diabetes C&p Examiner Said Ptsd

[avcorpsman]

My husband went for a C&P exam this week for depression, panic attacks and anxiety. I was there with him. He's a Vietnam Navy vet with boots on the ground. We were asking to get these conditions secondary to SC connected diabetes and neuropathy. The examiner said it sounds more like PTSD. He applied for depression in 2002 at the same time as diabetes but was denied. They said he needed new and material evidence to reopen. This time we asked for it as secondary, He's had problems for years. He was stationed in FL and on search and rescue had to pick up body parts after accidents over the water. On carrier in Vietnam saw and treated pilots whose planes virtually disintegrated crashing into the carrier. Doesn't know how to document this. He was close to the pilots because he routinely tested them for flight duty. also an incident when he was to be flown home. In Danang waiting days for a ride they took mortar fire. What should we do now? any help would be much appreciated.

[Berta]

"Berta; Hate to jump in another thread but you brought up a big issue for me; how does the VA feel about newpaper articles used to help verify the stressor? In developing my own case I've heard conflicting information; one side of the argument says the VA gives absolutely no credability to them when deciding a claim, the other side says they do. For me thats a make or break."

As PR said ,if you can prove you were there.
For example
A few Marines 'volunteered' for a horrific job in Vietnam in 1965. My husband was one of those Marines. There was extensive write ups on the incident here in US of A newspapers and on TV because some deceased Marines, were within in a sealed amtrack or armored vessel on the bed of a river in Vietnam for months before they were retrieved. My husband was the first Marine to open the sealed door. what he saw was horrible. He could still smell it decades later and was part of the recovery of the bodies.
The families had to force Congress to get their loved ones removed from the river and home.for burial.
I am sure he could have found newspaper articles on this but the VA Director , who spoke to my husband after an incident at the VAMC that AM)in 1983 remembered the incident well and was in Vietnam at time, as a psychiatrist in Danang, of what happened and verified this stressor for my husband in minutes.Only the volunteer Marines of this unit knew what it all entailed and the Newark VA director had dealt with some of them incountry, as a shrink.after this terrible event.

It is all in the detail.

A vet won an AO claim...AO exposure in Alaska with a newspaper article.
(personally I think VA made a CUE on that award)

A widow won DIC with an article on a very rare form of cancer her husband died from .He was stationed near a small village in Korea where the article stated many had contracted and died from this extremely rare cancer. She probably got more info on this rare cancer from the internet too.The BVA awarded her DIC.

Aletta I just bumped up the new PTSD criteria.Somewhere in the regs it states how these regs apply to claims pending at time of reg.

We have a new Navy vet member with probably multiple stressors. I have a Navy vet friend who also has many stressors.

The stressor is defined in the regs, as to what VA considers a stressor under the new regs.

We advocates, lawyers, vet reps and veterans fought these regs but failed to convince VA they were unfair.

They help OIF and OEF vets and that is very good, but I think they made it harder for many other PTSD vets.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Berta

[Aletta]

My hubby claim was approved in June 2010.. the new reg for PTSD went into effect the following month. Thanks Berta, I had went and found the Fast Letter from the VA on the new regs. I see it does not help BWN Vets much or others that were not in combat or near the actions.

What do you mean by 'bumped it up'.. I seen that phase before in another topic.

[2E151]

Philip and Berta; thanks for giving my own case hope. Thank God that I saved my orders and travel voucher that shows I was where the article mentions.

[Philip Rogers]

It's just moving the post up to current time, in case others missed it. It helps get more responses, as some of us can't be here every day.

pr

[Aletta]

I have some BWN, Blue Water Navy, Vets friends. I am told that the new reg of 2010 also includes them. So I am thinking that if the ship that the first posted mission was to do search and rescue, he won't need a stressor proof either. That is not to say, get everything you can in case one needs to prove.

Thanks for telling me, PR, what bumped meant.. I found the post she 'bumped'..

[Berta]

Sometimes family members save letters and their envelopes from service personnel serving overseas ,that has a post mark on it, that can put them somewhere they need to prove.

Aletta,I am a member of Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association.

The BluewaterNavy.org web site is very good.

John Rossie who started BWN.org and BWNVVA and CArol Olzenaki, a BWN widow, have done some SVR shows here in our archives.

They keep me updated on the latest BWN AO bill and I will post in the AO forum any news I get on that.

If one joins the BWN.org site Carol can be reached there with any BWN widows who need claims help.

Her AO DIC was denied for years until she proved her husband had been on the COD planes (Air Cargo delivery) leaving his ship and flying to Vietnam..