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tinnitus is real.
Had a gunship dump a 2.75 rocket short in ‘68 and it landed 5 feet from me. Lost 25% of thigh muscle in 1 leg, 25% of the right chest wall muscles and hearing. 5-6 pounds of c4 going off that close really does the hearing no good, and yes it maxes at 10% unless totally deaf. I didn’t file for disability till 1997 when I couldn’t hardly walk anymore and they had to take a piece of shell fragment out the docs missed in ‘68, the leg grew a huge tumor around the metal till it all but paralyzed the leg (have a big chunk in 1 lung they left in so at least they made sure the body wasn’t rejecting it like the leg did) . So after 3 years of the claim rattling around I got 90% and 10% for unemployable.
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Watch the VA with the prostate cancer disability, they gave me 20% for a prostate tumor the biopsied as a benign tumor, but 2 years later took it back because the tumor was not malignant. Just having a tumor doesn’t get anything, just an active malignant tumor killing ya. Also the agent orange claim for chloracne was denied, they said I had a blackhead problem around the eyes, and here I am a 62 yrs old with blackheads under my eyes like a teenager.
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it is a long frustrating fight even if you’re blown half to hell in combat, I don’t know how all these guys get the 100% for just PTSD, I have met many at the VA hospital, but know guys like me with bullet holes, schrapnel all over and they seem to have to fight harder to get benefits for physical combat wounds than if they had only mental conditions. Oh also having a rocket blow up next to you does NOT give you TBI like the roadside bombs do, go figure.