Military Medical Records?

[cerebus]

Well, after almost a year or e-mails, snail-mail, and phone tag, I've been informed that my military medical records are definitely lost. This means that there is NO way for me to successfully file for any compensation for the injuries I received in the military which have caused me no end of trouble ever since. Anyone out there have any suggestions what else can be done (if anything) in my situation?

[yeniseri]

How serious was the conditions?
What therapy did you receive?
If serious enough, see if there is a DD-214 per hospital stay
Obviously period of service would be documented.

Perhaps go to your local VA and see if they can adjudicate the process.
semper fi

[Peacedog]

xxxxxxxxx

[Chanchu]

Contact the Disabled American Veteran's office closest to you -explain what happened- ask to talk to a rep. They are good group may be able to give you some direction, where to start to look for information- federal records depository etc. may even help you look.

Thank you for your service to our country..

goggle D.A.V. hope they can give you some leads.

[zenman]

And turn in that M-16 you stole.....

[neijia_boxer]

amazing how since 9/11..... Homeland Security and the government has built huge security databases to track the activities of everyone and everything...and they lose Troy's Medical records.

[Peacedog]

xxxxxxxxxxx

[cerebus]

Yeah, I left the service way back in '92. And I've tried going through the DAV, they gave me a whole lot of run-around.At first I initiated a claim with them and they seemed to be helping me out. But when the Veteran's Administration looked for my files and couldn't find them, they (the VA) just denied the claim. I tried going through the DAV to look for the files or re-submit the claim with no luck. For 2 WEEKS STRAIGHT I kept calling the DAV, morning, noon and afternoon, and EVERY time the answer was "Oh Mr. so-and-so just step out of the office..." or "just went out to lunch" or "just went home for the day", etc. EVERY time, I left a message for him to call me back and I was told they would make SURE he got the message.... I NEVER got a call back from the guy.

As for my records, apparently they have been "lost", whatever that means. The National Records Center only has my initial entry physical, period. The records office on the military base in Vicenza, Italy where I was stationed can find no records for my name and SSN.

During my last year in the Army, I received shoulder and knee injuries due to an insane First Sergeant forcing me to do pushups and to run when I had tweaked something in those areas. When I left the service, I was in the middle of receiving testing on my knees to determine the exact nature of the injuries, but they hadn't reached any conclusions yet. I was told I could continue the testing, but that I'd have to pay for it myself (many thousands of dollars which I did not have) and that IF the Army found themselves liable for my injuries, they would reimburse me for the testing costs.

It was VERY strongly hinted to me that the Army wouldn't likely find against itself and I was urged to simply complete my outprocessing and hope the injuries would heal on their own. Well, they didn't heal. I've learned to work around them, but there are still many things which I used to love to do, but which I can't do because my knees are messed up. My shoulders also still give me troubles fairly often.

Soooooo...... I'm feeling a little bit liked I'm probably just screwed and never going to receive any kind of compensation for being broken by the Army. I'm hoping to find someone, somewhere who maybe knows where and how to search for files that were sent or put somewhere other than where they should have been, or someone who can investigate my case, but it seems like a bit of a long shot...

[Chanchu]

"Yeah, I left the service way back in '92. And I've tried going through the DAV, they gave me a whole lot of run-around.At first I initiated a claim with them and they seemed to be helping me out. But when the Veteran's Administration looked for my files and couldn't find them, they (the VA) just denied the claim. I tried going through the DAV to look for the files or re-submit the claim with no luck. For 2 WEEKS STRAIGHT I kept calling the DAV, morning, noon and afternoon, and EVERY time the answer was "Oh Mr. so-and-so just step out of the office..." or "just went out to lunch" or "just went home for the day", etc. EVERY time, I left a message for him to call me back and I was told they would make SURE he got the message.... I NEVER got a call back from the guy."

That sucks Troy! sorry to hear that!! GD! ;;;;;;

military types here still on active duty- medical records now are mostly if not all electronic, no matter,make fracking sure that you get copies of paper copies of medical work ups if at all possible- they may not want to do this but its important that you get it-- at least try your damnest to do so.

You may try emailing your local VA rep about your lost records and send info copy to your congress person/senator so there is a record of your on going attempts to find your paper work. If there is a VA center out reach etc. in your area may go there and ask some people get word of mouth about who is a good case worker from any reputable vet organization who may be able to help you try to find out about your stuff..

[cerebus]

You may try emailing your local VA rep about your lost records and send info copy to your congress person/senator so there is a record of your on going attempts to find your paper work. If there is a VA center out reach etc. in your area may go there and ask some people get word of mouth about who is a good case worker from any reputable vet organization who may be able to help you try to find out about your stuff..

Yeah, the guy who actually spent time trying to find my records offered to send me a letter saying that they tried to find the records, but were unsuccessful. Anyway, I'ma keep slogging away and see what else I can do about it...