I guess it’s never too late to burn your draft card-assuming you still have one. I found this at the bottom of the box under the General Discharge (under honorable conditions). My guess is they don’t issue these anymore. I had another one that said 1A on it but I think I had to turn that in at the AFEES place when I signed the magic paper. It’s hard to remember what I was doing 42 years ago.
After doing extensive excavation on the subject, here’s what I know. The VA instituted a program for extremely disabled Vets- those who were not going to do a Lazarus imitation and rise from their wheelchairs or throw off their crutches. This was promulgated by Congress in 1980 during the reign of Carter the Last. It ostensibly was designed to encompass those of us who desired more than TV for entertainment while we wait for the meat wagon.
This from 1998 proves VA used to do this:
http://www.va.gov/vetapp98/files2/9817237.txt
In search of some history I went back as far as 1992 looking for instances of awards for this. I found one instance where a Vet had received computer peripherals and his spouse (also a Vet) was in receipt of a complete laptop with all the bells and whistles. I found evidence of a Vet receiving a greenhouse (heated) and other accouterments. And then… nothing. All requests after this phase (2006) were for naught. The BVA is the source of much valuable information on this, but it appears they have taken a new tack with the financial headwinds they are now experiencing. No more is the snowplow/rototiller tractor the normal grant. No more computers seem to be forthcoming. In fact, VA’s munificence, in spite of their protestations to the contrary, is in extremely short supply.
By way of history, I found this morsel:
In VA Precedent Opinion 34-97, VA's General Counsel essentially found that VA has the authority to provide services and assistance of a recreational nature (in this case, a computer) as a component of an eligible veteran's program of independent living services; and that VA has the authority, and responsibility, to provide all services and assistance deemed necessary on the facts of the particular case to enable an eligible veteran participating in such a program to live and function independently in his or her family and community without, or with a reduced level of, the services of others. This includes the authority to approve, when appropriate, services and assistance that are in whole or part recreational in character when the services are found to be needed to enable or enhance the veteran's ability to engage in family and community activities integral to the veteran's achieving his/her independent living program goals. See VAOGCPREC 34-97
And voila- VAOPGCPREC 34-97. Actually, you’ll have to scroll down to 34-97 as the link gave me all of them. What is of interest is that the VA started chipping away at this largesse as quickly as Congress authorized it. Funny how that works. All that money available for bonuses to the VLJs for not meeting their goal of cleaning off the desk by December of their backlog, but a paucity of funds for this noble endeavour. Okay, I give up. Anyone from VA who visits here feel like inveighing?
http://www.va.gov/ogc/opinions/1997precedentopinions.asp
In 2001- Va went through a marked retrenchment. VAOPGCPREC 6-2001 was issued and it put the chill on what we got henceforth:
The Board notes that VA has wide discretion in the types of equipment and services to be approved. However, as noted by VA General Counsel, in making a determination for approving such service "The operative word... is 'necessary', that is the services provided must be vital to achieving the [independent living] goal, not merely desirable of helpful." See VAOPGCPREC 6-2001.
Here is the complete VAOPGCPREC 6-2001:
http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/va_search.jsp?SQ=&TT=1&QT=VAOPGCPREC+6-2001&searchbtn=Search
I find it interesting that funds for “recreational” pursuits segued into “independence in daily living”. When that became overly broad, the word “necessary” became operable. Now “vital” has supplanted it. This is becoming a semantic jungle. What’s next? Near constant and debilitating symptoms requiring oxygen for the issuance of grab bars? Somehow, I doubt the strictures for those D.C. bonuses do not suffer from “requirement creep”.
Witness VA’s recalcitrance to give this old boy a tractor, an ATV and some other little piddly photography stuff to keep him out of the bars: http://www.va.gov/vetapp10/Files6/1041050.txt
The same applies here. No goodies for Gomer:
http://www.va.gov/vetapp10/Files6/1046460.txt
As for a computer, here is the “new” rationale. Keep in mind that for several years, Vets were granted this sort of thing so they could pursue avocational interests like pornography-oops- photography.
http://www.va.gov/vetapp10/Files1/1008276.txt
As for a metal detector for beachcombing? Seems like a noble endeavor to stave off boredom and get you out of the casa to meet new people and expand your horizons. VA’s opinion? Not!
http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/Files1/1105982.txt
Here, the Vet wants a riding lawn mower in lieu of his push mower. The smart money says he hid his regular gas powered one over at the neighbor’s and picked up the push version at a garage sale for a dollar:
http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/Files3/1124514.txt This just isn’t going to come to pass, G.I.
