Does An "awarded Ph" Help A Va Claim ?

[Magoo_Mr.]

I want to post a hypothetical question ??

Lets say a veteran is already rated over 100% P&T, per schedular and was in heavy combat but was very lucky only slighty injured 2 times and never received their PH(s) .. and all that info. is burried in the SMRs & VAMC & VARO & etc. records.

Let's say that in the SMRs, C-File & VAMC medical records (or whatever Soc. Sec. looks at) review/audit by Soc. Sec. (when veteran applied for SS bennies) .. this came to someones attention that 2 PHs (that met PH rules & regs) were never awarded .. but the veteran never pursued the issue before either.

Bottom line ... if the veteran does not give a rat's azz about getting the PHs .. and already has 100% ... does the "official awarding" of 1 or 2 PHs really make a difference in ANY way on future or pending VA claims ???

As you know many veterans who were slightly injured and technically met the rules and regs for a PH .. but never pursued them or even wanted them because they really were .. what we called "bandaid injuries".

Because .. it seems somewhat weird to get the same award of a PH for a ... "bandaid injury" ... that another person had lost a leg or arm (or worse) or even KIAed and got the same PH.

Perhaps .. I am not making sense ... but does a PH really make any difference in your VAMC or VARO file after a veteran is already over 100% ??

Thanks ... and I hope that this makes some sense ...

... Magoo .. aka ... Bill ;)

Edited February 6, 2006 by Magoo_Mr.

[Guest Berta]

Bill - a PH is only ratable if it causes a ratable condition-

Gun Shot wounds obviously cause some trauma to the sight of wound and obviously scarring. Also a GSW can certainly support a PTSD award.

A vet friend of mine had GSW to left buttock while going into a bar in Long Bien area- got PH -went right back into the field a day later-- weeks later he got major GSW to right thigh and it is rated at 40% and still bothers him.

I am dubious of any vet who suggests they have a PH but it isn't on their DD 214-

all they have to do is file out a DD 149 form and the mil will put it on a DD 215 and then they have proof of it.

[Guest Berta]

Forgot to add- the vet I mentioned had the 40% (GSW leg) for decades but he denied PTSD.

Then a good vet rep talked him into filing a PTSD claim and he realised he had been in great denial over the PTSD-

He got 50% awarded due to the PH as stressor-

I dont recall that he had to tell them much in any stressor letter-he sure didnt want to talk about any of it-they mentioned his receipt of the PH for a gun shot wound as proof of his PTSD stressor.

[Magoo_Mr.]

Berta:

Thanks for the answers .. and I think that I need to reframe the question better.

If a veteran already has 100% and had 2 documented small injuries that causes no problems, but would technically qualify for a PH.

Is it worth it to file a form 149 to ammend a DD-214 to change the DD- 214 into a DD-215 ... for ONLY the reason to have the PH in a C-File for OTHER claims ???

For instance ... does the VARO look at past awards (in any fashion) when they award other claims ???

Also, when you get a DD-215 ... I guess that ... then replaces your older DD-214 ??

I guess that this is all done at the local VARO ??

What is the best way to get a copy of your old DD-214 .. if you don't have your old one ... I guess you do that also via the VARO ??

Berta .. in our unit .. there were many small injuries that would technically qualify for a PH .. and were put in the field medical records ... but some of those PHs & etc. were never awarded or never pursued by the veteran. The main reason was the "whimp factor" ... you were kind of looked at in funny way if you had a scratch injury and ran up to the XO or CO and said .. "hey, you forgot my PH" for my scratch" ... look, look sir .. it's even in my field medical service file" ... lol ..

I found that if a unit had .. "good administration with their medical records" .. then a PH was automatically awarded ...even from scratch injury.

However ... if a unit was super busy and not great at "administration of the medical records" ... then the scratch PH was usually not filed with the XO or CO for awarding.

This was a big problem not just for PHs ... but also for other awards for merit too ... but mostly for the smaller things. Even with poor administration of records ... the bigger things usually got up the chain for awarding.

There are basically 2 problems in the field with records and 2 stages to get through.

(1) The injury or reccomendation for any merit award ... ie ... PH, B Star, S Star, , or whatever had to originally get into the record and that usually happened. I know of one merit award for another troop in the field that should have been processed .. but the LT that was going to write up the merit award was KIAed before he got back to do the paperwork.

(2) Then that record had to be processed for the award ... and many scratch injuries were not processed due to much more important and pressing things in the field.

That is why ... After Action Reports ... if you can get them .. can save a veteran on many claims. Especially if the veteran's name is mentioned in the AAR. An in depth AAR with a stressor letter is a "slam dunk" for a PTSD award. However, good, in depth and very accurate AARs were rare. The guys in the field were not great at paperwork either.

Also .. that is why we see "Merit Awards" being given out 50 years after they happened.

