Va Claims Based On Hazings

[68mustang]

Carlie

I see that you are good at doing research and hope that you can find some info for me.

I have been trying to find claims that were filed because of hazings that took place and later affected the hazed individual. Would appreciate any help Carlie can provide and any one else out there. Thanks.

68mustang

[68mustang]

We didnt call it "hazing" back then. What ever you called it, I was thrown by 4 men into a huge box, and fell about 10 feet as a result and fractured my leg. They put a cast on it, and now I have arthritis in that knee.

broncovet

Thanks for your response. Sorry that you fractured your leg due to someone's stupidity and now you are paying the price with arthritis and probably pain.

68mustang

[hawkfire27]

We didnt call it "hazing" back then. What ever you called it, I was thrown by 4 men into a huge box, and fell about 10 feet as a result and fractured my leg. They put a cast on it, and now I have arthritis in that knee.

Hey broncovet,

If your Service Medical Records show the Broken leg and the Arthritis is in the same part of the bone or can be directly linked to that fracture, you may have a case for SC'd DJD. How the fracture occurred will not matter that much, just that the arthritis is connected to it.

I am not sure what types of cases you are interested in, just the SC'ed Arthritis or for something else, but for PTSD, your fracture record will go a long way, however it will still be hard to prove that it was caused by hazing and not just tripping over or falling. "buddy letters" from anyone who witnessed it would definately help, as would a succession of documented PTSD symptoms that have occured since.

Anyway, just a thought!

Hawkfire27

[free_spirit_etc]

Mustang,

You can find BVA decisions by going to the BVA website - and clicking on the search decisions link - http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/bva.html - and typing in hazing, or whatever search term you want to look up.

Reading some of the decisions will give you an idea of what the BVA was looking for, and how they decided these claims.

I zipped through a few of them - all remanded for development, mostly beginning with giving the veteran the opportunity to show some evidence that the events occurred. Of course, most often the events were never officially reported. But there are still ways to substantiate the claim.

Anyway - if you read some of the appeals - it should give you a decent understanding of how to proceed.

Good luck!

Free

[jerrbilly]

I had been off the ship drinking and while passed out my toe nails were painted pretty pink while we were moored.

I remember waking up and not noticing until I sat on the toilet and looked down. At first I was upset but me an my shipmates had a good laugh and it was all good.

Jerr

[MikeR]

Well I know in Alaska in the Infantry they had a ritual of giving the greenhorns a snowbath. Mine was after PT in January. It was a balmy -55 below.

[Hoppy]

I came to the board in 1996. Since then the issue of hazing and its association with permanent disability has come up several times. I am the only person I know of who developed this type of claim and took it to a DRO. You might try reading BVA cases. But this is pretty much what I had to go through to get a claim to a DRO.

The VA service connects stress disorders, anxiety disorders etc. when the symptoms first occurred while on active duty or within one year after discharge. If the service medical records are silent for any symptoms and personnel records do not reflect any loss of performance and there is no other qualified evidence then basically there is no evidence that the event occurred. The VA looks for direct reports of the event or secondary evidence that the event occurred. Direct reports include police reports, specific details of the event noted in the service medical records or any other written statements taken and witnessed at the time of the event. Secondary evidence would include injuries consistent with the event noted in the service medical records that are unexplained. Additional secondary evidence is listed in the M. 21. The veteran in this case had significant recorded secondary evidence of a stressor in the SMR and personnel file that was submitted with the claim. Delayed onset PTSD can also be associated to hazing or other similar activities.

In the case I am familiar with there was an incident where an individual's mouth was filled with shaving cream while the individual was sleeping in a barracks. The individual had a restrictive airway disorder that caused mouth breathing and unusual sounds while sleeping. The noise was keeping people up in the barracks. Frustrated individuals in the barracks thought it would be funny to fill individuals mouth with shaving cream. The individual experienced a severe laryngeal spasm which made it impossible to breathe for three minutes. Waking up from a sound sleep and not knowing what was causing the obstruction of the airway the individual thought they had taken their last breath. Laryngeal spasms cause numerous deaths every year. It is also called dry drowning. Placing a foreign substance or object in an individual's bodily cavities without their permission is aggravated assault and is considered a felony. The event was reported to a barracks Master at arms who disregarded the event as a harmless prank. The victim developed a significant sleep disorder and noticeable anxiety.

The symptoms were so significant that the veteran was referred to a psychologist by his command even though the individual had not requested counseling. The victim was afraid of retaliation and never mentioned the specific cause of the distress. However, the sleep disorder and the victims unwillingness to sleep in the barracks was well documented. Significant chronic symptoms of an anxiety disorder persisted and were documented in the service medical records. Eventually, the military diagnosed a personality disorder and discharged the individual.

After discharge the veteran was given a dual diagnosis of PTSD due to the aggravated assault and an anxiety disorder. The DRO told the veteran in 2002 that even though there was some secondary evidence of a stressful event that without a police report the PTSD claim would be denied. Appealing a denial of a PTSD claim could have been an option. However, it was easier to get a VA clinician to re-diagnosis the personality disorder diagnosis given by military clinicians to an anxiety disorder in order to win service connection.

A side note, the shaving cream incident could have been a common hazing tactic. While the veteran was explaining the event in the military to a psychiatrist at a VA hospital a case worker who was sitting in on the conversation started laughing a minute he heard the veteran mention shaving cream. The case worker was so engaged in his own memories of shaving cream events that the case worker interrupted the conversation to explain how when he was in the Marine Corps that a Marine with an erection would stand above a bunk with a sleeping Marine. Another Marine would fill the sleeping Marines mouth with shaving cream. Then they would wake up the sleeping Marine and tell them what a good job you just done. At this time the veteran who was talking to the psychiatrist got in the face of the Marine for interrupting him and explained that the people who have sensitive and over reactive airways can develop laryngeal spasms. He explained that laryngeal spasms could kill you. The veteran explained to the caseworker that placing a foreign substance in a bodily cavity without the persons permission is a felony and that if he did this while working at the VA it would be the last thing he did as a VA employee. Additionally, he explained that he had already discussed the event with an attorney who told him that if it happened outside the military he would file a six digit lawsuit against the perpetrators. It got real silent in the room and the veteran walked out.