Service Connection Injuries

[Mcafee]

Hello all hope all is well. I have been racking my brain to say the least my Question is this ( If you are injured on Active Duty upon discharge from Military Services. Who is responsible for The injury or injuries?Is the burden placed on the Veteran to follow up or is it the Military Services or the VA.? I am a little confused here with this .I know the Federal Citation that Iam arguing with the US. Army is clear however if the Services know you are or were injured to make the process user friendly?

[rentalguy1]

it is the responsibility of the vet to file a claim with the VA. Although, they have been trying to make it really easy for the last many years.

[Berta]

Any injury while on active duty is treated and documented in the SMRs and noted on the discharge physical-that isnt the case all the time however-

I have friend who received GSW to arm in combat, was patched up, returned to combat within a few days, never got the PH and he doesnt know if this is found as having been treated in his SMRs or on his discharge physical.He has never gotten his records.

In any event this was an inservice injury.It was his responsibility to file a claim for it and also to question with a DD 149 why he didnt get the PH.

If a vet gets a medical discharge, then as a veteran they have to obtain continued medical care for the disability-privately or at the VA- and it is their responsibility to file a claim for it- they should not wait to do that.

These days unlike after the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War, the military is supposed to be provided better transition methods for newly discharged.

They insist the serviceperson gets a complete copy of their SMRs before they formally leave the service.

Also, my daughter went through this when she was discharged 3 years ago- the Mil provides lots of outprocessing briefings and she said the VA briefing was pretty good as far as claims go (but of course it was not the Real story)

Inservice military who also earned college credits have separate educational briefings for that.

Active military can even begin the claims process prior to discharge these days.

For claims filed within one year after discharge, the EED retro date-if the claim is awarded is the day after their discharge.This was definitely stressed in the VA briefings -my daughter mentioned.

Things are better yet many newly discharged vets still dont get all the info they need as to claims and the VA.

Unfortunately I missed a chance to talk to Congressman Filner on this recently-at SVR-the shows host discussed this with me prior to the show and was hoping that I would call in directly -as Congressman Filner had asked us for some transition needs we know of-

I lost the entire Sattelite connection-and even got a pop up from the sat service that they were having major problems.very disappointing- but Filner will be back on soon-

Most of the vets here probably received very little outprocessing advice at all-as to any disabilties they had or injuries from service and how to file a claim.

Once the discharge process takes place most vets are still on their own in many ways.

I made many transition suggestions to the Dole Shalala commission.

It is a shame that many vets who served prior to the Iraq War never really got the info they needed while they were still in the Mil.

The "Transition process" for Vietnam combat veterans didnt even seem to exist.Many of them returned to a country that was completely against them,If they didnt have PTSD already from combat they probably got it when they stepped off the plane.

And if they did return with PTSD the VA didnt know what is was until 1983.That is when the VA started paying comp for it.

PTSD is as old as warfare itself but it didnt help these vets to think they were alone and crazy when in fact they had a bonafide combat disability.

[Mcafee]

I have to agree that most Veterans from WWII and Korea,Vietnam,Even Peacetime Were not informed of entitlements for themselves and family for sustained injuries while serving in the military.But what i dont understand is that the AGENCIES know,Benefits are inplace for injured servicemen and women.Yet they eithier lie or misdirect or ignore in hopes you will go away.This is Gross Negligence on all Parties concerned Government Agencies whether it be Military services or DOD or VA.I also would like to mention that even if you did have a VSO back in the day I truly believe they were working in cahoots with VARO not to apply correct benefits for Veterans.This is a disgrace and i know knowledge is priceless i wish this was available 30 years ago.Even though the Agency has been negligent one still has to prove oneself to the Agency what an outrage.Please forgive me but! Now i see where BACK LOG comes from.

[allan]

>Please forgive me but! Now i see where BACK LOG comes from.

Much of the backlogs is from raters slam dunking their cases to get a bonus or meet the qoata.

Years of repeated remands to correct these so called,"error's" while raters continue along with the same, lame, game of low balling and doctor shopping is the major cause.

Once evidence is submitted by the veteran to win their claim, the VA raters imediately set that evidence asside and seek the Dr's opinion they want.

[Rockhound]

What no one has noted is, that it is the Veterans responsibility to elect to seek benefits from the service, in which he must see that all injuries and diseases that he claims, are documtented in his medical records as having service origin. It is his right to request a physical evaluation board in order to do this pkrior to seperation from service.

If he elects to file instead for VA benefits and compensation, the above still applies, all injuries and/or desease processes that the Veteran claims, should be noted in their SMR. They can still request a physical evaluation board in order to do this prior to seperation from the service.

I made a dumb decision and might I say, uninformed decision, My father had just died, my mother was by her self, my other siblings had families and jobs, and it seemed the right thing to do, also because the clerk who gave me the paper that I was to sign, electing to file with the VA told me I would receive more in compensation for the same disability than what I would get from the service.

Yea, any person in the service who has an injury or a disease process, whether he thinks it is disabling at the time should still request a physical evaluation board to document at the very least the bade level of an injury during service and a desease process that had it's inception in service or a showing that it was aggrivated by service beyond it's normal progression.

I know I have not stated enough, but the general requirements and information is their.

Rockhound Rider B)

[john999]

Rock

Don't blame yourself. The military has done this to thousands of soldiers and is still doing it to Iraq vets. They just want to get rid of injured soldiers and shift them onto the VA payroll.