Benefits

Question:

I am a Vietnam Vet with 100% total and permanent disability rating since 2018. If I pass away before my wife will she be eligible for a portion of my monthly disability pension no matter the cause of my death, or does my death have to be related to my disability?

Jim's Reply:

Veterans who die of any service connected condition leave eligible survivors with DIC benefits...not a "portion of monthly disability". The 2021 DIC rate is $1,340 for an eligible surviving spouse. If she is eligible for DIC she keeps the CHAMPVA health insurance.
 

You're rated as 100% so that eligibility still holds true until you've been rated as P & T for an uninterrupted 10 year period. Dying of a service connected condition will insure she's eligible for DIC but after 10 years you can die of anything and she'll still be eligible for DIC. 
 

In other words, stay healthy until 2028 and you can get run over by a truck and she'll have a good benefit to rely on. 
 

The downside is that if you were to be run over by that same truck tomorrow, no VA benefits are left behind.
 

More: https://www.vawatchdog.org/dic---survivor-benefits.html 

Question:

Thank you for your service. During my Naval service I was blown off ship and fell 40' on to a metal barge. Suffered numerous injuries. Naval medical treatment was subpar. Prior to discharge Navy offered an approximate 18% service connection if I remained active for18 more weeks for "observation" I declined to remain active. Approx. 6 months after Honorable discharge visited VA office, provided them info regarding my disabling condition as result of Naval service and requested assistance. They claimed because I had no service connected disability they could not help. Approx. 13 years later found this to be inaccurate and filed a VA claim. VA approved 100% P/T service connection from date of filed claim. Have since learned as result of my earlier visit to the VA requesting assistance they should have backdated my claim to discharge. If accurate that would be approx. 13 years of back compensation. Wondering if the VA is obligated to backdate my service connection compensation to date of discharge?

Jim's Reply:

When we file a claim the VBA will adjudicate it with the evidence they have available at the time of that claim. If a claim is denied the veteran has one year from the date of the denial to appeal and keep the claim 'alive'. 
 

If a timely (one year) appeal doesn't happen the claim is considered permanently closed. If you wish to open the claim again you must file a new claim and present evidence that hasn't been seen before and is relevant to your claim...'new and material' evidence is the way VBA phrases it. That will set a new effective date from which any new claim benefits will be paid.
 

I don't know who you may have visited with at a VA facility but the info you received simply wasn't accurate. However, unless you acted at the moment by filing appeals, etc., that opportunity is gone. Misinformation is our greatest foe and there's a lot of it spread around. Unfortunately it's a real 'let the buyer beware' situation and you have to decipher the rumor from the reality for yourself.
 

In the end, your claim could have been dated to your discharge date had you appealed and appealed again if necessary keeping the claim alive. The original thread can't be broken or we get sent all the way back to start.

Question:

My husband died in 2019 from progressive supranuclear palsy. He was in Vietnam from 1963-1964, is this possibly from agent orange exposure?

Jim's Reply:

There are many similarities between presumptive Parkinson's Disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. However, VA does not recognize PSP as an agent orange presumptive disease. To establish service connection for benefits will require an Independent Medical Opinion from an expert disability physician. 
 

Once the physician has established that the veterans PSP is more likely than not caused by agent orange exposure, a service connection is likely to be made. See this BVA appeal. 
 

You can learn more about the IMO and meet the doctors I refer to here. Good luck.

Question:

Good evening Jim. I am currently rated permanent and total TDIU for 9 years now. It's for my depression at 70 percent. I now have a lot of health issues that I want to get service connected. Is it okay to pursue other health issues to get service connected?

Jim's Reply:

Yes, you may file new claims at any time. Often enough it doesn't make any difference once you're at 100% but on occasion, filing now is good prep for the future.
 

If you have chronic and likely service connected health conditions it makes sense to be ready if the condition becomes worse in the future. When that happens you may become eligible for Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) and as you'll have your service connection already, the rest will be simple. Good luck!

Question:

I am 100% with special monthly compensation (SMC) housebound, this is after having prostate percentage lowered to 20% but able to keep the SMC. I have many other chronic condition some service connected. My question is: With hypothyroidism added to the Agent Orange presumptive list, should I file a claim? I have had the left side thyroid removed 7 years ago at VA and have a diagnose of hypothyroidism for about 2 years from an outside provider. I realize that there is probably no monetary involved but thought I would ask. Thanks

Jim's Reply:

In many cases similar to yours I vote no...don't bother. I do that usually when the potential rating won't have any future influence on your health or ratings that I can predict. For example, superficial scarring after an operation may add 10% to a rating but nothing else.
 

Hypothyroidism can be a tough disease though. Your thyroid gland has an effect on almost every other function of your body, particularly in the production and regulation of insulin. As a Vietnam veteran you know about diabetes and your increased chances of having a difficult case to manage because of your agent orange exposure. Having hypothyroidism makes all that even more complex.
 

Knowing that you may eventually have secondary conditions related to hypothyroidism, it would be prudent to go ahead and file for the service connection today and have that established in case there are future complications. Good luck.

Question:

I served in the US Army Dental Corps from July 1973 to July 1975. I fall under the years considered as serving during the Vietnam Era so I would be considered a Vietnam Era Veteran. I also served during the time from 2 September 1945 to 26 December 1991 and received my Certificate of Recognition as serving during the period of the Cold War (Era). What am I considered? A Cold War Era Veteran or a Vietnam Era Veteran or both?

