Veterans MUST Personally Review "C" File!

Your "C" file is the complete set of documents regarding your claim. This isn't your VA medical records although many or all of those records may be in the "C" file as evidence. Instead, the VA maintains at each Regional Office the veteran's initial claim, supporting documents, VA records relative to that claim, awards, denials...everything. Pretty much a complete legal gathering of your case.

The problem is, as I have found out in two recent incidents, you can't count on the accuracy of that "C" file unless YOU spend a couple hours turning pages and taking notes.

Yesterday I reviewed my notes from checking out my "C" file a week ago. Back then I thought I'd caught the significant mistakes made by the VA (failure to obtain correct information from the JSRRC, and other errors). But I missed a big one! A game changer that should have been working for me from the get-go.

The local office forwarded my case with a recommendation for approval by the DC folks, where my claim was denied, in part, for lack of medical nexus between Agent Orange and my Agent Orange-presumptive illnesses. Problem: The local office failed to forward my cardiac surgeon's letter establishing exactly that nexus!

I didn't catch this on my visit and only noticed it in passing looking over my notes and some of the VA's documents. This missing document can be critical to my claim and I'll notify my VARO to correct their oversight.