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I'm a dumb new arng babby, I just finished the 25B AIT course and I'm trying to figure out how many college credit hours I can milk out of it, even if most colleges are going to call it all elective. My JST says the course hasn't been rated, is there anywhere I can get information on this poo poo? My hope is to go to Ohio State in the summer term as a transferee if they'll take any of the credits, otherwise I have no post-secondary and the deadline for spring applications closed while I was in training. They basically told me to gently caress off, that they don't take freshmen for summer term, they don't make exceptions to the application deadline, and if I don't have credit hours to transfer in come apply next fall, which isn't cool.
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Oct 24, 2016 15:44
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 07:18 |
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Hillary Clintons Thong posted:I don't know the status of Tuition Assistance, but if it's available see about going to a community college for free/cheap in the meantime Ohio ARNG has a scholarship program covering 100% tuition for 96 credits. I'm pretty much wanting the biggest bang for my buck, going to go full time and peep yoga pant butts. I'll probably just say gently caress it and go as a freshman next fall and get a job in the meantime. I expect a deployment somewhere in the next 4 years anyway, so it's not like I'll graduate on time. I'm older at 22 too, so idgaf.
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Oct 25, 2016 02:28
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I have some questions that you VA wizards can hopefully help with. My dad was active duty army for 13 years and was medically retired in 1991. He never deployed, but has multiple service-connected injuries. He was medically retired because of a malpractice. He had a surgery to treat carpal tunnel syndrome on his left wrist that the army doctor botched (severed a nerve cluster) and was left with severely limited strength, range of motion, and very little sensation. He also hit a vehicle during a bad-weather night jump and has had issues with his left knee since. The wrist issue nearly kept him from his career in law enforcement, as he had to obtain a waiver to be able to carry a firearm on duty with his left hand so weak. At his time of separation he was going to be given a lump-sum to compensate him for the malpractice, and then discharged to claim with the VA. He obtained representation and got a percentage of his E6 pay for the rest of his life as a retirement instead. The VA rated him at 20% for the claimed knee and wrist issues in 1991. He went back to the VA in ~2006 because both conditions had worsened, and was upgraded to 40%. His retirement pay comes from his VA pay. He isn't receiving both. They take his VA disability pay and use it to pay his retirement. His understanding is that this is the case until a 50% rating where he will receive both separately, which would increase his income substantially. Along with those two issues, he was on jump status the entire time he was active duty, and has had major spinal issues that have him fully disabled at 60 (on morphine daily, 5 c-spine levels fused). His diagnosis is degenerative disk disease, which is connectable to service in most cases (to all cases of jumpers in my research). He also has tinnitus he's never claimed, and chronic pain disorder (again, on morphine daily, and just about everything you can be on for nerve-pain treatment), neither of which have ever been rated. So far I've told him to contact the American Legion for a service rep, and to get the appointment with his PMC to get his opinion and potentially documentation. My question is at this point, if he goes to his PMC (a Tricare AF Colonel that's a good guy and will help), and receives documentation from the doctor stating they believe the issues are service-connected, what can he expect? Other than a lot of bullshit? I just don't know how the system works. The spinal problems existed while he was in service and he never knew to claim them (same with tinnitus, sleep apnea etc), and they've worsened to about the worst extent they can. He tried in 2006 to talk to the VA doctor about his back but she told him that because it wasn't an active claim they couldn't discuss it, and he left it at that. Hasn't been back to anything VA since. Thanks duders
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Feb 1, 2018 21:24
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Soulex posted:Basically the rule is anything after 1 year needs 3 forms of documentation in order to be put as service connected. This can be letters from old buddies or coworkers who witnessed this. Chronic pain is difficult but possible since he is on medication. He never deployed. He was in the 82nd and 18th Airborne the entire time, mobilized for Grenada but never sent. Otherwise was just a cold war dude. His service length was technically 11 years, he was put in medical hold to clear after his wrist surgery for the remainder. They basically paid him and he never had to report. He went to school for the duration of that holding full time. The malpractice also cost him e7, he had been to board but became ineligible for promotion because of his permanent profile after the surgery. I just want him to get what he's owed. He's one of those guys that feels because he didn't combat deploy that he doesn't have the same rights as those that did. He's really jacked up and retired years earlier than he wanted to because of these problems, especially his spine, and it's been rough for him. Is there a preferred service organization? The American Legion guy was driving a truck when he was talking to him on the phone, only a part-time rep, and he wasn't exactly impressed.
