Ssoc 30 Day Response

[RickH]

Hi everyone I have been reading hadit.com for a while.

So I just joined for help and to help.

I just received a SSOC (denial) for my remanded appeal from the BVA. giving me 30 days to respond or add stuff. It took 10 days to get out of AMC

to me.

I have a doctor working on my IMO how can I get an extension if he doesn't complete it in time?

This claim ha taken me 8 years to get to this point.

Thanks,

RickH

[FormerMember]

There is one other avenue. You can send in a rebuttal to the SSOC indicating you have more N&ME in the pipeline and it will be forwarded directly to the BVA with a waiver of review in the first instance shortly so it will not require a remand back down through the AMC to your RO for another de novo decision. This will allow the BVA judge to make a decision on it sooner, too. Perfectly legal.

You guys have to think outside the box more thoroughly. Surely, the last thing you want to embark on is a request for another DRO review at the RO. Time strictures are just roadblocks. Discern a path around them and press on. What I find amazing is you got to the BVA without signing a waiver of review in the first instance when you got the Form 8 signed off. Without it, they can play remand ping pong with your appeal for years. In fact, that is what just happened to you!

I teach one brand of claims prosecution. If they do not grant at the AOJ (your RO), there's something wrong with it. If, after a really good presentation of all the probative evidence, they still deny, hanging around for a DRO review is going to be a 585-day waste. Getting it docketed at the BVA is paramount-especially for PTSD/ Hepatitis C claims or their like. The quicker you get an up or down there, the more quickly you can get to the CAVC. There, you will experience a maximum of a one-year delay to a win or a vacate and remand. VA gets the message. You aren't going away and the squeaky wheel syndrome kicks in. They grant to get rid of you. The CAVC reverses, vacates or sets aside 65 percent of what appears before them exclusive of Writs and EAJA. Conversely, VA denies 85% of what you file. Where do you want your case heard? In a demonstrably Veteran-friendly venue or one that is purported to be?

If you were in the Army or Marines, they taught you enfilading fire. Set up your M-2s and M-60s on your flanks and shoot across the area of engagement. Make the gomers run into the bullets (evidence) instead of trying to lead them to get the ordnance (evidence) on target. In the Air Force, we took it to a higher level and did it from altitude in 3D. J1VO.

Edited February 27, 2015 by asknod

[RickH]

ASKNOD

Are you responding to my post? No

offense and I'm sorry, but I'm lost in all your verbage.

Did you say ask for more time? To whom? AMC? BVA? I plan to ask a waiver and send my claim directly

to The BVA and appeal to CAVC if I lose.

V

I

[Gastone]

Follow Nod's advice and if I might add, get a couple Legal opinion from VA Certified Appeals Attorneys. I used (2) on-line National Firms and (1) Local VA Attorney for an actual face to face. Didn't sign with any of them but getting their opinion as to the strength of my case was well worth the time. With the 04/2007 Claim date, your setting on a potential Mountain of Retro. Let's see what you got, 96 months X ?$2700 = $259K + or -, at the high end with 100% SC. I know that's probably a real stretch but even if you got to 50% SC your in the area of $50K in Retro. What attorney wouldn't sign on for the 20% of your Retro if they think you have a winnable case.

After waiting all these years you have to ask yourself if it's time to bring in the Pro's from Dover. What you've done so far certainly hasn't worked. There is always the possibility that you don't really have a claim, at this point. Many an AO Nam Vet got their initial claims denied for years before the Dr's and Scientists at the IOM made positive determinations regarding linkage of AO and certain (Not ALL) Cancers. It wasn't till 2010 that CAD was added to the VA AO Presumptive list. How long has it been since your exposure to what you believe caused your condition? This could be a AO type IOM journey for VA accepted linkage.

Did you have a DRO Review or an Actual DRO Hearing back in 08/2008?

Semper Fi

Gastone

[Berta]

Great Post from Alex!

he is right.

I only succeeded in my claims by thinking outside of the box, and by time of my AO DMII death claim, I used the enfilading technique I learned from my education at American Military University

As a civilian in a war school I learned that principles of tactical maneuvers in warfare can be applied to VA claims.

Most of my Profs were officers in the USMC , and one was in the Navy.

ASKNOD, I have a war plan for every claim if have filed since 2003.

