ptsd 2 Consecutive Claims Completed In 14 Months

[rootbeer22]

Hey haparnold66:

Congrats...I like your strategy and it seems to work...I should have thought about that strategy origially but I got bad VSO advice..because my FDC is still just "under review" and I'm heading into 5 months now? I listed 20 contentions and I think now it would have been best to just list 10 or less at a time and should have filed two claims instead of one big one....? I've learned that the big claims have a tendency to get tucked away at an RO and that they only work them when they are bouncing up against an internal deadline of why there's no movement..then they have a tendecy to move....you're email helps to support that conclusion.

Edited October 31, 2014 by rootbeer22

[haparnold66]

Hey haparnold66:

Congrats...I like your strategy and it seems to work...I should have thought about that strategy origially but I got bad VOS advice..because my FDC is still just "under review" and I'm heading into 5 months now? I listed 20 contections and I think now it would have been best to just list 10 or less at a time and should have filed two claims instead of one big one....? I've leanred that the big claims have a tendency to get tucked away at an RO and that they only work them when they are bouncing up against an internal deadline of why there's no movement..then they have a tendecy to move....you've email helps to support that conclusion.

rootbeer22:

I think my "strategy" was a bit of luck/happenstance. I was very naive about the VA disability claims process when I filed that 1st snail mail claim. However, I read a lot in a couple of forums before my C&P exams 7 mo. later. Then, after the 1st claim closed, I knew about FDC claims. Through it all and through the VA Health Care System the last 6 years, I have been treated fairly and with respect. It all began when I spoke to an intake interviewer @ the Phoenix VA Medical Center 6 years ago. When he saw "Vietnam" on my DD-214, he smiled and said, "Relax. We have LOTS of help for you." I have never felt so relieved in my life.

With that being said, I know there are many, many other vets whose experience has not been so positive. I have posted on this forum primarily to encourage those who are still waiting adjudication of their claims so that they do not give up. The very best advice I can give anyone beginning the journey is that you must be your own best advocate, you must have your evidence in clear and concise form and you must stay focused on the task at hand.

[rootbeer22]

haparnold66:

Thanks for your service and great advice. I'm a 22 year Desert Storm ERA soldier and I had a much different experience. The APRN I saw for my C&P was very cold and when I told her that I filed an earlier claim that had been lost, She did not beleive me? She kept asking me why am I coming in just now and that I should have done it before? Then two weeks later when I returned and showed her the signed paperwork, she realised that I was correct. I had never been treated in this manner before when I was in the military and it really suprised me? She made me feel that I was just going to be another veteran that is just swelling the roles of the VA? That said, I agree with you that it's not representative of the overall treatment. Although I had good civilian insurance, there are things that are happening to me now that are sevice related that need to be addressed by the Subject Matter Experts. I was exposed to a lot of stuff that VA still does not fully understand..which was much like you guys in Vietnam such as - Agent Orange. A group of us got really sick and we were told, it's just your bodies getting used to the middle eastern conditons -then 4 months later - a letter was posted at the Camp HQ Bulletin Board -that we had a gross contamination of "Ecoli Poisoning" in the camp water system? So, we'll see how this type of thing gets addressed in the near future...???

Edited October 31, 2014 by rootbeer22

[hmcquade]

Congratulations, you deserved it!!

Hugh

[killemall]

Thats great news indeed!!!

[Notorious Kelly]

Hap,

Very happy you climbed out of a lower place and are more comfortable now.

Thanks for sharing your positive story!