One of my disability claims disappeared from the pending claim list? : Veterans

[ad_1]

Hey there guys, so I am not trying to make a pity party or whatever, this is a genuine question. So I got out of the Marine Corps in January of this year. I was a infantryman and was in for 4 years. I was in Kabul for the evac, and saw pretty much everything the news reported. The guys falling off the planes to those getting blown up. Other than Kabul, I was a peacetime Marine. I come back from that deployment, start having panic attacks (never had issues with those before) so I get seen. I get diagnosed with PTSD, then shortly later EAS. I get out, get married to my girlfriend of 3 years, life seems good. I get enrolled with Cognitive Processing Therapy through the VA, and am currently on a 2 month wait list. I have never in my life had suicidal thoughts, but I am having them now and I dont know why. I dont want to die, it is very strange. It is intrusive and comes in waves. I get very tired of dealing with life and the symptoms of the anxiety/ptsd which is totally new to me. I will have these thoughts, get really anxious and sad etc etc. Then it will go away and ill think back like “wow that was very stupid” and go on with my life. It has only been 1 year of me dealing with this crap. Do these problems go away? I love my wife, and i love my family. And I do NOT want to kill myself, but the damned thoughts come and they hit me hard!

Someone please give me some hope, or at least a way to deal with these thoughts. Im tired of it, and it makes me depressed… Thanks for the help

Edit: when I get home from work, ill read everything. Thanks for the help guys, it means alot.

[ad_2]

Source link

PACT Cuts Red Tape in Burn Pits Claims Possible Presumptives

[ad_1]

Marine Robert Ziegler was infantry deployed like many others in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and was around toxic fire pits.

“With burn pits, we used rocket fuel, jet fuel, we used to burn everything,” he says. And things they could not transport home, like equipment, they also burned. There were also chemicals — of what — he says God only knows. “So that’s 14 months I was totally in all that,” he says. The pits were scattered throughout forward operating bases.

Ziegler says he is now combating various ailments, possibly related to the pits and the barrage of sandstorms in the desert. “Every time I cough or sneeze, I see stars, I get really hot, feel like I’m going to faint,” says Ziegler, “I have irritable bowel syndrome.” He says every year; it’s something new.

The PACT Act is designed to ease the process for VA disability claims by making changes to or establishing new presumptives for certain conditions related to toxic exposure.

Read the Full Story

Source: RochesterFirst.com

Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021 or the Honoring our PACT Act of 2021

This bill addresses health care, the presumption of service-connection, research, resources, and other matters related to veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during military service.

The bill provides eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care, including mental health services and counseling, to veterans who

participated in a toxic exposure risk activity (a qualifying activity that requires a corresponding entry in an exposure tracking record system),
served in specified locations on specified dates, or
deployed in support of a specified contingency operation.

The bill establishes the Formal Advisory Committee on Toxic Exposure to assist with the various procedures in establishing or removing presumptions of service-connection.

The bill modifies or establishes the presumption of service-connection for certain conditions or purposes for various groups of veterans.

Among other requirements, the VA must:

provide a veteran with a medical examination regarding the nexus between a disability and toxic exposure risk activity if a veteran submits a disability compensation claim for a service-connected disability with insufficient evidence,
incorporate a clinical questionnaire to help determine potential toxic exposures as part of the initial screening conducted for veterans with a VA primary care provider, and
establish a registry for current or past members of the Armed Forces who may have been exposed to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances due to the environmental release of aqueous film-forming foam at a Department of Defense location.

#burnpits #burnpitregistry #pactact #burnpitexposure

[ad_2]

Source link