VA benifits

Wife of 41 Years

There are a few guys here who have had success

If your husband was in Nam - boots on the ground - he probably will qualify for disability. Quite apprently he was there!

You want to work with a VA Disability Coordinator and not try and file by yourself.

I'm sure others will chime in here

Hugs

Bud

Yup. Boots on the ground for sure to open that door. And yes to getting help. I went DAV at our VA center. Some paperwork and about 6 months. I dont know all the info they gather to determine percentage for prostate cancer, but in my case it was 100%. The benefits are nothing to sneeze at either.

At 100% disability you can get free life insurance through VA up to 10k also. To that I say thank you Lord.

My sister and Bro in law are both Military retired and helped me understand my need to apply.

Wife of 41 years:

(I am a Vietnam veteran myself. Below is a cut-and-paste of a reply I made a few months ago to another veteran asking the same question you have asked. I could have just added a link here to it, but I wanted to update what I said then a bit anyway):

Sorry you have to be here (we say that to all newcomers, as true as it is), but this is a great list for getting good information. As already stated, we have a number of veterans here, and some Vietnam veterans as well.

You've gotten good advice so far. I will add to it by mentioning a few things that I recall about applying for and getting benefits, below in free form and as they come to me.

5 months from filing date to beginning of direct deposit of funds. Award is "presumptive" (that is, they assume your husband qualifies for award if he (1) was in Nam, and (2) he has PCa). Need discharge form (DD-214) and lab report stating that he has been Dx'd with PCa (such as from Bostwick Labs). Medical exam by VA doctor required. Standard exam, with DRE. During my own exam the doc asked me to "characterize" the PCa. I wasn't sure what she meant, so I just gave Gleason, PSA and stage. Seemed to be enough. (Yes, "she," BTW, his VA examiner may be a lady doctor, not that it matters). He should be prepared to tell what medications he is on, any side effects he is having, but don't expect the examining doctor to answer any questions about the status of his application, they just do the medical exam.

The most important quality your husband can have during this VA process is patience. It will take some time, but he will eventually get a decision (although, again, it should be automatic if he was in Nam (that DD214 form) and he has been Dx'd with PCa (lab report).

Something, very, very important that I just remembered. He MUST get his application in BEFORE completion of treatment. It's one of their rules. The important thing is filing the application, because that establishes his application date, and all else gets measured from that date.

There will be a second VA exam approximately six months following award at which they examine him for "residuals" (basically SEs resulting either from PCa or treatment). Residuals can be things like voiding dysfunction, renal dysfunction, etc., and if he has them he might get a permanent disability award which could be 20 %, 30 %, etc. of his initial award.

Keep records of everything, meet all deadlines, follow all instructions, and be cooperative (even if you or he are feeling impatient sometimes).

A few others: once he gets the award, he may qualify for some exemptions in your home state or county (I got a 25 % reduction in my property taxes, thanks to having this VA assigned disability). Government life insurance is an option, there are vocational rehab options available through the VA, and I believe also free dental benefits under certain circumstances. Also, if you have minor children there are some educational benefits they will be entitled to.

Of course, the Veterans Administration website can well you all you need to know.

The monthly cash direct deposit right now is $2810.00 for single veterans, a bit more for married ones. This may be revised to a smaller amount following his "residuals" exam, depending on the revised percentage they assign. This can be appealed, if you disagree with it.

Again, welcome and good luck!

Alright, Since a number has been mentioned,... add just over $600 if your married and at 100%

Lorraine

Your hubby was boots on the ground in Nam which has already been established

Purgatory was Navy which can be harder to prove "boots on the ground"

My neighbor, who was boots on the ground, went through all that 81GyGuy talked about as the application process - he filed and within 3 months had his first check in hand.

81GyGuy - laid out the way to do it. - Smart dude our brother is:)

Bud

sonny was navy, but his papers clearly show the boots on the ground part. I was in a patrol squadron (VP17) made up of P-3 Orions. We were based in the PI, but detached to both Cam Rah Bay, Viet Nam and Utapao in Thailand, we flew in both places constantly, was on the deck many times in Cam Rah. Some navy cases are difficult because of those situations.

david

greetingz,

know what you mean, brother. I was there in 1971, 42 years ago. Since our planes were unarmed, we went to Thailand if things were too hot in Cam Rahn, but the rest of the time, we would be inn Cam Rhan, to re-fuel, and reload torpedoes, etc. I was only 18 at the time. Most of our missions were part of the "Market Time" patrols in the South China Sea and over the Mykong Delta areas. Seems like another lifetime ago. What do you really know when you are 18?

The not so funny joke that goes around, is that the VA hopes us old dogs will die off before they ever have to make good on these claims. about 1 1/2 years ago, I even enlisted the help of my U.S. Senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He did look into my case, agreed with my findings, but found my file was literally in piles numbering tens of thousands awaiting hardship decisions. I got 3 personal letters from him at the time, but even in his position, there was nothing he could do to speed up a decision.

