1. No the civilian dr never made the connection to the fuels(never documented it as such). The documentation was just repeated episodes of near respiratory arrest, chronic infections from collection of mucous related to the damaged tissues. I did ask them if they thought it was related and they would only say "could very well be."
2. The documents that were covered were all of my military records from my sick calls/dr. appts while in the military and the medical records from my civilian drs. The VSO did the work on all that for me. She was a tough VSO and didn't take any crap from the VA, she really "rode them hard" to make sure that they looked at ALL of the documentation. By the time I had my appointment, they had a very large ream of documentation that covered all of my military time and he had it sitting right on his desk in front of him when I got there. The things that I took with me to the comp exam/ appt withe the Dr was all of the documentation that I had found that proved that the fuels did cause these types of health issues. And, as I said before, the Dr at the VA that I got was really paying attention and actually read the info that I brought with me.(stuff from the CDC etc.) My military records did show that up until I got to Little Rock, I did not have any issues with it but after I got there and started dispatching, I began having issues/infections.
3. My suggestion to you is if you don't already have a Veteran Service Officer working on your behalf, get one and make sure that they do their job. Also, when you get a VSO, you also get a representative from either the American Legion of Veteran of Foreign Wars. They too, work very strongly on your behalf and make sure that your claims are heard and that you are treated fairly. I was lucky enough to have a GREAT VSO and rep from the American Legion going to bat for me.
4. I started my claim in Minnesota and finished in Texas.
Based on a recent email from another Titan II PTS Vet the VA awarded this person compensation from COPD.
Here is their information in an email:
As for the wording on the award letter it states "have determined that it is more likely as not that the health conditions that I have documented were determined to be service connected." But again, remember, I had such a well documented case for many years and, before I went to my physical exam with the VA Dr., I had researched the oxydizer and fuel with the CDC and any other reference that I could find that was legit and had printed them off and carried them with me to that appointment. I must have done something right because I was lucky enough to have gotten a Dr. who did not have a predetermined opinion based on the VA's doctrine. He actually listened and read the information that I had with me. I couldn't believe my ears and eyes when I got the award letter. It was much more than I ever dreamed they would admit and award to me.
I asked this Titan II Vet certain questions about civilian doctors and the VA and was give these answers: