USMC_VET This post is for you.

[Buck52]

USMC_VET

I'm not sure what its called  but it maybe statement in support of claim 21-4138 (Respondent Burden)

In here about a month or so  you posted how to write a good statement of support  to help your claim

how to lay out your statement in support of your claim

 

It  was like an Intenary maybe? can you repost it

 

Thanks

 

.................Buck

Edited October 21, 2015 by Buck52

[Buck52]

yes what is his cost?

I went to his web site and been getting trailers from him via emails at the end he wants me to join his web site so I can read the different ebooks VLB  but it never says how much?

 

.............Buck

[USMC_VET]

Buck, I am looking through my old posts do you remember if I posted it as a topic that i started or a response?

*update* (maybe this was it? http://www.hadit.com/forums/topic/63946-ptsd-claim/#comment-387535)

I will write it out here though

With Lay statements you can submit them via two avenues.

Unsworn: Commonly this is Form 21-4138(statement in support of claim), but really you can just submit a word document, both hold the same weight and there is NO requirement from the VA for a specific form.

Sworn: These can be affidavits or declarations.  I prefer Declarations because they hold the same legal weight as an Affidavit BUT they have the nice benefit of not requiring being notarized by a court officer (which costs you money).  This applies to VA claims only, i am not a lawyer and have no knowledge of actual legal proceedings in court.  

A Sworn Declaration DOES hold more weight than a Statement in Support of Claim or Word Document because it brings with it the penalty of perjury if you ARE lying. 

Example if you say you cant work and havent worked for the past year and put that in a statement of support of claim and the VA finds out you did work half the year as a cash only electrician they will deny your claim.  If you did that on a sworn declaration a federal prosecutor COULD pursue a case of perjury against you which could result in fines and jail time.  Because you are hanging this over your head, it makes it less likely you are lying and more likely what you are saying is the truth.  hence it holds more weight.

As stated above by Gastone, Mr. Attig has a sworn declaration template that he recommends.  that is the one i used and he is the one who deserves all credit for this, since i found out about this from him.

I will intermix the term "statement" as we go on, but remember i am referring to a sworn declaration since that is what i use and recommend.

 

These Declarations are very helpful for two things, one more than the other.

Service Connection (In service event):

This is the less useful, imho, for a lay statement/declaration.  The VA is very sticky about in establishing service connection and in service events.  they really PREFER having it noted in a medical file or some other official document to show that you had X occur to you and now your symptoms are related to X event, etc.

However that is not always the case, and as we know in the military not everything is noted down, or even if it is, stuff gets lost, destroyed, mislabeled, etc.

For helping you to establish and in service event you will want to concentrate on the guys/gals that you were in with that witnessed the event. I would rank statements like this.

1) Witnesses to actual event you  are using as the in service event/stressor that lead to your disease/illness.

-Within this if you can get you CO, or other Officer who witnessed it they will hold more weight, then basically just rank them on their actual rank. Your PFC best buddy will not hold as much weight as the Battalion Sergeant Major, etc.

2) Military friends who didnt see it directly but can testify they heard from so and so what happened, what you were like after, etc.  A CO would still help here, if they are willing to sign a declaration saying "Red Platoon reported a Suicide Bomber that detonated near their position at 0800 on 15 May 2005......CPL. YOURNAME was a member of Red Platoon during the entirety of this deployment"  While he is not saying you witnessed the event or was injured or given a stressor he is helping to shore up your claim by saying YES this happened to X unit and YOU were part of that unit, placing you there without witnessing it first hand.

3) Friends/Family can help to establish a change in your demeanor or talk about what they saw.  Say you now have PTSD, they can say that on skype or emails after your tone or demeanor changed, you wrote less letters, you stopped communications with people back home for a month.  This helps to establish that your issues started even then.  If it was a physical injury, say a HMMV tire got dropped on your foot on April 14, 2006, they can say they got a letter from you in April that talked about how this happened, or that you took a picture of your bandaged foot and emailed it to them.  While this would probably be in your Med record, maybe it isnt anymore, who knows.  They can help by stating they saw the aftermath and that you did mention "something" about your "foot getting messed up" during that time, so its not just a 10 years later i am telling you now sort of thing.

 

EFFECTS:

This is where i think that declarations really shine and help you the most. 

