Allison Hickey Emailed

[air1]

I emailed Allison Hickey after reading my denial of benefits, i then got a call from staff assistant at the RO , she heard my complaint and issues I raised and ask if I had any other evidence to submit when I send in my I9 appeal that I received with denial on June 26,2015 from DRO hearing.. I then received an email from the same assistant from RO stating our conversation and the email was also being sent to Allison Hickey. I went over all the facts that she left out in her email to me and Allison Hickey and forward it, my response to Allison ,who again sent me a letter stating her team will look over my case along with the director of my RO .July 6,2015 received call from Director of RO and he left message asking me to call him to go over my concerns,but after I listen to his message I went to mailbox and I had a letter from VA evidence intake requesting more info and if I don't have anymore to sign Notice of Response so they can make a decision on my claim. I also have 30 days to respond. What is this? I have 60 days when I received denial.(info about denial under appeal thread title-Case close no notification-).What do I do? Do i Call RO Director?

Edited July 7, 2015 by air1

[USMC_VET]

I will leave this to the experts.

My first feel is that the RO is playing damage control as they always do with a higher power asking questions, they are doing their due diligence and adherence to procedure to ask you if you had any more evidence to submit before it goes to decision. I dont know the full story, maybe link the thread that you had originally detailed the saga of your claim, denial, nod then dro then denial, etc.

You said that you emailed allison with a response to the RO email listing what they left out etc. does that related to evidence they didnt consider? did you look over both denial letters to make sure they considered all the evidence you sent in? In each decision letter there should be a list of the evidence they considered.

See below for a list of evidence from my latest decision...

You will see that there is multiple letters, statements, dbw, treatment records, etc. along with "dated/received XXXXX"

It is important to keep a record of everything you send in and send it in correctly (i outlined in)

then you can reference EVERYTHING YOU SENT IN and make sure it was all considered. if for instance you sent in 3 copies of private treatment records from different dates and only see 1 listed, you can now resend them in along with copies of certified mail receipt and tracking and return receipt to show they had it before but didnt consider it and now have it again (just a stab and makes the RO look less innocent to the undersecretary).

go and recehck to make sure or even just resubmit every damn (sorry) piece of evidence that you sent in before to make sure they got it all. Make sure you have good sworn declarations from yourself and old buds that you were in with to help show in nexus along with private doctor imo/ime or dbq to show in nexus and good records and statements from yourself and loved ones to show how it hurts (affects) you now. the process is two fold, 1 to prove it happened or was aggravated by or while in service, thats the hard part. the second part, the part that actually gets you 10%, 30% , 50% etc is how it affects you now.

I would reread the decisions from both denials, initial denial and dro denial and see WHY they denied you, whats the reasons? was it lack of evidence it happened or that it happened or was caused by time in military? im guessing its this since its denial of benefits not denial of increase, etc. So go and take these 30 days you have now and go get a damn good ime or two, get them to do a dbq and get some new evidence that shows it did happen in service etc. Right now that email has bought you another 30 days to get evidence. take the time. you are in a state of denied right now, if you rush and lose you will be in the same place you are now, if you take your time and win you will get back pay for this time + more. take the time, its all a game with the VA and rushing it wont help you win any quicker. take your time, take a breath.

Once again the early part of the post is just my opinion.

[air1]

I will leave this to the experts.

My first feel is that the RO is playing damage control as they always do with a higher power asking questions, they are doing their due diligence and adherence to procedure to ask you if you had any more evidence to submit before it goes to decision. I dont know the full story, maybe link the thread that you had originally detailed the saga of your claim, denial, nod then dro then denial, etc.

You said that you emailed allison with a response to the RO email listing what they left out etc. does that related to evidence they didnt consider? did you look over both denial letters to make sure they considered all the evidence you sent in? In each decision letter there should be a list of the evidence they considered.

See below for a list of evidence from my latest decision...

evidence.png

You will see that there is multiple letters, statements, dbw, treatment records, etc. along with "dated/received XXXXX"

It is important to keep a record of everything you send in and send it in correctly (i outlined in)

then you can reference EVERYTHING YOU SENT IN and make sure it was all considered. if for instance you sent in 3 copies of private treatment records from different dates and only see 1 listed, you can now resend them in along with copies of certified mail receipt and tracking and return receipt to show they had it before but didnt consider it and now have it again (just a stab and makes the RO look less innocent to the undersecretary).

go and recehck to make sure or even just resubmit every damn (sorry) piece of evidence that you sent in before to make sure they got it all. Make sure you have good sworn declarations from yourself and old buds that you were in with to help show in nexus along with private doctor imo/ime or dbq to show in nexus and good records and statements from yourself and loved ones to show how it hurts (affects) you now. the process is two fold, 1 to prove it happened or was aggravated by or while in service, thats the hard part. the second part, the part that actually gets you 10%, 30% , 50% etc is how it affects you now.

