David, great news after so many years of fighting with our government to give you what you earned by your service for all of us in the US. Too many vets in your shoes, even today with the casualties in middle east. Enjoy the moment(s) and be proud of your success! You give so much to the forum and are very appreciated as you can see by all of the good wishes after your first post.
Pat

81- I intend to drop a letter off to the Senator, as his home office here in SC is right in Greenville.

al - thanks, watching game 5 right now, hopefully we will have a 3-2 lead in the series in another couple of innings. also happy that the pat's pulled from behind and took care of Miami. you got to love new England sports teams. sure makes this guy happy.

david

Casper,

That was the lesson I learned from my SSD experience, and what I tell all new people that are thinking about applying. If you got a solid case, like you obviously did, and I did, hire a lawyer up front. After wasting 2 or more years wasting my own time getting denials, my lawyer had the whole thing done in less than 6 months. What I paid the attorney (limited by law anyhow) was worth every cent. My lawyer never even had to stand before the judge, in the end, the judge (her words: my case was a no brainer) decided entirely on her own, and it happened so fast, even my lawyer was taken by surprise.

With the VA, and the head of my county VA office today said the same thing, that we Navy Aviation related guys in Viet Nam end up having some of the hardest burden of proof. She had one other case where it took 6 1/2 years to settle. Mine was 3 years and 10 months, almost to the day. But she said it was a solid win, and the money should start to roll in soon.

Persistence is the name of the game with both SSD and VA disability, plus the encouragement I kept getting from the local VA office. They always believed in my case, and felt certain I would prevail. I was glad I didn't have to take it to the highest and last level, as it would have added even more time.

She admitted (the same thing the VA admitted in their approval letter) that the Navy kept terrible records back during that time, especially when it came to flight logs and crew logs, etc. Plus a lot of the pertinent records were destroyed over the years by a couple of bad fires at some of the places where vets of my time period were kept.

It's all good, I knew in my heart I was right, but its still difficult to prove things that happened, in my case, 42 years ago, when you only have so much access to incomplete records. I thank the American Legion, who in the end, was the advocate for getting my appeal seen, read, and approved.

Hope you are holding your own, my friend. I know you still have a lot on your own plate too. I think about what you are dealing about often.

David

thanks, it was the most wonderful of news I have hear this year. even better than when I found a rare cash buyer for our second house earlier in the year, which freed us from two mortgages instead of one, and when I sold my sail boat months ago for full asking price. turning out to be a good year for us financially.

doesn't make my pain go away, or slow down my cancer, but relieves my mind and heart over finances, as I wanted to make sure my wife wouldn't be straddled with any debt in the event of my demise.

david

thanks, aimzee

trust me, we will wisely use these funds. getting rid of all our remaining debt will be first and foremost. then a chunk into our savings. then I want to help each of me kids with a little jump start, 2 of them still owe us legitimate money - and we intend to wipe out their debt for starters. another portion will be set aside for future home repairs. then there should be some left for fun things, our next vacation, etc.

even planning to go to sonny's gfmph in Orlando in the spring, health willing, as money will not be an issue this time around.

please say hey to ron for me

david