Jim's Reply:

I have to confess that I hadn't heard of the Cold War Recognition Certificate. Having read through that page I've learned that I'm eligible too. I just can't imagine what value a piece of paper like that has though? "Anyone who worked for the U.S. Government at any time during the Cold War era, Sept. 2, 1945 through Dec. 26, 1991, is eligible...". That doesn't see to be very exclusive or rewarding.
 

I'm a Vietnam era veteran having served 1967-1970 and I guess that I'd never considered that I also served during a period often called The Cold War.
 

If it's that important to you, you can call yourself a Vietnam era vet who served during the cold war or a cold war veteran who served during the Vietnam war era. I think I'll just continue to call myself a veteran who served my country and that's all.

Question:

Good Morning, Jim. I hope this is still an active site. Quick summary: Marine Corps Veteran - Infantry/Artillery - post-service diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes & Leukemia (CML) - no family history. Found your site while researching service connection to both conditions. Specifically interested in other successful claims relative to CML. Would be helpful to see how other veterans have successfully made the service connection and won their claim. Any assistance you can offer would be gratefully appreciated.

Jim's Reply:

Is this site active? You bet it is. I hear from a lot of veterans and enjoy meeting every one of my brothers and sisters.

To receive a disability rating requires a few basic elements. You need a current medical diagnosis of a disabling condition. You need an event while you were active duty that precipitated the disabling condition you claim. You need evidence of record that supports all this.
 

That you were diagnosed after service makes this a bit of an uphill climb. If you were diagnosed within one year of discharge the claim would be treated as if you had the diagnosis while active. Beyond that you have to prove what you believe was in your military service that could have caused or contributed to the conditions you claim.
 

Conditions like diabetes and any cancers or diseases of the blood and lymphatics always brings to mind chemical exposure. For example, Vietnam veterans are predisposed to those conditions because of their exposure to agent orange.
 

You can research this in depth for yourself. Go to the BVA search engine  https://www.index.va.gov/search/va/bva.jsp and enter key words <chronic myeloid leukemia> and choose a couple of recent years to get started.
 

As you do your research, use different key words to search as well as different years. Keep in mind that BVA decisions do not establish precedence so you can't make a claim and refer to a successful BVA appeal...you have to duplicate the path the successful vet took.
 

You'll likely need an IMO to support your claim https://www.vawatchdog.org/imo-ime-medical-opinions-exams.html 
 

Good luck!

Question:

Hi Jim; I joined the army in 1971, with a friend for 2 years . The recruiter called it, a VOLUNTARY draft, and we signed up for what he called the BUDDY system. He said we could pick our MOS, by volunteering, which we did. Just wondering, have you ever heard of a 2 year voluntary draft? I was only in for 2 years , not 3., When I tell people, they say that it's BS. To this day, nobody can believe it. It says RA on my DD214 and not Draftee! Thanks.

Jim's Reply:

You got me with this one...never heard of such a thing and can't find any reference to it. However, 1970 through 1976 or so were tumultuous years...the draft was set to expire in 1971 and a ton of different opinions and ideas were being tossed about trying to decide what to do.
 

I remember the buddy system well since I was in in 1967. I also remember picking the MOS we wanted by volunteering...that's what I did. That was one of the better things that happened in my life since I chose medic as my MOS and then made a lifelong civilian career out of it.
 

I don't think what you experienced is BS at all. I believe you were in the right place at the right time and your recruiter had some sort of info that allowed him to do what he did. Recruiters have always had tricks up their sleeve to get you to sign on the line.
 

That fact of the matter is that if you served 2 years and your 214 has you rated as RA (Regular Army) that is all the proof you need.
 

Thanks for sharing!

Question:

Hello Jim and thank you for this mailbag. My husband is a Vietnam Veteran and I am approved in the Caregiver Program as of October 1, 2020. They have me listed as Level 1 caregiver, however, I do ALL his ADL's as he cannot walk or do anything except go to the bathroom. (Even then I have to help him clean up. Sorry to have to say that) I appealed to the Dallas Caregivers to be Level 2 because I do it all. I have sent two appeals and they say NO on level 2. I sent them documentation from all the doctors. The Caregivers person has not been here to our house and they have not sent a nurse practitioner to examine him. This has been during the pandemic. I read that they should do this. I just received the second denial letter on July 12, 2021 I have called the three Caregiver people for me. No one answers and no one has returned my call. Who can I do another appeal to? My husband has Parkinsons, AFib, and CHF, and he has a broken right tibia which the orthopedic dr. will not operate on due to my husbands age and previous knee replacement in that leg. Should I contact my Congressman or am I allowed to appeal again? The caregiver letter states this is my "final appeal" Second one. Help. please.

Jim's Reply:

Yes...you should contact your Congressional Representatives. You'll first have to determine who you wish to help. Your choices are your Congressperson or either of your two Senators. You should choose only one. Whoever you like or who you voted for is fine.
 

When you make contact with their office ask to speak with the veterans representative...every Congressional Representative will have a designated person to manage Congressional inquiries. A Congressional inquiry can't always change the course of things but it doesn't hurt to try.
 

Your situation is particularly annoying to me. You and your veteran shouldn't be treated like this. I'm Vietnam era and your husband is my brother...he will not be left behind.
 

Get busy, we'll talk soon.

Question:

Do you help with non-service connected SSDI/SSI application and/or military discharge upgrades?

Jim's Reply:

I don't personally represent veterans, no. However...if it's a discharge upgrade you need help with, click here vetsprobono.org
 

Once you've made contact there you can ask them if they can refer you to an advocate to help you with SSDI. Good luck.