Reporting for Roll Call -16:15 Hrs.-6-21-13
Hi LT:
Re: PTSD - Okay, you recommend that PTSD should be the first item on a veteran's agenda,to get his prmary doctor to set up an appointment with Mental Health Clinic, for an evaluation, and that this should be done completely separate from any other medical problems. Per your comment, to mention anything else just gives the VA bureaucracy a stronger opening to stall when it comes to filing a claim.
What this tells me is that the medical channels at the VA really have little to say about determining "disability". All they can do is give the medical facts about a given case, but not provide any kind of evaluation relating to disability. If that's the case then that's another one of those "landmines" in the process we were talking about.
Now, having gotten that appointment with the Mental Health folks, our Cherry Troop then faces whatever phsychological hoops these want him to jump through. And from that...are they the ones who make an evaluation about his level of PTSD? If so what happens next?
Re: For other problems, like Agent Orange impacts, you seem to be recommending that these be done separately. A shotgun approach?
Maybe it's just me, but such a piecemeal approach seems as cockamaimy a process as can be imagined. That's what it sounds like to me...but what do I know?
Reporting for ROLL CALL - 6:13PM 6/21/13
ReplyDeleteHey Captain!
Let me start out with Rule 5: The VA is not the enemy!
The Veterans Administration is the largest medical 'company' in the world. As such, it's 'BIG'. And big in any business or industry means 'bureaucracy'. And all that work there are Civil Servants. In other words, government employees. As such, complacency occurs. I have used the VA for my medical needs solely since June, 1966. All that any or many or me say about 'bad' with the VA, there is also a world of good. So, with that said, yes, you are right: ..."a piecemeal approach seems as cockamaimy a process..."
There are many wounds an American fighting man/woman can endure. A Civil War Veteran once wrote that the only ones on the battlefield who found peace are the dead. War is hell. And, the wounds from war are apocalyptic. Without going into draconian discriptions, let me make it simple by saying there are physical wounds, and mental wounds. So if a soldier has a limb blown off in combat, that is a physical wound. If he goes crazy from watching his buddies get blown up all around him, that is a mental wound.
There are many 'new' wounds coming out of these Rich Man Wars from Vietnam to Afghanistan. No one ever heard of PTSD until it was 'invented' by 'head doctors' or 'shrinks' (psychiatrist) in 1984. Agent Orange was thought to be a harmless defoliant until an Admiral's son died of it, and the 'shit hit the fan'. And now we have DSS, TBI, and 'rape'. Yes, rape!
Once again, I'm a Veteran Advocate. I'm hearing from Veterans around the country now as a result of ROLL CALL. It is so important to have all your ducks in a row when you go into a business to get a job interview, and that you have your 'shit together'. Same applies to when you do get your first 'interview' with your VA primary care doctor.
The most important step is to get your VA card the day after you are formally and honorably discharged from the service. The longer you wait the more difficult is will be to make a 'claim'. And there's that word; claim. And the more time that goes by, the more 'land mines' there are to step over.
And I'll finish by giving you an answer to your last question above: You know a lot, Captain!