I did find the decision where the enterprising Veteran asked for an old car to ride in on Veterans day and the Fourth of July parades. That, to me, is the epitome of need. A hero needs a vehicle for these things when he’s a legend in his own mind. I have no problem with that. A Vet sitting at home who desires to be active is a good thing. I think a go-kart would be a more fitting request with the current financial issues our government finds itself embroiled in. Sometimes the VA can be so myopic to our needs.
http://www.va.gov/vetapp08/Files2/0813462.txt
VA professes to have a program, but when examples are sought to affirm this, there are none. They carefully explain that it exists, but we cannot see examples of it. Much like God, it is something we are asked to accept based on faith. All well and fine, but I like to see an occasional flood of Biblical proportions or a raging pestilence every once in a while to reaffirm my faith.
As for me? My needs are still unmet. Jim, the Information Technology expert/counselor from VA, came for a visit last week. He examined my wife’s computer inside and out on which I write this. I think he mentally measured me as well. He determined that I didn’t fabricate AskNOD.org out of whole cloth. He further determined that the old site was real and not a fig newton of my imagination. He found no pornography. His assessment was that I needed a new dockable computer with a printer/scanner/copier, a new Micro Word 7, Dragonbreath (which my wife says I already possess) and an updated Veterans Benefits Manual (2012) on Lexis Nexis. He cogently reasoned that I do, indeed, help Veterans and that this would be a truly “vocational” interest, even if it didn’t result in employment or income. He reasoned other things, but VA is stuck on deny where the ILP program is concerned. He admitted as much candidly after I promised I wasn’t recording it.
I’m not planning on doing a whole lot for the foreseeable future, so if I have to appeal this up to the CAVC, what the hey? It’s good typing practice. I wonder if VA realizes I’m as intractable as they are. They could employ one person full-time to deal with all the havoc I create for them. I rationalize the expenditure of time and resources as a fight for your rights. If I can accomplish it, then it stands to reason that others may, too. I’m mindful that it might impact other Vet’s claims, but this is the VR&E department, which is divorced from the Veterans Benefits Administration. No Veterans or animals were harmed during the course of the filming of this claim. As we are not a 501(c)(3) corporation, there is nothing to look up in Delaware, either.
P.S. This is a good one, too. A king-size bed +…
http://www.va.gov/vetapp08/Files5/0840642.txt
Golf clubs? http://www.va.gov/vetapp08/Files3/0818973.txt
So, this is the skinny on ILP and all its ugly trappings. I just thought you might find it instructive should you decide your lot is miserable. Pity, instead, the poor disenfranchised VLJ who toils over his martini every lunch in a vain effort to decipher the intricacies and nuanced interpretations of 38 CFR desperately in our favor.
The title on this was what caught my eye. It was a search engine term that came in on my site stats. Obviously some enterprising Vet is girding himself in armour to do battle with the evil VictorAlphabeast.
What do you say at a hearing? I have only done two, but I will tell you the procedure is very relaxed. In both hearings, the only participants were the judge, the tape recorder, my DAV rep. (in 1990) and my wife in 2011.
I built three three-ring binders-one for each claim so as not to confuse the different ones. The judge swore us both in and said we would be allowed 45 minutes to present my claims. He did not offer to have me call him Mark, nor did I. I was told I could address him as Mr. Hindin. I chose “Your Honor”. Hey, he’s the one who will make the call. I’m sure not going to annoy him with “Dude!”
I started out with the Tinnitus claim and said all I had to say about why they should pay me back to July 1989 or, on an alternative theory, to March 1993.
Next, I moved into my HCV claim and pointed out that it was never finished in January 1995. Due to that fact, the correct date of claim is March 1994. I also am claiming my PCT back to that date because they are inextricably intertwined.
Lastly, I plead my case for my back claim from 1989. I submitted an alternate theory of Clear and Unmistakable Error because they gave me the Bum’s rush and didn’t go get civilian records in the outback of Thailand.
