diabetes Vietnam Veteran?

[deltaj]

Here's the situation folks. Last week my husband, who has a protected 100% rating for a service connected mental condition, was diagnosed with diabetes. He is not insulin dependent yet. Unfortunately, his DD214 doesn't show service in Vietnam. Furthermore, his list of medals from the National Personnel Records Center doesn't show anything about it. I believe he is telling the truth because he has nightmares about combat. He was in First Experimental Regiment which later shipped out as First Cavalry during the Vietnam War. He rarely discusses his Vietnam service because his records don't show he was there and he is embarrassed by this. He tells me that in about 1962 he was sent to Vietnam with a Special Operations Group where he did one combat mission there. He got stabbed in combat and woke up in a hospital. He doesn't know what hospital he was in. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could prove he is a Vietnam veteran? Furthermore, there was a letter sent to VARO in 1982 by a special investigator for a county in California concerning the fact that neighbors of this veteran [who has a mental disability] had stated this veteran was "healthy as a horse and our taxes pay for his leisure." The letter inquired whether there was an annual evaluation for this veteran since he was disabled for welfare purposes but was receiving periodic unemployment benefits. Anyway the letter had the notation NAM veteran in a circle and the word NAM was lined through. This 1982 notation leads me to believe that V.A. used to have evidence that he was a Vietnam veteran but shredded the evidence. The scratched out notation NAM reminds me of a recent court case Cushman v. Shinseki where V.A. altered a medical record.

Any suggestions? I know that when my husband dies I will be entitled to DIC under 38 U.S.C. 1318 but service connecting his death could be useful.

Edited October 28, 2009 by deltaj

[Testvet]

Delta

I wont comment on whether or not it is "worth it", because that is simply another issue. H owever, if your hubbie was sent to Vietnam, he should have written orders sending him there AND, he probably got hazardous duty pay.

First, you could try asking the military for copies of his orders, tho I am not sure how to do this.

However, if you are good at math, you might be able to prove he got hazardous duty or combat pay by looking at his social security pay records. See how much he was paid, then you should be able to demonstrate mathmatically, whether he got hazardous duty pay or not, because you would know his rank and time in service.

You might also ask hubbie to remember some details about it. Guys often do not remember dates..heck I know I often do not remember when something happened, but I usually know what happened.

Maybe he remembers some other details that only a RVN Vet would know.

IN criminal law, say when a person confesses and then recants his confession, he still gets nailed when he mentions details only the killer would know. So hubbie may well be able to mention details about his service in Vietnam, that one would not know unless he was there.

As an example, if someone claimed they were in my house, then I could come up with some questions about my house that only someone who had been in it would know...oh, I dont know, like what color is the carpet, or what picture did I have on the wall. jmho.

It's a yellow carpet so the animal pee won't be noticed and you have one of the mountain scene pictures over your couch and I won't tell where you keep the booze hid rofl

[LarryJ]

It's a yellow carpet so the animal pee won't be noticed and you have one of the mountain scene pictures over your couch and I won't tell where you keep the booze hid rofl

Naw, dude, it's ONLY yellow where the dogs pee'd!

[Chuck75]

As others have said, it may be best to ultimately leave sleeping dogs alone. Since your husband is 100% SC, SC'ing Diabetes due to Vietnam may not accomplish much. Certainly, you should acquire as much as you can in the way of documents, etc. before you make a decision.

There is a risk without documentary evidence, depending on the reasons your husband is SC'd for a "mental condition".

One area that might be of concern is that your husband claimed Vietnam service, and cannot prove it with documents, etc.

The VA can twist this to be a "fraudulent claim", and think about how to sever the "mental condition" on the basis that it might be "fraudulent" as well. If the VA takes this path, it has the possibility of going around the "covered status" of the current 100% disability.

