The key to rating Gulf War Syndrome for Military Disability is that it isn’t really a condition at all—just a catch-all term
used to identify seemingly random and unrelated symptoms/conditions that many
service members who served in the Gulf War started experiencing after their
return.
These symptoms/conditions can range from
memory problems to diarrhea to skin conditions to headaches. There is no real
rhyme or reason to the symptoms.
The only benefit to having Gulf War
Syndrome officially diagnosed is that then each of the symptoms/conditions that
fall under that title are automatically considered service-connected and thus
qualify for VA Disability (see our VA Presumptive List for complete details on what Gulf War Syndrome symptoms qualify for VA Disability). They also qualify for DoD Disability, but only if they
make the service member Unfit for Duty and are present at the time of discharge from the military.
Beyond making a symptom service-connected,
there is no benefit at all to an official diagnosis of Gulf War Syndrome. Regardless
of the title, physicians would still treat headaches the same way whether or
not they were part of Gulf War Syndrome.
Similarly, each symptom/condition under the
Gulf War Syndrome label would be rated independently of the other symptoms just
as they would anyway. A higher or increased rating is not given just because a
group of symptoms is united under the Gulf War Syndrome title.
When deciding how to rate your Gulf War
Syndrome symptoms, it is essential to remember the Pyramiding Principle: no
single symptom can be rated twice. So if a vet has a migraine headaches and
meningitis, he would not get two separate ratings since a common symptom of
meningitis is a headache. A rating for meningitis would already include the
headache. It can then not be rated separately.
So, ultimately, when deciding how to rate
Gulf War Syndrome, each condition/symptom can be rated separately as long as
now two share the same symptoms.
One final point: We recently had a vet
contact us about whether or not it would be beneficial for him to have Gulf War
Syndrome officially diagnosed. Looking at his symptoms, we found that they were
all already listed in his service medical record and thus already considered
service-connected. He was simply never officially diagnosed with Gulf War
Syndrome.
Since service-connection is the only real
benefit to the title, in this case it would have been a waste of time and
effort to get it officially diagnosed. It simply would not make a single
difference to his overall rating. He was already getting fair compensation for
all his symptoms/conditions.
The only time it may be beneficial to get
Gulf War Syndrome diagnosed after leaving the military would be if additional
symptoms appear after separation that need be determined service-connected in
order to get a rating.
