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Hey, as title suggests, a few questions - I am filing my first claim, which, in a perfect world, would have been done right after service, but it has been 8 years now through struggles to find the right diagnosis an getting treatment wrt mental health (I have another post as well). I have been working through a VSO, who took a look at my mil records, but not my civilian records, and we have been doing a little work to identify which conditions to claim. I am wondering if it what is quicker, more efficient, better for all parties involved, etc... Should I just pull up the va.gov site and submit a 21-526EZ through their site, with their web application (which allows me to put comments, attachments, guides through...), or to have the VSO file the 21-526 on my behalf? I'd have to do some more paperwork through him (like a middle man), instead of on the site directly. I am wondering if there is a perceived benefit to having the VSO be an intermediary? Is there a way for me to submit on va.gov but also let them know who my VSO is?

Any thoughts appreciated In short; 2013 IDES C&Ps 2014 fit for duty, hit 35yrs, 14 of SOF Ratings Letter rec. June 2015/ 100% (not P&T) due to an claim item that was overrated and will prob be reduced as their boilerplate langauge says will be reviewed in 6 months. 1. BBD (benefits at delivery) claim was Required and submitted Nov 2014. Preparing the BBD, the VSO and I filled out the claim form (to include 2013 C&P diagnoses on several items), for instance one eye diagnosis was 20% BiLat ref. VARSD, but It was ignored or removed from 2014 claim. My C%P examiner was the same on both exams. 2. Five claim items were not rated at all,not even zero, but clearly in med records. For instance, scaitica bilateral - not service related. But scaitica started in Dec 2013, and weekly transdermal Butranorphine (sp) and oxicodone 60 a mo. I cant remember this sec but I had 3 ER visits at Army Hosp in 2014. Army Pain Mgt burned Nerves - didnt work, 3 times facets blockers, Predisone injections x2, and 1- epidural. 2015 out of service and 2 epidurals this year. I won't go into symptons but pain etc keeps me from working. This is the same thing for the other 4 claimed items in various degrees. I've looked at forums quite a while and I've not found this scenerios except for close and sorta. My first thought was Im being set up for a reduction under 100,, because they know with their omissions I'll have to fight a few years to get corrected back. "I dont know". But I know i need to be prepared. The good thing is I have all my Med records in a safety deposit box that support my claims. I'm trying to find a new VSO (since i've moved upon retiring) but I'd like to know what experienced veterans think. Do I file a NOD? 3. Currently my e benefits says review December, 2015, and Letter says not P&T because an item may get better. 4. Several persons, to include a Rep have said not to do anything because i'm 100%, but wait till reduced. What is your opinion? 5. Would filing a NOD or CUE on non- service connected items jeopardize my current rating? Or do I appeal those, ask for reconsideration? 6. One more thing, but comes as result of #2 above. Can I use a diagnosis from prior C&P to file a claim? (yes it was a claimed item on second time). It seems that if the VA diagnosed me and the army treated me, it could be used to support my claim. (clarification - I've had multiple eye problems with several diagnosis and all claimed. At C&P #1, i was diagnosed with what would be auto 20%. So at this time I can only assume either the VA ignored claimed item OR the SAME C&P eye examiner didnt list it on 2nd exam. Couldnt I use the 1st C&P exam/diagnosis as basis for appeal, NOD or whatever it is i need to do? (the diagnosis is permanment- not going away) Thanks for any insights

Folks: In order to be proactive and speed along the FDC process, I got with VA to do 12 C&P-FDQ's with the contentions I was filing. I have very extensive records and excellent evidence. Anyway, I had two appointment dates with a VA nurse for about 7 Contentions for each day. Much like during my military days, I thought that they would be done correctly and without any bias? But not so, one of the glaring problems was that the nurse took me way past the point of pain for the Range of Motion measurements? My understanding is that they're supposed to end the measurements where pain begins? Frankly, after, over about 30 years of back/neck exams, no doctor doing an exam - ever did this way? So, when I challenged her about it, she said, "don't worry, the VBA disability raters will see your "entire" file anyway and will sort it out"? Soon after, I went to her boss, the Head of the C& P Office, and he said I could write a statement of support to bring it to the attention of the raters? The other things she did was to mix an match comments from different contentions which really screwed things up? Overall, I was really flabbergasted as to the lack of detail and now wondered how many other vets ratings are being affected negatively by this one nurse? I did not expect any thing besides the exam being done correctly and by the book? I did all of this because I believed that I could speed up the FDC process for my first claim by providing all if the evidence up front-which I did. However, I'm already at 100 days and my claim is still just under "review"..so I'm not sure it sped up anything at this point by me being proactive? So, I really wonder if I should have just waited for the RO to schedule the C&P exams so there was a greater possibility of having them done correctly by the right medical people? Also, my dreams of having my FDC done during in a reasonable time are fading fast now as I've seen little movement as of yet? I understand that every claims sits on it's own merits, but I really put the effort into laying all of it out to make it very easy for any rate to rate without delay...and once again, I think, I'm in a "luck of the draw" situation with this?