is send a note to my doctor asking to get my percocets renewed he then asks me for my old percocets script number so rather than fight I get it for him then he yells this is an expired prescription I lost it I told him why did he think I was calling I need the damn thing refilled and I have been calling the nurse call center since 2003 and doing this without a problem until this month and he started there so who was doing it wrong? I didn't trust the idiot so I waited until 1800 and called the Ohio Call Center and a real nice nurse there pulled my record and said it was filled on Friday and will get it on Monday or Tuesday I hate stupid people and I do appreciate people that will do their jobs......the problem with the VA is they have the ratios reversed too many idiots and not enough good people

buzzard nothing happens fast in dealing with the Veteran benefits or Veterans Affairs Regional Office (VARO) where they process the comp claims your tinnitus they will try and blame on your use of your lawnmower and weed whackers or any other industrial equipment since you left the service you did wear protective guards like ear phones of something similar didn't you? They will look for every reason to deny issues you basically have to prove the military service caused the harm since you were boots on the ground in Nam there are a few issues that are considered presumptive like DMII, colon or prostrate cancer, and they are now adding IHD (heart disease) it is not a gimme yet there will be hearing on Sep 23 about this issue Like John stated keep the focus on your life since you entered the Army do not get into you were beat by your father or mother as a child or you were a teen age hooligan (unless you really were) since none of us really had a Leave it to Beaver childhood you were probably like the rest of us you had a "normal" childhood don't open doors to let them deny service connection just tell them the truth about your life since Nam they have been doing this for years and they can smell the BS a mile away when they ask you how you are feeling don't put on a happy face and say "fine" unless you really are fine if you haven't slept in 3 days tell them if you wake up 2 or 3 times a night from nightmares tell them if a bad back is causing your pain and if you hurt your back in service tell them if you have personal issues with a spouse tell them being a "man" and keeping it to yourself is not going to help you with these people they need to see you at your normal or worse day not your best don't go in there dressed like church unless that is how you dress everyday if you wear sweat pants at home wear sweat pants to the VA be yourself don't act "up" and don't act "down"

if you are still in and have not been discharged yet I would bring up all of your issues with a visit to a base hospital ER or your unit clinic etc whatever you have to do in order to get it documented if you are still in I would also get the address of every hospital you ever had x rays or MRIs or any other lab work done in and start writing for copies of them most of those records will still be in their file rooms you will have a hard time tracking down the treating docs now but maybe some of the lab work will have their names on it if you can find them forgive my stupidity but I have been off active duty for decades now I thought everything was on CD disks now so how do they account for losing 4 years of your records? I use to copy my paper files back in the 70s every chance I had because it wasn't often they would even let enlisted people touch their own records I used to work in a S1 and we had copy machines but even then it was hard to get your hands on your 201 file and medical files they didn't want to give you the chance to make stuff disappear like article 15s, and other derogatory papers or insert "good stuff" that was created on a typewriter times have changed but it seems like the military still knows how to lose stuff.....get what you can documented before you leave active duty

look in the mirror I was told by SOs from the American Legion, the PVA and VFW that I could not get my CAD and hypetension SC secondary to my PTSD the people here told me I could and how to do it as you can see I am now SC for PTSD and CAD and hypertension I did have to get a lawyer before it was over to handle the case at BVA I have this habit of mixing emotion with facts and the VA could care less about emotion going with the experienced vet lawyer was the smartest move I ever made SOs get paid if they win lose or don't do anything they still have a roof over their heads, they go on vacations, heck most of them go to the national conventions on some one else's dime they all drive nice cars and eat well I have never met one that would call me back or even give me an e mail address for that matter yes the lawyer will get 20% of your back pay but getting 80% of an award is better than keeping 100% of nothing the lawyer does not get paid if you don't get SC so they are going to do everything they can to get you the proper award don't get a lawyer involved until you get denied who knows you might get approved and you are not supposed to get a lawyer into it until you have been denied by the regional office but it seems like some of these "vet rep agencies" are getting vets to sign contracts on initial claims seems like they are throwing away good money because they might actually get approved on their initial claim but then again it does snow here in the south occasionally every once in awhile too :) Like Berta said YOU are YOUR best rep you can do the same paperwork the SOs do.......

