How likely am I to get disability compensation?

Hope_Solo · August 10, 2016

I am still in the Air National Guard and my ETS is next month, I am about to get out. I also recently just got back from deployment last month and I feel like my mental health got worse. Ever since joining the military, I've developed all sorts of mental issues such as anxiety, depression, paranoia, nightmares, sleep paralysis. I never really seek help or treatment for it until now (my last 2-3 months in the military), because I feared disciplinary actions or retaliations if I went to our medical clinic for these while I was still in. I didn't wanna get kicked out or just by being a "problem" to my chain. I really feared letting anyone on-base know about it until now that I am about to get out next month.

Anyway, I just started going to the clinic and mental health and we are in the works of getting a referral to an actual psychiatrist. The psychologist/advisor there told me that I would definitely need medications for my mental condition. How likely am I to get approved for va disability compensation? even though I will be getting treatment and diagnosis after getting out of the military?

I am just worried I might not approved just because I'm already out of the military when I get to start getting treatment and diagnosis. The psychiatrists here in my area are fully booked and they dont have available appointments until next month which is my last month in the military.

King156 · September 12, 2016

I don't know how the ANG works, but I was on active-duty & this is how it went for me.

When I was out-processing the active-duty, they sent me in for the outprocessing medical exam. The doctor asked me if there was any medical/mental problems that began while I was in the military. So, I mentioned to him a bunch of different things. The military rated me at 0% service-connected for those disabilities (by the way, even 0% is a good rating as long as it carries "service connection" next to it, since this tells the VA that it was already decided that you got this issue from your time in the military).

Anyhow, I never sought treatment for any of those disabilities until 9 years later when the issues started to give me problems. So, I went to the VA & I filed an increase for the problems. Within 3 months, I had an increase for 1 disability. So, I put in for an increase for another of the disabilities & got an increase within another 3 months. It was really simple as long as you tell a doctor about your problems before your last day in the military...actually, I believe you have a full-year AFTER you get out to tell a doctor & they will still consider your disability to be "service-connected".

Don't fret about the treatment or the fact that you were scared of retaliation. Focus more on getting diagnosed first for all your problems. This is just my advice, but I would get a military psychiatrist (MD) to officially diagnose me with all the issues since this will help you out tremendously when you get to the VA...and at the VA, all you will have to do is file for an increase which is much easier than trying to prove the "service-connnection"