ptsd Noncombat Vets And Ptsd

[Alex]

Against the possibility that VBA will be looking into the stressors behind PTSD in noncombat vets, I have been advising guys whose claims that were awarded 100% for PTSD after 1999, but without military verification of their stressors, to get these stressors verified from military records. For vets without a CIB/CMB.Combat Ribbon/.Purple Heart/Star w/v, etc., what you told the psychiatrist about wht happened will not do.

These military records do not have to mention you by name. If you wee in "E" company, the battalion said that elements of "E" company received hostile fire, that is enough under the Suozzi and Pentacost CAVC cases.

Most informatuion to verify stressors is in National Archives II or in the USMC history center in Quantico (where they give it to you on CD-ROM), mostly in the report of daily logs that most units kept.

My experience has been that National Archives stuff costs about $500 a box for a yaer's worth of records ( I live about ten minutes away so I just go over there myself), but a lot of guys from out-of-town can get their Congressman/Senator to get these records for free. USMC has neer charged me for one of their CD-ROMs

If you get miltary verification of your stressors, be sure that the get into your file so that VBA can say "Not this one" when they come to it.

Do not go to sleep on this one. It'ds a good way not to lose $2,400 per month or so.

Alex

Edited October 15, 2005 by Alex

[Pete53]

I think that is good advice and fair warning. Alex knows his stuff and has been a big help to many on this Borad including myself.

[hookrunner]

Thanks for the heads up advice Alex. Flip put me on to the Natiional Archives a couple years ago,

I went there and asked for those records thru daily logs . Those folks were the most helpful that I have found in government any where in the U.S.

Other than my time and gas money it only cost for the copying.

[Jay Johnson]

Though I agree with Alex in principle, I think we should put at least equal effort into stopping this illegal search. The regs are written so that the VA must take the veteran's word for SC (benefit of the doubt among others). The VA is "supposed" to have the burden of proving the veteran is wrong, not the veteran having to prove they are right. It almost never works this way as is, and we are letting them go back over the few cases in which the VA did follow regulation and break said regulations. This story should be the lead on every news channel in the country, but, once again, our SOs have failed us miserably.