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Welcome to The Veterans Disability Nexus, where we provide unique insights and expertise on medical evidence related to VA-rated disabilities. Leah Bucholz, a US Army Veteran, Physician Assistant, & former Compensation & Pension Examiner shares her knowledge related to Independent Medical Opinions often referred to as “Nexus Letters” in support of your pursuit of VA Disability every Tuesday & Wednesday at 7AM Central.
Take control of your medical evidence related to your benefits and visit https://podcast.prestigeveteranmctx.info/veteran/ for more information and to connect directly with us!
Hey, guys. It's Leah B from Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting. I'm a US Army veteran physician assistant and former compensation and pension examiner. So today we're going to talk to Rebecca Deming from ProVet Legal, and we're going to cover an issue or a topic that a lot of veterans have experience with due to their time in the military and sort of some biases that have happened over the years, and it's specifically related to the don't ask, don't tell policy that was in effect for many years that got turned around and how that can be related to VA disability benefits. So before we jump in, I wanna introduce Rebecca again for those of you guys that don't know her.
Leah Bucholz:Again, she's from ProVet Legal, a firm out of Florida. Great team representing veterans. Rebecca, can you tell the viewers a little bit about yourself if they don't know you already?
Rebecca Deming:Sure. Thanks, Leah. Rebecca Deming. I own ProVet Legal. We're based in Florida, but we can represent veterans all over the country and worldwide, and we focus exclusively on VA disability benefits.
Rebecca Deming:I worked, I spent probably ten years of my career working parallel to and with military in training and overseas in Afghanistan and Africa and NATO forces in Germany. And then got into VA disability law when my husband retired from the Navy. So anyway, excited to be here and this is an interesting topic and we may end up having more podcasts that come out of this one. I don't know if I'll be able to pack everything into Sure. The amount of time we usually spend talking in in one episode.
Leah Bucholz:For sure. So let's just jump right in. So can you talk about for those most viewers have heard of Don't Ask, Don't Tell or DAVT, But for those that may be unfamiliar or it's been a while since they've thought about this, can you just explain what the don't ask, don't tell policy was?
Rebecca Deming:Sure. So prior to the don't ask, don't tell policy so Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was a policy that came into place because there was a policy before that outright prohibited people from being engaging in homosexual activity in the military. And if if your command suspected you of homosexual activity, they could investigate and they could discharge you based on suspected proclivities, whether you engaged or not. I mean, some people refer to it as the witch hunt era. So Don't Ask, Don't Tell came into effect.
Rebecca Deming:I believe it was under Clinton. It was 1993. And it was supposed to kind of, it did alleviate some of that. It was supposed to help the LGBTQ community, the homosexual community. So basically, if you don't tell us about your sexual orientation, what you do on your free time is your free time, Keep it to yourself.
Rebecca Deming:We're not going to investigate. So that's what the policy was. That was in place all the way up until 2011. It was September of twenty eleven when Obama repealed don't ask, don't tell. But that policy was in place for a long time.
Rebecca Deming:And then the progeny before it was in place for a long time before that. So people who served under those policies definitely felt their impacts.
Leah Bucholz:Sure, sure. There was a lot of, and we're going get into this. There were a lot of people that were discharged from the military, as you mentioned, and and that's gonna kinda be the basis of some of our case studies that we might talk about here in the next couple minutes as well. So how did the DADT policy affect veterans seeking disability benefits, or how does it? How has it?
Rebecca Deming:I think there's a few ways that it affected people. I think in general, it's just important to recognize the emotional impact of having that policy on people. When you're in the military, it is stressful, deployments are stressful, relocations, TDYs, permanent change of station, all of those things are stressful on a military family. That's when I say military family, I mean a family that's recognized by the military. So you get orders to bring your dependents with you.
Rebecca Deming:If you have to keep half of your private life private and you're getting an order to deploy, but your significant other is not able to communicate with the command ombudsman. They're not going to get notice that if something happens to you, if you get moved, there's no orders for them to come with you. There's the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act. So which is huge and now nowadays there's even more efforts to help with licensing issues for military spouses. But there's a lot of stuff in place that is supposed to alleviate some of those stresses on military spouses.
Rebecca Deming:If you have a significant other who the DoD isn't able to recognize and that you have to keep secret from your command because you can't share that cause a lot of stress. So there's what whether it's PTSD or other specified stressor and trauma related disorder or depression, anxiety, from having to keep a whole part of your personality and your family life separate from your work life. We see a lot of people who have experienced that because Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed in 2011, but it was in place for a long time. People who served during that time may not have filed a claim right away because they couldn't under, you know, was don't ask, don't tell, you don't tell us that this is the stuff that's bothering you. The other way that it's kind of the, I think a lot of people don't think about is the victims of military sexual trauma.