Here's the situation folks. Last week my husband, who has a protected 100% rating for a service connected mental condition, was diagnosed with diabetes. He is not insulin dependent yet. Awhile back when he received his medals I'm pretty sure there was a red, green, and yellow ribbon bar for Vietnam service. On google (the internet),I've looked at images of the Vietnam service medal and the Vietnam service ribbon bar without the medal, which is what I believe he received. Unfortunately, his DD214 doesn't show service in Vietnam. Furthermore, his list of medals from the National Personnel Records Center doesn't show anything about it. I believe he is telling the truth because he has nightmares about combat. He was in First Experimental Regiment which later shipped out as First Cavalry during the Vietnam War. He rarely discusses his Vietnam service because his records don't show he was there and he is embarrassed by this. He tells me that in about 1962 he was sent to Vietnam with a Special Operations Group where he did one combat mission there. He got stabbed in combat and woke up in a hospital. He doesn't know what hospital he was in. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could prove he is a Vietnam veteran? It did occur to me that he may have received the Vietnam service bar because of a unit commendation but I don't know how to prove that he was in Vietnam when his unit received a unit commendation. Furthermore, there was a letter sent to VARO in 1982 by a special investigator for a county in California concerning the fact that neighbors of this veteran [who has a mental disability] had stated this veteran was "healthy as a horse and our taxes pay for his leisure." The letter inquired whether there was an annual evaluation for this veteran since he was disabled for welfare purposes but was receiving periodic unemployment benefits. Anyway the letter had the notation NAM veteran in a circle and the word NAM was lined through. This 1982 notation leads me to believe that V.A. used to have evidence that he was a Vietnam veteran but shredded the evidence. The scratched out notation NAM reminds me of a recent court case Cushman v. Shinseki where V.A. altered a medical record.

Any suggestions? I know that when my husband dies I will be entitled to DIC under 38 U.S.C. 1318 but service connecting his death could be useful.

[deltaj]

Don't you just bet on it!

I had a shell frag removed from my leg after a short round at Graf and there's no record of it that I have ever seen or heard of. It sure isn't in my files. (I grant that's not a combat injury but the above comment refers to records, not the PH) It's the same thing for my treatment at clinic while at Ft. Knox. i got a knock on the head there and they had me go to the dispensary. Got no record of that either.

If this fellow was an adviser and got wounded, he likely as not would have received his initial treatment at a foreign facility, probably civilian. Also, since he would have been injured in a "non-combat' advisory" role, he would not have been authorized a PH anyway. At least, that's as far as I know of. Could well be wrong.

Although, I agree there should be a service medical record showing the wound in action, there isn't because my husband's service records were loaned to V.A. in support of his claims and because all of the rest of his records burned in the fire at the National Personnel Records Center in 1972.

[deltaj]

To be honest I think his Vietnam combat service is a figment of his mental illness. The only benefit to getting his DMII SC'ed because of Vietnam service would be that if he dies of secondary condition to DMII the VA would pay a small amount towards his funeral expenses. If there is nothing at all in his records about service in Vietnam chance are he was not there except in his mind. If all the guys who claim to have been on secret missions in Vietnam were actually there we would have won that war.

The only other real benefit I can think of is that our 15 year old daughter and I would have our tuition waived here in Montana. Our daughter and I will have chapter 35 dependents educational assistance but my eligibility only lasts to 2013. John, as far as I know my husband's doctors do think his verbal claims of military service in Vietnam are a delusion.

[deltaj]

Delta

I wont comment on whether or not it is "worth it", because that is simply another issue. H owever, if your hubbie was sent to Vietnam, he should have written orders sending him there AND, he probably got hazardous duty pay.

First, you could try asking the military for copies of his orders, tho I am not sure how to do this.

However, if you are good at math, you might be able to prove he got hazardous duty or combat pay by looking at his social security pay records. See how much he was paid, then you should be able to demonstrate mathmatically, whether he got hazardous duty pay or not, because you would know his rank and time in service.

You might also ask hubbie to remember some details about it. Guys often do not remember dates..heck I know I often do not remember when something happened, but I usually know what happened.

Maybe he remembers some other details that only a RVN Vet would know.

IN criminal law, say when a person confesses and then recants his confession, he still gets nailed when he mentions details only the killer would know. So hubbie may well be able to mention details about his service in Vietnam, that one would not know unless he was there.

As an example, if someone claimed they were in my house, then I could come up with some questions about my house that only someone who had been in it would know...oh, I dont know, like what color is the carpet, or what picture did I have on the wall. jmho.

Brpncovet, That is an interesting idea about the pay records but I think the V.A. may not accept that as definite evidence. If he could prove hazardous duty pay, however, there was a regulation in the 1960s that if a serviceman was discharged for a condition incurred from the stress of combat then a 50% rating would be assigned by V.A.

Edited October 9, 2009 by deltaj