When the time ran out, the Judge was so engrossed, he changed out the tape, put in a new one and had me continue. We consumed about an hour and twenty minutes. He asked numerous questions when I quoted a VAOPGCPREC or a Court precedent. He was amazed that I could have assembled everything without a VSO or an attorney. When we walked out, the last thing he said was that I should consider helping Vets…
The process is non-adversarial. The idea is to conduct a hearing like adults without a lot of “Objection, your Honor. Leading the Witness.” I find it better to look a man in the eye across a table where I can see his demeanor. I don’t cotton to the idea of videocamera hearings. You don’t get the feel for the man. Its too much like, well, TV.
With that said, I don’t trust anyone with legal blood flowing through their veins except for my brother in law. They’re like pit bulls- vicious, unpredictable and liable to turn on you. All the little head bobs are well and fine. A little compliment to throw you off guard. When the judgement comes down, more Vets than not are likely to scratch their heads at the end and say “Huh? I thought I had it in the bag.” Hopefully, we shall see what the BVA gods have in store for me sometime this year. Hopefully. I’m polishing my CAVC armour, just in case.
I ran across this website put up by none other than VA. If you can believe this, they actually state:
The source of infection is unknown in about 10 percent of acute hepatitis C cases and in 30 percent of chronic hepatitis C cases.
Eighty five percent of cases filed are denied based on willful misconduct for drug abuse. If they cannot account for 30% of HCV cases, perhaps 15% were denied unlawfully?
In fact, VA cares for more individuals with hepatitis C than any other health care system in the country.
Really? And why is that? Could it be that a lot of Veterans got it in the military or is it an odd coincidence?
This is the best by far:
And should the disease worsen (which it can, over the years, in a small percentage of patients), liver transplantation is also available.
So I read this as saying very, very few of us are going to die, but the majority have nothing to worry about. Boy, I’m glad we got that cleared up. I guess I’m just one of the unfortunate small percentage.
Read ’em and weep, Veterans.
http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/provider/policy/military-blood-exposures.asp
While you are warming your feet in front of a fire somewhere tonight, listening to the crackle of the wood, have a laugh on this. I have told you how I have an irrepressible humor about all things sacred. Here is proof of the lengths I will go to bring a smile. Of course in 1981, I would party at a drop of the hat. After all, it was only eight years and eight months since I’d arrived home from sunny Southeast Asia. It was five years and eight months ’til death of marriage did us part. Apparently it had something to do with my PTSD and it rained too much in Washington.
This little catered black tie get together for 100 with the champagne fountain, Swedish meatballs in cognac, Dungeness oysters on the half shell and three-tiered Divorce cake was quite the event of the season. It (the divorce cake) made the local papers. A photographer from the Seattle Times happened into the bakery at the wrong time and spotted the bridegroom standing alone with the crudely hacksawed remains of the bride’s arm still visible. I forbid pictures at the reception so as to avoid their getting back to Constance Louise. No need to drive up the animosity factor or increase the support payments, n’est pas?
In my defense, I would point out that I was taught to be excruciatingly correct in my dress and deportment. To divorce without a suitable announcement would have been socially awkward. How else could I announce my new marital status to all those women waiting in the wings? Relax. I ran it by Miss Manners first.
Nexus letters. Perhaps the single most important item in your claim is a piece of paper with magic words on it. What’s frightening is that almost no one files with it in hand. VSOs seem oblivious to the requirement which is extremely odd. VA’s letters have always been vague on this and are now finally addressing it in English rather than VAspeak.
Over the last several months I have been asked numerous questions about what is needed, how it should be phrased and what it should cover. A new group of Vets have found their way here and were never part of the old site. They have not delved into the BVA jetgun library or the Tips and Tricks section. I have noticed this habit on other sites where a Vet new to the process asks for advice and often prepares his whole defense before receiving his records from St. Louis. Winning this game is more than filing a claim and waiting. This is why this site exists and why there are almost 500 posts by both you members and me. Those posts document tried and true techniques as well as failed strategies. It’s often as important to know why someone lost as it is to understand their success.
A large number of you have claims which are intricately tied to, and based on, the jetguns. Your chances of getting justice and SC could never be better. The brick wall of invincibility against jetguns is crumbling. Slowly, I might add, but nevertheless inexoribly. It has taken almost seven years to get some traction on this at the BVA. There still is none at the VARO level as it’s above their pay grade. They deny and punt to the BVA to avoid setting any kind of precedent. If I worked there, I wouldn’t want that blemish in my folder come promotion time.
