Just The Facts!

There's an old TV show called 'Dragnet,' and one of the officers or the investigators would always say "just the facts."  And that's basically what you have to do in filing for VA claims - you have to say just the facts!

You gotta keep it as simple as possible. The more elaborate that you try to get with this and try to build up a story like you're some big writer, will just gonna confuse everything!

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Transcript

[00:00:00] VACI: If you are a veteran and have filed a VA disability claim, have been denied, have received a low rating, or you're unsure of how to get started, reach out to us. Go to docontheroad.com linked in our show notes and take advantage of a free VA claims discovery call. Learn what you've been missing so you can finally get the disability rating and compensation you deserve.

[00:00:31] Dr. John: Hello my brothers and sisters of the uniform. Yes, it's time again for Doc on the Road. Now, last week I talked to you all about what they called the famous Civil War Battle. The breakthrough were Grant's army broke through the lines of Lee's army and was able to force a quick in shortly after that.

Now as that happened, what I decided was, is, you know what? Appomattox isn't that far away from me. I'm gonna go ahead up the road [00:01:00] to Appomattox. So I actually did that. I actually enjoyed looking into all the historical spots there. Up in Appomattox, pretty much everywhere you stepped, somebody did something or somebody's horse did something, or something happened.

And it's all right there. But they have a museum them also in Appomattox which was interesting. I got to see a lot of uniforms. I got to see a lot of different types of weapons that were used on both sides of the war. And actually got to hear even more stories from soldiers from both sides of the war.

I actually got to see where a young African American that fought for the Union Army was putting in for a disability claim basically. Now they called it something back, different back then, but I was sitting there looking at the form and all that, and it never did tell me how long it took or didn't tell me how long if it got approved or anything like that.

But he was requesting special compensation from the federal government due [00:02:00] to injuries where he obtained during the war. Now I did see where it said it went on for a long period of time. But it never gave me an end result to that. But I thought it was interesting to actually see, just it was simple questions.

It was just real basic what was injured, how did it get injured, what battle was it injured? That kind of stuff. And what unit were you in? That kind of thing. Now, As we go through and we do claims, even today, we have those same simple questions that we have to answer. What unit were you in? What's the condition that you want to talk about?

Have you seen a doctor? Do you have a current diagnosis? Now, when I say current and emphasize the word current is because you have to have a current diagnosis. Even if you had one in the military, you still have to have a current diagnosis to actually show that yes, it's still there. And yes there has been a progression there, so [00:03:00] you wanna be able to talk about that.

And usually that gets done in the C&P. See now a lot of people wanna write these big long narrative stories as they're going for their claims so the VA can actually read these. And the only problem with this basically is it's like that old, there's an old TV show that Not saying I'm old, but I am.

But there's an old TV show, I think it was called Dragnet, and one of the officers or the investigators would always say just the facts. And that's basically what you have to do is you have to say just the facts. You gotta keep it as simple as possible. The more elaborate that you try to get with this and try to build up a story like you're some big.

Writer or something like that is just gonna confuse everything. And let's be honest, the VA is busy. VA is going through a lot of different claims. They're going through a lot of different personnel files, they're going through all kinds of different [00:04:00] evidence files and stuff like that. 

I'm not sure by writing some big, huge narrative if that's gonna do you any good, because more likely it's not gonna get read. So keep it to the facts, keep it to the situation at hand on your current diagnosis, and get to the point where you're talking about that nexus part, where you're tie in your current diagnosis to what happened in the service. 

Now there's a lot of different ways to do this. Usually it's by seeing the doctor and saying, yes, this is more than likely happened during the service. Like I've talked about before, since I was an old paratrooper, we're historically having back issues and we have knee issues.

Now that's not just paratroopers have this, but for the most part that's one of the big. Type of claims that paratroopers have is because of the hard landings and stuff like that, or the tinnitus because of the loud noises that we had, all that.[00:05:00] But the point I'm trying to make there is you just keep it simple.

Okay. I was a paratroop. This happened, my knees still hurt. I have a current diagnosis of knees that have injuries, have scar tissue, have a number of different things. However, the doctor wants to write it, but you gotta make sure that's in your medical file. And then you gotta have a doctor also look at it and say, yeah, more than likely this happened on service or while you were serving and that could be almost anything.

Any kind of diagnosis, any kind of thing like that, we'll actually have to go through that same process. Now, a lot of people, like I said, wanna write these huge narrative stories that really do nothing but fluff and all that. It's not necessary. Matter of fact, it can cause you an issue if you're writing these huge fluff stories and there's something that you write.

That you may remember slightly different than what's in your files, and then all of a sudden It's real easy for the VA to go ahead [00:06:00] and say no because you said it was this, when it actually happened here, it just gets confusing. So the best thing to do is keep it simple. And also when you're doing your C&Ps that's the compensation pension exams.

You wanna keep your narrative there simple. You don't wanna be going all over the place and you don't wanna be talking about a whole lot of other things too, like my knees hurt. Matter of fact, my ankles hurt. Matter of fact, my toe hurts because of a tough landing. Look, if you put a claim in for your knee, that's what you talk about.

You talk about the frequency of the pain, you talk about the severity of the pain, and you also talk about things like, I've lost range of motion. I can't get up and down stairs like I used to or before I was in the military. Things are getting progressively worse and make sure that this is documented throughout medical records and stuff like that.