Rebecca Deming:If it was a homosexual act, so you have a man on a man, whether or not the victim, whatever the sexual orientation of the victim is, especially prior to Don't Ask Don't Tell, where they could, if we suspect that you asked for it or we suspect the victim blaming, victim shaming was a lot more real. But even under Don't Ask Don't Tell, I think a lot of people felt like if they came forward and said, well, I was at this party and this thing happened and I got attacked, know, it might be perceived as telling that they engaged. It's not just what is your sexual orientation, but did you engage in or have a proclivity to engage in homosexual acts? So I think a lot of people kept a lot of stuff bottled up. And as we know, starting claims years after you completed service has a whole another level of difficulty improving what happened in service, proving continuity of symptoms or a relation or nexus to service.
Rebecca Deming:People may not have gotten treatment right away.
Leah Bucholz:Sure. And just, you know, in general, culturally, things have just evolved over the years. And, you know, just the fact that many people had to keep their identity or their preferences just completely secret, that has major psychiatric implications. And we have, in fact, together dealt with a few cases of veterans that have been discharged due to DADT and how that impacted them and how they had to, you know, I think that speaks volumes just for itself. And so, are a lot of claims that require, you know, in service evidence, but there, to me, that's a marker in and of itself.
Leah Bucholz:Like, it's self explanatory that you had to do all of these things. So, I think that there should be a lot of leeway for veterans that had to deal with some of these things when it comes to, you know, obviously, not everybody is gonna be, you know, have a psychiatric impact for this, but it should be fairly straightforward, in my opinion, okay? There's a lot of research out there that supports longstanding mental health conditions related to, you know, what a lot of these veterans had to go through. So, I guess, are there unique challenges for this community of veterans in the disability claims process?
Rebecca Deming:I think, like you said, I think now that the system is probably set up to help veterans with LGBTQ veterans who served under Don't Ask, Don't Tell or around that time. That said, I think as a society in general, there are going be biases. You're going to run into C and P examiners or rating officers who don't understand or that you know they look at your record and they say well you weren't married. I think one of the biggest ones is going to be if you didn't treat for stuff in service because you can't go to a command psychiatrist for marital issues if you can't tell them that you're married or that you're in a domestic relationship. So I think some of that, there is still going to be some friction about proving in service events.
Rebecca Deming:Although I think you're right that the fact that someone who either was a victim of military sexual trauma or was in the LGBTQ community during Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I think there's going to be ample markers. It's just going to be working with an accredited claims representative or an attorney or a VSO to help document those markers to show that something happened.
Leah Bucholz:So what about veterans that were actually discharged under DADT? Like, can they receive benefits? Like, if it's annotated on their and I don't really recall. I think I've seen a few things. There can be specifically codes on the DD two fourteen that that demonstrates, hey.
Leah Bucholz:This is why they were discharged. Right? Right.
Rebecca Deming:Yes. So I have seen DD two fourteens that say reason for discharge, homosexual activity or homosexual orientation. And so in the past, what they would have to do is go through a process to do a discharge upgrade and that would be relatively simple. Mean, the system is is pretty clear now that that's not a reason for discharge anymore. And so if you're discharged under Don't Ask Don't Tell or prior to Don't Ask Don't Tell because of your sexual orientation, you can get your discharge upgraded.
Rebecca Deming:I believe recently there was a they overturned that you don't even they're going to automatically go through and they're going to I don't know if they're going to automatically do it or it's just anyone who applies is automatically going to get granted the approved discharge upgrade. So I don't anticipate reason for discharge. If the reason for discharge had anything to do with sexual orientation, I don't anticipate that being a barrier going forward.
Leah Bucholz:So how has the repeal of DADT impacted veterans today?
Rebecca Deming:I mean, I know you
Leah Bucholz:couldn't answer this, but Yeah.
Rebecca Deming:I I mean, if you never served under don't ask, don't tell, I mean, I think it's the same, You know, being a minority in any section, know, there's going to be segments of society that there's friction that you're not going fit in and that kind of stuff and that can cause issues. In terms of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I think Don't Ask, Don't Tell was an incremental change from the prior regulations that flat out allowed people to search out people with homosexual orientation and discharge them for that. So I think because it was kind of incremental, there's a little bit of a disbelief that, you know, okay, now that it's repealed, can I really file a claim? Am I allowed to file a claim? A lot of people will not file a claim because they'll say, I never treated for it in service, so how can I ever prove it?