Now that a sufficient number have made their way up to the Court, a modus vivendi has been reached. VA and the BVA can no longer use their timeworn “non-evidence is negative evidence” dance to win. The facts about HCV have become well-known even to the Court and it’s cryptogenic nature is by now common knowledge. It is important, however, for you to note that there is no evidence in your file that you had HCV because it hadn’t been identified until 1989. If you don’t, well, VA will. They phrase it simply as “There is no evidence in the Vet’s SMRs of being infected with HCV during his time in service”. They always conveniently leave out the reason why.
This is where you, the Vet, can win. I think any rational thinking person other than a VA examiner could fathom that an unsanitary, blood-splattered multi-use injection device is capable of transmitting a robust virus when employed numerous times a day for weeks and years at a time. By granting that it is plausible, they leave open the door to the possibility. The mere fact that no one has been proven to have been infected with this device is immaterial. That is the “non-evidence is proof” school of thought. Scientific types would laugh you out of the laboratory with that pronouncement. VA, by never attempting a protocol to study this, has used it to be the truth that there is no evidence of it. Circular logic is very self-affirmative. It’s not scientific, but it can be used like smoke and mirrors to appear so.
Enter Joe and Jane Vet. Each one’s actual risk factors are slightly different. A failure to identify them at the beginning is often used later by the examiner to somehow imply deceit or desperation. This is where you have to get it right. You want all your risks on the table with no hole cards. You are going to have your doctor examine your contemporary medrecs to ascertain there was nothing out of the ordinary when you were in service. There must be an accounting for any risk mentioned, such as extensive dental work. You are capable of reporting a large amount of blood from this kind of medical procedure and are also cognizant of what dental work in 2011 is now compared to the same in 1975. There is simply no comparison.
Any STDs must be addressed. The same is true for tattoos and percutaneous puncturing of the skin such as an EMG test or acupuncture. Exposure to blood or needle sticks as a medical worker are another risk. Blood exposure in combat is another big risk. If you were in Vietnam, your mere presence there increased your risk by 60%. In short, you must assemble these risks and have your doctor address each and every one in his/her letter.
A nexus letter is going to be your bridge to the past as well as your path to a grant of benefits. The idea is to assemble a complete package that covers all the risks, important and inconsequential, that you, personally, were exposed to. The doctor will need to explain which particular risk is the most probable one over all the others with a descending order of risk danger for each additional one. At the end, a small summary can include a discussion of the sum of all risks and why there were none of any great import after service that bear responsibility. Again, you remove this post-service, intercurrent time span from discussion by stating that there were and are no risks. Failure to plug this hole invites a fishing expedition on VA’s part.
You can help by creating a lay testimony document where you give a brief summary of your pre-service and point out the absence of risk(s) post-service. Monogamous relationships, no history of multiple sex partners or wild, risky sexual behaviour, a quiet, mundane existence- all of these are examples of a stable lifestyle. It goes without saying that you do not want a long history of drug or alcohol abuse documented in your record. With all these attested to by both you and your spouse, it really leaves only one risk- the jetgun. This is how you build to a crescendo and win. You have to plug up all the holes in the dike before flooding the canal. Running to and fro with a caulking gun after the leaks begin is not advised. It compromises your credibility. You want to present one story with no additional editing.
VA is not your friend in this endeavor. They would just as soon use their VA doctors to “opine” on your jetgun experience and they have one setting which is not in your favor. You must build at least one foolproof nexus that has no mistakes. It cannot overlook anything. This is, unfortunately out of your hands when entrusted to most physicians. They insist on doing it their way with their phraseology. You must become a diplomat and gently “aim” your doctor in the right direction unless you are doing this with a professional such as Dr. Ben Cecil or his type. The easiest way is to employ a dummy letter for a doctor who is unfamiliar with the VA’s idiosyncrasies. Most letters I have given to Vets to use are specific to their circumstances so they are not universal, one size fits all letters. If they were, I would publish one here now.