Again, there's a number of different ways to do this but you definitely need to see a [00:07:00] doctor. You definitely need to go ahead and make sure that Nexus gets completed to where they can look at it and say, yes. These two things look like they're more than likely combined. And yes, we need to go ahead and compensate this trooper for that.

But again, you want to keep it simple. And I don't think I could stress that more. I think when we're veterans, we get in there and we get to a situation where we want to talk, and the next thing we know we're onto five or six different conditions that we didn't even put in for yet.

And that kinda, can confuse, a practitioner can also have a practitioner look at it and go it's not because of the condition that you're claiming, it's because of the condition that you talked about that could be the issue here. And then automatically, if that's the case, then your claim's gonna get denied. So just remember that .

When you're writing your little statements keep 'em just the facts. When you're talking during your C&P, [00:08:00] just the facts. And I want you to remember just the facts, because that's basically what it's gonna boil down to.

That's what the VA's gonna look at. That's what adjudicators, anybody that takes a look at this to go ahead and make a decision whether you get this or you don't get this. It is going to look at just the facts, where it's military records, your private medical records or anything else that could be involved there.

So again, remember, don't forget just the facts. And that's what I saw also when I saw the writeup of that young man in the Civil War. That's what he wrote. He just wrote the facts. He wrote down simple explanation, simple pointing to a condition, simple pointing to what battle, simple pointing to what time of the year it was, that kind of stuff.

It just makes it a lot easier. And I know a lot of people want to go ahead and jump all over. They need to listen to me, they need do this. They need to have [00:09:00] this taken care of. That's what they plan on doing. That's what the VA plans on doing. But you gotta help them out a little bit. You can't just be coming up with these huge, novels that you were, you're writing on this stuff. So remember that, please. 

There's also something else I'd like to talk about. For a little bit. I've gotten a couple of different messages during the classes and during different situations where people that do this podcast this type of thing, they wanna hear a blooper reel.

I have an excellent team that comes together and they actually edit everything. I don't have a blooper reel. Matter of fact, anything that's a blooper, anything that I made a mistake on, I misquoted. Anything like that usually ends up on the floor, on the cutting floor. I think that would be funny because I do make mistakes.

I'm not perfect. And things do come outta my mouth sometimes that shouldn't. Just because I had that, that PhD doesn't mean that I'm the brightest [00:10:00] bulb in the box here. Most of this stuff that I have that's trying to help educate and trying to help point you in the right direction is because of my own type of situation that I went through and talking to coaches daily on what's the best path on this?

How's the best way to get this puzzle put together? How do we paint that picture? How do we do this? So I don't have all the answers. And I don't claim that I have all the answers. So yes, I make mistakes, and yes, I say things that I have to address later with the editing team as they go through this and say, I can't believe you said this, John.

This is' even close to being. So that does happen. Just know that it does happen, but I can't share it because by the time you all hear it, it's gone through probably three, four different editors and they've fixed it all by the time they're matter of fact every once in a while I'll cough or I'll sniff or something like that.

They [00:11:00] cut those out all the time. Especially I know you maybe hear people do things like this, every once in a while you'll hear a hum or a or something like that. They cut all that stuff out and it's because of them. It makes me sound like I actually know what I'm doing and talking about most of the time.

Thank God for them. And that way you get a finished product. That actually sounds really good and it's not too confusing or anything like that but, by the time you guys get this one, we've gone through the 4th of July. The 4th of July is always really important. Like I said I usually go to a little town on the coast of Virginia called Tappahannock because it's that small town feel and they always have a 4th of July parade, A 4th of July cookout, and it's the whole community there that actually does this, which is really interesting.

 And I get with my brother, I have one of my brothers lives there with his wife and usually we jump on his boat, [00:12:00] we ride around, we get, see a bunch of different things. And then of course there's fireworks. Yeah, I know that sounds different. Usually you have to go to a special place to watch fireworks these days, but not down there.

Again, it's just small town and. They fire off fireworks all day long. But it's a fun time and it's fun to watch the kids actually get into it. It's also fun to watch how they salute veterans and really vet friendly type of situation. So it's always fun to go down there and actually see all this and to participate in it. 

So hopefully you guys have had a safe 4th of July and had a great weekend. And hopefully everything is going great with you as you go for your claims, if you are still gone for your claims, and God bless you if you've made it to the a hundred percent P&T type status. But the thing to remember too, if you do need a coach at VA Claims Insider is the perfect place to go ahead [00:13:00] and do that .Now, as you heard the intro and you hear the exit.

That awesome voice is there, is one of our coaches. And the cool part about this is that you can actually request coaches. You can actually get there, find out, and who you can actually be matched up with. Definitely get your stuff evaluated real quickly and they'll set you up with a coach and set you up with a game plan to go ahead and keep moving forward.

Because you're getting what you deserve. You're getting what you've earned. Okay? So everybody, make sure you have a great 4th of July. Nice and safe one. And always remember just the facts. All right. Love you brothers and sisters in uniform. This is doc out.

[00:13:49] VACI: The VA claims process is a pain. [00:14:00] Many veterans struggle for years trying to increase their ratings or even getting rated at all. Most are not getting the compensation. They deserve. Here at VA Claims Insider, we've supported and educated more than 25,000 veterans to win their claims and increase their rating.

Now it's your turn. Schedule your free VA claim discovery. Call today by going to doc on the road.com. LinkedIn, our show notes. You'll learn what gaps you need to fill in, how to increase your rating.