Does Degenerative Disc Dieses show up imediatley?

I am a airborne Gulf War Vet, and was diagnosed with SEVERE DDD about 7 years ago.  I was discharged with in  5 months of returning from the gulf war, at the time I had complained about pain in my knees.  The V.A. had denied me disability for DDD with the excuse the is no medical history in my military files.  Would/could the U.S. Army have diagnosed me within the 5 months upon my return from the Gulf War.  Is it a medical oppinion that my 18 airborne jumps and confirmed expsosure to biological and chemical fallout, be the cause of my diagnosis of DDD?  Can anyone help me proof to the V.A. that there would most likely not be any record as there was not enough time for my condition to progress to the point of diagnosing it within that short of time.

[JKJ]

Hi & Thanks for your service!
I'm a vet also....I'm going to direct you to a website just for vets with questions and answers about how to deal with the VA.....one is called hadit.org and the other is called vawatchdog.org.

The first thing you need to do is get a copy of your military medical records and all of your VA and/or civilian medical records.  On the vawatchdog.org site there is a link about how to file a claim with the VA.  There is an individual on that site who is VERY knowledgeable about VA claims.  

Please check these sites...they are vets helping vets.  Best of luck!!

Janet (aka "purple" on hadit)

[JKJ]

Correction...

The Hadit site is actually Hadit.com not Hadit.org...........my bad.

jkj