Jim,
ill make this as short as possible,, i am ex marine grunt ,13 months
in nam ,,,got home in 1969,,,,i did stammer a little when i enlisted
which i informed them,,,,they never brought it up nor was it ever
noticed,,,when i got back my speech became worse,,,,i filed claim in
bout 1975,,,,va denied saying it was pre existing
condition,,,,,,,,,,,now its still bad plus been going to psychatrist
for 4 yrs and put on paxil,,,,,,,,iam going to file for
ptsd,,,,,,,,,,,,,what u think,,,,,thanks,
Reply:
I agree that if you believe that your symptoms of PTSD are clear and
convincing, you should proceed to file for disability compensation. To
file isn't hard to do. You may want to have a look through my web site
at http://vawatchdogtoday.org where you'll find many articles to guide
you and you should also spend time reviewing the helpful information
you'll find at http://www.statesidelegal.org
Pre-existing conditions won't be found as service connected if the
condition is approximately the same before and after your military
service. If you had a slight stammer prior to service and then had
much the same after service, VA will usually deny any service
connection and disability compensation.
However, if you believe that your condition has been made worse by
military service, then you have a well grounded reason to seek
compensation. In this case you should document and clearly state that
your condition existed but was of little consequence to you. Then
document as a time-line how the condition has become much worse over the years. As you do this, be sure to document the circumstances of your service in Vietnam that you believe caused or contributed to the
problem. This might be combat, medic duty, handling of wounded or dead bodies or body parts or losing comrades in an up-close and personal
way.
If you have substantive causes for the development of PTSD and you can
support such by evidence, it's likely that you will prevail in your
claim.
Please do continue to take treatments offered to you. Many of us from
the Vietnam era are only now beginning to suffer the impact that the
war had on our lives. We buried it and carried on for decades but the
situation in the current set of wars seems to be dredging up long
forgotten memories that are bringing about significant symptoms and
problems. Staying on top of it with aggressive therapy is the best
thing you can do for yourself and your family.
Good luck.