u/WookieMonsterTV

I’m running into an issue with the state of California.

I’m doing this in steps from the hardest to obtain to determine if i can continue with this before dropping hundreds of dollars and hours of my time.

My ancestor is my great-grandfather. He came to the U.S. in 1942 and died in California in 2006. California states I can only get an informational copy of his death certificate because I’m his great grandchild unless I can prove everyone else in his line is dead (which they aren’t, I’ve just never spoken to or even met my grandfather and my mother has been absent from my life for about 25 years). There is no workaround to this or “after X years we provide it”

I have a half-uncle I’m semi-in contact with that is this ancestor’s grandson but the relationship there is rocky too.

Does anyone have experience with this?

I help run (don’t own) the DTO registry and I struggle to know whose entry is who and to track updates. Many times I have to let your entry sit until you expire since I have no clue if you accepted an offer or aren’t pursuing this as a career anymore.

I also have issues with people stuck in clearances/suitability limbo who don’t update their progress or remove themselves if they don’t get a positive result. This also causes issues in terms of how many may be in the pipeline since we get entries that sit for 2+ years.

The SR helps folks see if there’s patterns when invites get sent, determine potential class sizes (since definite/exact numbers aren’t supposed to be shared) or if you decline an offer (which gives others on the SR hope!)

Hey everyone, I’m a “younger” female vet (Mid 30’s) and I just joined the legion after hearing that a lot of these orgs are dying out with the older vet population. We have a bit of a unique situation with our American legion because they currently don’t have a building and are in desperate need of younger vets.

I’m reaching out in anyway I can to get young vets to help turn this place around and get them to focus on the important issues. I’m trying to guide them to buy a building that can be used as a Rec center, be rented out cheaply to the community, and have a fenced in play ground for vets with a family (like me), who can’t go to meetings and events without bringing our kids. Trying to emphasize that drinking isn’t a very big thing with our generation and while having a smaller bar is nice, we don’t need to walk right into one or have it take up the entire space. Especially when people are trying to recover or stay away from alcohol.

I’m trying to also push them to have relevant raffles (not gift baskets of pop corn) and events younger vets want. I want to get this place family friendly and pro-community. If they aren’t willing to budge, I’m going to drop it and let them FAFO but message below or message me directly if you are interested or have ideas, I don’t want a place that measures your worth by how many deployments you’ve been on or how much of the military makes up your entire personality…

I’m even trying to have some of our meetings and welcome events happen at the Y so we can utilize the playground

Heyo, I can finally update since I received my (granted!) decision yesterday!

If you only care about the timeline

My timeline is as follows:

- April 18th, 2018 - initial file
- July 7th, 2021 - appeal to the board received
- November 21st 2024 - BVA hearing attended with my VSO
- April 27th, 2026 - distributed to a VLJ
- June 5th, 2026 - decision made!

Backstory (if anyone wants to know) below since mine may be more straightforward:

I filed for cervical radiculopathy and essential tremors in both upper extremities in April 2018. I had an MRI done by the VA which found my cervical spine was, in fact, “moderately to severely” (their words on the results, not mine) crushing discs/nerves.

I have a buddy letter documented injury to my head/neck while in service and my MOS while in resulted in being hunched over/weird positions for hours for years (Helicopter engine mech), I was also seen by a non-VA doc (for a C&P) for my tremors and it was established that it wasn’t early onset of Parkinson’s or anything else and while half the essential tremors aren’t usually associated with anything and can just happen, the doctor said it was more likely than not associated to the injury.

The VA rated me mild for both extremities and denied the tremors, stating the essential tremors would pyramid my upper extremity ratings. If I was rated higher, I would’ve hit a much higher rating back in 2018.

I was denied until a HLR said “yea the tremors are related but you don’t rate a higher rating” all the way until I got to the board.

Extra info:

VSO stated since she believes mine is more straight forward than others, I should have my letter/back pay in 2-ish weeks, I can update when that comes in.

Also for my hearing - did not waive evidence phase, but also didn’t provide anything extra after the hearing, we cited my medical records (and exact page numbers to find the info) from all my C&P exams and things happening in my current life.