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Stessor Verification Without Jsrrc?

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SigBnSoldier

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This is my first post in hadit, but I've been reading for nearly a year, thank you for your wisdom!

I've faced a lot of criticism for having a non combat ptsd claim on a different site, so I'll briefly qualify my circumstances in order to get help.

I was stationed in Germany, 1990-1992. During a field exercise, at night, while in uniform, there was a large explosion near my AO at the training area, it was a German civilian transport truck and a small passenger car that had wrecked and caught fire on the nearby autobahn. I along with several other soldiers rushed to the scene and rescued the driver of the truck, and tried unsuccessfully to pull out his passenger before it went up in flames. The passenger didn't make it, and I can't forget the scene and the hopelessness of standing by...

Within a few weeks I started experiencing nightmares, anxiety, panic attacks. I was under the naive assumption that PTSD was only for combat veterans until about a year ago, when I was at the VA clinic in my town to see the mental health. The Psch diagnosed me with PTSD non combat, and encouraged me to file a claim.

To digress, I was diagnosed bipolar at the VA in 2002 also with a previous history of suicide attempts a year and a half after discharge. I was discharged (ETS) honorably in 1996. First suicide attempt was 18 months after. I have many similar diagnosis of bipolar, one of "reaction psychosis", and a depression diagnosis all through VA and inpatient for bipolar/suicidal ideation. I was awarded SSDI in 2003.

Having filled you in, here are my questions-

Do these many diagnosis other than PTSD, after discharge, completely negate this new diagnosis of PTSD?

Second question, I have had a heck of a time gathering proof of my stressor. So far I've submitted a German newspaper article and two eyewitness buddy statements, as well as two family statements and all my post discharge medical history. I've written to the JSRRC, they claim no record of my Signal Battalion in Germany was ever turned in. My brigade and battalion were inactivated in 2007. I have ran into dead ends in finding unit reports of the incident. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where to search for S-3 reports or Staff Duty journals, so that I can send the VA further proof of my stressor?

Thank you for reading my thread and for your help!

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  • HadIt.com Elder

I'd continue to pursue the PTSD claim, as you have the evidence you need and there is no evidence about the bipolar. You should contact the National Personnel Records Center, in St Louis, MO, about your complete service records and be sure to include a request for all medical records. Hospital records are usually kept separately from your service records. http://www.archives.gov/veterans/

pr

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What about the fact that the examiner focused on my childhood hyperactivity? I could feel him trying to build a case for "pre existing". He asked me if I ever had an official diagnosis as a teen, I told him no I had not, that my parents were told to give me coffee at night to calm me down before bed. I didn't want to tell any lies in the exam and felt compelled to answer all his questions honestly, including this one.

Besides, wouldn't it be possible to carry a pre existing bipolar diagnosis, just in it's infancy and still get PTSD as a separate mental condition?

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Sweet! Thanks PR. I watched the examiner fill out the criteria for PTSD sheet, I know he circled the correct amount. My claim was for an original claim of PTSD but when it moved to Gathering Evidence on ebennies I noticed the VA changed it to "Chronic psychiatric disorder to include PTSD and Bipolar disorder (Reopen)"

I suppose it's because I had a previous denial for bipolar, but never claimed ptsd. I have no intention of dropping the ptsd claim, thank you for your replies and thank you for your service!

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  • HadIt.com Elder

You can even have a PTSD disorder/Claim superimposed on a personality disorder. Plus the VA is famous for changing your Axis One DX over the years.

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