As the sun begins to set most people look forward to getting home, getting comfortable, unwinding, and getting a good night's rest, but for some people the very thought of sleep cause mental and physical unrest.
Here's the story of a Vietnam veteran whose nights have been plagued by horrific sounds of combat for 39 years. Every night Jerry relives the gore of a firefight that left him with a hole in his skull. Shortly before dark on April 13, 1969, a shoulder-fired rocket shot out of a dense jungle south of Saigon, sailed low over the Vam Co Dong River and exploded near a Navy patrol boat. Jerry Valentine stood at the boat’s helm when shrapnel swept beneath the vessel’s canvas canopy and struck him in the head, exposing his brain.
His dreams worsened eight years ago when his brother, who had no military affiliation, died of a traumatic head injury.
Valentine was found 100% disabled by the VA in 2006 when it was determined that he suffered from chronic and severe
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Social Security Administration (SSA) and the VA use similar criteria to evaluate those who file claims for disability benefits. The agencies look at physical impairments, mental limitations and ability to work full-time jobs. Both require medical documentation to support the claims. But the SSA told him he wasn’t disabled, no matter what the VA says.
To read more about Jerry Valentine and his fight with Social Security, click here.
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Category: Veterans' Disability
Labels: chronic, combat, disability, disabled, disorder, head, impairments, injury, limitations mental, military, physical, post, PTSD, Security, severe, shrapnel, Social, stress, traumatic, VA, veteran, Vietnam,
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