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"To Deny, or Delay, That is The Question..."- Wm. Shakespeare, 1609

PTSD Claims & New Upgrade Rules: What Would ShakespeareSay?

If a Veteran has a Dishonorable Discharge, a Veteran is barred from claiming disability compensation benefits.

And herein lies the "rub", as Shakespeare said:

If undiagnosed PTSD caused the behavior...that ledto the discharge ..... that led to the denial of VAdisability compensation benefits.... the Veteran wasoften prevented from getting the financialcompensation and medical treatment needed to heal.

The Veteran could not recover from the wound of warthat was inflicted upon him or her.

The Veteran who was discharged because of theconsequences of undiagnosed PTSD caused bymilitary service was flat out denied any way to getANY help to start to heal and reintegrate into civilianlife.

This is no small problem.

A lawsuit filed by a group of Vietnam Veterans throughthe group "Vietnam Veterans of America" allege that250,000 Veterans from the Vietnam era alone got badconduct discharges.

Of those, 80,000 suffered from PTSD.

That's a staggering number - I've seen the pattern inthousands of Claims Files (aka, C-Files) of Veteransof every combat era.

Veteran goes to war. Sees, does, witnesses, experiences, lives through some form of horrible shit. Or the Veteran israped or sexually assaulted in service. Either way, the condition that results is what we now know as Post TraumaticStress Disorder (PTSD) - but we haven't always called it that.

I've seen the Military and VA Doctors in claims files of all eras - even the modern era - refer to the condition we nowknow is PTSD as any of the following:

* Malingering (the M Word should be banned),

* Shellshock,

* Nervous inhibition,

The Attig Law Firm is working on the Definitive Guidebook for VAPTSD Claims - click on the image above to find out how to get

YOUR copy as soon as it is released.

* Moral Dysfunction

* Lack of a moral backbone

* Weak or impaired conscience

* Nervous disorder

* Oedipal Syndrome (this was my favorite)

The list goes on. Even today, doctors are loathe to diagnosePTSD because of some personal belief that claiming PTSDmeans you are a "mooching faker"

It is the very lack of a diagnosis of PTSD - whether due tomedical ignorance or medical stupidity - that causes themajor problem:

Without a diagnosis, there is typically no treatment.

Without treatment, the patient will "self-treat" or "act out". Typically with drugs, alcohol - or even sometimeswith anti-social or socially unacceptable behavior - you name it.

And when the "acting out" results in what the military calls "bad conduct", the soldier is often discharged with aDishonorable Discharge.

The problem is so widespread that even the Daily Show with Jon Stewart covered the story - and pointed out theExtreme Irony of this situation:

The New Way of Doing Things for Veterans with PTSD Claims and a DishonorableDischarge.

Johnny Cash's song "Drive On", could well apply to the rules for PTSD Claims by Veterans with dishonorabledischarges:

"...I think my country got a little off track....Took 'em twenty-five years to welcome me back"

The Department of Defense - 39 years after the Vietnam War -finally took a step to rectify a problem that Vietnam Veterans(and, frankly, Veterans of all eras) have faced.

Now, I will caution you that - despite hours of searching andasking - the Veterans Law Blog has not yet seen a copy of thenew rules that I'm about to tell you about.

But allegedly, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (himself adecorated Vietnam Veteran) has (allegedly) issued new rulesthat will facilitate the upgrades of discharges of many of theVeterans caught in this pickle.

I am told that the guidelines will require that Veterans show thefollowing:

1) Veteran had symptoms of PTSD at the time of theirmisconduct;

2) PTSD was related to military service, and,

3) that the PTSD or misconduct contributed to the bad conduct discharge

(** it is not clear, at this time, whether the Veteran's PTSD or the Veteran's misconduct resulting from the PTSD,contributed to the bad conduct discharge. To the layman, this is a distinction without a difference. To the lawyer, thedistinction is significant, because it will define the degree and type of lay medical evidence that the Veteran will needto provide.)

As soon as I find a copy of the actual "rules" allegedly issued by Chuck Hagel on September 3, 2014, I will post themhere and update this post.

If you know where these rules can be found, please tell me in a Mail Call submission.

Chris Attig, an Accredited Veterans Benefits attorney and Founder of the Attig Law Firm, PLLC is responsible for thecontent of the site. The principal office of Attig Law Firm, PLLC, is located in Dallas, Texas. Chris Attig is NOT

Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. - Please view our website disclaimer.

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