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You may be one of the thousands upon thousands who are seeking compensation from the Military for an injury or mental situation you are facing. You are not alone.
What follows are some suggestion to hopefully help you on your journey. Please know that these are just suggestions and will not necessarily get you compensation.
One of the things I learned quickly is that the older you are the harder it is to get compensation. I was in the Military from 1959-1962. I was deployed to Korea in 1960. This was not war time. This was not Vietnam. I was in between all of that. I was selected to be in the Army Security Agency (somewhat like the Military CIA). My training was to be a radio/teletype operator; MOS 053-10. I monitored the airways for breaches in security. It was not an exciting job, and there were hours upon hours of nothing while working. Once and awhile it got interesting, like when a Colonel came on the air and invited all of his officer friends to his drunken party. He even gave directions, and contact information over the air. I jumped on it immediately and contacted the Local MPS. They were at his spot within minutes, and stopped the “party.” He was later busted.
Your job was to never take the earphones off of your ears. You had to spend every minute (for twelve hour shifts) listening to air ways and picking up Morse code messages.
The static was pretty intense at times, even more when you had to take one side of the earphones off and try to adjust the frequency of the receptor. Again, I had to leave the earphones on. This took a heavy toll on my hearing. I had tinnitus (ringing in the ears) coming on. I had headaches during my off duty times. But, during my time in the Military, and I am sure still now, it was duty first. You had to fulfill your duty while you were working. I had another incident while in the military. I was in a jeep accident where I was flung from the jeep and landed back first on a boulder. I was knocked unconscious, and woke up in a field medical tent. I had three surgeries; two on my neck and one in my lumbar area.
When I came back to the United States, I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. I finished up my Army time, and took my parting physical. They cleared me with a statement that I was physically sound. They never ex-rayed my back or performed a hearing test. I got out of the Military, and still had the tinnitus. I let it go for many years thinking there wasn’t an avenue to receive help from the military. I didn’t know about the compensation program. I just began to seriously seek help about seven years ago, when I was 71 years old. I had severe hearing loss. I had strong tinnitus, and battles with depression, because I couldn’t hear what my grandchildren were saying. That is when a hearing specialist, that was treating me, shared the compensation program from the Military. I had no idea. So, I met with a Veteran’s advocate group. This is the VA advocacy that has representatives who fight for you. They helped me file a disability claim to the Veteran’s Administration. I put down what I did for a MOS (job) and what I did daily in Korea. I also filed a claim for a back injury.
As far as my hearing, I got a form letter back from them saying my hearing loss was due to aging, and I was denied. This happened because I waited for over 50 years to file a claim. The details were cloudy as far as my time in Korea according to the VA. The claim for my back and neck were also denied because they felt, again, that it was due to old age.
You need to start your claim immediately if you are injured or have physical problems of any kind. Do not wait. It is easy to procrastinate like I did, but then you will be facing disappointment and heartache. It is much harder to get a claim passed. What you will need is a written letter from a doctor saying they felt your injury was due the time you were in the military. That is a huge game changer, and should get you the claim you deserve. It may take you a while to find a doctor willing to do this, but they are there and keep looking.
Above all… don’t ever give up! I am still fighting for my rights and you should too.
What follows are some suggestion to hopefully help you on your journey. Please know that these are just suggestions and will not necessarily get you compensation.
One of the things I learned quickly is that the older you are the harder it is to get compensation. I was in the Military from 1959-1962. I was deployed to Korea in 1960. This was not war time. This was not Vietnam. I was in between all of that. I was selected to be in the Army Security Agency (somewhat like the Military CIA). My training was to be a radio/teletype operator; MOS 053-10. I monitored the airways for breaches in security. It was not an exciting job, and there were hours upon hours of nothing while working. Once and awhile it got interesting, like when a Colonel came on the air and invited all of his officer friends to his drunken party. He even gave directions, and contact information over the air. I jumped on it immediately and contacted the Local MPS. They were at his spot within minutes, and stopped the “party.” He was later busted.
Your job was to never take the earphones off of your ears. You had to spend every minute (for twelve hour shifts) listening to air ways and picking up Morse code messages.
The static was pretty intense at times, even more when you had to take one side of the earphones off and try to adjust the frequency of the receptor. Again, I had to leave the earphones on. This took a heavy toll on my hearing. I had tinnitus (ringing in the ears) coming on. I had headaches during my off duty times. But, during my time in the Military, and I am sure still now, it was duty first. You had to fulfill your duty while you were working. I had another incident while in the military. I was in a jeep accident where I was flung from the jeep and landed back first on a boulder. I was knocked unconscious, and woke up in a field medical tent. I had three surgeries; two on my neck and one in my lumbar area.
