Invasion of Panama Veteran Still Has To Fight VA

Another Veteran Screwed and this Time a Kossack: Me
by Jeffersonian Democrat
Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 05:01:11 AM PST
It has taken me a few days to come to grips enough to write this up as a diary as some have suggested. I apologize upfront if my rage comes through in any way whether it is whining or hyperbole as that is not my intent and I will do my best to objectively relate the narrative of events and opinion.

First of all, let me explain how the VA determines PTSD claims:

The formula for a successful PTSD claim is simple. You need three things:

Evidence of an in-service stressor (the Combat Infantryman's Badge, combat Military Occupational Specialty, Combat awards and medals, etc. , for example, is presumptive of that)
A DIAGNOSIS of PTSD (a VA directed Compensation & Pension exam is where that will come from, based upon the records and the exam)

A "nexus" tying 1 and 2 together, for example orders placing one in combat operations and documented problems resulting from that experience
Jeffersonian Democrat's diary :: ::
Ok, quick relevant military bio. I joined the Army in 1984 and became an Airborne Infantryman, a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. Although I had fantasies of film school in Paris or becoming a diplomat, after I attended SERE school I reenlisted to attend the Special Forces Qualification Course at Ft. Bragg. I successfully completed the course but not without gut-wrenching hardship and sheer iron will power. I am small in stature and only 5'6, but my heart and desire were much bigger at that time. I became a weapons and tactics specialist and Special Forces soldier, commonly known as a Green Beret. I was assigned to 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) immediately after an intensive Spanish course and assigned to an ODA, which is commonly known as an "A-Team". Irrelevant to this case, I also served in the Navy after my education at University of Michigan in Russian and Eastern European Studies as a Naval Intelligence Officer, but that is another can of worms.

Now, I am not going to go into personal stressors and events here, but my little conflict was the Invasion of Panama in 1989-1990. That conflict affected me in ways I had no idea of then. They really came to full force, drastically surfacing, when the Iraq war began. Not that they were there all along, there were things I should have taken notice of. But like a good soldier, I sucked it up and suppressed it. I self-medicated with alcohol for strange feelings that I later learned were panic attacks until I became a full fledged alcoholic. At first, the VA was denying my initial claim because they said that I didn't have the stressor event, however:what the VA does in fact have, in addition to statements, is my DD214 with MOS: 18B Special Forces Weapons Sergeant, and my CIB/SSI and Expeditionary medal awarded through 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) for combat operations in Panama.

And that is a presumptive stressor, so they back-off on that. Yet I had to appeal and file a Notice of Disagreement that I filed in 2005. I had not heard back from the VA until December of 2006, when they finally asked for, and sent me the paperwork for, a VA C&P exam.

Now I had already been hospitalized three times at this point. The first time was the morning that I woke up on my balcony from being passed out, surrounded by beer bottles, and a noose around my neck tied to the railing. I thought, "Jeff Dem, maybe you need some help, hmmm?" I was a kossack also at this point.
go here for the rest
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/22/6057/91498

This is the comment I just left at the Daily Kos.
It was the same problem with Vietnam vets. My husband came home in 1971, not diagnosed until 1990, couldn't get him to go to the VA until 1993 and his claim took six years. His best friend's claim took 19 years and he was multiple tour Green Beret. My husband's nephew had a claim after coming home addicted to heroin, busted for drug deal gone bad, got his life together, had his claim approved and then committed suicide when the DOD told him his unit never existed. Veterans are dying for attention everyday. Maybe that's what they want when they turn down claims? In 1996, we were told by a VA doctor that for every 10 claims with the VA, 8 drop out because of the frustration. That means 8 less wounded veterans they have to support. Claims get tied up for years and veterans die off or fade away. You'd think we would be able to take care of the veterans if we were ever serious about being a "grateful nation" but then you'd also have to believe that fighting for the country, then being forced to fight the country would be wrong. Don't give up! You paid them up front when you were willing to lay down your life. They owe you! So do the rest of us and we had better all start acting like it by telling the government we will not stand for any of you to be treated like this any longer.