I'm officially more disabled.

[Joe Zeff]

Back in '07, when I got my hearing aids, I applied to have my hearing and
diabetes evaluated as possibly service connected. As I never had "boots
on the ground," the diabetes claim was denied, but my hearing loss was
accepted with a 0% rating. No monetary compensation, just free hearing
aids.

Early this year, I applied for a VA pension because of my low income.
The VA sent me a huge bundle of forms, expecting me to figure out which I
needed. Not being able to work out just what had to be done, I finally
asked my Congresscritter's office for assistance and was very astonished
to have them agree. Eventually, I filled out a form that, among other
things, asked me to list any disabilities I had. I listed my hearing
loss (service connected), my diabetes and my osteoporosis.

Since then, I've had my diabetes evaluated by an independent doctor, and
my hearing checked by an outside audiologist. I told the doctor about
how we frequently steamed through dust and sand clouds from B-52 raids,
and that I've always wondered if I'd been indirectly exposed to Agent
Orange, and he agreed that it was quite likely. The audiologist, later,
told me that it was possible that my tinnitus was service connected.

Last week, I got a report from the VA: the hearing loss is still 0%; the
tinnitus is service connected with a 10% rating, and the rating for the
diabetes is 20%. The osteoporosis is considered "Laboratory findings,"
not a diagnosis and not eligible for consideration. Calculating the
combined rating isn't quite as easy as simple addition, but it's rounded
to the nearest 10%, which in this case is, in fact, 30%, so I will be
receiving several hundred dollars of tax-exempt compensation per month.
Not only that, I've received and deposited a check for the compensation
that I should have been receiving for the last eight years. It had five
digits left of the decimal point, and none of them were zero.

I can't receive both a VA pension and VA compensation, but that's OK; the
pension would have been much smaller than what I have now, and the check
will be put to good use. Every now and then, the Fairy Godmother
Department does something nice for somebody and this time it was me.

--
Joe Zeff -- The Guy With The Sideburns:
http://www.zeff.us http://www.lasfsinc.info
A watched pot never boils.
An unwatched pot always boils over.