As you know you face two battles in a VA claim and one can be harder than the other depending on your circumstance.  1) is establishing a service connection, X happened and caused Y now so Y should be compensated since X happened or was caused by military service. 2) how it affects you now and how you should be rated for it.  For many #1 is the hardest, for others to get the VA to recognize the right % rating for #2 is harder, and some, both are just hard.

#2 is what we are talking about now, to show how this disease, injury, etc that was caused/aggravated by military service affects you and your ability to lead a normal life.

In a recent C&P exam for foot pain in the exam a question asked (paraphrase) "does the veteran experience pain/discomfort that affects his ability to work, etc"  the examiner checked "yes".  Great. however those three letters doesnt really explain anything to a rater.   

Friends and family work best here, the closer they are to you the better.

REMEMBER!!!!! that you and your friends, family, co workers, etc. ARE NOT DOCTORS!  Do not have any diagnosis on the statements just state the facts.  By that i mean dont have them write "His PTSD effects our relationship in very bad ways, his PTSD causes him to get angry easily........"

This is your family member making a diagnosis ad attributing symptoms to somehting that doesnt exist in the VA's eyes yet.  Instead just have them write the statement without "culprit" for the issues yet, only have them state what they see and feel.

What they write will depend on what you are claiming, so the below opinions on what they should write should be tweaked to your specific circumstances...

Spouse: Have them write what they see of your behavior.  Do you get angry easy, do you lock all the doors all the time and recheck them, how much pain are you in during your migraine attacks.  They can provide more insight to how much your disability affects you, a doctor may write "veteran reports pain when getting out of bed" but your wife can write "When he gets up in the morning it takes hime 5-10 minutes of painful slow movements to position himself to slide out of bed and get up fully, groaning and wincing as he does it."

Also have them opine, whether it is a physical pain you have or lashing out, how it affects your relationship, strains it, hurts them to see you like that, etc.

 

Friends and Family: They can explain what they see and how it affects you, if they see you less, if you talk less, if your "not like how you used to be" or maybe how you used to go hiking every weekend with them but since the pain has gotten worse you havent gone in over two years etc. 

 

Coworkers/Boss: If you were fired have them write about your behavior or what led up to the firing or quitting.  Have them write about what they see in teh workplace and how it affects your performance.  "He was always very good with technical reports, but now because of the pain he gets in his headaches more of his work has to be shifted to other employees and he misses quite a few days a month because he the pain is to bad aand he has to go home".

Coworkers/Boss are especially important if you are going for TDIU or P&T or jsut trying to get rated for something and lost your job because of X disability.

 

Personally i write these out for folks to make it easier for them based on what i know they say, feel, etc.  I will write it up in a word doc and send to them, explain that this is a sworn statement, etc and to remove anything they dont agree with or cant swear to, change and add thigns as needed, then i look it over and have them print and sign it and THANK THEM.

I have always considered a claim to be like a puzzle for the rater.  A good IMO or easily verified inservice event is like a massive cente rpiece that gives you a great picture of whats going on.  Statements are like the little pieces that fill in the gaps.  When a puzzle i smissing pieces you can usually figure out "thats a boat or something there" but when you add in the missing little pieces the picture becomes clear and easily figured out.

Use these statements to make the raters job easy to do the right thing.

 

Edited October 22, 2015 by USMC_VET

[Buck52]

Yes USMC_VET

That is preciseley as  what I needed   thanks a million Buddy I appreciate it a lot.

 

............Buck

[USMC_VET]

Yes USMC_VET

That is preciseley as  what I needed   thanks a million Buddy I appreciate it a lot.

 

............Buck

No problem brother, i hope it helps

[pwrslm]

Great  work USMC_VET.  This should be a must read for everyone who wants to file for disability benefits through the VA.

 

[Buck52]

I must note

I am not doing this claim through ebenfits (I don't trust it) I am submitting all correspondence via snail mail with return reciepts and through DAV SO's with timed/date stamped on all evidence submitted .

My spouse is sending a few old letters she kept  noted the change and decline in my behavior for evidence  although we were not married back then, she knows to address herself as my girlfriend (or before we were married)She kept all my letters I sent her and has them in a shoe box after all these years 44.45 years ago  we been married 42.

 

.............Buck

Edited October 22, 2015 by Buck52