Posted on Jan 19, 2019
Why is it so difficult to prove service-related injuries?
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How are you supposed to use your medical records as evidence of service related injuries when it was nearly impossible ( well made very difficult by 1SG) to go on sick call, seeking medical attention was made inconvenient?
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Medical
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 10
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Because illness is inconvenient and soldiers like to use it as an excuse not to do PT. When I was a medic and we switched our sick call hours to after PT, our sick call load dropped about 90%.
Its not difficult to establish service related injuries with any sort of documentation. The problem is that people will attempt to claim things after service to raise their rating and so the VA has to have some standard of proof. Not everyone walking through the doors of the VA is a trustworthy veteran. Not everyone walking in is even a veteran. There are always fakers and scam artists around.
As for your 1SG, well that's just poor leadership. The VA can't account for poor leadership and you had every right to go to sick call and should have exercised that right.
Its not difficult to establish service related injuries with any sort of documentation. The problem is that people will attempt to claim things after service to raise their rating and so the VA has to have some standard of proof. Not everyone walking through the doors of the VA is a trustworthy veteran. Not everyone walking in is even a veteran. There are always fakers and scam artists around.
As for your 1SG, well that's just poor leadership. The VA can't account for poor leadership and you had every right to go to sick call and should have exercised that right.
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MSG (Join to see)
Totaly true about the untrustworthy vets and scammers, I listened to soldiers in the DEFAC lines in Iraq teaching each other how to collect money from VA even though they never went outside the wire. However, Yes, going on Sick call was made difficult and inconvenient by many leaders throughout the Army. esp in the 70's and early 80's.
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BTW, dont pay a dime until you've tried using the folks here or your local Veterans Service Organization.
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SGT Tom Cross
Top I couldn't agree more. I was lucky in that I had a VA file set up in 1983. I tore the cartilage in my left knee. When I went to the medical clinic in Mannheim they told me it was just a strain. While on leave and rotating back to the states me knee kept bothering me. My dad told me to go to the VA Hospital in Iron Mountain, Mi. They not only took x-rays of my knee they determined that I had indeed torn the cartilage, and offered to have repair it right then and there. They looked at my medical records and took all of the pertinent information and established my claim. After I got out of service I had other medic al problems, that were documented and I used at the recommendation of my father himself a WWII veteran and obtained the services of the DAV Service Officer here in Grand Rapids, Mi. They took the time to go over everything with me as far a processing my claim. Thank God I had made a copy of my medical file a priority before leaving the army. Best of luck to you Brian Bostick.
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When did you get out? Documentation is key.
Request all your med records, if you do not already have them, and check every page for completeness.
Anything that you feel that should have made it into the the record, but did not, you will have to document in other ways. Buddy statements can help establish the time frame, IE: Bunk mates state that you started snoring while stationed together, which helps establish the possibility of a Sleep Apnea service connection. However you also should acquire diagnosis, if there is none, and statements from your Doctor that it is "at least as likely as not" that your condition was caused, or aggravated, by your service. With timeline, diagnosis, and probable cause established, you should find your case rapidly settled by the VA.
I waited over 20 years before filing for any benefits. My first filing was settled in 4 months, with half of my claims accepted giving me a 50% rating, and my second filing was settled in similar time frame after visits to their doctors, with the rest of my claims accepted giving me a 100% rating.
If you want specific advice on how to proceed with your specific issues, feel free to message me.
Request all your med records, if you do not already have them, and check every page for completeness.
Anything that you feel that should have made it into the the record, but did not, you will have to document in other ways. Buddy statements can help establish the time frame, IE: Bunk mates state that you started snoring while stationed together, which helps establish the possibility of a Sleep Apnea service connection. However you also should acquire diagnosis, if there is none, and statements from your Doctor that it is "at least as likely as not" that your condition was caused, or aggravated, by your service. With timeline, diagnosis, and probable cause established, you should find your case rapidly settled by the VA.
I waited over 20 years before filing for any benefits. My first filing was settled in 4 months, with half of my claims accepted giving me a 50% rating, and my second filing was settled in similar time frame after visits to their doctors, with the rest of my claims accepted giving me a 100% rating.
If you want specific advice on how to proceed with your specific issues, feel free to message me.
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