Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland answers questions from VA Watchdog dot Org readers.

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Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland provides regular columns for VA Watchdog dot Org.  If you would like to contact Jim about his columns, you can email him here...  The archive of Jim's articles is here...  To find an answer to a specific VA benefits question, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here...  And, be sure to use Jim's:  "A to Z GUIDE OF VETERANS DISABILITY COMPENSATION BENEFITS" click here...  JIm's series for new vets, "Welcome Home," is also featured on Military.com. And, you can follow Jim on TWITTER here ...

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by Jim Strickland

NOTE:  Letters in my Q&A columns are reprinted just as they come to me. Spelling and grammar are left as is and only small corrections are made to improve readability, ensure anonymity or delete expletives that may offend some readers. This is not legal advice. You should always seek the advice of an attorney who is qualified in Veterans' law before you make any decisions about your own benefits.

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Jim;

I have been awarded a VA Disability Compensation rate of 100% based on my wound and PTSD. The wound compensation was started in 1972. The PTSD award began about 2005. I have reviewed my VA file and discovered VA documents that show I applied for reevaluation in 1975 for both my wound and my psychological state, I was very troubled at the time and it is documented that mother actually was involved in this reevaluation request; I was diagnosed with schizophrenia but the VA did not find a connection to my military service. The 2005 request for reevaluation resulted in my being diagnosed with schizophrenia that was service connected. I received some retroactive compensation, back to the 2005 filing date. My question is do I have a good case for retroactive compensation back to 1975? I realize the amount could be quite substantial but I must admit reviewing the documents made me very uneasy as this was a difficult time for me and led into a long difficult journey. Thank you for your response.

Reply;

After a brief exchange of email with you, we decided that you must have a lawyer review your potential case. You're correct that the amount of money you may be owed could be quite large. Any time there is the potential for a large award, your VA isn't going to just roll over without fighting you for it. If you have a case for CUE your filing with quickly climb up the ladder to where the lawyers reside and they'll begin to manufacture the reasons you deserve nothing.

To go up against that machine without an experienced attorney working for you is like going to a gun fight armed with a Swiss Army Knife.

You've been introduced to a lawyer and you're gathering your file together for review. Good luck.

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Jim;

I need some advice or help if you can I am trying to show by the evidence in my service records that I had just about all of the symptoms of sleep apnea, I was diagnosed in 2006 when I finally decided to listen to my wife who told me ten years ago to go get myself just out because I stopped breathing during sleep. I have resubmitted my claim to the VA. Three times and the VA is still denied my claim even after the chief of the DAV here Said he could see the evidence after he reviewed the records I presented to him. Do you know anyone who could help with this situation please let me. You can e-mail me at my work e-mail address or home

Reply;

In a later email you told me that you had "medical evidence" of difficulty breathing while on active duty. Later you said that your wife had written a statement in support of the fact that she has observed your sleep apnea.

As with all evidence, unless you have some serious medical documentation of sleep apnea or a sleep disturbance while on active duty, you aren't very likely to be awarded a service connection.

Statements from spouses are rarely given any consideration. The VA rightly assumes that a spouse may be just a little bit biased and the testimony might lean to the favor of the veteran. Beyond that, unless the spouse is a medical expert a diagnosis doesn't mean very much. That holds true of any contemporaneous witnesses you may have who aren't medically qualified...like the "chief of the DAV". That individual has no expertise in sleep apnea (I'll assume) and wasn't with you in service to observe what happened.

Sleep apnea is one of those conditions that affects many of us as we age. Much like the wear and tear on our joints with age, our breathing may become more difficult as supportive muscles weaken and we gain weight in places we didn't know we had 30 or 40 years ago.

I've updated my notes on Evidence at my new A to Z Guide. I hope you'll stop and have a look so you'll better understand what it will take to convince VA that your condition today is connected to your service long ago.

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Jim;

I read on your site that sleep apnea may be a service connected desease. My husband is 64 an a VN vet who is already 100% diabled vet, was just diagnoses with sleep apnea. Does he need to put a claim in seeing that he is already 100% what difference will it make?

Reply;

I doubt it's worth the bother as he already has a 100% rating. To be rated for SA would require that he have evidence of a diagnosis or cause while in service. That's usually very hard to do. Even then, there would be no more money if he won.

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Jim;

We are in the process of proving a hearing loss dating back to 1955-1957 when I was on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. I've been to the VA's hearing evaluation and definitely have a hearing loss as well as tinnunitis(sp?). I have never been treated for this condition as I accepted it as nothing could be done about it. However, recently a friend of mine informed me that since it the loss happened during my service years, I might be able to get some help from VA. I have a little information from those years, plus am getting buddy certificates or affidavits from two service friends who witnessed my duties on the flight deck.
I have never sought any type of government help before and, frankly, don't know if it is worth the hassle if this claim is too old to bother with. But if they could help me with obtaining some relief for my hearing problem, I would like to pursue it a little further. Is there any one person you could suggest who is more familiar with hearing claims that might be able to steer me in the right direction.
I appreciate your help and suggestions.

Reply;

Hearing aids are a gift from heaven and you earned the right to benefits. Hearing aids can also be as much as $2500.00 each.

This isn't a handout...this is what you deserve for your service, no more, no less.

Have a look at my A to Z guide...page "H" for hearing. it's all in there. Click http://jimstrickland912.com/

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Jim;

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va lost my paperwork-entirely -except they know I filed on june 4.Can I easily get my congressman to write a "speed this up"letter when I resubmit paperwork if I use them as my liason instead of my current liason. Do You think a congressman's office will write a "HEY speed this up"!and will it likely help.? I filed claim formally through Ca. dept of v.a. in early june;I initially went to DAV but they had a 3 hour wait do to backlogs so i went to ca;va. VA knows I filed but the rascals lost all my paperwork. Fortunetely I made copy of everything. Should I consider an attorney? This is my initial filing for C&P.The claim is PTSD- I have CIB on DD214 and a formal letter from board certified psychiatrist who i been seeing for 6 months and says yes i have the dis-order. All Paperwork was filed correctly and inclusive.Please let mr know if you get this ; I ve written to "watchdog" without a reply- I think it could be this hushmail program-
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Reply;

Here you go, you told me, "I've written to 'watchdog' without a reply- I think it could be this hushmail program".

The best part (I see this a lot too) is "Please let me know if you get this". OK, how should I do that? Smoke signals? If I don't get it, should I let you know that too?

You're correct. Your super-stealth email program is great for keeping you secretive because you don't get any replies. I tried twice to reply to you and got:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
(REDACTED)

Technical details of permanent failure: Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 554 554 Spam Blocked. at ./proxyd-filter.pl (IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REDACTED)

I get these emails often. I don't get it. Why do you need to use a program so complex that you can't get replies because you don't understand how to set up your software? The trick with Hushmail (and almost all the others) is to include the email address of the person you write to in your whitelist ...immediately. You could also set it up so that anyone you write to is automatically whitelisted. If you don't do that, Hushmail thinks I'm a spammer or some other uninvited guest and blocks me.

Then you sit around and wonder why I don't reply to you?

The stuff you wrote to me about isn't exactly top secret. To use a tight encryption and a PGP signature is over the top for this sort of correspondence.

Beyond all that, you don't understand how the VA claims system works either.

Good luck.

(EDITOR'S NOTE FROM LARRY SCOTT:  I, too, receive numerous emails where I have to jump through hoops ... enter codes etc. ... to respond to a reader.  Don't do that!  If you want a response, please be polite enough to whitelist my email address at the time you send your correspondence.  Thanks.)

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Jim Strickland, Veterans' Advocate,