To RAMP or legacy appeal?

[autumn]

recently one of my claims was denied and attorney is appealing it. the VA C&P agreed with the claim and attorney mentioned the denial was bogus/bs.  pretty sure that was at the DRO level. 

attorney asked me if i want to RAMP this appeal or legacy appeal.  we already waited almost 3yrs when this denial came in and likely another ~3 years when it is legacy appealed, not  on the RAMP system. my understanding is we don't lose appeal power going with RAMP, is that correct?  attorney isn't getting worse results with RAMP than say the legacy appeal way i'm told.  before i green light RAMP i want to ask, are veterans choosing the RAMP path now & finding it worth it say vs the legacy appeals?

[autumn]

long posts don't bother me. it would take me a day or two to verbalize this so writing is easier.

i concur regarding your writings on VSO's. i have known quite a few goods ones and situations they face. so hats off to the good ones. with the USA finally winding down some of these insanely long "wars?" the VSOs will be even more flooded.

the lawyer aspect is a double-edged sword for me. most that i have contacted over the years wouldn't even take up my claims/appeals. some returned some really outlandish reasons too. i would think many veterans have had this happen. seems they wanted slam dunk claims that if they were that slam dunk why even get an attorney? so the ambulance moniker(sic) is a correct one. i believe the VA legal system & congress designed the legal gauntlet to just what say, towards veterans attempting due claims rewards. even following that gauntlet to the letter like most veterans do, along with evidence, claims process falls into their black hole round-robin for years. VA says its simple, a veteran doesn't require an attorney but for some its almost impossible without. and i think VA is trying to do away with veterans having the option/opportunity to make use of an attorney though i may be mistaken on that thought. and the rules VA misuses as you say, for me and others, only an attorney would be able to spot that and counter it. i don't have the ability to get educated on VA legalese and VA legal mazes. maybe if i were youger and faster but certainly not now.

and we veterans know all this and it drives us nuts, really. especially when we have legitimate claims with evidence to back them up and fill out the forms and dot all the i's correctly...and still, the VA draws one into their legal maze adding beaucoup levels of frustration. supposedly, i think its written that Title 38 document, that VA is supposed to help the veteran with their claim to some extant. they never helped me in that regard, how about anyone else?

CUE's are tricky. took me a few years to understand that world. no one would touch mine except current attorney. so attorney see's merit in it. lucky i had my mil records and claims records and had filed a claim day after i was discharged from service. so its all there, mistakes and all. but VA has and will twist it around. that is their job so to speak. and they pride themselves on beating the veteran.

>>And o ff we go chasing the wrong thing and our CUE gets denied because we argued something that wasn't even suppose d to be to point.

more reason for me having an attorney. no way do i have the current skills to fight that as it is. look around hadit[.]com and your own VA history. it becomes a full time job that takes into the years to see through. how much frustration, money, lost opportunities, etc., veterans put up with along with their families dealing with this supposedly "easy process that favors the veteran"? so called friends and relatives don't even believe many of us. sad but true

 

 

[OldJoe]

So true so true.

The only reason I know as much as I do is not because I am smart but because of places like this forum and all the great people here.

What we as veterans could really use I think is a paralegal to help us find the legal documentation.  Not so much as the legal representation (at least in the beginning).

When you get to the board stage you either have it all together for your case (like mine) or you know that you will need legal representation to help you win (like it sounds in your case).

Any vet that has any doubt whether they need legal representation should get one.  Otherwise they are setting themselves up for disaster (unless you have dumb luck like I have had at certain points).

I should say that my whole experience has been one of learning, good and bad.  Learning tricks the VA pulls, like they did with the first denial of my CUE.  The denied it based on a totally different reason than what the CUE was about.  I remember reading about that somewhere that bait and switch game and don't get suckered into it.  If they are denying you for something else other than what you specified call them on it.

Unfortunately many vets get snookered with trick and loose their whole CUE because everything got indistinguishable and mixed up.

[OldJoe]

Well, my soap opera continues...

They denied me again...