The easiest way to do it is to present it in outline form rather that type it up and ask them to sign it. I suppose you can present both. I had to for one Vet. His doctor was “indisposed” to reading the outline, but uncomfortable with anyone writing it for him. We wrote it both ways and presented it to his nurse. Several weeks later he emerged with a very imperfect letter that didn’t even acknowledge he’d reviewed the Vet’s SMRs. We patiently printed up a BVA case denial that incorporated the fact. He rewrote it properly and the Vet went on to win. The important thing we have learned over time is that an imperfect nexus letter will be decimated and rebutted by VA and their doctor’s nexus will prevail. You do not want to play catch up. You want all the facts on your side with only one permissible view of the evidence.
One of our members, WGM, did this to perfection and VA stepped on their necktie. They knew he’d win on the jetgun claim and didn’t want to be the last one to say “Not it!” They finally granted SC for his STDs even though he had no nexus saying that. He did have one of the most clear and concise nexus for jetguns I’ve ever seen, though. VA never looked at it with the idea of contesting it. It was simply bulletproof.
VA must think we Vets never talk amongst ourselves on these subjects. Here’s the link to WGM’s case I wrote up this fall. I will contact him and ask him if he can email me all the particulars that he amassed with the purpose of winning on the gun.
https://asknod.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/the-power-of-one/
WGM is currently appealing his rating percentage at the RO. Because he probably would rather remain incognito for the time being, I’ll have him send it to me and it can be sanitized if necessary.
One thing I do think needs to be addressed is the matter of what non-specific information you include with your claim. You want to defend your logic without boring them to death. Too much evidence will not win it if it’s not on point. For years Vet’s would mail in their group picture showing some member of their platoon in basic getting blasted. This never worked because First, it wasn’t them; Second, there is no way of knowing what was in the gun and third and last, the picture could not show the sanitary condition of the gun nor whether it was even being wiped between shots in some rudimentary attempt at hygiene. Fortunately, VA has given up on one of their standard denial procedures. Up until 2010, they would routinely say that there was no evidence in the Vet’s SMRs that a jetgun was employed to administer vaccines. Ruh-oh, Rorge. They didn’t contemplate the holding in Layno v. Brown (1994) that said we are capable of observing things without making medical pronouncements about them.
Anything equivocal, subjective or based on hearsay submitted with your claim is useless. The quintessential proof would have to be if a Vet in your platoon was infected with HCV and the genetic RNA markers were identical. That is where your picture from boot camp might be useful. With Facebook nowadays, it’s conceivable one of those you seek may be on there. You have their names from the picture and it’s one hell of a longshot. All it would take is one hit to open up the floodgates on this. Your odds of winning the Lotto are about the same. This is why the nexus letter is the make or break point and the focus of your whole claim. Weighing your claim down with studies on guns and what happened in a hospital in India is all well and fine, but it has no bearing on you and your claim. It is information about someone else. You can and should find things to include that prove the guns were suspect such as this:
https://asknod.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/bva-hbvjetguns/
Buddy letters are often employed to show inception of tattoos when your medical records are silent on this. Buddies are not useful for testimony on STD infections you had. They can only testify to things they can perceive by their five senses- hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. They can testify that you were yellow as orange juice before you went to the hospital for a month with hepatitis, but they cannot say that you had hepatitis. Only the Doctor can surmise that.
In short, you are an ignorant boob with sensory perception and no medical training. You are dependent on your medrecs, your milrecs, your upstanding morals and lack of risks to win this. You can state with some authority that the guy in front of you bled when he flinched during his jetgun experience. You cannot say that the gun or the vaccine probably had HCV on it. Lastly, you cannot do it without a nexus. If you have all the ingredients and lack the nexus, you will lose. This much we know. VA knows that at some point, some one will win or lose this with a nexus and if they get theirs on record first, it will play hell on your claim until you can rebut it with your own.
VA has never, to my knowledge, had a VA examiner state that it’s as least as likely as not that the jetguns are responsible for Joe Vet’s HCV. The BVA has on numerous occasions (30?) overruled the RO and said it’s plausible. A positive nexus is almost always the reason. I do believe I have chronicled each and every one of them. Most are dual risks, but acknowledged the jetguns were “plausible” causative factors. The VA is committed to keeping this cat in the bag. That certainly does not preclude winning. It just raises the degree of finesse needed to prevail. A Kevlar nexus is that finesse, but you want yours on record-preferably first.
