Veteran Benefits If You Reside In A Foriegn Country.

[Wagon]

Hello All,

I never thought I would be able to do this, but it does turn out I can apply for Veterans Benefits. I recently got in contact with some old mates of mine and virtually all of them are getting benefits for PTSD. I was pretty resigned to getting as little help as possible over here, but now it appears this has changed.

So the big question is.....how do you do this if you are a resident in a different country? Work with the embassy, do it on line and hope for the best. I have been kind of ignoring this section of the forum for the last 2 years so I do not have a clue. Thanks for your help.

Peace
Wagon

 

[Sarg]

O.K., Wagon. You're going to have to give me some more info. Do you have duel citizenship? The events that caused your PTSD occured while you were in the U.S. Navy or Merchant Marines? If so, you'll need to get your military records here: http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/. You will have to fill out a form here:Link Removed.

They will schedule you for what is called a Compensation and Pension Exam. I have no idea as to whether they can do this in the Netherlands. They may try to make you come to the states.

It is very important that you go through your records with a "fine tooth comb" and isolate those that contributed directly to Your PTSD. You have to show them "stressors", i.e. blood and gore, hostile fire, death of a comrad, ect. Sorry to get so specific.

Thus armed, I would go to WWW.Hadit.com. The ladies there know more about VA law than the VA does. They can show you how to sort your info into "VA speak" and therefore give you a betting chance of winning the first time around.

Wagon, I won't bullshit you. You're in for a long wait. The VA is a sinking ship. They are still processing Nam Vet's claims. Add Gulf wars, Iraq, and Afgan. There are lawsuits against the VA right now for the long wait times for processing claims.

As always, I'm here if you need me.

Sarg

 

[Wagon]

Cool. Thanks Sarg. I called the embassy and they referred me to the online registration. Yeah looks like I have to get my records in order.

I am only one citizenship. US. And whatever i got, I got it in the Navy. I just got in contact with some people from my old ship. Most of them have compensation, so I figure I'll give it a shot.

Thanks much for the web sites. I will check them out.

Wish me luck

Wagon

 

[Sarg]

Ah, excellent that you're still in touch with the guys that went through the shit with you. The VA accepts "buddy statements", that is written statements from your buds basically stating, "yep he was there, yep we went through it, yep he's got the beast too", sort of things. Their having ratings for PTSD for the same things only strengthens your claim.

If you can nail it down to date, approx. time, place, that would help. I've heard the Navy guys say that ship's logs are good for backing up your statements.

It's a lot easier these days with the internet. I've heard of guys finding their outfit website, asking hey, do you guys remember me doing thus and such, on such and such a date and they come up with all sorts of info like after action reports.

I don't envy your "paper shuffle" but you got to do it to get the beans.

Sarg

 

[Wagon]

Yeah. I logged allot of the stuff myself. And thanks for the note on the buddy statements. I can get that now. Before this guy suddenly appeared, I had no contact or even an inkling to even try for benefits. Everything happens for a reason I guess.

Thanks again.

 

[Sarg]

The ladies on Hadit will suggest that you get a big three ring binder to put your docs in. Keeps everything organized and you can build progression of disease, timelines of stressors, it will enable you find find info much quicker. Very helpful in a C&P Exam, if the Doc lets you present evidence.

If you have kept any of your original docs, preserve them well, I used these thin plastic sleeves formed to fit into the binder. Many times docs get copied so many times they become unreadable. An original trumps a unintelligible copy any day.

I'm just rattling this stuff off as I remember it. If the board would prefer, we can take this to private message and close this thread. Don't want to pester our allied friends.

Sarg

 

[tnkg1rl]

I made copies and copies and more copies of everything, if there are articles copies of orders with other peoples names, the VA can actually look at those people records to find similar instances. They had to do this for my husband. Lucklily I had found newspaper articles with photos, so I subitted these as well. I worked as a Veterans Advocate for a Congressman before we moved out of Kansas City, I would tell everyone do as much leg work as you possibly can, have family write letters about how you have changed, keep a thought record for you to help with triggers, bring it to your C&P. Sarg is right, it's a long long road, but the more work you do the easier it is for them to say yes.

 

[Wagon]

I'm not so sure I want to go through the grief anymore. I think trying my best to be productive might be my best bet. Which also will be hard and frustrating, but it is movement.

This VA route seems like allot of work to prove my past in order to remain in neutral for the foreseeable future.

It is designed for discouragement, I've already played that game with the US government. Didn't work well.

We're all different. Some people can go through this, others can't. Other roads seem easier for myself.

Thanks all for the kind advice.

Peace
Wagon

 

[tnkg1rl]

I agree with you there, it is very stressful I called at least twice a week for five years, it is designed to discourage, they don't want you to fight them, they just want you to sit back and take their decision. I don't mind waves and I made a lot of them, and eventually when they figured out we weren't going to give up, they gave my husband his 100%, it almost took my mind getting it though. I hope whatever decision you choose is one that works the best for you.

Thanks for your Service!!

tnkg1rl

 

[Tim Cake]

Like tnkg1rl said - make waves and don't give up!

 

[Wagon]

I don't care about making waves. It is just that I see it as pointless to go through an exercise to prove to the government that I was.......serving the government......with records that they themselves have on archive.

I don't know if you follow my logic on this but.....it seems to me the very act of causing waves only serves to employ more people to eat up the funds which should be going to veterans. If we do all the paper work.....what exactly are all the paper pushers there for. Self service government. Well fine. Sack a few thousand employees and let me serve myself then. Fancy web site, more info than anyone could fully comprehend unless they dedicated 40 hours a week to it and you have to phone twice a week for 5 years to get movement.

I think I'm just at a point, and that goes for here in Norway as well, where I am seeing that the system serves to provide a job to those who work in it and definitely not to actually serve the purpose it is there for. Unless of course it involves collecting money from the public, then it's all business.

I know, this is my problem. I'm going private when I get some cash. At least then I actually have some sort of recourse.

 

[Anglesachse]

The system, irrespective of which, has allways been screwed up in that sense Wagon cocker.

You are, and allways will be, better off out of the rat race and going private. Took me years to figure that out. And these days I am a lot better for it.

That and a getting away once a year. So if you need a change of scenery, you know where to find me. And being the closest you got to go past me to get to everybody else anway LOL. Guess that make me like some bad smell that will not go away LMAO