Notify Your VA Primary Care of your Combat Status

Kimberly Smoak – From VFW Department of Oklahoma District 1

ATTN VETERANS!!! This is VERY Important!! If you are a COMBAT VETERAN, please make sure your PRIMARY CARE or PRIVATE PHYSICIAN is aware of that fact. I just read some of my paperwork from 2009 and it stated ONE of the reasons I was denied disability is that I never IDENTFIED myself as a COMBAT VETERAN to my physician therefore my physician didn’t treat me as such. WOW!!!!. I thought when I enrolled in healthcare with my DD 214 and it clearly states I was in COMBAT, that they would Mark me as such AND that that was sufficient. It is NOT. Save yourself some time and hassle. Let them know TODAY!! I kept wondering why I was being DENIED so many tests, now I know. I know I told my DOCTOR in the TEN years I’ve been seeing her, at some point, that I was, but unless they have it on your chart it “doesn’t count”. Please keep in mind that there IS a difference between being a Combat ERA Veteran and an actual COMBAT Veteran. ( no disrecpect intended).

PS. ALSO, even though your PSHYCHIATRIST may know your being treated for COMBAT PTSD, that doesn’t mean your PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN knows.

In 2003 I was awarded 100% Service Connected PTSD. That is in my medical records in every summary of Me the nurse sees and the Dr signs off on after my visits. So it does not make sense to me, with the exception, That, the Dr wasn’t paying attention to my chart. Never assume your Dr knows anything about your past.

If you were exposed to ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS, OPEN BURN PITS, OIL WELL FIRES, ETC… let them know. If you were given the anti nerve agent or anti malaria pills let them know. If you were given the immunization for ANTHRAX let them know. If you were exposed to toxic chemicals let them know.

VFW Oklahoma

Veterans of Foreign Wars