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Q&A: Ask a Veterans Benefits Lawyer

If you go to a dentist, they will give you tips on howto clean your teeth to avoid cavities. Usually forfree.

If you go to your mechanic, chances are they willshow you how to do a quick safety check of yourvehicle before driving - for free.

Why can't a Veterans Benefits Lawyer teach yousome of the basic things you can do to improve yourown VA Claim?

For that reason, I'm going to start a new feature hereon the Veterans Law Blog. Let me know if you likethe concept, and how I can make it better in thecomments section below.

Veterans Benefits Lawyer Q&A.

I can't see a reason why Veterans Benefits Lawyers should not teach Veterans how to improve their own VA Claims.

So, in today's post, I'm going to answer a few questions that have come in through MailCall lately.

Just remember - nothing in this post is intended to be specific legal advice. If you need the rest of the disclaimers andlegalese, you can read it all here.

Want to submit your question to Mail Call? Visit this link and fill in the form.

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Veteran James B. asks: "I was a Commo Chief during Desert Storm. My question is how do I prove serviceincurrence while I constantly on the move with 8 inch howitzers during Desert Storm. I am not really clear on provingin-service occurrence...any help is greatly appreciated."

Answer: Let's start answering this question by reminding everyone that, in nearly every VA claim, the Veteran has toprove what I call the 4 Pillars. One of those 4 Pillars is "Service Connection": that a Veteran's current disability is atleast as likely as not related to an event, disease, illness or injury that occurred in a Veteran's military service.

What James B. is asking is how to show that an event, disease, illnessor injury occurred during his military service.

There are 5 Ways to prove this element - and I call them the 5 Pathsto Service Connection. Which of the 5 Paths you use will depend onwhat type of medical condition you are seeking compensation for, andwhat is the cause of your current disability or illness.

For example, the Veteran in our second question, below, will want touse "Secondary Service Connection" to show that his sleep apneawas caused by another service-connected condition.

A Veteran who suffered a clear or distinct injury in service might wantto consider using a "Direct Service Connection" approach.

And a Vietnam Veteran exposed to Agent Orange will in Thailandmight want to use Direct AND Presumptive Service Connectionapproaches.

I recommend that Veterans use as many approaches as they can make applicable - never just have one "egg" in theproverbial basket.

I discuss all 5 approaches in detail in my Veterans Law Guidebook "5 Paths to Service Connection" (pictured to theleft). You can purchase the guidebook - individually or as part of our discounted bundles - by clicking here .

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Veteran Henry P. asks: "I was recently diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea earlier. I didn't t have a sleep studydone while on active duty. I filed for disability for the sleep apnea, secondary to the low back pain and theradiculopathy. My argument is that I have to sleep on my back, due to the pain, and that causes my tongue to drop intomy throat and also causes a lot of muscle relaxation and that in turn causes the apnea. My question is, what are mychances of success? Is there anything else I can do or add?

Answer: Henry, I can't answer your question specifically - because we don't give legal advice through the blog. However, I will answer very generally.

Whenever a service-connected condition CAUSES another medicalcondition, the Veteran can consider using a "Secondary Service-Connection" theory. To prove secondary service connection of OSA, aVeteran is going to have to have some basic evidence in his (or her)VA C-File....keeping in mind that every claim is unique, and someclaims may require MORE or LESS evidence, here is generally whatVeterans should consider including in a Secondary ServiceConnection Claim for Obstructive Sleep Apnea:

1) A recent Sleep Study diagnosing OSA.

2) Lay Evidence detailing the symptoms and limitations of the sleepapnea, when they began appearing, and how the Veteran feels thatthey are releated to the other condition that is (hopefully) alreadyservice-connected.

3) Medical Evidence that, using the Magic Words, reviews the OSAdiagnosis, the Lay Evidence, and the Veteran's C-File, and explainswhy the Veteran's OSA is at least as likely as not caused by his (orher) already service connected condition.

Secondary Service Connection claims almost ALWAYS require Medical Evidence to establish the connection of the 2conditions.

You can learn more about how to establish service connection for Sleep Apnea - on all 5 theories of serviceconnection - as well as common errors to avoid, and specific steps to follow in proving service connection of sleepapnea in my Veterans Law Guidebook "Put it To Rest! Your VA Sleep Apnea Claim." (pictured to the right)

You can download the individual book - or purchase one of our discount packages of Sleep Apnea guidebooks - byclicking here.

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Veteran Daniel A. asks: "I am afraid that I don't understand how to navigate the blog. I know how to locate myquestion on the blog."

Answer: Daniel - that's a great question. Here are 4 ways to "navigate" the Veterans Law Blog.

#1: The Top of Page Banner. Use the banner that runs across the top of every page to navigate between theVeterans Law Blog, Veterans University, to read about our Client Victories, or find out about me and my Team at theAttig Law Firm.

#2: Blog Category Listings. The Veterans Law Blog has over 500 FREE posts of information that is available toVeterans battling the VA. Each post is assigned to one or more "Categories", which you see listed on the right side ofthe page. These "Categories" are each of the 8 Steps that a Veteran Can follow to Improve their Own VA Claim.

#3: Blog Search Box. With over 500 FREE posts of information that is available to Veterans battling the VA, it can behard to find the information you are looking for. Use the Search box in the right hand column of every Blog Post. Typein the key words you are looking for, and any post that has those key words will be returned in your search results. Formore ACCURATE results, put your search term in quotes.

The cool thing about this search box is that I get regular reports of the terms that y'all are searching for. I cantherefore tell a little more about the type of information you need. So I use the Search reports to help me decide what

to write about on the Veterans Law Blog.

#4: Veterans University. On any page on this site, you will see 2 Black Buttons on the right hand column. One says"Request a Consultation" and the other says: "Improve Your VA Claim in 8 Steps". Click on the first button if you wantus to consider representing you in your VA Disability Benefits claim.

Click on the Second Button - anywhere on the site - and you will go to Veterans University, where you can find any ofour Veterans Law Guidebooks - whether published or about to be published - broken down by my unique "8 StepMethod" to Improve Your Own VA Claim.

Want to Submit a Question to ask the Veterans Disability Attorney?

Want to submit your question to Mail Call? Visit this link and fill in the form.

Like the Veterans Disability Attorney Q&A?

Let me know if you like the concept, and how I can make it better in the comments section below.

Chris Attig, an Accredited Veterans Benefits attorney and Founder of the Attig Law Firm, PLLC is responsible for thecontent of the site. The principal office of Attig Law Firm, PLLC, is located in Dallas, Texas. Chris Attig is NOT Certified

by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. - Please view our website disclaimer.

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