I will be amazed if they do as Pamperin suggests that the VA would actually approve claims on records from a civilian doc without doing any type of C&P exams I would not hold my breath on that happening that I will have to see to believe he's lied before so whats another one?

John I promise you they documented it in your records that they have notified you of this and yet you keep calling in for the refills of the narcotics every month just the same as I do great the clonazepam lets us sleep at night but without the percocets our days would be filled with pain and I don't know about you but me without the percs I would be suicidal from the pain I have been on this combination since Sep 2002 and I sure am not complaining I would be in trouble if they cut off either med really between the nightmares and the back pain I can't ignore either issue so I take a reasonable dose of each I don't ever double up on anything and keep the menu if anything I will cut back on the percs if I am having a better than usual day but that means maybe 3 instead of 5 percs I can't remember the last time I had a pain free day I think it was back in 1999 but I couldn't make a bet on that wasn't you complaining last month because they didn't refill your pain med?

maybe they have new "video" games to see if there is any physical reactions sounds like doctor shopping to me

it sounds like you and the pole farm at Fort Gordon didn't get along I taught basic training there for 3 years I worked on the ranges as a instructor grenade range, known target range, mad minute monday, the M 60 range infantry MOS are pretty restricted to what jobs they can do on a signal post, but it was a great 3 years then they sent me to Germany I agree with the others other stressors do not matter you are already SC for PTSD I had many stressors but I went with the easiest one to prove the VARO here did not want to SC for PTSD but after I found the 4 general court martials of the men who were prosecuted for attempted murder and robbery of me, they finally caved, even they could not make general court martials disappear once they had them but they sure didn't do anything to help me find them but I found a real nice lady at DA JAG she mailed them to me less than a week after I talked to her, she used my name as a witness and pulled them up on her computer, they have every general court martal on a database going back to 1935. I was also on the DMZ for Operation Paul Bunyan, I was at Fort Irwin when they first opened the base, it is the most dangerous playground the Army has, vehicle rollovers, friendly fire incidents, pyro going off in the wrong place, loss of hands holes blown in peoples sides, 2 tanks running into each other with people standing in between them, etc they don't care how many stressors you have just do you have one that can be proved you have met that or you wouldn't be SC for it like Philip said focus on the symptoms and see where you actually fit on the rating scale and then you will know where to focus your attention to on the day of the C&P that GAF they will give you that day is just a snapshot if you go in like it's the best day of your life then don't get surprised by the rating it's not an acting class these C&P docs have been doing this for years be yourself if you stay around the house in sweat pants and a T shirt then go to your C&P like that do not get dressed up you are not going to church if you don't shave daily then don't shave the morning of the C&P be yourself that will help you get the correct rating they can smell BS a mile away if you tell them you are remote and don't have friends and then you sit in the lobby and talk to everyone in there that won't exactly match what you are telling them will it? They have even wrote down the fact that my wife drove me there and she was dressed real nice what does that have to do with me? Nothing except the fact I don't drive and have not had a license since 2002 my wife doesn't wear my clothes and I DON"T wear hers what she wears should not have anything to do with my rating and it didn't my point is they make notes about everything One guy a year or so ago was worried that he had told the VA doc that he never left his house because of his fear of crowds and being around other people but then the doc asked him about the last time he went on vacation and the guy said he had a great time at Disney World need I say anymore? Be who you are on YOUR normal day don't act

