Question

[RockyA1911]

I am really confused now as to how the process works from time of receipt of claim to award letter.

Exactly where is the Rating Board in the process? Is there someone on here that knows the actual process steps and in which sequence they fall up to the award notice?

What is the difference between Rating Board and Rating Specialists?

What I am looking for is the numbered steps such as (1) Development Team, (2) Adjudication, (3) Rating Board, etc. This would be great if someone knows the actual sequence and what the functions of each team and the impact on the claim.

Thanks,

RockyA

[Berta]

Carlie- I sure would try to-dont know if I could carry it far-

Our local VAMC has some nice shindigs for the vets-parades and stuff and they bring in artifacts and artillery (I think they come from Fort Drum with this stuff)

Cool stuff - a WWII ambulance- tanks, etc -it is always great to be at a VAMC on Veterans Day. At least this one -Bath VAMC- it was an old Civil War Hospital and they farmed and raised livestock for the vets right on the grounds there-we have a Museum too-Dom, Cemetery, 2 canteens, it is absolutely beautiful at this VAMC. They often get the annual award for being the cleanest VAMC in the US of A.

Well -they had an M16 at one display- and I asked the soldier how much it was-he was shocked and I said "isn't this a yard sale?"

well he laughed and handed it to me- I was stunned by how heavy it was!

Men and women -that equipment is so heavy!

How did you all do it? Even without the M16 and the other stuff-I bet the heat at some of these Basic Training and boot camps is just awful. The USAF at Lackland puts up some sort of flag if the weather is too hot for some exercises.

I saw Hamburger Hill vets on the Ollie North show last Sunday and they scaled that hill with considerable heavy gear in the terrible heat-(and the incoming) but Normandy, Afganistan, Iraq------it all amazes me how much men and women can deal with to serve our country.

This should be in social but- well- anyhow-

I read a WWII former POW's account years ago. She was a POW in Japan.

She survived by not only eating the little bit of rice they gave her every day but she ate the maggots in it too.(for protein)

Us civilians really don't have a clue what military service must be like!

[john999]

Berta

Imagine grunts in Vietnam out on patrol carrying 80-100 pounds on their backs in that heat. The temperature would be over 100 degrees. Heat strokes and such were very common injuries. Think about wearing a steel pot that you could fry an egg on walking through mud that sucks the boots off your feet. I know the guys in Iraq have it bad but nothing like the grunt in Vietnam. This is one reason grunts would volunteer for high risk jobs like door gunners just to get out of horrible living conditions.

[Berta]

John- I cannot imagine how miserable that was- I know many Nam vets were in utilities or cameos , soaked wet from sweat and monsoons ,wet -week after week .

My neighbor bought over his new guns Sunday-(we are all armed in the NY boonies) and I looked through the scope on one of them and I had been weed-wacking and sweat was in my eyes, I couldn't see well through the sight at all--I cannot imagine how it could have been to deal with the variables of heat,sweat, and terrain, and the enemy- not to mention hunger, thirst, and not knowing what would happen next.

And trenches- we still used a form of trenching warfare in Vietnam- those trenches would fill with rain and mud-and men would have to fight, sleep,(maybe) eat (maybe), use as latrine, and pull their dead in there until the fire stopped-and of course that ground fire power usually came in at night.

Hope the topic cops arent around-

Men and women, one of my favorite movies is Master Commander of the World- the frigate movie-it is extremely well done historically-

I mentioned to my daughter how the British officers in the boarding parties were kids and portrayed correctly.But a little odd for anyone to see , not familiar with British naval history.

(A British naval officer could be very young in the 1800s)

She reminded me that in Vietnam many of the officers were kids in a way too-

her point was the average age of soldiers in Nam was very young-when Rod used to grieve over his Nam USMC commander he always called him the Old Man. I was shocked to realise one day that the Old Man was only 25.

You guys were not "kids"-John- dont get me wrong- but the innocence of youth was lost there in the jungles and the hills. Your nations puts ordinary people into extraordinary events-whenever and whereever and that equals PTSD

and even goes beyond what they say PTSD is------

[10thFO]

John,

This is in no way disrespectful of your service in Vietnam, but to me as a Somalia and Haiti Vet, the issues for the guys/gals in Iraq now, aren't the mud and the steel pots, but the heavy body armor that captures all of your body heat and persperation that comes from being in the desert, the sand that gets into everything they wear or sleep on or eat. I've got friends now that are on their third tour in the great sandbox. One is a helo pilot, and his dad was one in Vietnam, his dad lost his life in Vietnam, and I just pray that he doesn't go down over there. Plus he's flown in Mogadishu, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and now Iraq. I wouldn't want to have to serve in Vietnam, but to me each war is unique in it's own challenges. I feel for the Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, WWII, WWI, Haitian war, War of 1812, Civil War, French and Indian war, and the Revolutionary War.

To me we all share one thing in common. Each and every one of them sucked to no end for the men and women who served in them, and the families at home that had to worry about them.

All of us are a band of brothers, and I will reiterate, I am not jealous of your service in Vietnam. I never have understood the gung ho let's go to war soldier, to me the first time I saw RPG's flying by me and exploding yards away, I knew that I was changed as a young man, and the things after that just got worse.

God Bless you sir and thanks for your service.

[RockyA1911]

John/Berta,

OK, I called the 800# and they said my claim is now in the "FINALIZATION" process and I should get a letter of notification in approximately two weeks. Every time I get this stuff down and understand it, I even studied the Structure of the VSC. No where did I see the term "finalization" or that process.

Could it mean it is at the Post Award Team? It was at the rating board before if you recall a couple of weeks ago.

Funny no one mentioned the leaches to go along with the heat/monsoons and very difficult terrain and other suffering previously mentioned.

Just goes to show ya, even though it is on the Iwo Jima Memorial I believe it was meant for all U.S. forces that have engaged the enemy of the U.S. and that is "Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue". I was a Marine, but it goes from all that fought from the Revoluntionary War to present.

[john999]

Rocky

I don't care what the VA calls it as long as you get a good decision in two weeks that will be OK. I never heard of the "finalization process" either, but I imagine it is just another step on the path. Keep calling every few weeks and see what is happening. It sounds like you are getting very close.