ptsd My Ptsd C & P Is Coming Up

[nlualum82]

Notified by mail recently that I will have 4 C & P's this month, the last one is for my mental state.

My only SC is 50% for hearing loss that started as 0% in '78 when I got out.

I never thought I'd be in this position, but as the years rolled on and I finally admitted I couldn't handle it, it turned out I hadn't been handling it for years! I am lucky to have a devoted wife and a son who inherited her all around goodness.

I would rather stay in bed than do about anything, and mostly do except for going to my hell of a night shift job at the Post Office! I hate going but am afraid to lose it. I feel sure that if I wasn't a SC vet at the PO then I wouldn't have a job at all - no place not bound by their rules and such would keep me.

I sought help as a last resort because I was not a combat vet. Served 76-78, Ranger Bn. until my hearing caused a problem. In a regular inf. unit I had a high speed jeep rollover (my records for treatment of my knee just say MVA for moving vehicle accident) and was held hostage at gunpoint with others featuring MST. Fortumately Rep. DeFazio was able to get my deposition and testimony for me, so evidence of that stressor is pretty solid.

I hope this is a one shot deal, I haven't enjoyed rehashing any of it. I wasn't really functioning but the numbness is better than the reliving. I have been told that my first PTSD C & P is likely to be the beginning of a series before the decision is rendered in my favor.

The stressor I'll never prove is being railroaded into a false art. 15, sealed by an NCO threatening a soft PFC into writing and signing what he was told - instant witness! Some of you may know that kind of helplessness and abuse of power.

Would be a slam dunk if I could find the guy but have had no luck so far.

I always run long - have trouble linitting and tell myself I need to include the whole story for those who are new or don't remember.

I dream of TDIU, but even that could be a nightmare if I ceased to get out of bed at all!

[Magoo_Mr.]

Fortunately, "fragging" to settle a score was not the norm.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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Robert:

If my memory serves me correctly ... "fragging" ... was done more in the rear areas, base camps, or perhaps at a more secure fire base.

Out in the ... "real bush" ... the method was a FMJ round.

I never heard of a .. "fragging incident" .. when I was in RVN ... however, I did hear a story of a Capt. with 1/9 ... before the Hill 881 mess ... that a "M-60 Gun Team" accidently fired upon when they were given incorrect info.

He was lucky and the gun team missed him.

Fragging was too traceable ... unless you were in a semi-secure area with a lot of friendlies around to confuse NIS or CID.

Magoo B) ... aka Bill

Edited September 17, 2005 by Magoo_Mr.

[nlualum82]

nlualum-

I would think that the tinnitus and otitis is certainly secondary to your SC hearing loss.

Did you tell them in your claim that the hearing aids are causing the otitus problem? Has a doctor documented that?

I submitted the records from the VAMC ENT Doc that RX'ed me for otitis which includes "Assessment: Left external otitis, likely related to an underlying inflammation from the ear molds. This has improved with the hypoallergenic mold, but he seems to be caught in a chronic stated at this point."

Your PTSD info above is good evidence and certainly the hearing problems in service support this as well as your other information.

The 'false Article 15?'- does that appear in your military personnel records at all? It could be evidence of beginnings of anxiety or PTSD due to hearing problems.

The art. 15 is in my records, but no rebuttal. On paper they have me cold, my only hope would be to find a Vermont native named Fazi who was intimidated into writing a false witness statement to frame me. Perhaps I gave them too much credit, but when I went in to be punished, the threat was that if I didn't go along, I'd be "buried somewhere on Ft. Lewis and my parents would be told I deserted and probably didn't contact them from shame". I ws just as trapped as when I was a hostage!

"In Alaska I failed to hear a password given by my fireteam leader and when he charged from the bushes I popped a blank on him. Makes me wonder if my hearing was lost due etc....."

This certainly is proof of hearing loss in service as contibuting to a state of anxiety-the out come could have been vastly different.

On this one

"Fortumately Rep. DeFazio was able to get my deposition and testimony for me, so evidence of that stressor is pretty solid."

That is the stuff that the VA MF (mysterious force) likes to lose-

Make sure they get a copy but that you have the original.

I am wondering , men and women, if this vet should bring this stressor info with him to the PTSD C & P exam. Especially the deposition stuff.

The doc wont read it probably, but it would show the doc he has evidence.

I made 2 extra sets a couple days ago. Cost about $10. Dropped a set at the VA Clinic with my Psych.'s name on them and have my copies from the Congressman and the set I will take to my C & P. I learned here to make copies and if anything, I go overboard with it! Fortunately most of them aren't legal size and I print them at home - but have replaced a few cartridges lately!

Do you have copies of all of your service records?

WHat I see hear is the hearing loss is already granted so the tinnitus, otitis, and PTSD due to stressors -to include the hearing loss itself - all supports a very good claim for more compensation.

Thanks. We all know the difference between what The VA should do or is required to do and what they actually do, don't we!

If you were not presently working I would advise that you apply for TDIU and SSA benefits.

On SSA- I know 2 people who get SSA for hearing loss- but it seems to me that they get it as the hearing loss has profoundly affected their speech. These are not vets.

So- if you ever apply for SSA, the PTSD award you will hopefully get from VA might well help any SSA award.

If I should get to 70% I am seriously thinking about following the advice of my fellow military and USPS vets and starting the ball rolling by applying to the OPM for disability retirement. The only way my hearing loss affects my speech as far as I can tell is talking too loud (so I can hear it/over the tinnitus) and mispronouncing things that I have seen in print but have never heard.

Thanks for such an encouraging post!

[nlualum82]

I was never threatened in the military like that ... and I am not too sure how I would have handled a ... "DIRECT THREAT" ... like you mentioned.

I did see some heavy bickering in the air and especially on the ground (out in the bush) in RVN ... but NEVER something like that.

Personally ... I think that if someone made a ... "DIRECT THREAT" .. (with implied physical violence) ... directly against another soldier ... they might not make it back.

Magoo aka Bill .... B)

PS: That high school stuff of wanting to .. "whip someone's azz" .. in the field would NOT have gone very far.

Never gave much creedence to the "standard greeting" I chalked it up to the woofer's insecurities and such. There was some trouble in the late 70's and many things you could attribute it to, warriors without a war, immaturity, lack of a draft and the military's post VN cool factor or lack thereof attracting some low caliber types who just needed a job and sometimes caused agitation (and I'll admit to my share of each of those). Definitely alot of "high school stuff" - even from 20 old year old - and up - NCO's.

On a side note, your screen name always reminds me of a street rod builder who goes by "Magoo", particularly famous for his excellent renditions of highboy '29's on '32 rails.

[10thFO]

Hell as for Mr. Magoo's comments, you can always tell the talk jocks by their words. Doesn't matter if you were in Vietnam or the War of 1812, or Somalia, or Afghanistan. The men running their mouths about beating asses and killing are the man that haven't seen shit.

Somehow the snaps of bullets are very humbling, makes one appreciate life me thinks.