Bubblehead

My apologies, with my condition many things are hard to explain or put into the proper veiw point. I'll try to sum things up a bit better... I'm unmedicated, paranoid, and I'm pretty convinced that everyone IS out to get me. I dont recall when I first went into the VA and got turned down either, the last 5 years since my service has kind of been a blur/nightmare.

I do also have other reasons for quitting my job, such as a corrupt company that is backed up by the union, numerous grievances filed for policy and ethics violations, retaliations against me for filing grievances.... etc. Also without this job which has me working every weekday, I will actually be able to go to appointments and seek mental assistance. That all being said I submitted my two weeks notice this morning. I will however inquire as suggested as to eployment eligibility and the impacts of such once I am receiving treatment.

Excellent advice, I aprecciate it greatly... particularly Carlie and hulamatt, but all very good input. Basically as I understand it now I just need to take my disability rating nottice into the VA, and then I can get help... they shouldnt be able to run me around in circles again. (last time I went there I got sent all over the place before they finnally told me that line of needing to get my DD-214 changed first, I was running around at the VA hospital for about 3-4 HOURS) Hulamatt, for me the process was this... got discharged april 28th 2005, due to lack of support I didnt actually get any successfull progress on getting any help until roughly october or november of 2009. I followed the advice I was getting from a few veterans I ran into here and there who reccomended that I either get a VFW or DAV rep to assist me. So I went to the VFW and the rep there had me fill out some paperwork and tried to get me into some counseling quickly which we kept getting blocked on because of various excuses. I had my VFW rep send in the paperwork and not too long afterwards (2 weeks to a month) later I got a letter back asking if I had any further evidence, I did not have any evidence to provide to them that they did not already have so basically I just submitted to them a written statement to explain things as best I could, maybe it helped maybe it didnt... then I got stuck into the waiting period for a decision... started getting letters from them about each month saying they were still working on my case. Honestly I was loosing all hope and starting to go entirely off the mental deep end when I finnally got a letter back telling me I am now 100% Service Connected Disabled. I got it on my first attempt that I managed to push far enough for them to actually consider it. Ofcourse prior to getting a VFW rep to assist me I could not get any help from anywhere, the VA offices would just tell me they couldnt help me and basically show me the door... or worse yet they would have me wait out in their waiting area, and ignore me for hours until I'd have to give up. Two major parts of their consideration were that 1) It was documented that I was perfectly sane going into the service. 2) I was red flagged as being unstable mentally and tried to get help while I was in the service. 3) They documented all of my psych sessions while I was in the service... as well as some other incidents that occured. 4) while they were considering my case, they gave me an appointment to be evaluated by a 3rd party at no expense to me... I did so and the person who did the evaluation's basic reaction was that my condition was severe and growing worse, reccomending that I get help while I am still willing to do so and capable of admitting that I need it. As for my work, I am quitting it.. for one thing it has not nothing but greatly worsen my mental condition. I just now need to decide how to do so, wether to give them two weeks nottice or to simply quit on the spot, citing that I am now a 100% disabled veteran.

Pete53 That's pretty much exactly what happened, they wrote my DD-214 up as a Personality Disorder so it does not list a disability rating despite the fact that I was discharged for a diagnosis of "adjustment disorder with depressed and ansious mood; personality disorder, NOS, with dependent, schizoid features" Because of how they wrote up my DD-214 though and how they discharged me from the service, when I first went to the VA and showed them my DD-214 they told me I would need to get my DD-214 changed before they could provide me with any mental help, counseling/medication/etc. Now I've got my disability linked to the service properly and I've got my disability rating, so now what I need is that DD-214 correction so I can go and actually get some assistance with my problems. The discharge reason of "Personality Disorder" was a vague label that they put on there to deny me any assistance.

Stretch is correct on this however I will add in my two cents of advice, minus 10 cents in tax.... Alot of even the basic picture editor programs (MS Paint, etc) will allow you to open the picture and to save it as a different format. For example, if the picture is a *.GIF file or similar i would not at all be suprised if it is 2MB in size, resave it as a *.jpg and it should go down rather nicely. Some picture editing programs (such as Microsoft Publisher and Photoshop I believe) may even allow you to lower the image quality/size/resolution/etc. Lower quality typically means lower size. You may even be able to find free programs online to convert the file formats/reduce the sizes, however as with anything from the internet... caution is advised.

Thank you for the welcomes and advice thus far, in Particular Testvet. As for my job beign worth keeping over the 100% rating? Not a chance, I'm a Security Guard. So I would imagine that is one stress handled, I'll take my saved up vacation, then quit. Sounds like my next step would be to apply for SSD, probably once I have left my job. Seeing as I was Honorably Discharged for a "Personality Disorder" which I imagine is they're original way of saying "you've gone off the mental deep end, but we dont want it to look like we were to blame" I should then also see about getting a new military ID card. Still the pressing questions for me right now would then be, how would I get my DD-214 corrected so I can get mental help from the VA? Will that automatically be updated as they send me the backpay for my claim or do I need to request it from somewhere? And where do I start in acquiring the new Military ID Card, what will I need? Should I ask my VFW rep or should I maybe go check out DAV like I hear so largely reccomended? And Carlie, I appreciate that Rating Formula for Mental Disorders as it made a suprising amount of sense, most of those things listed appl, most meaning almost all if not all.

Hello everyone, Bit about myself I served in the USN Submarine Force (Bubblehead) and was discharged from the service back in April of '05. Just yesterday I finnally got the long awaited as well as dreaded response back on my Service Connected Disability claim, which awarded me with a suprising 100% Direct Service Connected disability for Paranoid Schizophrenia. I Wish I could say that I am relieved by the Service Connection, but I am all too well aware that it has all only just begun. I have no idea of what to do next, when/how I will get my DD-214 corrected, if I should/can keep my present job, etc. so any good advice would be most welcomed.