Suggestion

[Berta]

Mods please chime in

We get convoluted questions here from time to time because people are asking questions for a friend or relative.

Isnt it much better if these individuals simply join us themselves if they have PC access?

What gets me too-is that I sometimes get emails from some of my vets org members telling me they are helping a veteran with a VA claim and then they ask me how to help the veteran-

I send them to hadit.I dont do claims stuff in emails.

Everything they need is here and they get more help than advice from just one person.

I can understand that many dont have access to hadit- but still a lot can be lost or misunderstood when the info goes through 3 rd person.

[Hoppy]

Like Jim in OK I also find veterans by what is called "OUTREACH". I go down to the local rivers and piers and talk to homeless people. When I find out they are veterans I try and get them to start going to the VA hospital for primary care and get them a social worker. In the 3 years I have been doing this outreach I found one homeless veteran living in a van with a dog who had filed a claim for VA compensation that had been denied.

He was so upset by the denial that he quit going to the VA for treatment or any other reason. He was on really thin ice and suicidal when I met him. He told me that if his dog died he would commit suicide. My fear was that if his van broke he would be living under the pier. Going to a library would not be easy.

I got him going back to the hospital and told him to get me his medical records. I figured out that he had a service connectable condition and his prior SO did not even file for the one and only condition he was diagnosed with post service.

He knows about hadit and could post. However, when I met him he did not have a clue as to where to begin. I do not think he would have survived long enough reading posts and trying on his own. As we all know this system requires alot of determination and insight to have any hope with some types of cases. There was a period when hadit would have been overwhelming for him. I do not feel that directing a person to hadit is a fool proof solution. I directed this veteran to get a new SO and stick with me while I ran everything I knew through hadit and the SO. As a result I have made many posts about this veteran and got good responses from many people on this site including Basser, Berta and Pool Guy.

I told him to apply for SSI. He got awarded SSI within three months. This week he got is NSC pension from the VA.

I used to take the guy print outs of everything I found on his condition and the responses from hadit. I did this because I have my own problems and figure that I could wind up incapacitated tomorrow. At this time I do feel that this veterans situation has become stable ebouigh that a transition to hadit is what he would need to do if something happened to me. He has some money coming in and can keep his van running. He still lives in the van with his dog.

[cowgirl]

Yes, Vmo, yes, well said and true.

Yes, to each and everyone here at Hadit, who reach out online or in person, you are making a difference.

Yes, my family, my marriage and my faith in God today has been reinforced a million times by being here at Hadit.

Opinions are that and need to be 'justified' as non-professional or personal as Berta reminds us.IMHO says it best!

Cowgirl'up2009!

quote name='vmo' date='May 1 2009, 10:33 AM' post='143072']

I like it when some one posts-- some much needed information, direction, suggestions, past experiences, useful web cites, and especially success stories--what worked for them. Nothing is wrong with constructive criticism, but not personal. I consider no one on here as an expert, just some people with a lot of experience and knowledge, and some not so much. Each day will be a learning experience for some and a teaching experience for others. But, I find almost all posts helpful. Some people request help, some give it out. In closing, read some of the testimonies various vets have posted giving praise and credit to Hadit. I do not look at it as libel or liability, but a responsibility to each other.

[fanaticbooks]

I am getting a lot of good insight out of this topic. Being the wife of a disabled vet (no PTSD) and not being military I am on the outside looking in. I'm fine with that. What I appreciate is learning a little more about how others are being helped.

Halos thank you for mentioning about your PTSD and how it can affect you and others. It makes me appreciate all the more how so many who have it still reach out to help others.

I am even more glad that I created my website to help guide in researching, organizing and assembling va claims. Maybe it will help those who don't quite know where to start and give them a foundation to then go on to ask questions or get help with their claims.

Hoppy, you are a special person. Helping guide someone and take them from total darkness to seeing some light is a great moment.

Friends, even passing friends, make a difference. If I have to go online and do a little research to help someone get started it is worth my time.

We do have to be careful though. If we are not trained to handle mental/physical issues, we could create more problems. I know I am not trained and thus try to offer only research not concise advice (other than in organizing).

Sorry if this rambled on and covered a lot of territory. Just my thoughts late at night.

fanaticbooks

[Pete53]

Its my opinion that the best help is one on one. I have helped a fair number as many now I will help do the paperwork make appointments and encourage the claimant. I do this for Social Security and also VA.

[gdsnide]

Halos said

"The day someone thinks they know it all is the day they need to travel down another road. Be humble people open your mind to new adventures, when you can try and move the ptsd aside even for just a brief moment."

I dont quite get your point -no one knows it all- you should talk to some of the lawyers for vets-

it is impossible even for them to know it all-last night at SVR we discussed a reg that many many vets have never heard of-only 2 a year ever even use the reg -

But I agree sometimes we all have to pick a new road to travel-

PTSD cannot really ever be put aside-

Many many vets here have PTSD and they still have open minds.

If some of you have the time it takes to help vets and then come here with their questions that is wonderful.

But there are always sometimes unanswered questions here for days at a time -from members of hadit.

Berta

All I have to do is ask U ( My Menyor) & I seem to get what I want. I admit it took me a while to catch on to the wiley way of the VA but with your help I'm learning

Grasshopper HA

[Berta]

Jim Mac said:

"I am a little bit jadeed I will not help anybody intil I see the DD form 214. "

GREAT advise-

VCV,ltd (Mike Davis Director-a great advocate but involved in changing regs more then claims work)

sent me a claim (I am member of VCV,ltd- but I am not a VCV)

from a widow of vet who had 2 PHS and served in Vietnam.

Her emails to Mike said VA had denied her DIC claimed due to AO exposure causing death.

Long story- many many emails later she found the death certificate-not an AO presumptive DIC basis but still possible sc death-and many more emails later-there was also question as to her marital status-but VA does recognize certain common in law marriages-

I finally got the DD 214-

He had Dishonorable Discharge,(due to theft from the Military) died in prison,he had already been turned down on Character of Discharge and her claim for DIC by the VA.She claimed he had no nexus to his cause of death but for his exposure to AO in Vietnam.

as bad as the DD 214 discharge was (which was never corrected by the BCMR on appeal) it also revealed he had never received any PH nor had ever served in Vietnam or even in Korea under those AO regs.He never left the states during his short military service period.

YES_ see the DD 214.Read it over carefully and look for any potential whiteouts and alterations.