Did you wait till you were out to get your disability rating? If so, how long before you made your first claim?

Waited 2 years

When I got out, the first time in 1980, the E7 doing the outprocessing handed us all a VA form. He said, "If there's anything wrong with you now, that wasn't wrong when you enlisted, fill this firm out!" I did based on my knees. They gave me 0% for my knees and 10% for hypertension. I didn't have hypertension, it was just they measured my blood pressure right after I got into a very heated argument with the 90 year old VA doctor about my knees. A year or so later they did a reevaluation and reduced me to 0%. About 30 years later a former Air Force guy I worked with said I should apply again. I did and now I have 0% for hypertension and 20% for my knees.

65 years

I tried in 1968 to apply with the VA but back then they were a joke. My shrapnel and hearing loss from Viet Nam wasn't that big of a deal for them. My son-in-law retired from the Coast Guard after 30 years and during his exit meetings was asked if he knew any Viet Nam Vets, he mentioned me. His advisor gave him a name to contact, I contacted the person and he set me up with an appointment. My shrapnel wounds were not enough as they had healed over 50 years (scars still there) and weren't large enough but my hearing loss did get me a 10% disability for tentinituis (sp) and after two years I am scheduled for another hearing test for a hearing aide. I now have a much better feeling with the VA. Also with my purple heart I now have access to bases after registering.

I got out in 1970. I didn’t learn about disability ratings until 1999. I applied and got my disability rating in 2003.

File your claim before you are separated. Many commands have VA offices attached that can help you with the claim. Under VA regulations the date of claim (date benefits are awarded) is the day the claim is received by a VA facility...not a state facility or a service organization.

The sooner you get it in the better. You may need to get documents for somethign that happened while on AD, but don't have any medical notes on how it happened. Now you need witness statements. The longer you wait the harder it will be to get those witness statements.

I did not claim, I was accused. All I have ever wanted is to go back and fight. The chain of commands are humans and are fallible. My actions at the time were to prepare myself to deploy. However, those actions were interpreted as not wanting to PCS. They called me crazy and tried the physical evaluation board. I passed. So, they tried the mental evaluation. All because I did not have political skills to maneuver through big command's offices. I was told that I was done. And again, called me crazy, so I said pay me. In the end, I got my raiding before I got out. The command looked at my rating and asked how I got that much. I said, "I may be crazy, but I ait stupid. And I wasn't the one that called myself crazy. All I have done was being damned for who I am."

Watch the "Expanse". It is the best example of what happened when each individual does what he/she believes is right and looking out for his/her own people's interests. The show is brilliant. I hope there are more out of it.

Waiting until after ETS was the only way to file a claim that I was aware when I got out (in 1988). I waited entirely too long before filing my first claim. The ill-informed physician's assistant (and a warrant officer) who did my ETS physical led me to believe that I would not be compensated for any claim I would file for hearing loss unless my hearing loss was 50% or more. I already had service connected tinnintus (ringing in the ears) at that time and could have filed a claim for that right away. I don't think I pursued my first claim until 2014. I'm at 50% now due to tinnitus and some other issues.

I had injuries on active duty so I went through an evaluation as soon as I got out. I was rated a 10% then, but over time, the rating was bumped up. Hubby also had an evaluation as soon as he got out and it later got bumped up. Then we had a friend who had been out quite a few years before he applied. It took him a year to get a response to his application.