CRSC wounded warrior legal appeal

[KR00]

I'm in the process of appealing my CRSC decision through wounded warriors free legal team referral.

I had a back injury incurred while charging a mk19 in Afghanistan. It was a functions check rolling out the gate. Long story short, it wasn't my mk19, it malfunctioned, wouldn't charge and I herniated/ bulged disks slamming my back into the turret repeatedly trying to get it to work. In my mind that's an instrument of war. When I medically retired they didn't label it as a combat injury. I didn't have any reason to think anything of it or dispute it.
Now CRSC is denying the claim based on the fact that it wasn't combat categorized. The reasons for denial was stated as "your PEB states that this injury is not combat related". I'm looking at my records and can't find where I was seen for it while in theatre. In my PEB it states there was a mention of the mechanism of injury at some point a bit later in theatre record but I'm not finding it. But, on the PEB it states my account as the "matter of fact" incident.

So I'm kinda feeling like I'm screwed in any supporting "event of injury" documents all because some asshole didn't fill out his comment section in his paperwork. The injury is proved with test results/ timeline but I don't know what else I can do besides wait for the legal team to comb through my military/ va records when ever in 6-12 months they might receive those. (that's if they take my case).

CRSC did, however, give me 10% for tinnitus..

I appreciate any information.

 

[RetiredColonel-MikeT]

I'm in the process of appealing my CRSC decision through wounded warriors free legal team referral.

I had a back injury incurred while charging a mk19 in Afghanistan. It was a functions check rolling out the gate. Long story short, it wasn't my mk19, it malfunctioned, wouldn't charge and I herniated/ bulged disks slamming my back into the turret repeatedly trying to get it to work. In my mind that's an instrument of war. When I medically retired they didn't label it as a combat injury. I didn't have any reason to think anything of it or dispute it.
Now CRSC is denying the claim based on the fact that it wasn't combat categorized. The reasons for denial was stated as "your PEB states that this injury is not combat related". I'm looking at my records and can't find where I was seen for it while in theatre. In my PEB it states there was a mention of the mechanism of injury at some point a bit later in theatre record but I'm not finding it. But, on the PEB it states my account as the "matter of fact" incident.

So I'm kinda feeling like I'm screwed in any supporting "event of injury" documents all because some asshole didn't fill out his comment section in his paperwork. The injury is proved with test results/ timeline but I don't know what else I can do besides wait for the legal team to comb through my military/ va records when ever in 6-12 months they might receive those. (that's if they take my case).

CRSC did, however, give me 10% for tinnitus..

I appreciate any information.

The statement "your PEB states that this injury is not combat related" is actually counter-intuitive, as CRSC was written under a different set of laws than what the PEB or VA use for determining something to be "combat-related". Even after talking to HRC, they have stated it's a last-ditch effort. So don't hate on yourself for disputing it at the time, the laws written for PEB use are for determining if the Ch 61 retirement pay is to be non-taxable or not.

How long ago did the incident happen? Is there anyway you can locate your wartime chain of command (E-8/O-3 or higher)? At statement from them *should* work if it's possible to locate them.