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Feb 1, 2018 21:41
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cult_hero posted:Nope. This only applies to retirement based on longevity, not disability. He'll get the maximum of either his retired pay or VA compensation, but at least he gets to keep Tricare... Thanks for all this. He's gotta officially make the DAV his rep with a form he needs to mail in, and then he's gonna go from there. I think his understanding is right on the 50% rating, some cursory research yields the Concurrent Receipt Disability Pay which began in 2004: https://themilitarywallet.com/concurrent-receipt-military-retirement-pay/ If you have any further information that contradicts that find, please do share. Also holy poo poo does this all make me want to get out of the guard. I never want to be in a position where I have to deal with any of this and I'm so sorry for everyone that has no choice but to.
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Feb 2, 2018 23:40
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I posted two years ago about getting my dad into the system to get another 10% to offset his retirement and get both his disability and retirement payments. Long story short, DAV ghosted him after getting power of attorney (only POC was a full voice mail machine) and every other VSO he tried did similarly, basically stopping contact after very little time. So we got his records and did it ourselves. It's being processed now. The VA just sent a letter stating he was denied for degenerative disc disease in 2019, despite never having filed, knowing that anything had been filed, or having an opportunity to provide documentation. So they're looking for who actually did that, after talking on the phone they weren't able to find a digital record of that request or denial ever happening. I'm hoping it somehow works out to give him a further backdating for the current claims, which includes fun things like opioid dependence, every limb on his body, two rotator cuffs, etc with every hospital/doctor record dating he's ever had. We sent his records on a DVD, two pdf files to the tune of 2500 pages of records a piece. gently caress the VA though.
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Mar 1, 2021 23:51
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cubivore posted:Hi goons, I'm a lot closer to getting out so I'd like to ask some advice: Anecdotal but I applied to Ohio State with a 1.6 high school GPA and a 4-year-old 29 ACT composite. They let me in undeclared, but I couldn't afford living expenses. So, I applied to three other state schools (and got accepted into all of them), went for 3 semesters at the one closest to family so I had a place to stay, and knocked out most of my geneds and held a 4.0 starting their CS program. As soon as I got aid eligibility I reapplied to OSU, got accepted and transferred, and got into my CIS major 2 semesters later (some stuff didn't transfer, be careful of that.. if you have a school in mind, a lot of them partner with the local community college to provide better transfer of credit). Schools want GI Bill money. Write in your application about your experiences and how you've matured from high school and that you're excited to be challenged as a mature student. If you have a lot of geneds to do still keep in mind that basically every big-school CS/CSE/CSEE program I've seen is packed-full and realistically are 5 year programs if you're starting with college algebra or below.. They're like 4 years if you start with calculus your first semester and are doing 16-18 CH every semester. You can CLEP a lot of stuff like that, but if you're not decided on what school you want then absolutely do junior college for those geneds; they'll be easier because of smaller class sizes and lecturers that give a poo poo. Also, SIGN UP FOR FAFSA. DO IT. Regardless of your age your veteran status will allow you to be considered financially independent (no parent income if that's a factor for you). When it comes back and says you have a high EFC (based on your taxes where you were making AD money), file an adjustment request with whatever school you end up with. You will claim loss of wages because you came off active duty, and suddenly you'll get a full Pell grant + other state etc aid. If you do this right you'll be making legitimately pretty good money to go to school combined with your GI bill, you won't need to work or worry about paying rent or a car payment. Also find your school's scholarship application and figure out the dates and get that done asap. Generally they're made available in the early Spring for Fall semester. I did mine thinking I'd get nothing and got a scholarship that pays as much as a full Pell grant every semester.
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Apr 5, 2021 23:09
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lite_sleepr posted:Trying to figure out what to do with my life is scary If you have any interest in programming, technical problem-solving using both math and brute-force thinking, and want to challenge yourself to get pretty good at the thing you're bad at (math) I say do it. When I started I took a math placement test and didn't remember what factoring was. I had to do developmental algebra, college algebra, trigonometry, calculus 1 and 2, and am now a year from graduating with a Computer and Information Science degree. It has been extremely challenging and humbling, but I've done it despite painting myself from the start as a "bad at math" person. Just know that if you're in the same spot as I was that basically every reputable CS, CSE, CIS, or EE program is designed for students to come straight from high school into calculus 1. If I could go back I would have self-studied and tried to CLEP as much as my math as possible, but my circumstances were weird and everything has worked out just fine. You can definitely do it.
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Jul 7, 2021 16:40
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Anyone ever have the VA pay GI Bill benefits without verifying enrollment? I always get setup through my school to be able to use the 1606 (I'm a guard dude) if I need the money; I'm taking 9 credit hours this summer and about to finish up and just saw a $648.43 deposit pending to my checking. Looked at the WAVE website and see my last payment was $648.43 except I never verified my enrollment on WAVE. My last enrollment verification for payment was in the Spring for last semester. It also only shows one period available for verification - 7/01 to 7/31. I already emailed my school and will call the GI Bill line Monday morning but I think they just burned two months of my benefits without my permission?
