Va disability & C&P question regarding veteran with suicide risk

[Lagin02]

So my husband is going though the VA disability process. He began treatment in April doing CPT which aggravated his symptoms immensely. In May, he was fired from the job he has held for 8 years. In June, he was put on disability leave from his National Guard unit after command became aware of his suicide risk and they have mandated that he continues the therapy which is only making the situation worse. He has been in for 15 years and most likely will be medically chaptered out which has worsened his depression significantly. Due to his suicidal thoughts I am trying to manage this financial crisis as best I can because I’m afraid he is being pushed over the edge. He just stares off into space and sits in our basement. I filed for VA disability at the beginning of June because prior to all this he was our only source of income. I left my job a couple months before he was fired because my income was not enough to cover daycare after our son was born. I can’t leave him alone with the kids in the state he is in right now. I payed off our bills for a couple months with our savings but we only have a month left before we will be homeless. I also expedited his claim due to financial hardship in June. His claim seems open and shut to me. He did is C&P exam in July 31st but the VA still haven’t received the report (it was a VA doctor that did it not a contractor).  I called on Thursday to ask where it is and was told “it’s not ready yet” by the office where it was conducted. 

My understanding is you must prove three things:

The stressor:

His stressor occurred in Iraq in 2007. There was a CID investigation due to the circumstances around the event and there are still people in his unit that were in Iraq with him and knew what happened. I don’t want to write details because it would defeat the purpose of confidentiality but there is no denying that it was extremely traumatic and involved death and serious injury of service members in a small convoy. I also have a memorandum signed by the commander sending my husband to the combat stress unit in Iraq after the incident when he became suicidal. In my mind there is no denying the stressor. 

A current diagnosis: 

He is currently under treatment for PTSD at the VA doing CPT and is on medication. His team wants him to do an in-patient program in Chicago but as it stands with our impending homelessness, it just isn’t an opinion right now. 

The Nexus: 

He marked off symptoms of ptsd on his demobilization paperwork and stated he encountered stressors. In his periodic health assessment 6-month and also 1 year follow-ups for his Iraq deployment it shows he endorsed every symptom of PTSD and one Depression question. He was supposed to be referred to mental health according to this form but for whatever reason it slipped through the cracks. His current treatment is focused on the events that occurred during his first deployment. 

I called the VA homeless assistance line and was told that they will place my husband in transitional housing but me and our children (6-month-old and 9-years-old) will need to “find somewhere else to go.” I called the White House VA line and was told “I am so sorry but I don’t know what else I can tell you to do” His ebenifits portal broke 6 weeks ago due to duplicate files and was supposed to be fixed 3 weeks ago but is still broken. I have called veteran resources but all in our area require we have a “resolution” if they assist which we don’t because I don’t know if or when he will start to improve. 

So if your still with me, I have a couple questions: 

How long does it take for the doctor to send a C&P exam? Is it normal that it wouldn’t be don’t weeks after the exam? 

What are the chances that this will be resolved before the end of September when we will be homeless? If we do become homeless how do we follow up with the case with no address? 

Will the transitional housing be able to make sure he doesn’t follow through with his suicidal thoughts? I’m afraid that separating our family and having to toss everything we have build over the last 10 years will push him over the edge and I won’t be there to make sure he is okay. 

Is there anything else I can or should be doing? 

Is there any chance he could get better soon? Like it gets really bad but than starts then better? He has a bachelor’s degree and if he stops staring off into space and having these episodes he could get a job paying good money or I can work and he can watch the kids. I can’t imagine throwing everything we own in a dumpster, having my family torn apart, and taking my kids to a homeless shelter. I don’t even know how to explain it to my 9-year-old. He always struggled but at least he was functioning by numbing everything and isolation prior to opening this can of worms. We were financially comfortable so I just don’t understand how things got so bad so fast.

[Lagin02]

3 hours ago, vetquest said:

I am curious, if he was put on disability from his guard unit are they paying TDRL?  Also, I would sit down and write a handwritten letter to the President.  He says he supports veterans, is he going to let a veteran and his family get put on the street?  I would also call your local news station.  It is drastic but it might get your story out there and force someone's hand to help you.  News stations do not really care about veterans but they can be useful in getting a senator on the stick to do something.  Start getting your story out and someone might get uncomfortable.  My story was once publicized and it helped other veterans to keep them safer, and I believe it helped me also.

I’m not sure what TDRL is but they gave him a paper signed by his commander that said Disability Counseling and it required his initials on about 16 statements. One of them said that “you incurred or aggregated a condition during training.” I’ll see if I can find it and post what it looked like. They are working on getting him something called an LOD? I did get some good news about an hour ago. The C&P was finally turned in so hopefully we will see some movement soon! 

[ShrekTheTank]

1 minute ago, Lagin02 said:

I’m not sure what TDRL is but they gave him a paper signed by his commander that said Disability Counseling and it required his initials on about 16 statements. One of them said that “you incurred or aggregated a condition during training.” I’ll see if I can find it and post what it looked like. They are working on getting him something called an LOD? I did get some good news about an hour ago. The C&P was finally turned in so hopefully we will see some movement soon! 

