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Originally Posted by FED 387
OK Gary--- just to give you a heads up on a time line and how this all works---first the VA will send you a form letter saying that they got your claim and they are working on it. about 6 months from then they will send you another form letter saying that due to the backlog they are still working on it. During this time they will have gotten your complete medical records and hopefully they will have been scouring over them(ya right). Anyway they will in time eventually send the records to their medical review board to look at and make some kind of a determination as to wether you qualify or not. If you do qualify they will give your case a rating as a percentage of disability from 10-100%. Ten is the lowest 100 being the highest. Not sure why you are disabled but if you are missing any limbs or eyes you will be at least 50% to totally disabled which is 100%.the average is about 20-30%
The reason there is such a tremendous backlog is that guys that were in the First Gulf War are now able to apply for benefits from things as PTS(post traumatic syndrome) and chemical warfare exposure and there are about 800,000 people that need to be dealt with. We also have all the people from Iraq/Afghanistan that are applying for benefits. Being optimistic it will probably take you at least 24 months to get your claim approved could be quicker maybe even longer. Do not worry if your claim is approved and you get benefits you will be paid a lump some from the date you applied not the date you are approved. You will get a lump sum payment for all those back benefits!!!! If you are married you get more money than being single, if you have children under I believe 19 or so you will get additional money---THIS MONEYI IS EXEMPT FROM ALL INCOME TAXES BOTH FEDERAL AND STATE!!! but you can claim it as income when applying for credit like car loans, mortgages and others---Just be patient this will take some time. You might want to have the VFW make inquiries every so often as to the status of your claim. Maybe every 4 months or so. THEY WORK REAL SLOOOOOOOOOOOW at the VA so don't expect this to be resolved quickly..Dick Ullrich FED 387
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You are exactly right on the time it takes to get a claim through. I believe mine took 2-1/2 years. You must have patience. I don't. My wife handled everything.