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Jul 31, 2021 20:31
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lite_sleepr posted:Never mind I'm dumb. That's enough to rent an apartment and be able to live very well within walking distance of basically any campus you want to go to.
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Aug 4, 2021 22:49
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Anyone have any good VSO contacts in Ohio? I helped my dad file, we did it ourselves because he didn't have any luck with any VSO and he's up to 80%. The DAV gave him a rep, got power of attorney, and then promptly ghosted him; no contact on his rep, and the Cleveland number he was given was for a phone that was never answered with the voicemail box full. He's contacted the county office and they were similarly useless, told they'd get back in contact with him, then never followed up and don't have any record of him or know his name when he calls etc. The VA didn't give him anything for most of his major issues (back problems, chronic pain syndrome, long-term opiate dependency).
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Nov 4, 2021 01:10
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McNally posted:I got a response from the VA today. They want you to give up, it's less work for them. Don't give them the satisfaction of screwing you out of your benefits.
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Nov 15, 2021 18:35
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life is killing me posted:That is great to hear, though we did our budget to the expectation it was happening this month, including receiving the stipend. Which wasn’t the best thing to do, but we were told by the school originally that everything was in order with the VA and that my account showed a later date for drop due to non-payment which indicated the VA would pay. Now I find this other thing out. Get in touch with your school's veteran office coordinator and ask for help with this. They can put extensions on payment requirements and all sorts of things.
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Jul 6, 2022 19:36
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life is killing me posted:There was a form to fill out, but got a payment email saying I could be dropped if not paid by tonight. I got my academic program changed and contacted the certification office to get the new program certified, but unsure what is going to happen if I don’t pay out of pocket tonight. Email the bursar office and cc the veteran's office explaining the situation to give yourself a bit of cover. I always reminded myself that the schools are happy to work with you if you're actively trying to get payment to them. They send out high-pressure nastygrams because most students are kids who will fold over by getting a loan rather than advocating for themselves. It's pretty lovely.
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Jul 10, 2022 18:22
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Androies posted:Dude just book the appointment and get it over with. I'm pissed I waited so long to file my claim and I got out in 2020. Would be interested in any anecdotes for appeals as well. I've been helping my dad with his back and neck claims. They rated him at 80% after I helped him claim more in 2021 but denied service-connected for any of his 5 levels fused in his C spine, degenerative disc disease plus bulging discs, all despite the fact that he was a paratrooper + a documented back injury. Doctors reevaluated him the first time and didn't factor being a paratrooper as a service-connected thing. Had no luck with veteran organizations (two got power of attorney and then ghosted with full voicemails and no POC changes) until we went to a county rep who filed a board appeal for him directly with impact statements and all of his medical records including pain management which is great except it's basically the nuclear option with a ~700 day wait for appeal response. He should be 100% P&T considering he's fully opiate dependent for pain management from the back issues alone and has even sought experimental treatment like implanted TENS. I'm on active duty right now getting my guard bullshit wear and tear documented after experiencing the nightmare of trying to get all of his stuff claimed. So many appointments.
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Feb 18, 2023 15:11
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life is killing me posted:Next question: waiting to hear back from my transfer school’s VA registrar/counselor, but thought I’d ask here. I am transferring to a university (from a small community college), and the GI Bill doesn’t cover all of the tuition. Does the yellow ribbon program just kick in automatically to cover the rest, or is that something I need to sign up for separately? Like, once I’ve switched schools and all my VA stuff is switched around to the new one, do I need to like, opt in or anything? Apply for FAFSA! If you made too much for a year that they're considering and had a loss of income (ie you became a student after active duty) you can file for an adjustment through your school on the year they look at for your taxes. Generally anything paid in grants or scholarships that don't go to your tuition go to your pocket, and big schools have big money. My state school covered my entire tuition on FAFSA if I hadn't been using a guard scholarship, so I got paid enough to comfortably live and to save some every semester.
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Apr 3, 2023 10:58
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life is killing me posted:I mean, I did just get laid off and was accepted to a school that doesn’t offer online class options, so who knows. If I can replace my income completely, then I won’t need to keep looking for work. As it stands I don’t even think I could work full-time and attend school full-time when the only option is physically attending class. I worked part-time at around 28 hours a week to afford gas to commute to my first school. Once I became 0 efc FAFSA eligible I was getting about 8k a semester of just grants and scholarships to my pocket from FAFSA and my state school's other programs. I just attended full-time. Not super comfortable but it's doable depending on your living situation, and you can always work the summers if you don't want to do summer classes. Working full-time and physically attending in anything close to a difficult program is just not feasible. My CS program had me between 40 and 60 hours a week of classes, studying, and project work alone.
