army,infantry disabled. have some questions.

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dubiousjay

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
I posted in the wrong section earlier. Hope someone here might be able to help me out.

I was wounded in iraq in 2003 and separated from the army with post concussion syndrome at 10% and got a severance pay. I filed with the Va and got 80% with unemployability pay at 100% for TBI and PTSD im also at 100% for SSDI, all service connected.

I filed with PDBR about 13 months ago. i got a email from someone in august saying they were done getting records from the VA and my case was being forwarded to the board.

Just wanting some insight really to how much longer and what the possible outcome will be.
 
As far as the time that it takes to conduct the review, that could be anyones guess. There are many factors that they may consider.

The review is more than likely looking at is whether or not the Army wrongully discharged you with severance, rather than medically retiring you.

During the time that your discharge took place, many servicemembers had conditions (such as TBI and PTSD) that were unfitting according the the regulations, however they were separating servicemembers for a single lesser condition at 0-20%, when in turn, the servicemember should have been medically retired.

There is the possibility that the board may in turn, medcially retire you and adjust your benefits accordingly.
 
Hey thanks for the link. Looks like i have a decent chance. Not trying to get my hopes up too much though/
 
ok so since im being paid by VA at 100% and possible army retirement pay would be less than that, i most likely wont see any money out of this right? so the benefit to me getting lets say 30%, would just be pretty much tricare benifits and not any financial compensation, correct? what about the severance pay i had to pay back? would a higher rating allow me to recoup any of that?
 
No, the higher ratig would normally not allow you to recoup and severance pay. However if you have combat related conditions, a portion of the retirement pay may be restored.

Here is a link to the CRSC rules http://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/disability/crsc.html

The reason the severance is recouped is that you are only legally allowed to collect one paymnet from the government for a disability, so it would either be severance or VA C&P. Since the C&P is a benefit that would pay more, this is what you get. Therefore the severance has to be given back. They do not take it all at once however, because this would typically cause a finacial hardship to those who have gotten it and spent it immediately.

Think of the severance as a zero interest payday loan against your future VA benefits.

Some of the advantages to being medically retired are tricare for you and your dependents, and a few other ones, although since you are 100% VA there are many benefits of being retired you may already get.
 
As mentioned above by GS, if you are eligible for combat related special compensation (CRSC), which from you post you are, you should apply for CRSC. With the assistance of the provided link, you should apply to see what you would qualify for. Since you have already paid your severance back, you should receive all of your CRSC offset pay along with your VA compensation, and the benefits of being retired, you earned it. Good luck!
 
I talked to a guy from dfas im gonna apply for CRSC. How do they decide on that? how much financial significance is it? Crazy im just now finding out about all this....smh
 
Also this guy from the CRSC called me back and told me that he talked to his supervisor and said i needed to wait till after this PDBR is done before I can apply for CRSC..... did i misunderstand this? because the CRSC application just asks if you have purple heart and are rated at 10% or more by dod, which i am.
 
CRSC requires you to be eligible for retirement pay and to waive the retirement pay for VA compensation. CRSC that restores a portion/all of that waivered retirement pay. They are correct, the PDBR must first upgrade you from severance to retirement before CRSC can be approved.

You are not required to have a purple heart for CRSC, but it can help. You do not need any DoD rating for CRSC, you need a VA rating. CRSC does not care about DoD disability ratings. CRSC can apply for those who retire at 20 and did not get a disability retirement.
 
If I receive a retirement and am enrolled into tricare I understand they will repay past medical expenses? Does this include deductibles I had to pay out while on my wife's insurance? Is this limited to just my past medical bills? or my children? wife?
 
There is the possibility that if you are medically retired, that they will retroactively pay claims in the past. There are quite a bit of rules when it comes to the insurance, more than likely if you are covered by a policy on your wifes plan, it will become the primary payer with Tricare secondary.
 
File all the medical claims for you and your family. Tricare may not pay, but they will have to give you a reason. Then you can decide how to proceed. If Tricare pays, your done.
 
Two Years this October and as far as i know my paper work hasnt left the Air force processing center.
 
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