ptsd Which is better? DAV or VFW or DIY

[MudHugger71]

I'm in need of some expert opinions on bunch of stuff. This is the first one. Through experience, my first VSO at an "actual " VFW office  FUBARD my PTSD claim by not sending my " stressor attachment " via fax with rest of my claim. I went down to ask her what happened and why she didn't contact me about it like the letter says she was supposed to? She got some lady down in Pittsburgh on the speaker phone (main VFW office and supposedly my POA),and I asked the lady 3x, are you positive you didn't get that attachment paper? She said "NO", so I walked out. The VSO called me and she said she'd resend it. I told her never mind and she got nasty with me,and kept stating, " I'm a single mother with two kids and both of you (referring to me and my wife) need to get jobs". " Winning a claim is like winning the lottery " And both us, are working, so she had no right to say that. Yeah, she helped with my tinnitus claim, which was awesome, but when it came to my PTSD claim, she went narcissistic on me. So did my second VSO/ AKA supposedly " VSO/friend ". He never told me to get my records/c-file first before filing a claim! Which in return, would have made things a little bit easier on everybody. Now, I'm stuck as to stay with VFW (since they already did my first claim) or switch to another VSO organization. Any help would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!

[toddt]

You are your own best advocate.  

[Slick]

42 minutes ago, toddt said:

You are your own best advocate.  

What he said- service officers (SO) come in different flavors. My very 1st one was a state veterans rep who did very little.

Moved and went to DAV. SO "assigned" to me knew less than me.  As an example he didn't know where to find presumed agent orange disabilities listing.

So, advice is you can go into a VFW or DAV, talk to the chapter president and tell him about your past experience and ask him who he thinks is his most qualified SO.  2nd, as toddt said- be your own advocate.  Get smart on things. Use the heck out of this site, use other reference sites such as the Board of Veteran's Appeals site and get smart on what is needed to support your claim.  Did I say use this site- a heck of a lot of smart folks who have gone down the same path that you're looking at and most importantly they're here to help.

Keep the faith, you're not alone

   

[MudHugger71]

THANKS toddt and Slick!

 

[Chuck75]

I'd say that DY with some guidance is likely the best when it's other than a very simple cut and dried claim.. 

[OSC]

No one knows you better than you.

I did all of my claims by myself with the help of the people and information on this board.

One more vote for self.

OSC

 

 

[iceturkee]

i fired dav last year. i should have fired them sooner after getting into an argument with a clueless vso over my most recent denial. i now have pva but haven't had to use them yet.