Tom KING, Appellant, v. Shirley S. CHATER, Appellee

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Tom King served in the military in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969, when he was 18 to 20 years old. He applied for social security disability benefits in 1991, citing post-traumatic stress disorder, heart problems, arthritis in his neck and back, and recurrent knee dislocation, with an onset date of late 1977. After a two-day hearing, an administrative law judge denied Mr. King’s application for benefits, stating that Mr. King had engaged in substantial gainful activity within a year after his eligibility for such benefits ended. In 1993, Mr. King sued in…