It was not that many years ago that the Senate Veterans committee went after PTSD do you remember the 72,000 claims they wanted reviewed because PTSD compensation had gone from 1 billion a year in 1990 to 4 billion a year in 2005? They made it thru 2100 claims before Congress shut down that fiasco, and that review showed that is wasn't the veterans lying about PTSD the problems were in the VARO's failure to properly document the files, the fraud rate was less than 2%. I don't condone any fraud and no one should but like a certain senator stated "I would rather see someone get a check they don't deserve, than have even one veterans get denied the check they do deserve". The reviews were ended by the VA after a vet committed suicide in New Mexico because he got one of the review letters. I am sure there will be a lot of brow beating over the cost of veterans benefits, but compared to other govt programs the cost is really a small piece of govt spending and vets do spend their money in the local communities, it is an economic stimulus plan that does work, I hardly think vets are able to save their checks every month and make their savings accounts flow over, they spend it, houses, clothes, food, new cars etc, we are the middle class. This hearing is because the VA Secretary decided to add on average for the next decade or so an additional 6 billion a year in compensation and it will add hundreds of thousands of new vets to the VA system that have not been in it up to this point, but adding heart disease opens the door to a huge new percentage of vets. As we all know Congress likes to spend money but usually they like to be the ones who decide when and where it is spent. The VA is the only Cabinet agency that has the ability to decide on it's own to grant presumptive issues and grant new spending and then demands Congress pony up the money to pay for it. We know Shinseki did not do this on his own, he has a boss he has to answer to, so it is safe to assume the White House signed off on this, before he announced it. Now, the Sep 23 meeting will be a tug of war, if Shinseki can back up the IOM studies then it is better than a 50/50 shot the new rules will take effect, this is just before an election, I would be more worried if this hearing was on Nov 3. Then the way these Senators vote won't matter to the general public there will be plenty of time to make the voters forget before they have to run for re-election again. I have enough stress in my life without getting bent on a "maybe" Congress does not have the stomach to "review PTSD" again not after the recent disaster. Myself I hope the new rules do go into effect for IHD chemical weapons are dangerous and since the Ranch Hand study ignored cardiac issues altogether that makes me ask why? Did they know it was going to be a problem? Most of the chemicals in the water and soil of Edgewood Arsenal all link to cardiovascular problems according to the CDC and the ATSDR so why should I think AO was any different. Why after the 1 Gulf War they only did a study on Sarin exposure? They knew mustard agents were also present at Kamisayah on March 19, 1991 when they destroyed the ammo bunkers, was it because they know what medical problems are caused by mustard agents and so they just ignored that substance, and not one veteran has been SC for exposure to mustard agents during the Gulf War. It hasn't been studied? Why my guess is it is the potential cost it would make these new AO rules look like pennies on the dollar. I fight battles that are real not perceived I have an idiot Congressman and I don't have much nice to say about either Senator but I would not count on them for anything but I do let them know my opinions and they both listen to me as well as my wife does, but I tell them anyway why because it makes me feel better but does it change their minds I doubt it. I will save my energy so I can keep breathing and cashing my disability checks

gee Berta that is pretty much what the first doctor did when I was 37 and having my first brush with heart attacks they told me it was pluerisy and gas and to take some liquid antacid didn't do a damn thing to stop the heart attack the tripe bypass a few weeks later did however but like the doc said I was a letter carrier who walked 20 miles a day I didn't look like a person who should be having a heart attack I wasn't overweight I got plenty of exercise and my age just did not fir the profile for heart problems now look at me I have been disabled more than 8 years and lost 60 pounds and am probably in better shape than I was a decade ago now I have a goal to keep breathing and cashing their checks just as long as I can.......

a few things PTSD is NOT a presumptive medical condition either you have it or you don't the hearing in late September is for the new 3 "presumptive" conditions not even DMII that is a given already the subject is the IHD, hairy cell luekemia and the 3rd issue which I can't remember they are not going back and taking away already granted issues veterans have enough problems without making stuff up there are no "death panels" either Sec Shinseki is going to have to justify the 3 new presumptive conditions he wants connected to AO nothing more and nothing less if Congress wants to deny them SC they have the power to unfund them, and then even if they don't you will still have veterans complaining that they are not getting paid back to when they were in Nam, or when they first started having heart problems etc bottom line is when did they file a claim for their medical problems that is related to these 3 conditions? Some will fall under the "Nehmer rules" and get paid back to when they first filed claims and were denied years ago other will get paid back to when they filed claims in the past few years since they started talking about cardiac conditions being related to AO and then you will have all the new vets that run in and file claims after the rules are enacted and their effective date will be the date they file the claim and then they will all start fighting about being cheated out of money some things never change

week ends are good times to get actual paperwork done no phone calls few distractions I can't see why they would not work overtime especially since they are more than a million claims back logged the only thing that will get the back log cut down is to work it the new hires they have been adding to the VARO offices will be months if not years before they start adding to the workforce without someone having to look over their shoulder on every action I for one am glad they are doing OT at the Regional Offices this is welcome news