That is really good!  Keep pushing!  They will give you cake crumbs make sure you get the whole cake!

Answer: The TDRL is a list of Army members found to be unfit for performance of military duties by reason of physical disability which may be permanent, but which has not sufficiently stabilized to permit an accurate assessment of a permanent degree of disability.

[Lagin02]

14 minutes ago, shrekthetank1 said:

That is really good!  Keep pushing!  They will give you cake crumbs make sure you get the whole cake!

Answer: The TDRL is a list of Army members found to be unfit for performance of military duties by reason of physical disability which may be permanent, but which has not sufficiently stabilized to permit an accurate assessment of a permanent degree of disability.

The forms they gave him are below. I’m not sure if this is TDRL.

[vetquest]

What I am most interested in is the incapacitation pay.  Has his command discussed this with him and how much and when or if this is going to start? 

[ShrekTheTank]

21 minutes ago, vetquest said:

What I am most interested in is the incapacitation pay.  Has his command discussed this with him and how much and when or if this is going to start? 

RESERVE COMPONENT INCAPACITATION PAY By Anne M. Hill, Esq., Paralegal Specialist 
 
Army National Guard and Army Reservists may be eligible to receive incapacitation pay if they are injured while performing military duties.  All claims for incapacitation pay are processed in accordance with Army Regulation 135-381, dated 27 December 2006; located at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/R135_381.pdf.  Under Tier 1, this program provides pay and allowances, known as incapacitation pay, to reserve component members deemed not medically qualified to perform military duties due to a medical condition (injury, illness or disease) incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.  The incapacitation pay will be reduced by any income the member earns from nonmilitary employment or self-employment.  Under Tier 2, the program provides pay and allowances to reserve component members deemed medically qualified to perform military duties, but suffer a loss of earned income from a civilian job due to a medical condition incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.  However, the incapacitation pay will not exceed the full pay and allowances for a member of active service with the same rank and years of service.  Active duty, inactive duty training, funeral honors duty, traveling directly to or from such inactive duty training or funeral honors duty, remaining overnight, immediately before the commencement of the inactive duty training or funeral honors duty, or remaining overnight between successive periods of inactive duty training are considered “in the line of duty”.  Members remaining on active duty while incapacitated will receive their active duty pay and allowances instead of incapacitation pay.  They will only receive incapacitation pay upon release from active duty. 
 
DA Form 2173, Statement of Medical Examinations and Duty Status, must be completed by the member’s unit commander or unit adviser as well as the attending physician or hospital patient administrator within 7 calendar days of being notified of the member’s medical condition.  This form will be used to initiate the incapacitation pay paperwork.  An interim determination will be made as to whether the medical condition was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty and payments will be made during this interim period.  The interim determination shall be rendered in sufficient time to ensure that incapacitation pay commences within 30 days of the date that the medical condition was reported, unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the medical condition was not incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.  If the final determination reveals that the medical condition was not incurred or aggravated in the line of duty or was due to gross negligence or misconduct of the member, the incapacitation pay will be immediately terminated and payments made to the member may be recovered.  The member is then entitled to appellate review authority under Army Regulation 600-8-4.   
 
A review of the member’s case will be undertaken every 6 months by the Secretary of the Army to ensure that the incapacitation pay is warranted.  However, payments beyond 6 months will be made only in the most meritorious cases.  Any member who receives incapacitation pay beyond one year should be referred to the Disability Evaluation System for disability separation or retirement, so long as the member is not projected to become medically qualified within the next 6 months.  Incapacitation pay will terminate upon one of the following conditions: 1) retirement, 2) separation for physical disability, 
3) determination by military medical personnel that the member is able to perform his or her military duties, except when the member is able to prove loss of earned income in a civilian job under Tier 2, 4) member returns to military duty, 5) member no longer has a loss of earned income in a civilian job under Tier 2, or 6) member’s death.  The only finance and accounting offices that are permitted to make incapacitation payments are the Army Reserve Pay Center and the finance and accounting offices (FAOs) that provide support to the incapacitated member’s unit of assignment.  
 
Members who are receiving incapacitation pay are not permitted to attend inactive duty training periods or earn points toward retirement for inactive duty training if they are deemed not medically qualified to perform military duties under Tier 1.  However, retirement points may be earned when completing correspondence courses that satisfy the requirements for a qualifying year of service.  Members may not receive Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) disability compensation and incapacitation pay for the same period and disabling medical condition.  The member must waive the DVA disability compensation in order to receive incapacitation payments for the same disabling medical condition.     
 
For further information and questions, contact your unit administrator or State Family Program Coordinator. 

 

sorry for the wall of text!

[Lagin02]

57 minutes ago, vetquest said:

What I am most interested in is the incapacitation pay.  Has his command discussed this with him and how much and when or if this is going to start? 

He is being paid for the drills he can’t attend. It comes out to about $320 a month. I am thankful for it though because it is the only reason our electricity hasn’t been shut-off and my son has diapers.