When I came back to the United States, I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. I finished up my Army time, and took my parting physical. They cleared me with a statement that I was physically sound. They never ex-rayed my back or performed a hearing test. I got out of the Military, and still had the tinnitus. I let it go for many years thinking there wasn’t an avenue to receive help from the military. I didn’t know about the compensation program. I just began to seriously seek help about seven years ago, when I was 71 years old. I had severe hearing loss. I had strong tinnitus, and battles with depression, because I couldn’t hear what my grandchildren were saying. That is when a hearing specialist, that was treating me, shared the compensation program from the Military. I had no idea. So, I met with a Veteran’s advocate group. This is the VA advocacy that has representatives who fight for you. They helped me file a disability claim to the Veteran’s Administration. I put down what I did for a MOS (job) and what I did daily in Korea. I also filed a claim for a back injury.
As far as my hearing, I got a form letter back from them saying my hearing loss was due to aging, and I was denied. This happened because I waited for over 50 years to file a claim. The details were cloudy as far as my time in Korea according to the VA. The claim for my back and neck were also denied because they felt, again, that it was due to old age.
You need to start your claim immediately if you are injured or have physical problems of any kind. Do not wait. It is easy to procrastinate like I did, but then you will be facing disappointment and heartache. It is much harder to get a claim passed. What you will need is a written letter from a doctor saying they felt your injury was due the time you were in the military. That is a huge game changer, and should get you the claim you deserve. It may take you a while to find a doctor willing to do this, but they are there and keep looking.
Above all… don’t ever give up! I am still fighting for my rights and you should too.
Benefits
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Command Post
Healthcare
Health
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 19
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Good evening Mr. Douglas. I will tell you a trick that seems to work on thousands of people who filed claims. "Denied" and " Not service connected"...... those are the words VA use to get you and others to give up, especially after waiting so long for a response. The VA advocate that you saw, was not a big help.... To be honest with you, time is irrelevant when you decide to file a claim. The biggest task in your case is to track down the medical records from the paper days that are in the archives stored somewhere. That will be proof that your back injury was service connected, not old age............ I had to Google to find out which records center had copies of my medical paper records before they went digital. Once I found it, then I requested copies of it from 96-2004...... If you really want to be compensated by VA, you have to be persistent and put up a fight. In order to make it a good fight, track down your medical records to prove your case.
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SPC Edward Banning
I have my entire medical record on hand from enlistment to discharge that shows all the time at chiropractor. Still get the go away attitude.
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SSG (Join to see)
SPC Edward Banning - That's good that you have all your records. Despite whatever attitude you get, you have to keep pushing.
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SPC Douglas Bolton Great post. I waited until ten years ago to file my claim. The paperwork was lost in the system, so five years ago, I went to the VFW for help. A VFW Veteran Service Officer helped me with my claim, that was approved four years ago. It was not approved for the rating that it should have been, so I will continue to fight.
(11)
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SPC Douglas Bolton
Sgt (Join to see) Thank you Ted. VFW helped me as well. Good people. Never give up.
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You are absolutely right SPC Douglas Bolton. The longer you wait the harder it can get to prove your claim. However nowadays the troops can file a claim prior to them leaving active duty which makes it a lot easier. I never knew this process to exist when I got off active duty in the mid eighties. Even after several years in the reserves going pass the first Gulf War this process wasn't available or at least I never heard of it.
However what's mostly important in proving your service connected ailment is documentation. If it's not written down the VA does not care and will not accept hearsay of what a Doctor may have told you.
I was able to get 100% based on documentation in my active duty medical records for vertigo. I had went on sick call several times for it however each time the blew it off as nothing.
I continued to have the condition periodically over the last 25 plus years. Fast forward I filed a claim and surprisingly to me the VA awarded me 100% for that condition alone which includes tinnitus, and pressure in my ears.
I'll wrap it up after so many test medications and evaluations. They sent me out to an outside ENT Specialist. He evaluated me reviewed my active duty medical records and referred back to the incidents of the vertigo that were recorded. Bingo that was it, so I advise any of you active duty, reserves etc,. that when seeing a Doctor ensure they document what they are saying of your ailment or condition.
Peace!
However what's mostly important in proving your service connected ailment is documentation. If it's not written down the VA does not care and will not accept hearsay of what a Doctor may have told you.
I was able to get 100% based on documentation in my active duty medical records for vertigo. I had went on sick call several times for it however each time the blew it off as nothing.
I continued to have the condition periodically over the last 25 plus years. Fast forward I filed a claim and surprisingly to me the VA awarded me 100% for that condition alone which includes tinnitus, and pressure in my ears.
I'll wrap it up after so many test medications and evaluations. They sent me out to an outside ENT Specialist. He evaluated me reviewed my active duty medical records and referred back to the incidents of the vertigo that were recorded. Bingo that was it, so I advise any of you active duty, reserves etc,. that when seeing a Doctor ensure they document what they are saying of your ailment or condition.
Peace!
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SPC Douglas Bolton
SSgt Harvey "Skip" Porter Thank you for sharing your story. This will also help many veterans.
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Sgt Christopher Collins
Heck when I got back in the 80s, I didn't even know we had a veterans administration... sounds bad but I had no idea.
(2)
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