I don't think the VA recognizes "pre-hypertension" as a SC disease in order to get SC for hypertension you actually have to meet the guidelines for hypertension mine is SC but I have hypertension that meets the guidelines for it I think that pre-hypertension is numbers that are higher than normal but do not raise a person to the point where they actually wrote you meds to control it they just think that you merit watching in the future in case it does turn into hypertension has your physician actually put you on medication to control your blood pressure? Make sure you get a copy of all your medical records before you leave the service even if you re-enlist it is best to always keep copies of your records, and put them somewhere safe like a locked box that you can leave at your parents home or a bank box those records may very well be what you need in the years to come to prove service connection shot records everything even copies of bases you have been assigned to you never know when they will discover some toxic substance that was in the water wells 20-40 years down the road.... and try to file only to be told there is no record you were there if you have copies of them then you can verify it I didn't learn until 2003 that my 201 file shows I was assigned to a unit at Camp Casey even though I was in the 1/31st Inf on the DMZ AO was used in the DMZ not at Camp Casey so making sure your personnel records show the right assignments is important also they do make mistakes luckily my medical records all say 1/31 for that time period and there are no 2/39th Inf medical records anywhere in my medical files even thought he 201 file says 2/39 during that time period I wonder if the computer records are as bad as the old paper records were?

John some states and some Judges don't care where the money comes from they attach the VA comp as well or they put the amount in the final order and like they tell the vet they don't care where the money comes from just pay the total amount if it's not paid they can and have been found in contempt and sent to jail and in a lot of the cases the ex takes a copy of the judgement to the VA and they just apportion it now some states won't let the judges do it but most of them are they better be sure on which state they live in when they get divorced

James I still remember the old crypt keeper lady the VA had in the ED clinic when I went there back in 2003 she was really interested in wanting to show me how to give myself the injections into "junior" due to my ED no thanks I have severe cardiac problems so Viagra is not an option and then even if I could the chest pains and getting out of breath then becomes an issue and I am sorry it's just not worth having a heart attack now I know why Bob Hope sang that song "Thanks for the memories" now I know what he was REALLY singing about if it wasn't for memories I wouldn't have any rofl

I think the K award is 94 a month right now

well as you see by Jim's answer that many courts as using "all income" for alimony and they don't care where it's coming from and as he pointed out with that court order if he quits paying it then she can take a copy of the court order to the VA and they will just apportion it and send it to her so this is not a question for the future he has been to court and he lost and it appears that he is not the first and won't be the last and I am sure unless it has a time limit on it he will pay alimony until she remarries as you can see even moving out of the country won't stop her from collecting it does he have any friends he doesn't like that he can encourage them to get interested in her?

I have seen judges order child support from VA comp but I have never heard of them ordering alimony not saying it hasn't happened I have just never heard of it now there are plenty of vets who refuse to pay child support and get tossed in jail on contempt charges all over the nation if you have kids support them then again my SSD check for my son was larger than his step father SS retirement check they were really happy when I became disabled my ex never contacted me again for a penny the past decade of my life has been the most "peaceful" anyway now my son is in basic at Fort Jackson and I still don't see him Your friend needs a divorce lawyer he doesn't want to go to court against his ex and her lawyer a self represented person even with copies of federal rules and laws can and will be beat by a professional pay up front so it costs him less or pay later on the appeals I have to eat my words I went to Jim Stricklands columns at VA Watchdog and here is what he says your friend DOES need a lawyer Jim; i will try to explain my situation, i am rated by va as 100% and the only income [other than $430 each month from my navy retirement that is not disability payments). This stupid family court judge here was made aware of Federal Law 38 USC 5301(a) , which states that it is unauthorized to use my disability payments from VA/Navy and Social Security in the calculation of alimony and thius dunderhead judge awarded my ex $3,500 each month in alimony which comes directly from these disability payments. I am trying not to pay these monies by moving out of country. I need to know what will happen to me if I do move there and stop paying my ex? This is a civil case, not a criminal case. I have been told by lawyers here that she could not touch me, and others have told me she could. I need to know how the Philippine legal system will treat this? Thanks again, I will be looking forward to your help in this matter. Reply; I'm not a lawyer, this isn't legal advice. I do not believe 5301 protects veterans from child support or alimony. It is consistently viewed as income and subject to be used as such in the calculations. See http://vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfmar09/nf031609-1.htm It doesn't matter where you live. The former spouse with a court order is allowed to "apportion" the amount from your VA payments. Click and scroll down http://jimstrickland912.com/A.html I've addressed this often. You can run...you can't hide. -------------------------

