SMC-S PTSD CONFUSION

[Dustoff1970]

CONFUSION!!!!!!!!!.  For what it is worth here is a September post from a veterans wife

 

  "Hello everyone. My husband was just awarded sc for sleep apnea by the BVA. They sent it back to the RO to be awarded. This will now give him SMC-s since he is 100% for PTSD alone and the sleep apnea award will put his other combined totals above 60%. The va.gov website says he should see a change in pay in 1-2 months. Anyone with experience with this and how long did it take for your award to show up after BVA granted appeal? And do they give retro for SMC-s?"
 

There seems to be confusion among knowledgeable veterans, advisers on different veterans forums as to whether or not OSA Sleep Apnea at 50% rating level secondary to PTSD can be used as part of 60& requirement for qualifying for an SMC-S award assuming that the vet is 100% for PTSD  or TDIU due to PTSD only.  Some pros say yes and others say no. There are many confused vets including me with claims and appeals on this issue in the works.

I would also like to hear from any vet who has received SMC-S  due to secondary SC of Sleep Apnea due to a 100% PTSD only rating.  Thanks Everyone

[Buck52]

GB Army

I suppose I could file a SLEEP APNEA Claim  beings I have a diagnosis for it from the VA Sleep Clinic  but a Dr would need to nexus it to my PTSD or say its related to or caused by my PTSD Meds   ect,,ect,, my VAMC they will not do that for me..so I''d have to go get an IMO./IME and ask the Dr to nexus the S.A. to my PTSD

I never had  or reported any OSA while I was in the military  ..so this would need to be a secondary claim.

We just don't have the funds right now for the extra IMO.

I may get service connected 50% but there's no more money in it for me.

It would be to only get my rating up there to make it harder for them to reduce my ratings under the 100%  I am 68 and just need two more years on my 20 year protection.

And besides I Doubt they will come after me to reduce  after all this time.

They usually leave Veterans alone at this stage and age  with P&T but we can't underestimate the VA

so by filing I'd take up another veterans time that needs the compensation and    hopefully less waiting time for that veteran.

It's not that I don't want to take more $$$ from the VA  if it was worth filing for I would in a New York Minute. its just not worth the pain and stress to file and take a big Chance on  them doing a Complete Review Of My file...if they did it probably be in my favor for more retro because they have the award dates all screwed up and I did not get any retro when I got the SMC S. 

They are paying me now for it  but never did when first  Became eligible for it  back in 2002 When I got the TDIU P&T....Since broncovet seems to think I should have got the SMS S IN 2002 With the TDIU P&T Award.

..I got the SMC S back in 2015 filing a PTSD Claim at 70%  they used the statutory rating with the SMC S because of the 70% PTSD.and inferred the SMC S...THE RATER CAUGHT IT..bUT never mention it from 2002.

I am getting to old now to do the things when I was younger and can't take the stress anymore.

[GBArmy]

Buck I get it. I used to work with a quality assurance guy and he would say "the juice isn't worth the squeeze." Meaning, the amount of time  and effort needed to get the outcome you need just isn't worth it. If you're 2 years away from the magic 20, I think I'd be inclined to agree waiting to get the lock is worth it. But, how about having your cake and eating it too. When you're just sitting around and looking pretty, start doing research on the secondary. Look up BVA similar decisions. I'm sure there are a couple different ways to make SA connect to PTSD. It will keep you entertained doing something constructive and you will learn something new that may come in handy later. Who knows, they may call you for a C&P before the bell goes off at 2 years. If so, you throw the new claim at them then. And as for cost, there are a few experts out there that will do the IMO as part of a package and get compensated after the decision if you win. There is always a way.

[broncovet]

I love the idea, "juice isnt worth the squeeze"!   

In Buck's case, if I get what he is saying, however, 13 years of potential SMC S amounts to around $45,000 and that would be worth going to Florida and squeezing your own juice!!  

(Im fighting VA right now, at the BVA for SMC S, and I think I will get it back almost that far..and in the future, too, if I win.)  

[Dustoff1970]

Hello Aknod and no I never did join the official Dustoff Association because they were very quick to forget about us Vietnam veteran Dustoff aircrewman and the tremendous losses of aircraft and air crew we suffered in the Vietnam war.  All they care about is the latest and greatest present day dustoff crews and quit mentioning us or covering us Nam vets many many years ago.  There site has no value to us except for the occasional obituary they publish and I was glad to see my sorry ass low life Vietnam unit CO on that list as he died at age 72.  They deleted their Dustoff forum for us many years ago so we now stay in contact by facebook, etc.  Frankly they are run by Army lifers and that is all they care about.

In spite of his best efforts in Vietnam I have outlived the CO and at my age now 73 and everytime I go fishing or have fun at the casino I laugh at his sorry ass.

I am a life member of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association and they did a 2003 front page full cover and 3 page inside story on my shoot down and fiery crash of my Dustoff chopper in Nam near LZ Uplift in june of 1970.  This story appeared in their then monthly VHPA Aviator magazine.

Google search will give all the details of this deadly crash of 498th Air Ambulance unit due to VC gunfire and death of my young crew chief from California.  Just after we 4 crew escaped the raging inferno with minor wounds our crew chief was killed within a feet of us. That was my second total loss of a Dustoff chopper with first being in Cambodia in May of 1970 with a different crew all thanks to my lousy CO. 

I did attend the Vietnam Pilot's annual reunion in Reno a few years ago.  They do so much more for us than the Dustoff Association. 

I will take every dime I can squeeze out of the GD VA because I sure as hell earned it in a place called V I E T N A M!!!!!! and unlike billions in foreign aid and military aid given to rich foreign countries and others who hate our guts including many violent criminal illegals who collect tons of sugar from uncle sugar.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Dustoff 11

[FormerMember]

Agreed on the newer Dustoff association. I was referring to the old Vietnam-only Dustoffs. Very different group. They have their own reunions every year with no one post RVN allowed. I get an honorary even though I didn't do that. I was FAC backseater/interpreter as well as a chieu hoi boy on the loudspeaker for Psy ops. VA said I was never in RVN-let alone Laos- from 1975 to 2007. And then one day I was. VA will pay for that bitchslap until I die. I figure I've cost them a billion or more by getting so many Vets IU or 100 schedular over the last eleven years.  

[Dustoff1970]

I am aware of the Dustoff association you now mention and I have visited their great website many times.  I believe that the aircrews of the large 45th Air Ambulance company near Saigon started and maintain their Association and website and all former Dustoff units crew are welcome as well as others such as yourself.  

Unless held close to my hometown I do not attend reunions anymore.  

Nothing you can tell me about the VA treatment of Vietnam vets surprises me at all and I have had my own several very negative experiences with VA for past 35 to 40 years and still they pull new tricks and surprises on me.

I am glad to hear you got some financial justice from them and are helping other vets in the process.

In case the VA falsely declares me dead I have multiple copies of all my Army service and VA medical and other records from 1968 to today and including Social Security, IRS and FAA because VA has no common sense or caring and could try anything on me at my age 73.  I also have current IDs including Military Tan ID card issued to 100% P&T vets, etc.