I would reread the decisions from both denials, initial denial and dro denial and see WHY they denied you, whats the reasons? was it lack of evidence it happened or that it happened or was caused by time in military? im guessing its this since its denial of benefits not denial of increase, etc. So go and take these 30 days you have now and go get a damn good ime or two, get them to do a dbq and get some new evidence that shows it did happen in service etc. Right now that email has bought you another 30 days to get evidence. take the time. you are in a state of denied right now, if you rush and lose you will be in the same place you are now, if you take your time and win you will get back pay for this time + more. take the time, its all a game with the VA and rushing it wont help you win any quicker. take your time, take a breath.

Once again the early part of the post is just my opinion

Should I call the director? They list the evidence but my complaint is they accepted my stressor from my buddy letter of assault.They even accepted treatment for depression while in military and in the Evaluation Officer report he stated Depression and Dislusionment with military and difficulty working with others as reason for recommending discharge but they want to overlook this info and my private doctor report as no rationale and his credentials not as much as VA psych. My partial hospital group therapy records list MD of psychiatry who I saw once a week for 14 weeks while in group and she diagnose me as Depression, Anxiety and Ptsd in 2012.Rationale and Probative weight against my claim.

[Andyman73]

Sounds like SNAFU, VA train still rolling same as it ever was. No matter the scandal, no change in course, full steam ahead, keep screwing the Vets.

[carlie]

Should I call the director? They list the evidence but my complaint is they accepted my stressor from my buddy letter of assault.They even accepted treatment for depression while in military and in the Evaluation Officer report he stated Depression and Dislusionment with military and difficulty working with others as reason for recommending discharge but they want to overlook this info and my private doctor report as no rationale and his credentials not as much as VA psych. My partial hospital group therapy records list MD of psychiatry who I saw once a week for 14 weeks while in group and she diagnose me as Depression, Anxiety and Ptsd in 2012.Rationale and Probative weight against my claim.

It would be most helpful if you could scan and post all of and exactly what is stated in the decision

that denied. Also, what type of discharge did you receive ?

[Berta]

Carlie is right!

I asked you some time ago for the same info.

We are in the dark when we cannot read the actual words of the VA.

I think you got the 5103 waiver form. That has a 30 day response period...No response and they will be happy to deny.again.

On my 5103 although the Buffalo VARO called me to check the evidence I had sent to them , I asked the VA guy to briefly describe the 13 pieces of evidence he said they had.

This way he couldn't lie to me, if I stated what I sent and then he could have said Yeah we got it.

For the 1151 claim 1 I only had one piece of evidence.and he said right away they had the report from VA Central , Dr. Steele , Cardiologist.

So on my 5103 forms I specifically listed ( this was for 2 claims) all of the evidence I had sent with date and description and USPS tracking number and also mentioned his name as to verifying they had it.

They still screwed up the claims. One was awarded a dew weeks after an absurd denial ( the 1151 issue)and one.....I griped about that one too much here already...

They still have not read my evidence for that one.

My initial email to MS Hickey in February was for an assurance from her they would apply 38 CFR 4.6 to my claims.

They did to the 1151 only after I raised Hell.

Still , get the evidence documented on the 5103 that you already sent to them, and state right on the form any of it they completely ignored, and enclose and send it again, and also send them anything at all that maybe you overlooked.

But get it in within those 30 days.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Berta

[USMC_VET]

It would help immensely if you would upload the decisions and delete any privat einfo like SSN, name, etc.

I would also take all the evidence you have from in service, etc. and have a highly regarded IMO or if your private doc has the proper impressive credentials write you up a good imo and a dbq that specifically links all of that stuff to an in service event. but copies of the decision letters, all of them would be extremely helpful. I know it seems like a "i already told you what they said" sort of thing, but folks like Berta with all her experience are often able to divine out the actual reasoning from the va legal mumbo jumbo.