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Not Sure What To Do

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usmcthysin

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I was honorably discharged from the USMC last year on April 7th and filed a claim for disability in May of 2008 for: Left shoulder instability(had 8 anchors put in while AD to keep from dislocating, right shoulder instability(subluxates), pain in upper/lower back, flat feet(went in with full arches came out with none), and tinnitus. Everything was goin good for a bit but eventually I got extremely depressed and started drinking constantly so when my C&P exam came up, I didn't show(stupid!). In September 2008 I got a letter from the VA stating that they denied my claims due obviously to my absence at the exam. In the letter it also says that each one of my claimed conditions were supported by my medical record and if I showed a willingness to be examined they would reconsider the claims.

When February came along I had deteriorated a lot mentally, I walked out on my job and never came back, almost lost my wife and was arrested once for disorderly conduct(case deferred as long as I sought help with the VA). So I proceeded to call back into the VA and get the claim going again. I told the guy I got on the phone about what all happened and he said that it would be best to just open a new claim with those disabilities and close the old one as opposed to appealing because that would take much longer. He typed it all up and told me to go to a VSO near me and tell them what was going on and they would help me. The new claim had PTSD added because of my mental state(was diagnosed at my exam with PTSD). Now I got a letter in the mid-last month saying they were working on my new claim with that listed bilateral hearing loss(never claimed that but I guess the guy on the phone did that), PTSD, bilateral knee condition, and shin splints(didn't say this one either). The second part of that letter had all the disabilities from my first claim and said I had been denied those and that if I wanted to get reconsideration I would need to show further evidence. I went down to the VSO I was talking to and showed him all of this and he just said 'don't worry about it'. I also submitted a claim status request on IRIS and got the same reply about appealing the first claim, they also said I would only get backpaid to the day of the claim, not the day after I left AD. Also I should mention that I've already went to my C&P exams for the new claim and everyone there at the hospital was checking me for everything from my new claim and my old one.

The IRIS guy also said this:

Since these conditions have previously been denied, unless you appeal these conditions, your new date of claim will be January 30, 2009, as the date you opened a claim with the above mentioned conditions, as well as for bilateral hearing loss, PTSD, bilateral knee condition and shin splints. (The four 'new' conditions are not retroactive to your Release from Active Duty (RAD) date as only the claimed conditions the VA receives with your first claim filed are retroactive to your RAD date.)

1--You may appeal our decision as noted in our decision letter to you dated September 29, 2008. Please note the appeals process may take a year or two for the decision to be rendered. If the evidence and decision is found to be in your favor, you will be paid retroactively to the date of the claim.

2--You may fax in a letter to your Phoenix VA Regional Office requesting that you would like to request that the current claim that is open REMOVE these five conditions and REOPEN the claim for left shoulder condition, right shoulder instability, bilateral flat feet, upper and lower back condition and bilateral tinnitus. Please mention in the letter that you would like this reopened as you were unable to make the C & P examinations at the time. If the evidence and decision is found to be in your favor, you will be paid retroactively to the date of the claim.

So basically I'm fairly confused and wondering what I should do, any help/insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg

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I got a copy of my exams. Read the mental diagnosis for PTSD, GAF of 45 and all the life impairments mirror specified mirror the 70% for PTSD as per 38 CFR part 4. Also got bilateral tinnitus which looks like it should be 10% as well. So right now it looks like without anything else I'm shooting for 70% disability and if anything else comes up at 5-10% it would bump me to 80%...of course this is all speculative and I no doubt will be disappointed when I get the findings, hehe.

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And of course, disappointment has arrived. I got connected on pretty much everything, which is good at least, and 10% for tinnitus like I suspected, but everything else was 0%. On a few of them I'm pretty god damned mad about because the results in the c&p don't jive with what the rater said he read in them. One example is very blatant, the scars on my shoulder from a surgery I had in service were noted as overly tender but otherwise fine in the c&p, on the decision paperwork it says no tenderness of the scar....these two statements can't both be true...what the hell is this shit? Also on my PTSD they deferred the decision to find evidence of an in service stressor, I had paperwork at the god damned appointment that would help them but they didn't take it (including awards and deployment dates, but award didn't include CAR, which is only given if you are involved in direct small arms or IED attack, not even a nuke would give you one)...all they would have to fscking do is look at a god damned newspaper and they would see what happened where I was and bingo, how god damned hard is it and why do they ignore it when I try to help them help me? I'm just going to my vso in the morning and giving him the paperwork, I don't want anything to do with it anymore, this incompetence makes me boil.

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And of course, disappointment has arrived. I got connected on pretty much everything, which is good at least, and 10% for tinnitus like I suspected, but everything else was 0%. On a few of them I'm pretty god damned mad about because the results in the c&p don't jive with what the rater said he read in them. One example is very blatant, the scars on my shoulder from a surgery I had in service were noted as overly tender but otherwise fine in the c&p, on the decision paperwork it says no tenderness of the scar....these two statements can't both be true...what the hell is this shit? Also on my PTSD they deferred the decision to find evidence of an in service stressor, I had paperwork at the god damned appointment that would help them but they didn't take it (including awards and deployment dates, but award didn't include CAR, which is only given if you are involved in direct small arms or IED attack, not even a nuke would give you one)...all they would have to fscking do is look at a god damned newspaper and they would see what happened where I was and bingo, how god damned hard is it and why do they ignore it when I try to help them help me? I'm just going to my vso in the morning and giving him the paperwork, I don't want anything to do with it anymore, this incompetence makes me boil.

I served in Vietnam 65 & 66, ontos crewman 0353 & 0311, lots of firefights, the Corps didn't have the CAR until 1969 and I was discharged honorably in 1967. Now they tell me my records were destroyed in the fire at the St Louis facility, should be able to get CAR and Presidential Unit Citation along with all the other BS but can't due to lost records. Most other jarheads I served with are either dead or among the missing as most that survived came home and dropped out of sight. Really sucks because I have claim in for PTSD, tinnitus and severe hearing loss thanks to the six 106 MM recoilless rifles we were constantly firing for a year or so. Guess that is what we deserve after serving right!!

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And of course, disappointment has arrived. I got connected on pretty much everything, which is good at least, and 10% for tinnitus like I suspected, but everything else was 0%. On a few of them I'm pretty god damned mad about because the results in the c&p don't jive with what the rater said he read in them. One example is very blatant, the scars on my shoulder from a surgery I had in service were noted as overly tender but otherwise fine in the c&p, on the decision paperwork it says no tenderness of the scar....these two statements can't both be true...what the hell is this shit? Also on my PTSD they deferred the decision to find evidence of an in service stressor, I had paperwork at the god damned appointment that would help them but they didn't take it (including awards and deployment dates, but award didn't include CAR, which is only given if you are involved in direct small arms or IED attack, not even a nuke would give you one)...all they would have to fscking do is look at a god damned newspaper and they would see what happened where I was and bingo, how god damned hard is it and why do they ignore it when I try to help them help me? I'm just going to my vso in the morning and giving him the paperwork, I don't want anything to do with it anymore, this incompetence makes me boil.

Don't give up, you are now experiencing what all of us have or are experiencing. We all feel your frustration, you are in the right place for help though. File a NOD (notice of disagreement) continue to see your psychiatrist and keep all appointments. Ask lots of questions here and read the info on this site it will help guide you through the VA c&p nightmare.

Bergie

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