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

[Richard1954]

On 12/5/2019 at 8:34 AM, Dustoff 11 said:

 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by Richard1954
delete

[broncovet]

Dustoff,  

    I usually dont do this, but after I read your posts, I feel compelled to do this.  When I was in the military, for example, at a (civilian) airport, we traveled "in uniform".  I was "booed" by civilians in the airport.  You may recall there was a media shot of a civilian girl, probably about 12, who was running away for her life after her family was killed by the US military.  

    Of course, I had nothing to do with this girls family being "napalmed", but the media image was powerful, and, as a result many people "protested" the Vietnam War, and the underinfomed public "blamed" us for this.  What they may have "forgotten" is that we did not make a choice whether or not to serve in Vietnam.  We were required to register for the draft, and, if our number came up, we were REQUIRED to enter the military and do as we were told.  

    Now, there "were" draft dodgers, and even consciousous objectors.  But for those of us who WERE in compliance with the laws of our nation, absent a medical reason, we had to serve.   Nowadays, there is no draft, our military is "all volunteer".  

    While many "volunteered", many of those "volunteered" because, if they did not do that, they would be drafted.  

    At my age 17, I was rather naieve, and, frankly stupid.  When I served, I did not expect to return, but rather to give my life for my country.  

    After service, I went to college.     I recall, especially,  the last line of this Poem we studied in college..and the Impact it had on me.  

Quote

“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” -Randall Jarrell

 

From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,

And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.

Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,

I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.

When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

 

NOTE: “A ball turret was a plexiglass sphere set into the belly of a B-17 or B-24, and inhabited by two .50 caliber machine-guns and one man, a short small man. When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below, he revolved with the turret; hunched upside-down in his little sphere, he looked like the foetus in the womb. The fighters which attacked him were armed with cannon firing explosive shells. The hose was a steam hose” (author’s note). The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, Second Edition, 902

After that, I no longer wanted to serve in the military.  Those 5 lines of poetry painted a picture in my mind.  "The ugliness" of burying someone by "Washing them out with a hose" did a great job of helping me realize the ugliness of War.  

As for you, Dustoff, from One Vet to another:

Quote

"Thank you for your service".  

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by broncovet

[Dustoff1970]

Just now read your post Broconvet and we are in complete agreement.  After Vietnam I was offered Army medical Officer School (AMED) by my Ft. Sam Houston medevac company commander with an eventual promotion from CWO to 1st Lt. or Capt in the MSC.  However because of the horrors of Nam I experienced first hand with death of our young crew chief and new father I wanted out of the Army fast. 

Also my 498th medevac Dustoff company had very sorry low life cowardly leadership that included CO and a couple of platoon leaders.  When the chips were down in warzone combat the Army placed this sorry leadership garbage in charge of decent guys.  Peace time Army was of course great but I knew who would again be placed in charge of me in another war.  The evil ones and this is the way our crooked political and military command system works always.  

The truly evil ones were those politicians, presidents and generals who got into the Nam war and they were the ones in charge of how the war was conducted from start to finish and they were lifer military and politicians and unfortunately all were the older WWII generation who became addicted to war for wars sake and profit.

I left the Army early in 71 with immediate transfer to the active Texas Army Guard for 5 years where I served in Austin as a pilot and training officer and occasional civilian pilot to the Governor of Texas in 74.