vets lady what I explained about my case for CAD is considered a "low ball" award despite the evidence for the 100% award they granted only 60% that is lowballing an award and if they do that you will again have to appeal to the BVA and explain why he deserves the 100% award versus the lower percentage they grant hopefully you will get the 100% you expect but don't hold your breath until they award it you only will turn blue and it won't help again why do they do this because they can this is what most vets call the "hamster wheel" and the VA has the biggest hamster wheel in the world

an example I was awarded my SSD for Cardiac issues only I have had 7 heart attacks a stroke a failed triple bypass 2 failed stents an ejection fraction less than 30% and am on a mediate only regime until I die there are no surgical options available so one would assume the VA would also rate this medical issue at 100% right? Naw they did a echo and claimed my ejection fraction had improved and granted a 60% SC since I am also rated 100% PTSD they granted SMC S I also had to go to the BVA to make them grant the SC for CAD and hypertenson secondary to my PTSD yes I could file another NOD and ask the BVA Judge to make them grant the 100% but what would I "win" by doing it? nothing a veteran can only be granted 1 S award so there is no difference between the 60% and the 100% in my case is it fair what they did? No but they did it anyway they were just being "petty" why because they can....... will my heart condition change? sure for the worse it's not going to "fix" itself you can win at the BVA but the Regional Office can still make that "win" seem like a loss according to the SSA my ejection fraction alone qualified me for the SSD award so did the 2 failed bypasses it met the grids for an award the fact that the VAMC issued me a power chair due to the fact I can't breath after walking more than about 100' seemed irrelevant to the RO also at the time my SSD award had been made I had not even been diagnosed yet with PTSD I got my SSD award in April 2003 my PTSD was diagnosed in May 2003 after 4 months of testing and interviews by the "team" so 2 different federal agencies 2 totally different reasons for being 100% disabled so far I have been reviewed once by SSD at the 7 yr mark and the VA has left me alone since the BVA award I think I am just going to leave it that way if I have a heart problem and die from it my wife is going to get the DIC benefit and that was the only reason I kept pursuing the CAD and hypertension SC I don't think the PTSD will kill me but who knows I am almost to the 10 yr mark so it shouldn't matter after that what causes my death my wife should then be able to get the DIC we have figured out between that and the SS benefits she should be okay financially after I pass and that was the goal but I ain't going to lie I enjoy spending that extra 300 a month as long as I am breathing too I have a goal now I hope to live 20 years as being disabled I have like I said I am almost a decade into it I turned 55 today with some good medical care and the good lord willing I may make it I quit drinking a long time ago and I have a great wife that does everything she can to keep me out of stressful situations and the only thing she lets me carry in the house after going grocery shopping is the bread she's a keeper I think it's a fair goal they broke me they bought me

I know you are frustrated but expecting people at a VA Medical Clinic to help you with a claims problem is kind of like going to a gas station to have your your kids wagon fixed they don't do it there that may be part of why you seem to get strange looks from people the VARO doesn't do medical care and the VAMC does not process claims paperwork yes when it comes to money the govt owes you they take forever to pay it and they don't pay interest on the money they owe you now turn it around and you owe them money they will attach everything they can and charge you interest until they collect it but keep the 2 parts of the agency separate claims at the Regional office and medical care at the Medical Center

