Boot camp injury

[YAcord]

In 1991 while in boot camp I got stress fractures in both my lower legs and one in my thigh. They drop to the medical platoon, then the casualty platoon which is what they called where those being sent home go while all the paperwork is done. I had spent two months in training and another two months being processed to go home with benefits because they said they would not heal in time, especially the one in the thigh. The initial medical board came back with 20% disability but while waiting for things to be finalized, an processing me to go home. An x-ray or MRI, I can't recall showed they had healed and I was given the option to go home or go back to training, I chose to go back to training and had another month in medical platoon to get physically ready to go back and another month to complete my training. I graduated after spending 6 months in boot camp. I have ordered my medical records and should get them back with in the month but I don't recall having too many issues after bootcamp but am now experiencing pain when I jog or walk long distances. I'm curious if the fact that at one point they were going to give me the 20% will make play a factor in determining if I will be get that or more now.

 

[ShrekTheTank]

So I will take a stab at this.  How long were you in service?  Do you have any other service connected disabilities?  Did you have an exit exam?  

Anyway for any condition you had in service you should do a bit of research to find out where and what you should be rated at.

Here is an easy site to look up and find out your conditions.  http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/vadisability.html

Look at secondary conditions as these medical conditions tend to cause other issues as you get older.  

Open your claim before the end of the month or your will miss another month and you have a year to complete it.

When you do your C&P exam make sure you are honest, but also make sure you are telling them when it hurts as opposed to how far you can suck it up!

There is a ton of wisdom on this site so take the advice and start your fight as it can be a long road!  good luck!

[broncovet]

Good answer, Shrekthetank! 

    I will add that VA and "med board" ratings are often not the same.  Most often, tho not always, the med board rating is lower than VA's rating.  Some of that is because "time" tends to worsen our permanent injuries which are eligible for compensation.  

     The VA does not answer to "med board" officials and "med board officials" do not answer to VA decision makers.  

      VA has a well known (at least by hadit members!) appeal process while Med boards is less well known.  As you pointed out, often, in the military (med board), we dont even know how severe the in service injury will be..sometimes for decades.  It often gets worse, and rarely gets better.  

      The Veteran simply needs to "apply" for benefits, ASAP (certainly before a year after service), and then usually fight VA (in appeals)   for the benefits you deserve.  If you did not apply within a year of service, dont sweat it, but its better when you do.  (Your retro check will look bigger if you apply within a year of service, and, its easier to SC a condition when you apply within a year because of something called a "presumptive".    That is, if you went into the service, and were healthy, and when you got out, you had an injury or disease, its "presumed" you got that in service if you applied within a year of exit from service.   VA can rebut that presumption, for example, if you had a car accident after service, but that presumption makes it easier for the Vet to obtain beneifts)  

    

[GeekySquid]

On 5/7/2019 at 9:46 PM, YAcord said:

I'm curious if the fact that at one point they were going to give me the 20% will make play a factor in determining if I will be get that or more now. 

@YAcord

The direct answer to this question is, sadly, the VA might or might not. They should because it is evidence of injury in service. @broncovet Is right that as we get older we tend to get worse or things that happened in service are now causing a problem. The VA, in a fair world, will off the bat accept that as your nexus. This is not a fair world and neither is the VA a fair player. They often don't follow their own regs and governing laws. If they did none of us would be here having to ask questions.

I want to make sure and stress that you should do it TODAY, you just open your claim. This is in support of @shrekthetank1 saying you need to open a claim.

The reason I say today is that what you do under the new system is log into VA.gov (this assumes you already have an account there, if not sign up for one), select file a new claim. If you have an existing account the new process says it will fill in some of the stuff for you. Click continue. It will then present a page saying your  "Intent to File has been Submitted".

If you are not ready today to finish filing the Fully Developed Claim, you stop right there. Your Effective Date of the claim has been preserved. You then have a full year to finish up the filing and submit your evidence.

If you wait to file until your C-file shows up and all your tests done, other evidence gathered, you lose all those days of Effective date. If all that takes you a year, you have lost 12 months of whatever they rate you at.

You don't have to be specific on what you intend to file, just that you do indeed intend to file.

The attached screen cap is what you will see if you do it today (I cannot speak for the future).  I just did that today mainly to verify something and I took the screen cap to prove it.

You mentioned your military medical records. You want your ENTIRE C-file which should include all military records and any and all VA records up to the date they fill your request. Getting your C-file these days takes about 6 months, so filing the ITF will preserve your dates as of Today.

Good luck let us know how things progress. Ask questions here and people will try to help.