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

I made my first claim during out-processing for a medical discharge (no board) in mid-2007. I received my first SC rating fairly quickly but it was low and missing most of the issues I had. They refused to officially diagnose my PTSD and Spinal trauma/TBI at that time and instead claimed it was depression. I did not receive a 70% rating until 2010 after I went to a civilian doctor to gather evidence and submitted it. I did not finally receive my SC rating of 100% total and permanent until late 2016. Even so, my SC ratings are all FUBAR as they have me rated for the wrong things and even not rated for things I should be. I have been unable to correct it as I have lived overseas since the end of 2015 and they refuse to allow me to go anywhere but a VA medical clinic in America. I even offered to pay the way to Germany or another U.S. military base myself but they refuse.

They also kicked me out of the medical system and refuse to send me replacement parts for my SC medical equipment. I tried to get them to do Telehealth to get me back in the system but they refuse stating it is against VA policy despite the federal law regarding Telehealth saying "regardless of where the patient resides". I am enrolled in the Foreign Medical Program (FMP) but they only reimburse about 8-10% of my claims despite them all being SC-related and VA policy requiring 100% reimbursement. Letters to the VA go unanswered.

I worked for the VA as a police officer and deputy emergency manager for a few years after my military discharge and the unwritten rule we had was to minimize claims as much as possible and never SC permanent issues like PTSD if possible. The VA is absolutely broken and corrupt but unfortunately, it is the best we have.

My recommendation would be to literally photocopy or scan every single page of your military medical record before discharge. It is your right and if you do not then you will be at the mercy of the VA once you are out. I have been trying to track down my military medical record as evidence for about 13 years but the VA claims the military has it and the military claims the VA has it. Tried the National Archives too but no joy. Good luck!

About 6 or 7 years at I prior job cause I honestly didn't think I was considered a veteran until I met an Air Force guy that had just got out. Still fighting it 15 years later.

In addition after you get out you aren't cemented in to what the military has given you. What I mean is that I was diagnosed with diabetes which got me an initial 20%. Years later I developed heart and kidney problems. Even though I did not have them when I was first diagnosed I got them as a result of having diabetes. The heart problems associated with diabetes jumped me up to 100%. Keep track of what you was originally diagnosed with while in the service and anything you get afterwards see if it relates.

I wasn't even 25 years old when I was getting out so I didn't really think much about going to the va or even filing anything but I started having problems not even two years after getting out. I had a situation in which my neck completely locked up on me and I had to have someone drive me over 100 miles to the nearest va er facility because I could not move my head at all. The doctor flat out said that I was too young to be having the symptoms I was describing and just blew me off with more motrin. Not long after that another va doctor actually told me I needed to file and so began my now over ten year ongoing battle with the va because I keep finding out that things I have been experiencing are actually things that I could have claimed all this time but of course nobody from the va is going to tell you that, but even though I have been claiming all of my issues over the past few years the va has simply been denying all of them or putting them at 0% so they don't have to pay me anything even though in their own statements of the case it clearly states that I have enough evidence to warrant presumptive service connection. The bottom line is that if the va decides they want to screw with you then there is absolutely nothing you can do but hold on because they are allowed to do whatever they want for as long as they might want to and no legal office can help you and no congressman or senator will help you either.

41 years. Left Army 1970. Applied for disability in 2011.
I know this sounds stupid but when I got out, I didn’t even know disability was available. I thought you got a one time payment of $600 or $1200 if you lost a limb or limbs and your family got $10,000 if you died.
When I was getting ready to retire, I checked with the VA for the supplemental medical care required by Obamacare (I can’t recall the term for it) and ended up getting a 100% disability rating.
Agent Orange: Ischemic heart disease + Purple Heart: hearing loss & left foot damage (Booby trap)

I waited about 11 years. When I got to the point that I couldn’t work.

I goofed up and did not with all of my medical records I filed years later the VA's response was basically So Why Did You Wait So Long. I am now in what seems a never ending battle I wasted 0% for all of my claims

Programs are in place and now so that you should be done with all health assessments prior to separating. If you focus on yourself as you separate, you should be receiving disability benefits (if you end up with a rating)soon after you separate. Both the VA and military have reciprocal access to your medical records to enable you to be taken care of.

Hello fellow veteran it took 13 years. Mostly because the VA was under a Democrat president
for most of the fight. I went through the DAV got the right doctors and showed them I would not go away

I was pretty stupid. I waited far too long to file my first claim, and that severely complicated the whole process. I’ll describe my experience as best I can. I was released from active duty in mid-November 1968 when I returned from Vietnam and arrived at Ft Lewis WA. I declined a discharge physical, saying there was nothing wrong with me and I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, go to SeaTac airport and grab the first available flight that going in the direction of my hometown of San Antonio, Texas. I upgraded my government-issued economy-class ticket to first class to make sure I got on the first flight that was available. I even declined the steak dinner at the Officers’ Club to get to the airport as quickly as possible. When I reached Ft Lewis, a counselor asked if I wanted to file a claim against the govt for exposure to Agent Orange or inadequate food, medical care, financial support, mail delivery or admin support and I answered “No” to all of it. I just wanted to be left alone to resume the life I had enjoyed as a civilian. In 1971, I finally consulted the VA hospital in Kerrville Tx for suggestions on how to treat the jungle rot that had been gnawing on my feet; I was told I would need to file a claim against the govt to get that info. I said thanks anyway, but the govt doesn’t owe me anything, I just wanted to know the name of any meds that could effectively treat that damned fungus. I was told again that I needed to file a claim. I left in disgust. A couple of weeks later, I received a phone call from a doctor who said he worked for the VA and had read my case file and told me in his opinion, I needed an oral med called “griseofulvin”, and that if I would return to the VA hospital in Kerrville he would meet me outside the building and give me a six-month supply of griseofulvin tablets. I jumped at his offer and drove back to Kerrville and called his office when I arrived. Almost immediately, a gentleman in the uniform of an Army Colonel emerged from the building and called out my name: “Lt Smith!” I answered, “Sir!” He stepped toward me and returned my salute and stuck out his hand to shake mine. “Welcome home, Lt Smith!” and handed me a small brown paper bag , saying “This should do the trick for you. If it doesn’t, call my office number on the bottle and we’ll take care it.” I followed the instructions on the bottle and six months later the rot was gone. I called his office and left a message with his secretary: “Please inform Colonel Blank that Lt smith called from San Antonio and asked me to inform you that the medication you gave him six months ago finally did the trick and his problem has been resolved. I had more contact with the VA until 2013, when I began the claim process at the urging of a good friend, a retired Army Chaplain who inquired about my health since leaving active duty; I shared with him that I had experienced a heart attack in 1991 but after two angioplasties and a one-way coronary artery bypass surgery in 1992, my health has been pretty good. He asked about my doctor’s diagnosis and I read the doc’s report to him: it read, “Patient has ischemic heart disease and hypertension.” The chaplain informed me that ischemic heart disease and hypertension were both acknowledged by the VA as being related to Agent Orange exposure and strongly encouraged me to file a claim with the VA. He suggested I call the local office of the Disabled American Veterans for advice on how to,pursue a claim and gave me their phone number their phone number. I called the number and made an appointment to visit their office and speak with a counselor. I did that, brining with me copies of all correspondence I had had with the VA as well as my DD214. The counselor helped me fill out all of the forms and send them off and that resulted in an initial service-connected disability rating of 10%.
There followed a string of physical exams, notices of disagreement following VA rulings and incremental changes in my ratings and compensation, until finally in April 2017 my service-connected disability rating was revised to 100%.