Monday, June 18, 2007

Some of My Frustrations With the VA

One of the issues that is still under appeal is the acne scarring on my face. Prior to joining the US Air Force in 1976 I had clear skin. It was a little on the oily side and I had dandruff, but my skin was clear. On occasion I would get a minor outbreak of acne and it would usually clear up in a few days. When I started Air Force basic training in July of 1976 I had clear skin. The very first day of basic training I had a change in my sleeping schedule, my diet, the amount of exercise I got, the climate and my hair went from long to almost gone! Dandruff fell off my scalp and onto my face every day. I remember complaining to one of the training instructors about this and he replied, "You don't need to see where you are going. I will tell you where to go. Just follow the guy in front of you." I never went on sick call while in the Air Force so I have no record of this outbreak.

When I finally did try to claim the acne scarring as service connected the VA used the lack of medical evidence from the Air Force to deny service connection. The other excuse was that the scarring occurred prior to my joining the Army. I appealed this decision and it was eventually remanded back to the regional office for further development. Currently, my claim is being handled by the Appeals Management Team in Washington, DC.

Recently, I sent some photographs of my face to the Appeals Management Team by mail. The post office's website states that the package was delivered on June 11, 2007 but I have yet to get the little green card back. I wonder if I put the wrong return address on it. Anyway, I am now waiting for the Appeals Management Team to look at those photographs and the one taken at the local VA hospital during my last Compensation and Pension (C & P) exam. The report from the dermatologist coupled with the photographs should be enough to get service connection granted for my acne scarring. However, with the VA you never know! Some of the excuses used in the past for denying service connection have been pretty out there! So, I just won't know for sure until I get the latest decision from these people.

I am trying to get a rating for the acne scarring, even if it is at 0%, so that I can get the VA to do something about the scarring. One dermatologist told me that only laser would remove the scars because they are too deep for anything else to work. I am very tired of the scarring on my face and want to get rid of these scars!

Other issues that are still under appeal include the rating for my right shoulder, GERD, my depression, allergic rhinitis and whether or not I can get a separate rating for tinnitus in each ear. There should also be an appeal for them denying my knee problems and my TMJ disorder, but those appeals never got processed. It looks like I am going to have to refile and then try to appeal again. However, I have been told that if I have too many issues open at one time it just slows the process down. So, I am going to wait until I get the final decisions and have exhausted all appeals on the current issues before I try again on the knees and TMJ problems.

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

Hello Friends!

My name is Mike Serovey and I am a veteran of both the US Air Force and the US Army. I joined the Air Force in 1976 and made it half way through basic training before they disqualified me from the job that was guaranteed in my enlistment contract. They wouldn't train me in the jobs that I wanted and I wouldn't take what they offered so I ended up taking an honorable discharge and went home after only 21 days active duty. I later wished that I had stayed in the Air Force because I missed out on the old GI Bill and the new Montgomery one too! Also, I would have had a better life in the Air Force than I did in the Army.

A few months after I got out of the Air Force I joined the Army. Both times I used the delayed enlistment option that they had. I went on active duty in the US Army in September of 1977. I went through basic training and AIT at Fort Sill, OK. Fort Sill is just outside Lawton, OK. That is one place that I have no desire to ever return to.

After that I was stationed at Fort Carson, CO. At first I was assigned to HHB, Division Artillery and a few months later I was transferred to C Battery, 1/29 Field Artillery. I remained with C Battery until my first reenlistment. During the time that I was at Fort Carson my MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) was 13E, Canon Fire Support, Fire Direction Specialist. I told the gun crews which way to point the canons and what charges to use and what the shell/fuse combinations were. I also gave them the setting for timed fuses.

After a while I wanted out of the cold of Colorado and out of artillery. So, when the reenlistment NCO came by to talk to me about reenlistment I told him that I wanted a medical MOS. The first school that came open was 91G, Behavioral Science Specialist. I took it and reenlisted for another 3 years if I remember right. I had considered getting out of the Army at the end of my first enlistment but I was told that there were no jobs back home and I didn't have enough money saved up for college. I also had no real job experience outside of field artillery so I decided that reenlisting for a change of MOS was my best option. Besides, at that time I had a wife and new baby daughter to support.

I went through training as a 91B (Medic) and 91G at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. I liked Ft. Sam and would be happy to be stationed there permanently. After that I was transferred to Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, WA. It was a very rainy place and that is where I first developed depression. My son was born during the time that I was stationed there. My job during the entire time I was at Madigan was a drug and alcohol rehab counselor. At first I liked the job but then I got tired of it and wanted to do something else.

Eventually it was time for me to go to Germany so I reenlisted again for 6 years this time. I reenlisted on the last day that they were paying a bonus for 91Gs to reenlist. While in Germany I was stationed at Giessen Milcom. My job there was again as a drug and alcohol rehab counselor. However, I got on the wrong side of a few people and got kicked out of the rehab agency. They made me the assistant training NCO (read that "go fer") until I completed my tour in Germany. At the end of my 3 years in Germany I had orders in my hand to go to Fort Ord, CA. Those orders were rescinded and I was held in Germany and extra 2 weeks so that they could kick me out for unsatisfactory performance. I spent about a day and a half at Fort Jackson, SC out processing the Army.

When I got out I almost immediately filed a claim for VA benefits. However, I didn't know that I could claim some of my conditions as service connected nor did I know that I could get free help in filing my claim from service organizations like the DAV and American Legion. I filed by myself and got a measly 10% rating. It took me about 9 years to discover that I could get free help from the Military Order of the Purple Heart. I met a guy named Herschel Lane while he was on a cigarette break and told him about how I got cheated by the VA on my rating. He stated that he could help me to get a higher rating and he did. He got me from 10% service connected to 50%. I am currently at 50% until the paperwork gets processed to pay me for the increase in the rating on my back. I am supposed to be at 20% for my back but I am still at 10% until my paperwork finally gets processed.

My current ratings are: flat feet 30%; back problem 10% (supposed to be at 20%); tinnitus (ringing in my ears) 10%; left shoulder problem 10%; right shoulder problem 0%; and hearing loss 0%.

In the future I will post more of my adventures in the Army and what I have had to endure with the VA in order to get the rating that I believe that I deserve.

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