I don’t know how I’m going to get disability now. My only hope is to appeal. The judges can decide whatever they want. It’s kinda a toss up what the judge will decide. I’m hoping he gives the veteran(me) the benefit of the doubt. I think that’s generally how they do it. I’m just concerned because I have no proof now. It could be a good or bad thing. Woe is me! I have no doubt that my sz started in the army and I’ve continually had it since being discharged. Let’s hope they take my word initially so I won’t have to appeal. Strange stuff like this always happens to me. Let’s hope that the powers that be like me a little and want to bless my life. I go between thinking they hate me and like me. At the very least maybe they take pity on me. I’m hoping they help me out here. They’ve already saved my life so many times. I really do owe them my life. I’ll owe them even more if they take pity on me and let me get VA disability. I should be in prison right now but they took pity on me and saved my life twice. Take pity on me again please. I owe and love them greatly.
Do you have a lawyer? That would help. It’s like mandatory to get turned down the first time you apply. It’s normal. You should be approved the second time around.
You’re not allowed to get a lawyer until you appeal.
@Tyme , I used a lawyer to help me apply and won on the first try. Not all attorneys wait to help until appeal.
My understanding is that a lawyer can’t help you until you appeal. I could be wrong.
That’s not how it went for me. I got it with a lawyers help on the first try
I have a friend who was in the Marines and she went AWOL while in the Marines because she was so sick with depression. She saw a psychiatrist while in the military. Now, 35 years later, my friend says the military falsified her records. She says they have no record of her seeing a pdoc, and they falsely have her working as a mechanic during the time she went AWOL. And now, they say it’s up to her to straighten all of this out. My friend has no money to travel or hire lawyers. It’s a real mess.
That’s probably what they did with mine. I probably won’t get it.
@TheBest do you get disability?
Not from the VA. I get SSDI though.
Why don’t you get va disability? I figured you would since you got an honorable discharge.
I applied for disability because I was told to. I did lie about being bi-polar before I joined so it was denied pretty easily.
I should try to enlist since they lost my records. Man I miss the three good square meals a day. The Air Force always had the best chow halls.
My sz started while I was in the army too, 37 years ago. When I was in you either had to have gotten psychological treatment while you were in the army, or have gotten it within a year after you got out. It had to be documented. I think I did see a pdoc within a year after I got out, but it was very tenuous treatment. Right now I’m doing okay on nonmilitary disability pay, but life is a precarious. It wouldn’t take much to upset the equilibrium of my life style.
When I was in everybody who joined the army was a kid, with very immature ideas about authority and responsibility. The army back then was like a factory that produced alcoholics. Sometimes I think the army should pay disability to the guys who became alcoholics while they served, but it would probably wreck the national budget if they did that. I was in the army before the Reagan military buildup. Pay was low, and morale was bad. I voted for Reagan in 1980 solely for his policy regarding the military.
Towards the end of my enlistment I was a nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare specialist for an infantry company. That would probably have been a good field to move up in if I had decided to stay in. I feel like I could have made a contribution. One thing I would like to see them do in the field of chemical warfare would be to extensively train ranger units to do guerilla warfare in contaminated environments.
I was in a 21b Combat Engineer Airborne unit. It was fun. I miss it sooo much. My initial goal was to be EOD. They said I scored one point below on the ASVAB to be anything I wanted in the army including EOD. I’m not sure if that is accurate that I magically scored one point below EOD qualifications. They persuaded me to be a Combat Engineer because they figured I like to blow things up. I just imagine how different my life would be if they let me be EOD. That would have made me a bomb expert. I would probably be working for the FBI or something. Oh well, can’t go back!
How many times have you parachuted?
None. They stuck me in an airborne unit in hopes that I would go to jump school. I never ended up getting the opportunity to go.
I really hope you get the disability. Worth a chance.