ptsd Financial Hardship Claim Question

[Ester]

Im new here to Hadit. Im was living in Jacksonville NC until I lost my home and then was evicted from my apartment because my job would not let me return until my panic attacks are more under control. So i filed for financial hardship and they began expediting my claim with Winston-Salem RO. Being that me and my daughter became homeless they moved my claim to Columbia SC RO bc I changed my address slowing my claim but as soon as it was received it went straigt to decision because my claim was ready to rate before RO sent it Columbia RO. I filed my claim n 11/21/2010 and on 04/20/2011 it went into decision phase.... My question is since my claim is flagged for hardship, about how long at the Columbia RO will my claim take to be done. Is it still the average 16-28 days for hardship claims? I just have been through so much and Im just ready for this to be over so i can have a little peace. I was fortunate enough to qualify for federal funding to receive Neurospychiatric testing in which he dx me with chronic PTSD/ depressive disorder NOS with a GAF score of 40....Basically he said in his report due to expericing 4 year of child molestation and natural diaasters( tornadoes where 2 of our Marines where struck my lightning 1 being medically discharged with a pacemaker) during pre deployment training (when my systoms began to manifest) He also stated that it i very likely that issues from my childhood may also be affecting my now as well. Does this give my direct service connect or will this be aggravated connection... I was dx in service 2006 with depression but not PTSD by the military doctors but was dx with PTSD by military one source while in service because i no longer trusted my command or the militry doctors who had been feeding me medicine that still wasnt helping my depression.... BTW I was OTH discharge due to misconduct... VA did a character of discharge and considered me honorable for VA purposes... I have a buddy statement as well as newspaper articles explaining how our unit saved Antebury Indiana. After 3 weeks of running from tornadoes and a command that didnt care about the life of our Marine. What are your thought, I know I have said alot but it helps sometimes by getting it off your chest...

Ester Lawson

OEF 2nd MLG

USMC

[john999]

Ester

All the evidence about being molested as a child is not going to help your PTSD claim. It is going to hurt it. You need evidence that points directly at service connected cause of PTSD. All the statements about what happened in your childhood affecting you now are not good to help with a PTSD claim. You need to focus entirely on what happend in the Marines. You need an opinion that says although you may have been molested as a child it was the tornadoes and deaths of fellow marines that caused the PTSD.

[15032BCT2ID]

I posted the following on a differnt forum so it might or might not help.

Hello let me just say that so far with what I have personally experienced is that you can get your claim expedited due to financial hardship. I went homeless this year on feb.1 and the first place I went to was the denver va. If you have no housing you can enter programs for vets that are homeless and they also have information/programs that help with eviction and simple bills. I entered a grant per diem program for housing from the va. ( you get 3 gpd for your lifetime so use them well). The va put me into a hotel for 3 weeks till my national background check came back so I could enter a homeless transitional housing. When you sign up for the g.p.d program also enter the HUD VASH housing which is a program that will eventually provide you with a housing voucher to get your own apartment. They base your rent/utilities on your income(30%). They have a case manager check on you once a month for a year then from then on your on your own but with the cheap rent. Plus i know of a couple people that actually got a fully funished apartment with utilities included in rent. The VA, city you live in, and state have numerous resources you can utilize if you homeless or near that point but these programs dont come to you. If you want to get back on your feet you have to be very proactive. The same day I went homeless my case manager brought me down to the d.a.v(Disabled American Veterans) and had me file for SC and NSC. When I filed I stated I was a combat OIF vet and homeless. The VSO REQUESTED for my claim to be expedited due to being homeless and a OIF vet. The VARO granted me the expedited process and so far everything is going well. My claim started 10 FEB 2011 and I've already finished all four C and P exams (7 items claiming)and now im waiting on the rating portion. Hopefully I get notification of a decision within the next month or so but it all depends on the complexity of your claim and how backed up your VARO is. There are some many programs through your va, state or city that help with homelessness or finacial problems that people dont know about so dont sit around and get depressed about your problems and do something about it. If you have more questions regarding expedited claims, homeless or finacial programs then dont be afraid to ask me. (BIG TIP- when dealing with these type of programs remember to treat everyone with respect and you can get almost anything done in a expedited manner)

The V.A and other agencies at the state or local level are trying to get all homeless vets of the streets so there are more programs out there than ever for vets. The only bad thing that ive come across is the va grouped my NSC claim with SC claim but at least I can count on receiving 985 which is the amount for NSC if I dont get rated high enough. Just remember to stay strong in this screwed up world we live in. There will always be better days.