ptsd Help - This Vet Has No Cib - Cab Award

[carlie]

This vet has no CIB - CAB award.

Does this info from his 201 prove (as PTSD stressor) for combat vet?

13F10 - Asst Mach Gunner 14 Aug 1968

and

16F10 - Asst Mach Gunner 14 Feb 1969

along with

Designation:

VN Counteroffensive Phase V

VN Counteroffensive Phase VI

Tet/69 Counteroffensive

Unnamed Campaign

I have scanned these forms and will try to upload them here.

Thanks for any and all responses.

carlie

[bbknor]

Carlie I believe that his MOS (Combat Arms) and campains in Vietnam would prove to be PSTD Stressors. Only Special Forces and Infantry recieve the Combat Infantrymens Badge.

As for the Combat Action Badge which was authorized on 5 May 2005. He is not authorized for award as follows:

"(6) Retroactive awards for the CAB are not authorized prior to 18 September 2001, applications (to include supporting documentation) for retroactive awards of the CAB will be forwarded through the first two star general in the chain of command to CG, U.S. Army Human Resources Command, ATTN: AHRC-PDO-PA, Alexandria, VA 22332-0471."

HIs time of service in Vietnam is prior to the actual creation of the CAB.

[Berta]

I have not had time to read the scans- but traditionally VA wants proof of stressor, unless PH, CIB or CAR is on the veterans DD 214-

My husband was USMC Vietnam- all USMC were considered infantry regardless of their MOS-

he had numerous decorations/awards but

he still had to prove his stressors.

Although Rod was in combat many times- his actual stressors had nothing to do with the direct combat-just the results in a few cases and many had nothing whatsoever to do with the firefights at all.

there were many reasons Vietnam vets had significant stressors.

Some considered combat as just part of the job.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Berta

[john999]

I don't think combat MOS and Vietnam campaigns are enough to prove combat with the enemy. I could be wrong since I had combat MOS and Vietnam campaigns but no CIB since I was in an aviation brigade. I had Pathfinder MOS but ended up in Aviation.

[bbknor]

I can't understand why the VA puts specific stressors on there criteria. Being shot at is being shot! Its at a disturbing situation that one finds one self in. As well as seeing the aftermath or being involved in a scud attack. The memories and experiences carry on for years but not the physical results. All a 201 has in it are your awards campaigns and duty assignments not the actual happenings of day to day things in a combat area. Its a broke system for sure.

[Berta]

I agree with John-so would the VA- I know it doesnt seem to make sense but the VA wants proof of stressors.

A stressful event will be either documented in the unit morning reports or the vet can get a buddy statement.

I had a vet many years ago who wanted help with his claim- he related about 15 stressors to me and about 20 to his shrink-

they were all different-

JSRRC couldnt find proof of any of them.

He was in combat zone -Vietnam.

But he had no valid stressors.

Please check out my topic here under Stressors defined.

If it happened it can be proven.Most of the time.

[Hoppy]

carlie,

I was helping a veteran who said he had PTSD. I asked him to get me his current medical records. He had been seen by three different shrinks over the last five years with no diagnosis of PTSD. Point being is to make sure the guy has a diagnosis of PTSD. The stressor identified in the veterans stressor statement needs to match up to the stressor located by the JSRCC or otherwise established. A veteran recently told me the JSRCC made him chose a single event to have the JSRCC research. They would not search for long lists of events provided by the veteran.

I posted some case decisions I found below involving veterans who did not have CIB'S, combat MOS's etc.

"Credible supporting evidence" does not mean that

the veteran must definitively establish his personal

engagement in combat. Suozzi v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 307, 311

(1997) (requiring corroboration of every detail, including

the veteran's personal participation, VA defined

"corroboration" too narrowly). Rather, the veteran's

presence with his unit at a time when his unit is attacked

tends to show that that the veteran experienced such attack

personally, without specifically showing his personal

participation. See Id.; see also Pentecost v. Principi, 16

Vet. App. 124 (2002).

In Pentecost v. Principi, 16 Vet. App.

124 (2002), the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans

Claims (Court) stated that the veteran's unit records

constituted independent descriptions of rocket attacks that

were experienced by the veteran's unit when he was stationed

in Vietnam, which, when viewed in the light most favorable to

the veteran, objectively corroborated his claim of having

experienced rocket attacks. The Court reiterated that,

although the unit records did not specifically identify the

veteran as being present during the rocket attacks, the fact

that he was stationed with a unit that was present while such

attacks occurred suggested that he was in fact exposed to the

attacks. On remand, AMC/RO must attempt to verify any

incident described by the appellant by contacting the United

States Army and Joint Services Records Research Center

(JSRRC) (formerly the United States Armed Services Center for

Research of Unit Records (USASCRUR)).