Here’s the Dayton Dental Debacle. It is useful to show that “unsanitary” happens- even after 1992. The endoscopy infections from HCV down in Orlando are further proof of it. In fact, we have one of our members (Mike) currently fighting on that front. He just received a nexus from Dr. Cecil which covers unsanitary colonoscopy lapses post 92. VA would certainly have us believe this is so rare as to be statistically insignificant. That info is also available to any who need it. I will need to sanitize Mike’s paperwork and get his permission to share it first. Correction: Mike just emailed and gave me same.
https://asknod.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/vamc-dayton-dental-clinic/
In closing, think of the nexus letter as part of a three-legged stool. You have to have the disease currently (one leg); You have to have had Hepatitis in service or a recognized risk factor documented by other than lay testimony (second leg)and most importantly, you need the nexus link. The only thing that can defeat this is a defective nexus that is lacking one of the prime ingredients I have discussed here. If it is deficient, VA will take the opportunity to say theirs is more probative and yours is useless. Then there’s nothing for it and it’s time to pack up and head to D.C. on appeal. I suppose a DRO review under 38 CFR §3.2600 is another avenue, but I have never seen a win via that route. Again, the VARO is extremely sensitive to this issue of jetguns and would prefer that you not submit them. In any case, they will take a flyer and force you to appeal.
Winning is no more than following a recipe. VA uses the obverse to deny. Their method simply begins with the hypothesis that your claim has no merit and works to compile proof that this is the case.
When you hand your claim to VA, it has to be teflon-coated. This saves you time and gets you in the catbird seat sooner. Leave no room for doubt.
This is my Basic picture. I’m in the center, above and slightly to the left behind my T.I., SSGT Nixon. Note the jetgun picture in blue at the bottom left.
PGWS stands for Persian Gulf War Syndrome. AO, well, who can forget that one? The VA today published in the Federal Register an interim rule pushing forward the date for presumptive compensation of PGWS incorporated in 38 CFR § 3.317. http://veteranslawlibrary.com/files/Fed_Reg/2011/76FedReg81834_Dec29_2011.pdf
There is a laundry list of diseases this covers, to include:
(1) Chronic fatigue syndrome;
(2) Fibromyalgia;
(3) Irritable bowel syndrome; or
(4) Any other illness that the Secretary determines meets the criteria in paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section for a medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness; or
(C) Any diagnosed illness that the Secretary determines in regulations prescribed under38 U.S.C. 1117(d) warrants a presumption of service-connection.
(ii) For purposes of this section, the term medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness means a diagnosed illness without conclusive pathophysiology or etiology, that is characterized by overlapping symptoms and signs and has features such as fatigue, pain, disability out of proportion to physical findings, and inconsistent demonstration of laboratory abnormalities. Chronic multisymptom illnesses of partially understood etiology and pathophysiology will not be considered medically unexplained.
(3) For purposes of this section, “objective indications of chronic disability” include both “signs,” in the medical sense of objective evidence perceptible to an examining physician, and other, non-medical indicators that are capable of independent verification.
(4) For purposes of this section, disabilities that have existed for 6 months or more and disabilities that exhibit intermittent episodes of improvement and worsening over a 6-month period will be considered chronic. The 6-month period of chronicity will be measured from the earliest date on which the pertinent evidence establishes that the signs or symptoms of the disability first became manifest.
(5) A chronic disability resulting from an undiagnosed illness referred to in this section shall be rated using evaluation criteria from part 4 of this chapter for a disease or injury in which the functions affected, anatomical localization, or symptomatology are similar.
(6) A disability referred to in this section shall be considered service connected for purposes of all laws of the United States.
(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a)(1) of this section, signs or symptoms which may be manifestations of undiagnosed illness or medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness include, but are not limited to:
(2) Signs or symptoms involving skin
(6) Neurologic signs or symptoms
(7) Neuropsychological signs or symptoms
(8) Signs or symptoms involving the respiratory system (upper or lower)
(10) Gastrointestinal signs or symptoms
(11) Cardiovascular signs or symptoms
(c) Compensation shall not be paid under this section:
(1) If there is affirmative evidence that an undiagnosed illness was not incurred during active military, naval, or air service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War; or
(2) If there is affirmative evidence that an undiagnosed illness was caused by a supervening condition or event that occurred between the veteran’s most recent departure from active duty in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War and the onset of the illness; or
(3) If there is affirmative evidence that the illness is the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct or the abuse of alcohol or drugs.
