Falsely claiming PTSD for VA benefits?

Report his ass. That is all of our’s tax dollars to a REMF.

I was in the Navy River Patrol in Vietnam and spent over 900 days in the Mekong Delta. From time to time you get a guy I know is lying about PTSD, but I keep it to myself. I generally excuse myself from the group meeting because I can't bear to listen to what I know is bullshit. As for hunting. My cousin used to go hunting with his friends for years but never loaded his gun. I have a permit to conceal carry, I'm afraid to do so. If I'm attacked---it would be over before I realized what had happened. I haven't had to shoot anyone in over 50 years. I don't believe I would care to.

Wow, the causes of PTSD are wide ranging . Having fired your weapon or being shot at only cover a couple of potential stressors and many folks who have experienced those walk away unscathed. The VA screenings are pretty in depth so I don't know how anyone would be able to fake it and the therapists would know also. My uncle Dick would come unglued around fireworks if he wasn't expecting them to go off, but he had no problem if he was expecting them and he could go hunting because he knew there would be shooting. But gunfire when there normally shouldn't have been bothered him. As far as meds go, in my experience folks tend to stop taking them when they feel well because they believe they are better.

I smell envy.

Warzone definitely changes people (Servicemembers and Civilians). I witnessed the difference in friends and Leaders. PTSD in people is hard to deny. Law Enforcement and Fire Firefighters also qualify. Most look perfect and their mental state is the challenge!

I have seen quite a few people claim PTSD when in fact they were dealing with combat stress. This is a fine distinction and ultimately, a VA practitioner will make the call, but when I have confronted folks in the past the answer was always the same: “The Army owes me that money!”

They never even had a workbook or Actual PTSD Classes when I got an Honorable discharged

I'm dealing with this daily and have done everything I can to educate the Bonham VA mental health personnel about this issue. Pills are the only answer you get and if refused or you stop taking them too suddenly lockup is their treatment of chose. Symptoms for PTSD can be downloaded from the internet but it ranges in severity. Root cause can be from childhood and that needs to be addressed before they sign the papers. Neuro psychologist are highly trained in detecting false claims of trauma related to military service. I see practitioners in the VA untrained and uninterested in the research of what trauma is in regard to the nervous system itself. Constant increased adrenaline in your system to react to an immediate threat becomes a conditioned response even when the threat is no longer there. Physical, not mental. The sounds associated with the threat are still searched for by the brain. Sound bounces off walls, too much sound causes stress trying to isolate the one meaning you must respond, thus your back against the wall. Similar are nurses listening constantly for cardiac alarms, patients in distress doctors barking orders and patients dying around you. Medics on the battlefield. There is so much more the VA has never addressed. No accountability for employees and policing themselves to avoid addressing the obvious problem that supervisors are more interested in covering for staff than correcting them. I see the VA system as having fill in the blank forms and personnel knowing the buzz words to fake a days work at the expense of the Veterans sitting in front of them. A spread sheet of patients seen, by who, what for and prescribed treatment will weed out chronic abusers of resources and pinpoint weaknesses in personnel, including patient advocates. As most employees in medical facilities are women I see a pattern I call sorority sister syndrome. Playground behavior where being popular is more important than treating patients. The abuse I've seen with the older patients drives me crazy after what we went through during the Vietnam era. It just never ends.

Nobody comes to the VA asking for help on a winning streak. It is usually the last option for many of us who are hopeless and beaten down by the civilian world. We can't judge one another based on combat or service merit otherwise it will just become another polarizing force that keeps us from helping one another when we need to come together the most.

I was put out after 16 years for having PTSD. The Air Force decided that, I didn't, yet the VA denied claims and benefits for more than 20 years and it wasn't 100%.

As far as the person in question here, consider this. You're peacefully walking down the street, maybe to work or towards your car. Something loud happens and you find yourself under cover and looking desperately for the chemical gear and weapon you know you just had. When you calm down you realize that weapon you know you had, you had more than 30 years ago. Same for the chemical gear, you just had it in your hands more than 30 years ago. You haven't had a full night of sleep in that same 30 years because in your nightmares you relive the multiple events that caused your problem to begin with. Don't make the mistake of thinking nightmares fade with time, they NEVER LET UP! Even after having a massive heart attack and being beyond the painful stage you're happy to have the PTSD let up finally let up, only to have some meddling people call and ambulance and have equally meddling ER and cardiology people completely disregard the Do Not Resuscitate hanging around your neck and return you to the pain and nightmares you have lived with since the PTSD started.

That's on a good day, don't get me started on what the bad days are like.