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Apr 3, 2023 23:03
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maffew buildings posted:Gents, I'm finally nearing putting in babby's first disability claim, and while I am working with a VSO, I wanted to ask you gents and the collective knowledge here - for an initial disability claim, can secondary conditions be claimed, or do I need to have a disability established before applying for secondary conditions? I've got sinusitis from inhaling burning trash on deployment and get headaches due to it, so my brain thoughts say "ok, the headaches are secondary to the sinusitis", but hell if I know if that's the way to handle it on an initial claim. Any guidance appreciated, thanks. I too am starting babby's first disability claim (for myself anyway). When I started my intent to file last week, I put in the things that I intend to claim, including secondary issues. When you put in an issue it lets you categorize it, if you select secondary to another service-connected issue it'll give you a dropdown to pick from your other claimed issues. I don't know how it works beyond that, I would guess that the primary injury/whatever would have to be evaluated and considered service-connected before they would evaluate the second. Anyone have any advice for someone doing it while still on active duty, or generally in the guard (traditional drilling status)? I am doing it under the BDD program which I didn't know existed until last week and am intending to base my future career decisions on the results of the claim.
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Jun 5, 2023 03:24
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not caring here posted:As long as there is a history of documentation, even if they screw you down, the appeals process is your friend. Did you get backpay for that?
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Jun 7, 2023 18:17
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not caring here posted:Naah, when you appeal they keep your rating the same in the interim. Seems like the VA posted:"Error in a previous decision: would apply?
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Jun 7, 2023 23:13
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I submitted my BDD claim! Can't wait to fight the battle when it all gets denied! I hope it doesn't though, if most of it gets rated I'm going to lol gtfo the Guard and not look back.
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Jun 20, 2023 23:36
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So my rep already called me and said he can't process my claim because I didn't submit my "full military medical record" and can't until I do so. I pulled my record entire medical record and manually pulled every relevant-to-claim record from it. My entire record contains all of my records from childhood because I grew up in the Tricare system, it's massive. I told him he's not getting records from when I was a minor, he said "uhhhh but we need the whole record". I went to the records dept at my local MTF to see if they could just give me from entry date onwards and they couldn't assist (actually claimed they'd charge me $25 + $0.13 a page if I got any more records since they already provided me the mandated one-per-SM). I'm probably going to end up pulling everything relevant out again and stitching it together into one file. They are not receiving my full record, the majority of it was from when I was a sick kid and it's none of their business. It really surprised me that "I did all the legwork for you already" isn't an acceptable answer to them.
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Jun 29, 2023 03:19
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LtCol J. Krusinski posted:They are your advocate, why are you getting squirrelly about them seeing your pediatric TRICare records? The government has access to those by default, if you are worried something might get flagged as pre-existing or non service related because of poo poo in your dependent records, don’t be. Your VSO isn’t going to draw those kinds of connections or point them out to the VA. Thanks for this. I also spoke with a couple peers and they thought similarly. I guess I'm just paranoid and expect the worst with the VA. I'm actually not worried about anything being "flagged" as pre-existing; I waivered all of the juicy stuff when I enlisted.
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Jun 29, 2023 14:32
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Sarah posted:Ohio Residents: the window to apply for the bonus for serving during the Afghanistan Conflict ends August 2024. Good looking out!
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Sep 22, 2023 17:58
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Thanks to everyone for helping shape my view of self-care and disability benefits. I set a goal over the past year of getting all of the little things I'd been ignoring or dealing with looked at, documented, and treated. That set the groundwork for my initial self-filing of a BDD claim that got rated 60% off the bat and I think there is a lot of room to appeal on a few of the issues.
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Nov 6, 2023 03:12
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maffew buildings posted:Sorry I wasn't more specific, this is the questionnaire that QTC gave me ahead of my in person exam for a number of the items on my claim It is the former of your section. A loss of mobility, strength, sensation, dexterity, etc. Just be aware that the physical examination will be primarily based on range of motion, pain (to my understanding) isn't a strong determining factor for disability of a limb. Hopefully you'll have a good personable examiner, mine was good and genuinely interested in my limitations and issues, and even though my physical examination has me still pretty good for range of motion and strength, that isn't always the case and they reflected that in their opinion for my evaluation.
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Nov 12, 2023 15:43
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 07:18 |
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Anyone able to weigh in with appeals advice? I'm about to do my first, I have a pile of 0% service connected and got way lower ratings on my sadbrains and some joint issues than I should have, according to the rating criteria definitions.
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Apr 20, 2024 02:04
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