Nothing gives me greater pleasure than getting letters (or in this day and age-emails) from you Vets who have fought long and hard for your benefits. Yesterday morning I sat down to find that Arkansas Hick 50 ( I assume the 50 means 1950), who had been researching his  claims at the old site for quite some time, received his win on August 29th.

Arkhick50 has had a long hard row to hoe over the years with some Imperial Entanglements we need not delve into. Suffice it to say he’s back among us in society and has made the grade. He served with pride in the U.S Army in Vietnam and was dutifully baptized in Cholon with his STD. He came home and was involved in a horrible automobile accident prior to separation. He undoubtedly had a transfusion as he almost managed to sever his leg. He’s researched this to determine if one was inevitable in similar surgeries since it does not specify that one was given in his particular case. This is an odd throwback to early medical times. I do know from research that transfusions were not as well documented as they are now. Any records of mine were captured by the Pathet Lao at the Ban Sam Thong USAID/AirAm Hospital in 1972 (Lima Site 20). vA has a hard time comprehending that field hospitals and their personnel didn’t have acres of  shiny file cabinets and clean sheets. Their job was to keep you alive until a dustoff could get you to Da Nang, CRB, or Bien Hoa- not document that they had done so.  Sometimes your medical records caught up with you and sometimes they didn’t. Arkhick50 is more fortunate than some in this respect.

I often thought it would be entertaining to explain to vA Examiners that we all had a little notation on our dog tags to aid medical personnel in determining our blood type in the event we required a transfusion on short notice. Perhaps they aren’t aware of that as few of them are Veterans these days. Since you can’t even lead a vA examiner to water, let alone make him/her drink, the whole idea fell flat like a poor soufflé on closer examination.

Mr. Arkhick50 tells me he followed the Asknod “Win or Die” game plan to the letter. I will take him at his word. I simply report back to you my observations and experiences. You decide what is the best plan or path in your particular circumstances.  Evidence is beginning to accumulate that this technique is more successful than not. His win brings us to 29-2. I find that incredible but the facts are there to bear me out. I take no credit for this. I am not a law dog. I simply read a lot. Of course, three well-placed bitch slaps from vA over 16 years will get your undivided attention, too.

Enough of my woes. Let’s all join together today to welcome Arkhick50 into the pantheon of successful asknod alumni. He’s living proof that it can be done in one’s lifetime if you start early enough. He has graciously allowed me to share these documents with you in hopes you may be inspired to do likewise. This is no task for the weak of heart as many know. He accomplished this at the RO level without having to go higher. This is what I constantly try to stress in my book. Appeals are like adding 4 miles to the tunnel before you even begin to see any daylight. Getting your evidence and carefully assembling your claim early on is often the ticket to a sixteen month win. Oddly, we both did this in the exact same time span.

Arkhick, as you can see from the records below, is now at 90%. He has C&Ps slated soon for HCV and cirrhosis. He will inevitably be approved for TDIU as he hasn’t worked in 20 or more years. We won’t sleep well until he’s 100% schedular and P&T.  Without further ado, I present our Fall winner of the vA Lotto.

Arkhick50 has promised me he’ll keep us posted on future developments-especially any regarding his HCV and cirrhosis claims. Congratulations on a battle well fought, sir.

Arkansas RO Lotto Headquarters