ptsd Vietnam Vet With Ptsd - Ischarge Upgrade.

[hawkfire27]

Just letting everyone know my husband has started the process for a discharge upgrade to medical retirement.

Contrary to popular belief there are waivers for things like this.

My husbad has documented in service progression of nerves, depression, excvessive worry etc. and is 1100% SC'ed with PTSD since 1988.

He went awol after 8 years in the military and was kicked ou t with a general under honorable.

A lawyer has just accepted his case stating he believes that my husband has an excellent chance for record correction and upgrade,

The key to the case is the fact that they did not perform a psych evel on discharge even though he has a history of mental health problems.

Soooooo they journey begins again. I will try and update as different things happen the lawyer thinks it will be a 8-12 month process from start to finish.

I hope that our experience through this might help another vet who thinks he has timed out or isn't sure he qualifies

[Testvet]

good luck fights like these are not easy and very few people win them can I ask how you got the 1100% SC number or is he 100% and another 10%?

I have up on adding numbers I am SMC S I have multiple issues and am 100% P&T just for PTSD then 60% for CAD and 10% for hypertension my last award letter states I am SMC S due to 100% PTSD and being housebound so they ignorte the 60% and 10% I wonder what if anything will happen when I file the pacemaker that was just plugged in that is supposed to be another 100% issue and I am asking for A&A and the K award let them figure it out if it is not right someone here will let me now lol there are a lot of smart people here

[hawkfire27]

good luck fights like these are not easy and very few people win them can I ask how you got the 1100% SC number or is he 100% and another 10%?

I have up on adding numbers I am SMC S I have multiple issues and am 100% P&T just for PTSD then 60% for CAD and 10% for hypertension my last award letter states I am SMC S due to 100% PTSD and being housebound so they ignorte the 60% and 10% I wonder what if anything will happen when I file the pacemaker that was just plugged in that is supposed to be another 100% issue and I am asking for A&A and the K award let them figure it out if it is not right someone here will let me now lol there are a lot of smart people here

hey test vet, he is 160% smc s, with 100% sced ptsd. the 1100% was a typo

[Pete53]

Good Luck let us know how it comes out.

[john999]

Getting a honorable discharge changed to a medical discharge even with a long military psychiatric history is very hard. I tried it. You are doing the right thing by having a lawyer do it for you. How much will it cost? I am not sure it is worth it unless you get some tangible benefit. I would say the lawyer's fee is going to be a key factor to seeing if it is worth it. They win about 5% of these cases where there is a benefit involved.

[hawkfire27]

Getting a honorable discharge changed to a medical discharge even with a long military psychiatric history is very hard. I tried it. You are doing the right thing by having a lawyer do it for you. How much will it cost? I am not sure it is worth it unless you get some tangible benefit. I would say the lawyer's fee is going to be a key factor to seeing if it is worth it. They win about 5% of these cases where there is a benefit involved.

Hi john,

The lawyers fee is a flat $3000. we got a little retro for the %60 SMC on his Ischemic heart disease claim, so we went ahead and payed out.

His entire Mental Hygiene file is missing. There are references to treatment in several facilities including Bien Hoa and Fort Lee in his medical records but no mental hygiene records to be found anywhere. Our main points on the case are:

The records are missing and no psych eval was done when leaving

The fact that he has been in and out of VA mental health facilities since he was discharged including 4 PTSD programs and 5 years in a WACO VA psych ward

Had a nervous disorder rating from VA from discharge until PTSD officially became his diagnosis and rating

That he has an exemplary military history until four months before discharge, prgressing at a rate of one rank level per year of service and was in the process of being promoted again when he flipped out and went AWOL.(the cause of his discharge).

And his well documented treatment and 100% rating from VA since discharge.

we are hoping that he has a strong case.

There is also a possibility of Combat Related Special Pay that allows VA and Retirement concurrently retroactive. The retirement benefits alone though would be well worth our time, effort and money. But the main reason is to have the issue resolved as his PTSD treatment keeps hitting this roadblock. He habours a lot of anger and resentment about this issue (understandably), and like I told him, no matter what happens in this case he will be right. Either they will do the right thing and he was right about what happened, or they do the wrong thing and he was right to hate the governemnt all these years.LOL!

Thanks for the encouragement though John. Was your case successful? If so congrats, if not, do you mind telling me what you needed, or would do differently?

Thanks,