I plan to go to my county VA office next week, to see if the latest rounds of letters, etc has done any good, and what to expect time wise at this point.

I had a low lottery number back in 1970, so I joined of my own accord, they sure didn't mind taking me and risking my life back then, now that I need them, I feel they have turned their back on me.

I was there, served proudly, have an honorable discharge, and I have prostate cancer, now advanced prostate cancer, and yet its been over 3 years since I filed. I am not alone in this ordeal, I realize that I am not anyone special, but still, its been more than frustrating.

My grandfather was Army in WWI, my father career navy in WW2 and Korea, then my time in the Navy, and my oldest son was Army just prior to the First Gulf War, so we are 4 generation military. Some thanks.

good luck to you as well,

david

But then the PCa journey also sometimes seems like a "strange dream," doesn't it?

Wife,

I had a temporary 100 percent rating following treatment and then got a partial rating, which I still have, for side effects. It took about a year for the paperwork to work its way through the system.


David -
I was a Navy radioman at Coastal Surveillance Center Danang (call sign "Article") throughout 1968 - which was also part of Market Time. I passed through Cam Ranh Bay, which was Market Time headquarters, while on my way north from Saigon to Danang when I arrived in country.

I can attest that we had VP squadron detachments flying P3s and P2s from the ground at Cam Ranh Bay. When the patrol planes were in our sector (Danang to DMZ) they would give us radio reports of coastal activity to supplement the reports from our swift boats and Coast Guard WPB's.

As luck would have it, I spent my last two years in the Navy in VP8 in Maryland and Bermuda, though on the ground logging and tracking code manuals, and classified message traffic, and only flying as a passenger to catch a hop home while on deployment.

Jim

Here is a tip for the point at which you get the notice for that 1st exam appointment.

The letter will state that you don't need (shouldn't take) any medical records. Well I had everything organized in a neat chronological 3 ring binder. When the doc started asking questions (remember most of the time these are civilian docs under contract with the VA) I would just refer to my records. After she had asked about 5-6 questions, for which I referred to the records, she asked if I minded if she just looked at my book.

I handed it over to her and explained how it was organized. For the next ten minutes she just went through the book and filled in the blanks on her forms.

I really feel that having all of the info, doctor's names, reports, etc., is why my application was approved in such a short time frame.

I also copied all of this info, organized in the same fashion and submitted it with my application in the beginning. They purposefully do not forward these medical records to the examining doctor.

If you think about it for a minute, you will see the logic. Imagine you are a clerk processing these claims. You pick one up and there is the basic info about who you are, where and when you served and your medical condition representing the reason for your filing. The clerk then has to start putting together a list of all the info they need, where they have to get it from and so on and so on.

Or the clerk picks up a file that has absolutely ever detail in it, neatly arranged for easy reference and complete.

Which one of these claims do you think the clerk will work on. Which one do you think will get approved faster.

My claim was approved in a little under 4 months. This was at a time when my VA rep warned me it could take a year or longer.

Many times you have seen the news reports and heard stories about how long it takes to get Social Security Disability approved as well. There also seems to be a never ending process of denials and appeals.

Well my wife used the same approach I did and with the same attention to detail and she was also approved in about 4 months.

It pays to put in a little effort on the front end, of that I am convinced.

Good luck. Just thought I would throw this out there for what it is worth.

Sonny

Sonny also lives in FL, where there was a huge VA regional center. Much of what happens with the VA happens first at the state level. I live in SC, and the VA regional here sucks so bad, and I was treated so rudely. They were so screwed up, they were claiming that I was already in the Navy in 1969, while I was still a senior in High School. I didn't graduate until June 14, 1970, had my military records in my hand, and they all but called me a liar on this point. lol. I have sent them actual photographs form Cam Rah, among other evidences. When I finally insisted on wanting to appeal to Washington, they threw a fit with me on the phone, woman actually cussed me out. I reported the incident to the VA county reps, but nothing became of it. The woman told me I was wasting my time with the appeal, and that she would make sure it my file would get buried. Over 3 years later, starting to believe she did that to some degree.

The VA hospitals vary so much state by state, I know some in other states that are great, but here in SC, I wouldn't send a cat or dog to any of the VA hospitals. Fortunately, I am only 90 minutes from Asheville, NC, where the VA hospital has a great reputation.

My point, it can make a big difference how well organized the VA is in your particular state, as to how well your claims will ultimately be processed and handled.

david

Jim, there were no P-2's left in my squadron, had all the latest (at that time) P-3 entirely. Got to go on many flights in observation positions. Here in Greenville, SC, Lockheed has a facility, where they refurbish P-3, even to this day. I enjoy seeing those lovely planes flying overhead, that distinct sound of those 4 turbo props, and that trail of smoke and their long "stinger" tails. Brings back sweet memories for sure.