Asthma Question?

S

SSBN_Trident

PEB Forum Regular Member
PEB Forum Veteran
Hey everyone,

I have been in the Navy for 10 years, and have already fallen through the medical cracks once and it resulted in me losing my last rate of 7 years. I was diagnosed with Moderate Persistent Asthma in 2004 so to retain me I was transferred from Submarine service sea duty to shore duty. Worked with doctors and was waived from all PRT's, and then towards the end they placed me on Limited Duty for my asthma and I was stable. They removed me from limited duty, said that I was WW deployable with NO limitations for some reason. The then FORCE converted me from Missile Tech due to it only having an IDC and equipment to Mineman which is a SMALLER ship with even less experienced medical IDC and less equipment. My chain of command and I fought this, but was told it was that or admin sep in 90 days. So now the doctors here place me on limited duty yet again, and say that I am not world wide deployable, waived from the PRT, and can not be on MCM's. So now I am looking at a Medical Board and the Commander basically told me that he was going to find me "not fit" and forward the dictation to an IPEB. I am on the following:

Advair 500/50, Abuteral, Nexium, and Flonase

I am scared S***less that they are going to just separate me and give me a severance check which after 10 years of busting my balls for them is a slap in the face. What am I getting ready to face here?


Thanks in advance for all your help!
 
Now I see where it says on the VASRD you can get a disability rating, but the DOD also says it uses "supplemental" documentation and instructions to determine a disability rating. Where can I read this said supplemental information?
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum! I hope you find your answers here. :)

From what I've come to understand, they'd only be looking at the VASRD to determine your rating, but that may not be the entire answer. Luckily the right answers do come here, and they tend to arrive pretty quickly.
 
Any supplements are now out. The only criteria for rating comes from the VASRD. The most common rating is 30% for use of Advair Discus. If you are unfit due to this condition, you should be retired (usually first time placement on TDRL). Hope this helped!
 
Thank you for the help. I just hate this whole limbo thing.

From what I have read the TDRL thing is usually disability death..... What do they expect me to do? Get out not work, and keep my life on pause until this gets figured out? Thanks a ton for the help guys, I just wish I had never gotten this in the first place.....

I never had asthma until I had spent 2 years on a submarine..............
 
The DoD implementation of the VASRD rating criteria is DODI 1332.39 which is being rewritten to be in compliance with the 2008 NDAA requirement to rate per the VASRD. The new version is not out yet. However, there still could be DoD "interpretation" where the VASRD criteria is vague or subjective.

Another concern you need to be aware of is the Navy's fit but unsuitable policy that leads to administrative discharges without disability benefits. A breakdown of this process is as follows:


PEB finds member fit for duty based on ability to perform MOS

Sailor/marine operationally screened as operationally unsuitable under MILPERSMAN 1300-801

Based on inability to perform common military tasks or MOS duties in all operational environments

Sailor/marine discharged for the convenience of the government under MILPERSMAN 1910-120 due to the impact of their service connected disabilities

No disability benefits granted


I will be briefing Dr. Casscells, The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs about this problem on Tuesday, 27 May. He has told me that no one should be administratively separated when the cause is medical. I told him about this and other issues which led to the opportunity to brief him. I will let the pebforum board know how it goes.

Mike
 
A TDRL finding is not as much of a problem with asthma cases. As long as you stay on your medication (the basis for the 30% rating) most cases are moved to the PDRL after on re-evaluation. It is much different for mental health disorders, where the criteria has to do with the degree of social and industrial impairment (which they incorrectly focus on the industrial impairment, i.e., your functional impairment at work and not your social problems). For those cases, going to work and succesfully holding a job can be the basis for a lower rating.
 
Mark,

I had heard of this, and this is what has scared me. They almost admin separated me last month without a PEB due to my asthma, but they decided to put me on the second LIMDU first.

Please Mark keep us informed as to what he says and come out of your meeting because others and I in the Navy need as much help with this loop hole as possible. Thank you so much for your help with this.

Jason,

Thank you for your information and thank you for your time and effort for this site. You can read all day long on the actual proceedings, but seeing what others actually go through is so much more helpful. Thank you.
 
If you are put on TDRL they will have you on their no longer than 5 years. If you are on their for 5 years and your condition stays the same you are put on PDRL. If the condition progresses then you get re-evaluated and given a new % rating. If you get better your % goes down and you are given severance pay and may even return to active duty.

Unfortunately, while you are on TDRL your life is sort of "on hold." You are not active or reserve, but you get paid retirement pay and expected to move on. It could last 5 years or you could get PDRL after the first regular examination, but that is unlikely. From my experience, they waited until the last regular scheduled examination to make a decision. Just hang in there and get all the info/ammo you can. Stay informed as well.
 
Only thing I want to clarify is that while on TDRL, they cannot change your rating. Your condition either stabilizes (and you are rated and taken off TDRL) or it does not (and you remain on TDRL at the same percentage). The only variation is, as rreed, said, that at the expiration of 5 years, you have to have your case finally decided one way or another. But most don't stay on TDRL for that long.
 
maparker said:
The DoD implementation of the VASRD rating criteria is DODI 1332.39 which is being rewritten to be in compliance with the 2008 NDAA requirement to rate per the VASRD. The new version is not out yet. However, there still could be DoD "interpretation" where the VASRD criteria is vague or subjective.