Rebecca Deming:And they don't realize that there's other ways to show, like you said, you mentioned markers. Markers is a term that VA uses in the military sexual trauma field in general, not necessarily whether it's LGBTQ, homosexual, straight, whatever military sexual trauma. They realize that with a lot of sexual abuse, sexual traumatic events, people don't report for a number of reasons. Statistically, it's very underreported. And so they look for what they call markers.
Rebecca Deming:So evidence other evidence that something happened around the time that you say the incident happened. So were you on the Sailor of the Year track and then all of a sudden you didn't get promoted and you got put on extra duties and like something changed. So you right around the time that you say that this incident happened. So that's what they're talking about in markers is, is there other evidence in your record or other ways that we can prove that something happened around the time that you say you experienced this trauma?
Leah Bucholz:Sure, yeah. And also, you know, buddy statements can sometimes be helpful from people that knew you at that time and, you know, maybe a former relationship that you had, a family member that knew what you were going through and things like that, I'm sure can be helpful in some circumstances. So what resources are available for the LGBTQ community for veterans navigating the VA system?
Rebecca Deming:So, veterans, LGBTQ veterans can reach out to their VSOs, they can reach out to accredited claims agents and attorneys, and they should be able to get the same support as any other veteran. Like any, you know, choosing a representative, like any relationship, if you feel like you don't mesh with someone or that they don't understand or not asking the right questions, You can interview several representatives before you choose one. You can potentially switch representatives if you don't feel like the person is really understanding or supportive of showing what you went through.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah so what advice would you give to the LGBTQ community veterans who feel hesitant about seeking to come on benefits?
Rebecca Deming:I would, you know, anyone who's hesitant about seeking benefits, the benefit process can be stressful. And sometimes you have to dig up painful memories, painful experiences to get your benefits. I would say it is usually for most of the people I work with, it's worth going through it because when you come out on the other end and you get those benefits, you're going to be better off. Your life is going be easier. It kind of gives a cushion so it doesn't necessarily make everything better, make everything go away.
Rebecca Deming:But having that cushion allows you the time, the space to get the treatment or the space to kind of heal what you need to heal. That said, for some people, the money of getting the benefits is not worth having to relive and reopen some of those wounds. And so that's a very personal decision. And it's something you might want to talk to a representative about, talk to your family about, meditate on. But I would say for most people it is worth going through that pain.
Rebecca Deming:I'm not going to discount the pain of having to talk to multiple C and P examiners about what you went through and reestablishing that something actually happened and you're not just making it up.
Leah Bucholz:Yeah. Be brave, friends. That's what I always say when we have to deal with some of these really difficult things, whether it's this particular situation or any other one that that brings back some of these, you know, really heavy feelings and emotions, be brave. You know, do do what is best for you and your your personal situation, but my Leah B's personal perspective is to try to be brave and push through it so that you can get the help and support that you need. So I hope that today's video was helpful.
Leah Bucholz:Like I said, this is this is more common than you would think. Rebecca and I have worked with a couple of veterans who were able to get service connection for mental health conditions related to some of these things that they experienced. So I hope this has touched the lives of some veterans out there who may be struggling with this and the decision to pursue something like this. And if you have any questions, Rebecca is an accredited VA attorney. Like we said, I'm gonna drop her website in the comments for you guys to reach out to her anytime.
Leah Bucholz:We always appreciate you watching, and please let us know if you have any questions regarding this or anything else. And Rebecca, do you have anything else to say to our viewers? Oh, I think I think we lost you for a second, Rebecca.
Rebecca Deming:How about now?
Leah Bucholz:I gotcha. Okay, you're back. Okay,
Rebecca Deming:perfect. I was just going say, you know, VA does have some personnel, have some additional training and some additional resources. They're training specific personnel to handle LGBTQ issues and MST issues. So, your claim should be routed to somebody who's at least gone through some basic additional training to have some additional sensitivities. But that said, it can be challenging and talk to your therapist, talk to your support network about whether it's the right decision to go forward.
Rebecca Deming:But I do think that most of the people who decide to go forward with it end up better on the other side.
Leah Bucholz:Agree, agree. All right, well thank you again for being here and thanks for watching everybody and we'll talk to you guys soon. Thanks Leah. Thanks.