Ihd Claims

[cbtvet]

I called my vso today to find out about my ihd claim. Even though i have not been notified he looked it up and said they turned it down because it was not service related. what does that mean? i don't have a disability or they think i was not in vietnam.

[Computer Tech]

I would say that they don't believe that you were in Vietnam therefore you couldn't have been exposed to AO and since you didn't file within one year of getting out it can't be service connected.

Are you service connected for any of the other AO presumptive diseases such as diabetes type two. If you are then they should have given you service connection for your IHD and I would ask them to reconsider their decision.

If you served in Vietnam that should be in your 201 file which the VA should have. If you don't have a copy of you 201 file I would request a copy from St. Lewis.

Hopefully others like Berta will also have some ideas.

Rick

I called my vso today to find out about my ihd claim. Even though i have not been notified he looked it up and said they turned it down because it was not service related. what does that mean? i don't have a disability or they think i was not in vietnam.

[Computer Tech]

CB:

I just noticed that you were Navy, if you were Blue Navy they won't grant you exposure to AO, you need to prove that you have boots on the ground in Vietnam or that you were on a ship or boat that was on the inland waterways of Vietnam. Another way is that your ship docked and you went ashore. There is a list of ships and baots that are considered part of the brown navy, it's in the Agent Orange forum, do a seach and it should come up.

Rick

[cbtvet]

Thanks computer tech. Let me begin by saying I was in the u.s.navy for 4 years active. I have never been on a navy ship at sea. I left engineman school went to coronado for sere school assault boat school then flew to vietnam via mac.I was stationed 100 miles deep in vietnam I mean in sight of cambodia. how they could miss my vietnam service is beyond me.

[Chuck75]

Since you were assigned to shore duty, you did not serve on a ship that is on the VA "list".

Assuming that your records in the VA "C" file show that you were in Vietnam, it's an obvious error.

You need to appeal (NOD) as soon as you can, although I'd contact the Nehmer lawyers first. (http://www.nvlsp.org)

One of the things that I ended up using was a list of the APO/FPO code to location, since the navy ships I served on were, well, ships.

At the time, several years ago, the VA was assuming that any Navy ship was by definition, a "blue water" ship, and you had to prove otherwise.

A letter or possibly even a card sent by you from one of the in Vietnam APO/FPOs is enough to show "feet on ground, independent of service records.

Veterans that served in or near areas around the Cambodian border may not have service record entries that clearly show Vietnam service.

I'd suspect that the VA does not have a good list of Navy Vietnam shore locations.

You may want/need to get the Nehmer class action lawyers involved.

The VA has failed to fully comply with the Nehmer class action in regard to furnishing the lawyers with a complete

list of those veterans that fall under the Nehmer decisions. How many were omitted, only the VA knows.

(I should know, I was one of those that the VA omitted, even though my "C" file showed "feet on ground" and I was receiving SC A/O related compensation.)

When the Nehmer lawyers queried the VA, all of a sudden, my case was sent to a Nehmer review board at a different VARO.

A couple of months later, IHD (which was previously denied, as well as some related "secondary" conditions was awarded as A/O presumptive, with a fair amount of retro.

Thanks computer tech. Let me begin by saying I was in the u.s.navy for 4 years active. I have never been on a navy ship at sea. I left engineman school went to coronado for sere school assault boat school then flew to vietnam via mac.I was stationed 100 miles deep in vietnam I mean in sight of cambodia. how they could miss my vietnam service is beyond me.

[cbtvet]

Thanks chuck75 good input. this is strange . i was stationed on a floating pbr base. it is not on the ao ships list. please google yrbm 21 and tell me i'm not crazy.

Edited October 6, 2011 by cbtvet

[evandc]

Wait for the letter & then your questions will be answered. They are so wrong when it comes to Navy Vets, but you were in country so got to be big screw up.

Good luck,

Don