(d) For purposes of this section:
(1) The term Persian Gulf veteran means a veteran who served on active military, naval, or air service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War.
(2) The Southwest Asia theater of operations includes Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the airspace above these locations.
The reason for my comparison is simple. When VA finally was handed the AO problem in the 80s, they did a miserable job of it. They were ill-equipped to deal with this and had no template to draw from. Hence, they tried the simplest technique- the ostritch one. By 1990, they couldn’t sweep this one under any carpet. The media grabbed it and ran with it. Nothing sells better than blood and gore at six P.M.- unless it’s a story about a Vet getting the shaft. When it concerns Vets plural (and a shit pile of them), you can almost guarantee a piece on Sixty Minutes and the morning shows. This kind of outrage was perfect for the Bahbahrah Wahwahs of the news world.
VA is adroit at PR, though. They saw the way the wind was carrying this stink and got in front of it the same way they’re doing this one. They probably brought the same AO official out of retirement, set him up with a consultant’s office for $225K a year and a staff of 20. The trick is still the same. Promise the Vets an equitable settlement on most of the diseases and a presumptive period for manifestation of the symptoms. Set a minimum of a 10% threshold for the severity, publish it and and kick back and wait.
The first problem is no one can qualify because the presumptive period will expire before anyone finds out about it. Take Porphyria Cutanea Tarda(PCT) or sub-acute peripheral neuropathy. You had to exhibit symptoms of PCT within one year of leaving RVN and the presumptive exposure of AO. The symptoms must have been documented in your SMRs at a compensable degree of 10% or more: (http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/38/4/118) See DC 7815. So the pesky problem you were having with your skin that you never could get off for sick call to document never got into your medrecs. The Benedryl never worked and your dematologist figured it out 20 years later. Tough luck, GI. No SC on PCT for you. Chloracne was covered under the same criteria.
Acute and sub-acute Peripheral Neuropathy is not the same as that which afflicts you from DM2. This disease had to manifest itself during active exposure to AO and the symptoms had to abate after 2 years from date of exposure:
For purposes of this section, the term acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy means transient peripheral neuropathy that appears within weeks or months of exposure to an herbicide agent and resolves within two years of the date of onset.
Great. Here’s another popsicle stick missing the cold stuff. VA is going to award you a rating for a disease that had to abate within two years of being documented. Sounds like another 0% game to me.
So here we are in 2011 and the Persian War Vets are coming home with all these weird diseases as we did in 1970. VA is graciously going to award them compensation IF they manifest this stuff within X number of years that continues to ratchet up because the last ones are just now coming out of Iraq. The effective cutoff date proposed in the Fed. Reg. is December 31st, 2016. Whoohoo, Vets! Better hurry up and manifest that sucker. You have four years and counting. Twenty years from now you will arrive to find the barn empty.
So, fellow Vets of a later war, you, too, will be getting the bum’s rush soon. If you don’t get it in your records now, don’t hold your breath when you file. And, I guess I don’t need to tell you that it would be a damn good idea now if you figure out some foolproof method to prove that you were there. Our generation expected Uncle Sam would be a stand up guy on that one for us. We found out the hard way that ” There’s simply nothing in the records that would support that allegation. While the VA is mindful that the Veteran feels he was in-country, VA simply cannot document it and thus remunerate the claimant. We regret that the records are inadequate for this purpose.”
VA is like a new lover. They’ll promise you the world on paper. But, like an attorney, the devil’s in the details. The fine print immediately disenfranchises the majority and the actual financial reward, if you do manage to qualify, is infinitesimal. Just like scratch off lottery tickets, someone always wins big but it ain’t you.
I am not a big fan of mounting a Call your Congressman! The sky is falling! telephone blizzard of calls to try to change their opinions in D.C. That’s like pissing into the wind. We need to 86 all of them and start over with term limits. Veterans will always get the sympathy and the Goodwill clothes treatment from Government. When it’s politically advisable they throw us a bone. The rest of the time they can’t hear us. This regulation and the statute enforcing PGWS (38 USC §1117) will gather dust just like 38 CFR § 3.309 (e) did.