... ie.. One day the veteran decides to get a copy of his/her file and says ...... "hey, that incident is in my file and you owe me that medal".

The problem with that is some politican makes a big deal out of it and wants to pin the medal on the old WW2 veteran on the 4th of July .. in front of the county court house and the politican looks like he is the hero and the WW2 is somehow forgotten in the process.

I guess that I am soooo jaded now with the "Higher Military Officials and Politicans" (all the way back to RVN) at this point in my life that I really don't care much about any awards ... except to give them to my daughter when I die .. and then I don't even know if I want to do that.

There are only 2 things from the military that I ever wanted to keep ... (1) My old "Benrus, Dark Faced, 24 Hour, Synch Watch" .. that I bought at the PX (and took to RVN & never took off my wrist) and that watch stopped a long time ago and is frozen in time ... and ... (2) the American Flag that draped by grandfather's coffin, before he was burried.

Thanks a lot for your help ...

... Magoo .. aka .. Bill ... ;)

[Guest Berta]

Bill- it think it is always good to have the PHs documented on the DD 214 or 215 because a small injury could always get worse later on in life-

say a vet takes a bullet wound that just barely grazes his head-and causes a small scar and then years later he is discovered to have scar tissue that is firming a cyst pressing on his brain.I am just making this up but you never know- He might be able to get this cyst service connected to the original wound which seemed like nothing serious at the time.

The DD 215 is smaller than the 214- I have Rod's here- they said he or I should always present both the 214 and the 215 together - that was 10 years ago and it could have changed ???

My daughter helped a vet not only get the Distinquished Flying Cross but also all of his awards some time back and I think he told me they still issue the smaller DD215 to go along with the original 214.

Doesn't take too long to get a DD 214 corrected this way:

I will attach the form. The type and error of injustice questions- that can be just stated Not applicable-

your other question- boy that's a good one-

The VA should always have a vet's DD 214 or copy of it-if they ever were a claimant- and the NARA- and their SO or vet rep and some county offices have them if the vet registered with them.

I dont know what a vet should do to replace a missing DD 214????with no copies anywhere above-

My neighbor -who claimed quite an illustrious Naval career-said his DD 214 was missing and I think the VARO sent me a form for him- but he never filled it out years ago- then he died last year and the obit read that he was Navy vet but it never said Honorable Discharge or anything else- they usually write up a vet's death real good in the local papers here ,list list decorations and awards, whatever vet orgs they belong to etc-and they put a flag next to the obit but not his-

I think he got bad paper and was only in a month or two and never got an Honorable.

There was a chance he could have been sced but whenever I offered to help him he acted real funny.

dd0149.pdf

Edited February 7, 2006 by Berta

[mssoup1]

The DD-215 is only an amendment to your DD-214. You must keep both together. My husband finally got his PH a few years ago. He never bothered getting it until our grandson starting inquiring about his military service and seemed really interested in his time in Vietnam. So, I pursued getting it for him, so it could be passed on to our grandson. When he received it, he received his DD-215 and also more medals and ribbons that he should have gotten, but never received. I did not know about those. Apparently, his records were checked against his DD-214 and since those were not shown and he should have gotten them, they added them to the DD-215 and sent the medals/ribbons to him, along with his PH.

The PH came in a box, with no certificate, no thank you letter, no nothing. My husband said, "What did you expect." But, I guess as long as he got it and it is documented, that is the most important thing, since it will be passed on to our grandson.

I would advise anyone who thinks they deserve certain medals/ribbons to apply for them. There may be other medals/ribbons that they should have gotten that will be sent to them, along with their DD-215. Might could be of some help later on when you are putting in for a claim.

mssoup

[Magoo_Mr.]

Berta:

Thanks again for your info and wisdom. I learn each time that I read your posts ... IF .. I can follow and understand them..

Kudos to your daughter for helping that veteran get his DFC .. and I think the DFC award is just 1 or 2 steps below the CMOH ... and of course .. very hard to get and still be alive.

My parrot, Oscar, is named after a WW2 veteran, who is alive and well today, that was shot down twice over Europe and got the DFC for saving a crew.

I downloaded the form and will take your advice ...

Thanks again .... ;)

Magoo .. aka .. Bill ... B)

PS ... "MsSoup" .... I am a slow typist and just saw your post... thanks for that info also. Yep ... I kind of figured that a "belated PH" could come that way. ...... I think that a PH coming in a "brown paper wrapped box" ... "WITH POSTAGE DUE" ... would be good for my spirits .... because it would be soo symbolic of RVN too.

No disrespect meant to your husband either .. but after WW2 .. respect for the military started going downhill and RVN was the peak of that period of disrespect. I am the same boat as your husband .. a RVN veteran.

.

Edited February 7, 2006 by Magoo_Mr.