Time to start contacting my representative and possibly Mr. Spechler's office (not that they can do much but enough squeaks might just get noticed).

[autumn]

On 3/7/2019 at 3:24 PM, OldJoe said:

So true so true.

The only reason I know as much as I do is not because I am smart but because of places like this forum and all the great people here.

What we as veterans could really use I think is a paralegal to help us find the legal documentation.  Not so much as the legal representation (at least in the beginning).

When you get to the board stage you either have it all together for your case (like mine) or you know that you will need legal representation to help you win (like it sounds in your case).

Any vet that has any doubt whether they need legal representation should get one.  Otherwise they are setting themselves up for disaster (unless you have dumb luck like I have had at certain points).

I should say that my whole experience has been one of learning, good and bad.  Learning tricks the VA pulls, like they did with the first denial of my CUE.  The denied it based on a totally different reason than what the CUE was about.  I remember reading about that somewhere that bait and switch game and don't get suckered into it.  If they are denying you for something else other than what you specified call them on it.

Unfortunately many vets get snookered with trick and loose their whole CUE because everything got indistinguishable and mixed up.

this learning you/we speak of, takes years. almost like a college stint or part-time/full-time job. may be some folks can get right the first try but for most i don't think so. otherwise no need for a hadit or vawatchdog sites. or the numerous so called veteran legal services out there.

for me and my hard knocks of trying over the years, i ended up with legal help. the current one is really good. but i've spent/wasted time on others i had to let go. like many other veterans.

>>Unfortunately many vets get snookered with trick and loose their whole CUE because everything got indistinguishable and mixed up.

absolutely.  so odd but congress and VA like keep passing things telling us how things will be simpler, but it never happens.  the VA took a play out of the dare i say it, the fed playbook,  its a rigged system all about $. thus, it's not about the veteran at all. they let some $$ trickle out to appease but that seems more like a smoke screen. 

[autumn]

On 3/11/2019 at 8:16 AM, OldJoe said:

Well, my soap opera continues...

They denied me again...

Time to start contacting my representative and possibly Mr. Spechler's office (not that they can do much but enough squeaks might just get noticed).

sorry bud, really. empathy abounds on this site though. doesn't help the sinking feeling much i know.

it is a good idea to contact your rep and get that paper trail in existence. sometimes it does help too. all one has to do is watch congressional hearings over the last few decades and see there isn't much any of them can or will do about the average joe & sue citizen in America anymore. unless they have a political bent to grind with you and of course then you're screwed. humor aside, i think it good to notify them anyways. it does show up in the paperwork of hearings and decisions...i can only speak for myself, i have seen them in mine.

hang in there and as others always say here, don't give up and keep fighting.

[OldJoe]

Talked to my rep and I got the very distinct feeling that the only thing I can do now is wait for my denial paperwork. 

Others can probably confirm this but the general impression I got was though I might get an A++ for effort being proactive and being a squeaky wheel, I am only hurting myself at this point because all the VA will do is fire off some boiler plate letter stating they just finished and are in the process of finalizing the claim/appeal.

And to top it all off, I found out I messed up with my CUE.  I should have taken the hint when they stated that they "correctly" rated me under the system at the time.  I thought my research had been thorough enough but evidently scoliosis wasn't added to the list until 2003.  It took me quite some time digging to figure out how they went about amending the rating table.  It is done in dribs and drabs but they never publish a yearly update of the rating percentages.  You find these updates in the federal register and there are hundreds of these updates.  Luckily at the bottom of the rating percentages they list the dates the system was amended, go through the dates and find where they added what you think you should be rated as.  If it is there great, if not you have to go back to the next full table.  The full table I found was the 1964 percentages rating system.

Even though I find to believe any of what they have done falls within the area of "duty to assist" I guess I do owe them a bit of thanks for shooting me down now before I go before the board.  Now I know the correct system to argue my CUE under.  I find it hard to believe that they could have "correctly" rated me when the only thing they used to use as a service connection after they had denied my claim over 20 years ago was my service records.  Rules state that you have to have new and material evidence that can be used to support my claim, I didn't.

Oh well, now back to the game...