Another concern you need to be aware of is the Navy's fit but unsuitable policy that leads to administrative discharges without disability benefits. A breakdown of this process is as follows:


PEB finds member fit for duty based on ability to perform MOS

Sailor/marine operationally screened as operationally unsuitable under MILPERSMAN 1300-801

Based on inability to perform common military tasks or MOS duties in all operational environments

Sailor/marine discharged for the convenience of the government under MILPERSMAN 1910-120 due to the impact of their service connected disabilities

No disability benefits granted


I will be briefing Dr. Casscells, The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs about this problem on Tuesday, 27 May. He has told me that no one should be administratively separated when the cause is medical. I told him about this and other issues which led to the opportunity to brief him. I will let the pebforum board know how it goes.

Mike
Click to expand...


How did your meeting go? Any information or insight?
 
It went well.

Dr. Linda Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was there and stated she had passed the "Navy Fit but Unsuitable" issue slides to her legal people for review and that she may possibly have me over to talk with them on the issue.

Dr. Casscells invited me back for further conversations.

Mike
 
maparker said:
It went well.

Dr. Linda Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was there and stated she had passed the "Navy Fit but Unsuitable" issue slides to her legal people for review and that she may possibly have me over to talk with them on the issue.

Dr. Casscells invited me back for further conversations.

Mike
Click to expand...

Thats great! Thanks for the info. Please keep us informed....:)
 
*Update*

Doctor told me today that in his dictation that although he would not say that I could not deploy (in a combat environment), but he would not recommend it due to the possibility of not only endangering my life but those around me as well. He also stated that as for shipboard life I would have to be on a larger ship that could intabate me with a respirator if the need be. Nothing about not being able to complete a physical readines test. I will get a chance to read the dictation next week and copy it....

I mentioned the fear of an admin separation, and he told me that even though I developed this in the Navy that the Navy is not responsible to entitle me to "disability" unless I can not reasonably perform a job outside of the Navy........ That is how they say to justify the Admin Separation so then the VA can figure the rest out.

I don't know what to even attempt to plan for. This has me so stressed out that my right eye twitches to the point where my vision moves around.. This makes me wonder why I even joined.....
 
SSBN_Trident said:
I mentioned the fear of an admin separation, and he told me that even though I developed this in the Navy that the Navy is not responsible to entitle me to "disability" unless I can not reasonably perform a job outside of the Navy........ That is how they say to justify the Admin Separation so then the VA can figure the rest out.
Click to expand...

I'm trying the part in the VASRD that says something like 10% for ringing in your ears, but you only get it if you can't hear your civilian boss yelling at you. I'm not having much luck. :rolleyes:
 
and he told me that even though I developed this in the Navy that the Navy is not responsible to entitle me to "disability" unless I can not reasonably perform a job outside of the Navy
Click to expand...

WRONG!!! The standard for compensation is whether your condition prevents reasonable performance of your duties (which is measured against your grade and rate). You should review the dictation when it is finished and watch for any errors. In particular you want to ensure they are capturing all of your conditions.

This is definitely stressful, but you can prevail. Keep your chin up and keep us posted with any questions.
 
For some reason, it seems to some people that the only way a disability could affect you is in your work life. This is a horrible injustice to an individual person, to say to them that the only way anyone will ever care about you is if you can't work.
 
Jason said:
WRONG!!! The standard for compensation is whether your condition prevents reasonable performance of your duties (which is measured against your grade and rate). You should review the dictation when it is finished and watch for any errors. In particular you want to ensure they are capturing all of your conditions.
Click to expand...

I will review it next week, and get a copy of it also just for good measure.
 
Got Results.

Well I am getting F***ED by the military once again. The IPEB returned FIT --- FIT TO CONTINUE ACTIVE DUTY....

So I am told the following:

- I am not "world wide assignable"
- I am not shipboard suitable
- I am to PT at my own pace and do not participate in the PRT.
- My medical condition "Precludes military service"

So these three yahoo's in DC think completely opposite. They think that I am fit!
So why did I get kicked out of the submarine fleet?
Why can't I deploy to Bahrain?
Why do I cough and wheeze in the morning when its cold or when the humidity is hi or when the A/C is on in the F**ing car!?
Why when I am exposed to strong solvents, smoke, or acrid odors I choke??
Why we I get stressed I cough, and why do I wheeze when I PT?
Why does the Navy and our government not give two S***s about its armed forces members and just want to push them to the side to save a buck?

Yea... I devoted 10 years of my life to a government who just throws countless people to the side when they are no longer "convenient" to the government.

I plan to request a reconsideration, but don’t know what to do or even if this crap is even worth it seeing that DC thinks I am perfectly healthy.....


Sorry I am done ranting now......
 
SSBN_Trident,

That is lousy. I am sorry they apparently did not look at your records and consider how your condition obviously impacts your ability to perform your duties.

Asking for reconsideration is the route to go. Hopefully, they grant a hearing and do a better job next time around. I am sure you aware that if they don't the danger is administrative separation. Keep us updated and we will try to offer whatever help we can.
 
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