lets be clear AO is not a diagnosis it is a chemical weapon DMII is a medical condition caused by AO exposure what exactly was he diagnosed with in 1996 and did he ever file a claim my step father was treated by the VA numerous times for cancer and other issues related to his radiation exposure from his involvement in the nuclear detonations in the late I tried to talk him into filing claims many times over the years PTSD he was on B17s that bomber Germany in WW2 his PTSD was more profound than mine is there is no doubt in my mind he wouldn't have been rated at 70% or higher just for his PTSD but as a retired air force person he would have just had the amount reduced from his retirement check and he "earned" his retirement check he would NOT listen about the tax free side of the VA compensation there is no effective date until a "claim" is filed just going to a VAMC for treatment is not a filed claim if every visit to the VAMC resulted in a required claim to be processed instead of being one million claims back logged they would be 5 or 10 million claims back logged yes it is unfortunate that he has been denied 100% especially since he is rated for a pension which agency handled his pension claim and why didn't they pursue a compensation claim there has to be more to this than you have been told just my opinion

if you had money for dependents owed to you why wait for more than a eyar before asking questions about it who was your Service Officer or handled your claim why didn't you ask them when did you get granted your 30% or higher award? Most vets are asking the very next month and really mad after about 3-4 months I haven't ever heard of a vet who waited more than a year to ask about dependent compensation before and I have been on this board for almost a decade I am not sure on the rules and how far back they will pay you now either one year or from the date you file the right forms or back to the date of award this is all NEW territory to me I haven't ever heard of anyone owed money from the govt waiting more than 12 months to ask about it though I am 55 years old today and you taught me something new you must really believe the feds when you hear " we are from the govt and we are here to help you" the govt only helps those who demand it I don't even know where to look for the regs on this one maybe James Brekenridge can answer this one

you should know by now that the VA does not go digging for old copies of stuff the good news is they will pay you the back pay to your award date for your dependents that are still eligible for benefits now but they will probably ask again for copies of your marriage license and birth certificates for the kids and proof they are still living or in school like old evidence and old records they may very well be in your file some place but they will not look on their own without finger poking you will get all the money they owe you though

