POST TRAUMATIC STRESS, THE WAR VETERAN AND SOCIAL SECURITY

You have served your country fighting in a foreign war. You have returned home and you notice something is wrong. You are having nightmares. You have trouble concentrating. Sudden loud noises make you duck for cover. You have trouble functioning on a day-to-day basis. You very likely suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Many people suffering a traumatic injury due to such things as assault, murder, rape, death of a friend or other traumatic event have been found to suffer the effects of PTSD. One of the worst inflicters of traumatic injury is war. A soldier can be exposed to seeing first hand horrendous death or mutilation caused by today's weapons of war. Battles and IUD's can take a close friend's life, and the soldier can be exposed to the relentless fear of death on each mission.

The statistics are alarming. Over 40 percent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries. Most, if not all, claim the injuries to be service-related . Further, for the first time in modern history Reserves and National Guard have been called up and carried a large burden of the war.

Women also served in greater numbers in these wars, and are accounting for a larger percentage of claims.
The new munitions used in the war, body armor and very improved battlefield and immediately associated care have allowed more service members to survive from wounds that would have been fatal in prior wars. This has resulted in higher numbers of service members suffering new injuries.

The Social Security Administration has a program that gives service members an ability to receive expedited processing of disability claims. If you are a veteran or active duty service member and you become disabled while on active duty (anytime after September 2001), you are eligible to get an expedited decision in your Social Security disability case. It does not matter where or how you became disabled. In processing your claim, Social Security will not consider where or how the disability happened. Your disability does not need to be related to your military duty, it just needs to have occurred while you were on active duty.

What to do to apply?

First, you must let the Social Security Administration know that your medical condition began while you were on active duty. Secondly, you must identify the location where your military records are kept. Do not rely upon the Department of Defense which will routinely send the names of ill or injured service members. Many times these reports may be incomplete. Remember when you file for disability with Social Security you must make sure that you provide the proof that you are, or were, a service member.

If reported correctly, your application will be marked as a Military Casualty/Wounded Warrior (MC/WW) file and expedited through all stages of the disability decision process as a critical case. (If you have filed for benefits with the VA, that will not automatically be an application for Social Security disability benefits. Social Security will require a separate application).

Evidence that will help in your application include:

Original or certified copy of your birth certificate or proof of U.S. citizenship or legal residency if foreign born;

Form DD 214, if discharged from military service;

Proof of military pay;

Medical records that you have or that you can easily obtain from all military and civilian sources

The fact that your case will receive expedited treatment does not lesson your burden to prove that your disability or disabilities are so severe that they prevent you from working competitively employed in any job within your functional capacity. There are no provisions in the law that make a wounded warrior's burden of proof less then anyone else applying for disability benefits. Further, by the way the system is structured, if you are under 50 years of age, your burden to obtain benefits is just that much more difficult. If you have read my blog entry on how Social Security treats a disability rating from the VA, you can see that being disabled for VA does not automatically qualify you for social security disability benefits. Social Security requires additional proof of inability to be competitively employed.

If you are in this situation and believe that you are unable to work because of a disability, you need an attorney on your side to advocate your position.

Disclaimer: Blogs posted herein are intended neither as legal advice, nor do they create nor attempt to create an attorney-client relationship. The person viewing my blogs is admonished that an attorney-client relationship may only be created with the express consent to the parties to it.