ptsd Buddy Letter?

[Johnny K.]

Berta,

I have been in contact with a Marine who I carried out of an impact range at Camp Pendleton. He and a friend were blown up by dud ordnance.

He was a patient I picked up as an EMT in 1975 but we were not in the same unit. He was in artillery in HQ 11th Marines and I was attached at the time to NavRegMedCtr CamPen.

Could a letter from him benefit me at my DRO hearing for non-combat PTSD?

He was unconcious when I picked him up and aside from keeping him alive, we share no other history. He got out of the Corps later because he lost an eye in the explosion. The other man died from his wounds.

Thanks,

Doc Johnny K.

[Pete53]

That would be good support for your claim be sure that he mentions his combat awards, his MOS and and have the letter notarized. Sorry to jump in on this.

I deleted your duplicate post but anyone on Hadit can edit anything they do so if you hit the edit button on your posts you will be given options.

Sometimes Hadit seems to take a long time to load but if you wait at least a minute it will post.

[Johnny K.]

I just had a jumpy mouse finger and hit it twice .

I will write to him and get him to send me a statement including his MOS,

duty stations, etc.

What other information would be helpful, since the incident was non-combat ?

Doc Johnny K.

[Pete53]

You need as much info time date place what happened everything and most of all if you can prove the incident happened.

[tssnave]

Get him to include his SSN, DOB, and if possible, a service record that proves you and he were in the same place at the same time.

Before I sent in my claim I tried getting my military records from St Louis and they said none existed so I tracked down the shrinks that treated me while i was in the Army. In my original claim, I included a letter from a treating psychiatrist and psychologist which were both completely ignored (they didn't even make the evidence list but I had not discovered hadit at that point and didn't know I was getting screwed over and my DAV rep said, and I quote, "sorry for ya...." I was so pissed I hung up on him and as luck would have it, the next time I called DAV I got his supervisor and told him the situation and he ordered my rep to put in a NOD - luckily that rep left). The reason the VA cited for not awarding service connection for mental disorder was I was never seen in the National Guard. Not that I'd ever claimed to have been seen in the NG, because I wasn't, that was just the bs reason they cited.

After the NOD they required verification that the docs were on post when I was. Well, one left his position and I couldn't get his contact info. Luckily, shrink #2 had just retired from active duty and provided his SSN, DOB, and Officer Record Brief to the VA to prove he was on post when I was.

This whole thing took 3 years so get it all up front and send it in. Ask the guy you saved to put his SSN and DOB on his buddy letter and include whatever the Marines use to track duty assignments out of his personnel folder if he's got it.

Did you get an award or commendation for your actions? Perhaps that would help.

Good luck and keep us posted,

TS

Edited August 9, 2007 by tssnave

[Johnny K.]

Get him to include his SSN, DOB, and if possible, a service record that proves you and he were in the same place at the same time.

Before I sent in my claim I tried getting my military records from St Louis and they said none existed so I tracked down the shrinks that treated me while i was in the Army. In my original claim, I included a letter from a treating psychiatrist and psychologist which were both completely ignored (they didn't even make the evidence list but I had not discovered hadit at that point and didn't know I was getting screwed over and my DAV rep said, and I quote, "sorry for ya...." I was so pissed I hung up on him and as luck would have it, the next time I called DAV I got his supervisor and told him the situation and he ordered my rep to put in a NOD - luckily that rep left). The reason the VA cited for not awarding service connection for mental disorder was I was never seen in the National Guard. Not that I'd ever claimed to have been seen in the NG, because I wasn't, that was just the bs reason they cited.

After the NOD they required verification that the docs were on post when I was. Well, one left his position and I couldn't get his contact info. Luckily, shrink #2 had just retired from active duty and provided his SSN, DOB, and Officer Record Brief to the VA to prove he was on post when I was.

This whole thing took 3 years so get it all up front and send it in. Ask the guy you saved to put his SSN and DOB on his buddy letter and include whatever the Marines use to track duty assignments out of his personnel folder if he's got it.

Did you get an award or commendation for your actions? Perhaps that would help.

Good luck and keep us posted,

TS

I went to the VRO today and to the VAMC and requested a copy of my medical records (they will mail them to me) and the VRO had me make an appointment to come in and view my claim file.

Th VRO representative said they are way behind on mailing out copies of claim files and it would be faster to view it at their office. They said they would send me an appointment date by mail. Is that the usual?

Johnny K.

[Berta]

Johnny a stressor has to raise to a specific level to be a "stressor" for VA purposes.

Also the delayed after- affect of the stressor is what PTSD involves-

I assume the VA has diagnosed you with PTSD already. The National Center for PTSD also provides a good definition of stressor.

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fac...amp;echorr=true

This was surely a traumatic event you told us of but it is the way the stressor affects a veteran -that the VA actually rates.

I have been affiliated with local Fire/EMT/Police- as a volunteer for fire auxilliary-for a decade-

our EMTs have been exposed to countless 'stressors' without any substantial after affects-then again-

one EMT I know seems to be having flashbacks of a recent accident that caused a child to die.

At scenes were there is signigicant loss of life (MVAs etc) there are often grief counselors who talk to the EMTs and firemen and women right after the event.

My point is the VA will want to know how this particular event caused you to have PTSD.They will consider your treatment records of course.As an EMT they will want to know how this incident raised to level of stressor.Did you know the man who died well?

Did it appear that without your help and expertise the veteran would have died also?

Were you physically in proximity to the explosion enough that it could have killed or injured you too? Was the explosion due to incoming or landmines- that also could have injured you?

I suggest that you check out :

http://www.ptsdmanual.com/

My deceased husband was combat Vietnam vet with 100% SC PTSD.

He told me of almost every trauma in Nam except the most horrible stuff which he would not even tell VA about.

In his PTSD questionnaire most of the stressors he had in Vietnam did not involve the direct combat at all.

Certainly PTSD is not dependent on combat and we have many vets here with non-combat PTSD.

A trauma is usually revealled many many times in the course of therapy.

VA looks for consistency in describing a traumatic event.

The buddy could prepare a statement that reflects the event as you described it to the VA -but in their own words as to what happened as an eye witness account to what you also experienced.

Edited August 11, 2007 by Berta