My daughter took a photo of my VARO when she was getting the inprocessing testing ,after she joined the Mil.( Vet USAF Intel)

and the photo gets scanned onto a war plan,surrounded by the stages I will advance against the EN with, meaning, what evidence I will send and how I will handle any potential denials. etc etc,for every claim I file.

The Navy prof asked my permission to use some of my thesis work as a template for others in his classes, to show how a thesis should be done.

My favorite USMC prof (Major AD) was the toughest professor I ever had, and it was evident he tried to break me early on ( I was only civilian at AMU at the time)

but he ended up giving me all A's in multiple courses he taught because my work was impeccable and

a big AND, I had already won major battles with VA that even my former vet reps said I would never succeed in.

A USMC Major giving me a hard time at first ,was a picnic,when compared to VA.

My point here is that VA isnt the EN at all...to claimants Time is the enemy

and I needed to understand military training that all of you have had but that I lacked any knowldege of.

ASKNOD tells it like it is

to reply to the poster:

---------------------------------------------------------------

Here it is:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp14/Files4/1427980.txt

The remand decision states:

"The Board also finds that the Veteran's complete service personnel records should be sought in order to determine the circumstances of service
and the extent to which he may have been exposed to toxins while cleaning or overhauling ships
as claimed during his hearing testimony. See 38 U.S.C.A. § 5103A(a)-©."

These types of claims ( chemical toxins other than AO), are very difficult to win.

Often the veteran cannot specific which toxins they were exposed to and then must get an expert in toxins to provide an IMO, that fully associates,
with no other known etiology, that the specific in service toxins caused the disability they have now.

Nothing is impossible however.

Some claims such as this one (unfortunately the veteran died, but her husband succeeded in this DIC claim at the BVA):
"ORDER

Service connection for the cause of the veteran's death is
granted."

http://www.va.gov/vetapp99/files2/9915488.txt

In part the decision states:

"In August 1992, the veteran filed a claim for entitlement to
service connection for acute myelogenous leukemia. She
contended that she served as an F-4 crew chief in service and
was exposed to numerous carcinogens including F-4E and F-4F
radar transmissions, various fuels, greases, oils, cleaning
compounds, ECM transmissions, aircraft cleaning soap, and
asbestos gloves. "

and
"In February 1995, the veteran submitted a January 1995 letter
from her treating oncologist, Lance Loomer, M.D., at the
Southeastern Medical Oncology Center. Dr. Loomer indicated
that, if the veteran was indeed exposed to benzene or
benzene-like compounds, it was definitely possible that her
leukemia arose from such exposure. Dr. Loomer went on to
state that the lag time in developing leukemia after exposure
peaked at approximately eight years and then plateaued at a
3-4% probability. He indicated that it was consequently rare
to develop leukemia immediately, and that it would be much
more common to develop leukemia years later as in the case of
the veteran.

The veteran also submitted abstracts from several articles
which reportedly linked exposure to certain carcinogens,
including benzene compounds, to the development of leukemia.

Following the death of the veteran in May 1996, the appellant
submitted a document from the veteran's service medical
records which showed treatment in service for a chemical burn
of the right upper extremity while using PD-680 during a
cleaning operation in 1977."

Although Dr. Loomer did not state the exact IMO wording that VA is familar with ( in our IMO forum here)
obviously his opinion was weighed heavuily but the VA

There are also significant treatises that either the veteran, or her husband, as he continued her claim after her death, sent to the VA which were also considered.

I googled the IMo doctor and found this reference for a doctor with the same name.

If he is in fact the same oncologist ( you could contact his office and ask)named in this decision, he would obviously be a good potential IMO doctor to contact
for your claim..

http://www.find-yourdoctor.com/north-carolina/goldsboro-nc/27534/info~loomer-lance-md2.html

VA has also Sced AO presumptives to vets who were in Thailand or Korea, Okinawa vets....as well as 2 CONUS vets,who proved they were exposed to AO in the USA,
and the criteria for those types of AO awards is here available under a search.

Nothing is impossible but these types of claims need leg work, research, and a strong IMO

--------------

Edited March 7, 2015 by Berta

[Berta]

sorry if double posting.....high wind affects my PC dish.....

I will try to fix it betrter.

[Buck52]

Rick H

Asknod is in a sense an expert with Appeals and the BVA CAVC ect,,ect,, All the way up to Washington, he knows what he is talking about,

his experience and advice is well worth your time!

.............................Buck!