cachinilla, if he needs the help to learn coping mechanisms for living with PTSD day to day then he should go a 2 week program is not going to "cure him" but it sure may help him to open his eyes and see that he is not alone that other veterans are dealing with very similar issues that he is and that their are ways to help show him how to deal with the ""stress" situations I have seen vets that have gone to group and when they "saw" a new symptom they developed it so that they had it "worse" than anyone not all vets have every single symptom of PTSD not everyone has the same identical stressors where one vet will get disturbed smelling diesel fumes not all vets will if you were caught in a burning M113 or a truck or tank your fear of diesel fumes is understandable if you were beat half to death and left in a snowbank at 20 below zero you may not want to go skiing at Aspen ever again, visiting Alaska in the winter time may not be a great idea either one GAF score is not going to ruin a claim by now I imagine your husband has months if not years of treatment records and that is what the RO is going to use to rate his TDIU claim not a recent 2 week hospital stay many vets assume that a PTSD vet can not get a TDIU or 100% rating without going thru the in patient programs that the VA has, some insist that every vet has to do group sessions etc poppy cock each claim will either be approved or denied based on it's own merits I have never done a group meeting in my life I have never done an in patient program not because I didn't want to I asked for a slot in a 6 week program I think it was and I asked to be transferred from my psychiatrist at the VA to the PTSD team so I could go into the inpatient program and they were "setting it up" is was right at the time my SSD had been approved for heart disease problems back in April 2003 we moved to Columbia SC in July 2003 after we got the back pay check from the SSA and they were going to transfer me to the team in August and then get me into the domicillary for the program that is when the real problems started, the docs in charge of the "dom" decided I was to sick to be admitted I had to many issues, a power chair, narcotics etc they did not want me, they then decided I could do the same program as an out patient and just go to the hospital every day and go home in the evening which would themn mean 140 miles of driving every day before we moved to Columbia I lived 4 blocks from the uptown VA where the PTSD program is Augusta VA has 2 campuses the downtown facility on 15th Street and then the one off Wrightsboro Road called "uptown" I refused their offer and I went back to my regular shrink and hat in hand asked him if he would continue to treat me instead of transferring me to the team. That was when I first learned he wasn't just a "psychiatrist" he was also the Chief of Clinic he saw who ever he wanted and if he didn't want to treat you he assigned you to a resident or another shrink it was just that easy for him, but lucky for me he found my case "intriguing" I am the only "test vet" he had ever met before me he thought the stories of the govt using soldiers as "human guinea pigs" was just that stories, with me he got the official file from Edgewood when he first heard my story before we got the FOIA file he asked me if I ever saw "pink flying elephants" in other words he just did not believe my story he was Sri Lankan and we had a communication barrier at first, plus the trust issue, but from the time we first met in Jan 2003 and his talking and working with my wife and I she has always been with me at every appt and at first she didn't say much in the appts but over time he spent more time bringing her into the conversations with questions like Mrs Bailey what isn't Mike telling me? Is he avoiding issues or just forgetful? I had suffered a stroke in April 1992 that left a 2 1/12 in scar in the occipital and parietal lobes and I do have memory problems and some of it makes no sense I remember a lot of things that happened in my life but if I read a book or watch a movie now since the stroke I seem to not be able to retain the data for very long if I pick the same book up or watch the same movie or TV show six months from now it's just like it's a brand new thing for me yet I continue to have flashbacks from the events in my life and also have LSD flashbacks from an OD while on active duty I never took any type of acid (LSD) recreationally in my life I never used hard drugs to me a few joints is not hard drugs and speed heck the Army used to give them to us for patrols and other events when we had to be up and running for days on end. But this doc wrote great treatment records and made very explicit statements to the effect that if I didn't have cardiac problems or COPD or a bad back he would still consider me totally disabling just by my PTSD symptoms and that after badly dealing with it since 1974 that he doubted that I would ever improve to the point of being employable ever again. He wrote that same statement annually and still does since 2004, the VARO could not just ignore his "notes" it is my firm belief his handling of my treatment notes are the only reason I am 100% P&T because if not they VA would have blamed non SC issues for me not being employable and denied me the 100% let alone a TDIU claim if I had to go that route. Claims are based on evidence and one hospital stay is not going to destroy everything he has done to date to get his claim approved he might learn something that may make his life a little better on some days will they "cure" him heck no never happen but then again I would never volunteer for one of the "experiments" like the one in Charleston SC VA where they are using ecstacy to treat PTSD vets it would be to easy for the RO to claim that a vet has "improved" from a 70% or 50% for example to a 30% or even a 10% level and for most vets that alone could be devastating if that is their only income and at age 55 or 62 who in the world is going to hire them for anything other than being a door greeter at Wal Mart part time and who can survive on that? To me that would only make the problems more severe there is a major difference between treating a 20 year old veteran and a 45-75 year old vet while the younger vet stands a chance to build a new life older vets have little chance to "build a new life" and work their way up the ladder again if they had ever made it the first time some of us crash and burned from decent lifestyles and the blow outs were spectacular lost the home, the car and the wife and kids besides just the career. I think that is one of the reasons that 55 and older vets are pretty much left alone by the VA after they reach that age and have mental health problems they know there is little chance vets at that point in their life can "start over" they are pretty much "disabled" by their medical issues and age He should go and see what he can use to make both of your lives better you are a team what happens to him affects what happens to you there is no 50/50 it has to be 100/100 and both working towards the same goals for the long term my wife (#5 by the way) has been the best thing that ever happened to me her dad was a Nam vet and a Korean war vet with PTSD like myself she has lived with it her entire life so she knew what she was getting into when we met we dated for 3 years before we married (lived together) back in 2003 we had been under the same roof together since May 2001, so my health problems were not a surprise to her I was still working at that point my heart gave up in June 2002 and I spiraled bad after June 2002 and in Oct 2002 and I learned the full story about the Edgewood Experiments I went into free fall and it was ugly that was what finally led me to mental health like most PTSD vets I blamed everyone else for my problems everyone was causing me problems not me I was a great guy how could I be the problem? yea right I was walking trouble and had been for 40 years because I refused to admit I had issues hell life subscriptions none of us improve until we finally admit we are the problem only then is there a chance to find a better way to live good luck to both of you