I have been able to help many I know personally with their disability claims. Some were strangers and now they aren’t.   Some were friends that never knew how it worked.  So far my favorite story goes like this…..

I was out bra shopping at Maidenform and I was catching up with the manager Jessica (I’m a regular). The VA was mentioned in our chat and all of a sudden she starts telling me about another manager at the store whose husband is a Marine and got screwed by the VA!!  So of course I got curious and got in contact with this other manager; we’ll call her Lisa and her husband Alex.

As Lisa told me her husband’s journey with the VA I realized something had to be missing.  Alex had not only been deployed in support of the Gulf War, but he had been in combat.  He had a Combat Action Ribbon (CAR) which comes in handy when claiming PTSD (it typically speeds things up).  So being denied every issue he had claimed didn’t make any sense to me. He allowed me to help and I dug into his paperwork and found the problem….I should say problems.

In no particular order…first I noticed his discharge paperwork, his DD 214, never showed him leaving the states nor did it show he was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon or any Campaign ribbons.  Next I noticed the VA had never received his military medical records, so it looked as though they were missing.  Then I noticed he didn’t have an actual diagnosis of PTSD from a Dr (can’t be from an LCSW, must be from a shrink, just claiming an issue doesn’t mean you have it, keep that in mind).

To fix these problems was pretty simple in Alex’s case. He was able to provide the VA a copy of his CAR to prove he was in combat. He also had copies of his medical records and lastly, he got the records from the Dr that diagnosed his PTSD.  With all this it was easy for the VA to process his claim.  Alex also sent a copy of his CAR to the Veteran’s Board of Appeals to correct his DD 214 in case he ever needs it again for any proof of combat or Gulf War service.

Alex is now rated at 90% and the VA was able to back date many of his claimed issues a year, so he got about a $40,000 retro payment.  That went a long way with buying the new house and providing for the new baby on the way!!

The best part of all this…Alex got validation for his service and sacrifice. The money is just a bonus.  Now when Alex runs into another Marine that has had the same issues (and it’s a guarantee he will) he can pay it forward by sharing his story and knowledge.  This is what we do for each other.