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

I waited until I was out because I was given false information by my peers. When I finally talked to others that had the exact same issue. I went to make a claim and was granted miniscule help. I lived with what I had for a year until what I was experiencing began to flare up. I received a minimum amount of money for my eleven (11) injuries that I accrued while on active duty ($230.00). When my issues kept getting worse I complained even harder about them to the doctors. Eventually (I retired in 1991, and this was occurring in 2003) I persisted to make appointments, until I was seen by a mustanger (previous enlisted that became a LCDR) who assisted me in getting 100% disability. That took until 2009. They give you a runaround so you have to be vigilant. They try not to give you anything. I just turned 76, and the pain is just as fresh as it was when I got injured in the campaign to capture Manuel Noriega. My suggestion is to start as soon as you can and persist.

I waited many years before i started to make the claim. At the time I just wanted to be out the military and done with everything and I should have started to make claims while I was in.

6 claims after 45 years. Now I’m 70%. Filing 2 more in August.

Interesting question, I didn't file a claim with the VA for 50 years! Even though I had been injured. I just didn't feel it was needed. I had compression fractures in three verabra in my back from having a helicopter shot out from under me. I guess you could call it a hard landing. It didn't stop me from working until I turned 70 so I didn't bother. I think the VA disability is abused for the most part.

Start the process which involves getting your physicals before your final ETS date.

I am retiring in about 18 months (I'm 57), so back in October 2022 I used a state volunteer organization to help me put in all of my paperwork for my multiple claims. It took about 8 - 9 months for them to approve them (There were several all over my body so they seem to have split them, so the first set got me 50%, and the next month a second set got me and additional 20%). I think I was approved fairly quickly because, since I'm old and have been in for so long, I MUST be broken.

So, once the rating was approved I immediately began receiving payments. Literally, the approval paperwork was in the mailbox with a backpay check and the first monthly check.

My issue at the moment is that I am still in the National Guard, so I am waiting until the FY to see how much the VA will want to get back since I have been getting my drill & AT pay as well. If it was just the monthly payment, no problem. VA can get it back. If it includes those BIG back pay checks then... math time I guess.

I got my rating through VA after I was out. First thing I did was go to the VA and file a claim. 30+ years ago no one held our hand and told us to file before we were separated like kids today. I had to fight like hell first to get my DC changed to a disability DC and all I got was a 10% rating for something not even related to why I was separated, then I had to fight VA 30 years to be given 100%. I was supposedly too mentally disturbed to be able to perform the duties of my rank and position but the service refused to give me disability and so did the VA even though the MH reason for my separation was on my 214. I'm the wrong gender to get the disability right away, my VA is still very much a "good old boys'" place and women still aren't treated like we're real veterans. I know a woman who went in to the military with MH issues and after a couple of years crying to anyone who would listen to her allegation and sob story she was separated with disability pay even though her condition was pre-existing and I don't believe made worse by her service. I did Not have any MH issues when I entered the service. I got screwed over good by both the service branch and the VA. I've never been given the 100% I feel I should have been given for these alleged MH issues by either the service or VA. Angry, you bet. I do Not trust the VA.

I was injured in 1982 retired in 96 after 20 yrs of service..... My seperation or out processing was a joke. One thing Im glad I did was keep all of my medical records... they wanted me to turn them after retrieving them from the Medical centre.... There was no medical nothing. No advise on any benefits or va benefits wasn't even mentioned. Fast forward 2008 I was made aware by searching the internet that I could even file a claim. After about 2 1/2 years of waiting for a decision i got a 70% rating with TDIU. All those years wasted because because of a lack of communication when I retired.

I made my first claim while I was on terminal leave prior to retirement in 1985. I had been on Airborne status for 20 years and received 10% on my right knee. I am thankful that one of the medics at the TMC helped make copies of my records before I retired. About 22 years (2007) later I found out if I could prove the knee injury was service related, the Army would stop taking the disability pay out of my retired pay. I made a copy of a statement from a Doctor at Womack Army Hospital that proved it was service related. While talking to the VSO about my knee I told him that I had just been operated on for Prostate Cancer. I asked him if Agent Orange covered that. He said yes, if I had been on the ground in Nam for 24 hours I was covered. I spent 19 months in 1969-1970. One thing I have found out about the VA, if you don't ask they won't tell you. I moved to Illinois in 2017 & started talking to a VSO here. I started drawing 100% in 2019.

I had a physical at the VA after I retired and was given a 10% disability rating. I had to go back a year later and even though my condition had worsened, they took my disability away. I have since had surgery for the condition. I have since also developed other conditions including diabetes. I was also subjected to agent orange. How should I now proceed?