For humor, go look at the shabby treatment Vietnam Vets are still getting even now when they finally get around to filing for PCT:
These poor Vets are, for the most part, convinced by their VSOs that they most likely will win this. It’s a cruel joke. Look at this and tell me it’s not SOSDD :
Yes, pilgrims, VA is many things, but they are very predictable. Gulf War Veterans are soon going to learn how this process works and are not going to be so acquiescent. We were defeated by time in the 70s and 80s on AO. By the time we figured it out and blew an ass gasket, it was too late. The same could be said for HCV.
Gulf Vets started coming down with this crud in 1991 in the first Gulf war. VA hasn’t even started to deal with that contingent yet and here comes another wave. It rather makes you wonder what will come home from Afghanistan besides a host of TBI from IEDs and the ever-present PTSD.
Much like the brewing HCV storm on the horizon in 1992, VA has elected to duck and cover. With the advent of the Internet and modern dissemination of information, Vet news can travel at lightspeed. This new cohort of Vets will be far more proactive and harder to deceive with smoke and mirrors.
When I was a child and for the succeeding generation, the admonition by parents that they might have to write Santa a snail mail letter (first class with delivery the next day to the North Pole) and tell of your bad behaviour was standard procedure. Small children quailed at the thought of this. I certainly did. I had never held a piece of coal and had no desire to. In fact, the idea of a Christmas without new toys or gifts was alien.
I was not the best behaved child on the east coast in the fifties, but surely I couldn’t have been the worst that deserved opprobrium and gifts from a West Virginia mine. Discovering the myth was untrue was a relief in some respects, but brought on the requirements of young adulthood via morals instead of coercion.
With the dawning of the new age of electronic communications, we entered into the concepts of long distance telephony and 800 numbers. When my young daughter was throwing a tantrum in the early eighties, I heard myself blurt out that I was going to call 1-800- SantaCl(aus) if she didn’t behave. To be truthful, it was completely spontaneous and ingenious. The effect on Princess was instant. Thus was born the new electric shock collar that was useful for several more years until she discovered the horrible truth. This worked with equal effect on my son. I had a vasectomy that wasn’t entirely successful and he arrived 10 years after. We were rather surprised to greet him but we certainly didn’t sue the doctor. I don’t recommend spreading your children out quite that far, though.
Once again, the 800 threat was employed with great success for almost 9 years. His fellow cub scouts were the humbugs who ruined it all. That brought us to 1996 and the dawn of the computer age. With no misbehaving children to cow into submission, the art form fell into disuse.
Imagine my surprise when my grandson was over for some target shooting this fall and started to whine. His father (my son in law) gave him “the talk”. If he was not going to behave, there was a strong probability that Daddy was going to have to contact santaclaus.com and inform Mr. Kringle that Conner was not in the running for the Xbox this year. This development brought some instant results. Connor became the model junior citizen of the year. He suddenly became Mother’s little helper extraordinaire with his new brother. The change was phenomenal.
So what else could possibly be milked from this? On Christmas Eve, my son devised an impromptu treasure hunt with notes from Santa for Conner to follow to his present. One of the notes was left in the barn too close to the goat’s feed trough. Goats, as we all know, will eat anything, so it should not have come as a great surprise to arrive at the barn and discover the ribbon with no note attached. Showing his future abilities as a father, my son didn’t even skip a beat. He instantly figured out what had transpired. He whipped out his Iphone and informed Conner that he had just received a text from the Big Guy apologizing for the goat and giving him the next clue. This didn’t faze Connor in the least. He took it in stride and proceeded apace.
Isn’t technology wonderful? Little people adapt to this completely. My newest grandson, Hayden, is almost 10 months old yet he knows what a keyboard is. I have an old laptop I never e-disposed of and it is his favorite toy when he comes to visit. He sits and “types” as long as we will let him. Speaking of technology, when my son was still an avid follower of Santa, he called once from the Scoutmaster’s house to tell us he was ready to come home. He described their phone as being “weird” in that it had a circular wheel with holes you had to stick your finger in and twirl clockwise in order to dial the number. He had to be shown how to operate it. I think Alexander Graham Bell would be proud to see all this now.
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 