By Thom Stoddert
When making a claim with the Veterans Administration always keep in your mind: you must have evidence to support your request. Over and over I keep hearing from veterans “they denied my claim” and the vet is angry. When in reality the vet is at fault for not providing reasonable evidence to support the claim they are making. I spend 90 percent of my time with veterans, just working on this very essential issue.
A veteran in this state submitted a claim to the VA for service connection of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder supposedly from having been assaulted by his fellow ship mates. His claim was denied for several reasons. There was no medical evidence of ever having been injured in the vet’s service medical records that the VA had obtained on his behalf. Further, the veteran did not provide any of his own evidence as instructed by letters from the VA Regional Office. A year or two later after being denied benefits, he submitted new evidence in the form of pages copied from his ship’s year book that had individual pictures high-lighted with fluorescent yellow.
These pictures were accompanied by a statement from the vet saying these were his fellow service members who had assaulted him on that ship and now the VA has the evidence needed to give him the favorable decision that he demanded, and I mean demanded. Understand the weakness of his yearbook evidence? Anyone can send in pictures from anywhere and say those people beat me up. The evidence lacks specifics.
Each vet is not cookie cut and molded. Thus evidence comes in many forms focused on the needs of each veteran. So what evidence does the VA need?
The basic requirement for evidence that the Veteran’s Benefits Administration needs is fairly simple. Something must have happened on active duty and it is still shown to be present in some form. Further, there must be evidence linking what you have now to what happened on active duty. Evidence links both the present and the past.
A simple example, issues like arthritis of the joints. You were inured in service and now there is traumatic arthritis. You have identified to the VA that you were injured playing unit sports or something. The VA then obtains your service medical records and finds that you had been injured playing in a game. Your present doctor gives a history of complaints and diagnosis.
But what about when you get hurt and there are no records because you went to your good buddy the corpsman. I have seen many vets get favorable decisions when they submitted good lay statements from people who witnessed the injury, or treated the injury. Former commanders, NCOs, corpsmen, and/or several folks who witnessed the same thing are excellent sources of evidence. People who stand to benefit financially from any favorable decision are not usually considered to be strong supporting evidence.
How do you locate former members of your unit? There are many easy ways that do not trespass any privacy laws. My favorite is www.Military.com. Go to your old unit and see if there is any one you remember and who remembers you. Establish contact and see if that person remembers the incident and will write a statement to support you.
Do an internet search for your unit and repeat the above process. Most units do have some sort of reunion functions. “Old” letters to friends and family carry very valuable credible evidence. I have seen old newspapers do the trick for a deserving vet. The Navy has the best websites for each ship.
Sometimes there is no clear linkage between what you have and what happened in the service. This is when a written opinion of an expert who explains why your disease is linked to something such as exposure to the Agent Orange that you had in Vietnam. This is just one example, an expert’s (not the family doctor) opinion with a credible explanation usually works for all issues.
Frequently I have seen claims for PTSD denied for lack of a credible stressor event. This is when a lay statement from a former buddy comes in. Another example; a vet was in the artillery and as such would not receive a Combat Infantry Badge. Yet he was in frequent fire fights protecting his firebase. The VA denies his claim for lack of proof of a verifiable stressor such as a combat award. But the vet provided details as to the time he was in the unit that was attacked. He provided places, details and the name of key personnel he served with. All of his information was verified through the various third party resources that VA has and they were able to grant him a favorable decision.
In almost all cases when a claim has been denied, it usually is the lack of good strong credible evidence. So that is where you start if you submit an appeal or a notice of disagreement. Plan your evidence carefully.