[elcid1970]

MSG Bowman, thank you for your service to our country.

My wife & I are retired warrant officers. We did our initial signup with the local VA two years ago, in person. Our experience has been such that we will cling to our civilian care providers with a death grip. It is like the VA doesn’t exist except as a special needs jobsite for those on the opposite side of the counter.

[MPJackal]

I feel for the guy. I had a serious injury before I retired. I submitted stacks of medical records. The injury was three broken ribs that have not healed correctly, one of which is now a “floating rib”, a punctured lung, and the ribs severed the nerve that controls my entire right flank. As a result the muscles are atrophied. So now I have a bulged the size of half a soccer ball on my side. There is no good fix for it. It affects every part of my life.

The VA initially called it a hiatal hernia (acid reflux). Not even close. So, after 6 YEARS of appeals, I finally got an appraisal I can live with. It still ain't right, but I am tired of the fight.