Need Help With Research On Disability Claim

[auenone]

Good afternoon,

I have a cervical condition, severe arthritis, etc., on the left side of my neck. In jump school at Ft. Benning I was the first picked to do a plf off the 4' platform, caught my heel on the edge and landed on my neck and knees at the same time. My neck cracked twice when I hit but never reported it as I was so embarrassed and the Sergeant told me to get up and try again, which was successful this time. What I need is for someone that was there or knows of someone in the 4th Student Bn that began 12 Jan 1967 to contact me.

The other incident was when we were ambushed 21 May of 1969. I was hit with the blast of a claymore that killed my squad leader and then a grenade went off and get shrapnel in my legs. I believe there was more damage to my neck as the blast came from my right side, snapping my neck to the left. Once again, I never said anything or may have mentioned it to the doctor but nothing went on record. Neck has bothered me since that time and has progressively gotten worse. I should have started this inquiry long ago but time flies when you're 66. The VA doc said there's no way this is related to the Army even though it shows it is traumatic arthritis. I've never had any accidents and was a runner in high school.

What are my options in filing an FDC? Will they just throw it out or is there a snowball's chance? I have had an MRI and x-rays but need more than that.

Thanks a bunch and good luck.

[mos1833]

did you file a claim yet ? do you have your c-files ? do you have any service medical records ? get a vso to help .

[Berta]

4th Student Bn

Was this at Fort Benning?

When did this accident occur?

Do you have copys of your complete SMRs and 201 personnel file ?

Do you still have the book they prepared inservice that includes who you trained with?

(like the BT book I bought when my daughter graduated from BT or maybe she bought it. I know I bought a BT video with every airman in her squadron in it. She was firing an M16 in the video at the range.

(she said Mom, the M 16 didnt fire right at first like dad said his M 16 misfired in Vietnam )

(I said yeah you probably trained on the same one he used in Nam.)

Those faces and names in that book might ring a bell to google if you need a buddy statement?

"ambushed 21 May of 1969."

I assume, incountry Vietnam? Do you remember where this happened?

"a claymore that killed my squad leader and then a grenade went off and get shrapnel in my legs. "

What do you get the 40% for now?

The squad leader's name should be on the Wall.

The Wall is on line. However ,in DC and locally for the Moving Wall, we needed some buddy hometown info and approximate date of death, ( my husband always remembered the exact death dates) for them , the wall people, to show my husband where the panel was, so he could do a tracing of the names.

he sent that to VA to support his PTSD claim for higher rating but they never mentioned it as evidence. They did award 100% P & T SC for the PTSD.

Still, that can be important evidence of experiencing a stressor.

[Fat]

NEVER GIVE UP

[free_spirit_etc]

Old letters? Is there a possibility that you might have written to any friends / family and mentioned your neck hurting in any of the incidents? Or even after that?

Couldn't jump school create situations that would impact someone's neck, even without documented injuries.

When did you first receive treatment for your neck?

The closer that was to your discharge, the better.

You also might want to have someone else look over your medical records to see if the catch something you are missing.

[Berta]

Free Spirit said:

"You also might want to have someone else look over your medical records to see if the catch something you are missing."

That is good advise for any veteran, even if th4y don't have a claim pending.

i mentioned here how my daughter, while she was in the Mil, insisted I could find evidence in my husband's med recs of diabetes.

She had gone over a few of them. He had never been diagnosed of treated for DMII.

I put doing that off for many months. I felt my issues had been resolved.But she insisted every time she called me.

So in 2003 I filed a AO DMII claim. and succeeded in it.

Although it was a 1151 issue I filed instead for direct SC.

All of sudden lots of evidence appeared in the med recs, unlike the

evidence I had used for my past 1151 DIC claim..

She was RIGHT!

Family members and trusted friends often can see things we cannot see.in med recs as well as in VA decisions.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Berta

[broncovet]

While its true that VA "must give due consideration to lay evidence", and can not disregard it simply because you are an "interested party", it is still difficult to get VA to read it, as Berta has pointed out.

Remember this, tho. Whenever you go to the doctor, the doctor asks you questions..lots of them. Then your evidence goes into your medical records and he often makes his diagnosis, in part, by your statements. He is gonna say things like:

1. What happened?

2. How did you hurt your leg?

3. How far down did you jump?

4. How many times? etc, etc.

The problem, in your case, if you tell the doc that now, but not while you were in the military after it happened, this begs the question as to why you did not say something about this earlier? And that, is the problem, not so much lay evidence.

Chris Attig has pointed out that the VA must consider lay evidence, and they have to say why they dont regard it as credible, if that is the case. One way they do this: If VA caught you in a lie on one thing, then they can disregard other things you say as also not credible. So, tell the truth and dont get caught in a lie, above all else.

In my case, the BVA (paraphrasing) that they simply did not know if my hearing loss was caused in service, but, since all my other statments were consistent with the known facts, they deemed my evidence as credible.

You will likely have a big fight on your hands, but it is winnable. Tough, but winnable. Make sure you dont make mistakes like remembering dates wrong. In other words, if VA asks you when it happened, dont say one time, "Gee, I dont remember....I think it was 2002 or 2003." Then, you look up such and such a date and correct yourself in a future similar question. "It was the spring of 2004". While I personally think its reasonable to guess at the date then correct your guess later, the VA uses this as a tool to deem your evidence as not credible. Dont do it. Look up the date before hand and dont guess.

More importantly, read what Chris Attig, Veterans attorney has to say about lay evidence:

http://www.attiglawfirm.com/shoot/va-disability-help/

Edited March 22, 2015 by broncovet