Wow. It's insane how much the PEB even varies. I thought it was the VA that was causing the majority of the backlog.
Fort Lewis PEB
- Thread starter shadow4
- Start date
Packet received by PEB Mar 19
PEB found me unfit Apr 11
Packet went to VA in Seattle
18 May I Called VA in Seattle (waited 30 miutes) was told that they made the final decision on my ratings and it would be about 23 days (odd number) that I would receive something in the mail at my personal residence.
24 May called PEBLO here in Hawaii, told on average it takes 2-4 months to hear from PEB on the VA ratings???
Why does it take 2-4 months to go from Seattle VA to PEB at Ft Lewis which is about 30 minutes apart?
This really screws a Soldier over, keep you waiting and waiting. How can you properly plan for your future and your family's survival when you get out if they keep jerking you around? All this wait time and not knowing really puts job searching and hiring on hold because you don't have a definitive date. I thought this whole process was supposed to be faster.
On the old system my friend was boarded for his back and from start to end he was done in 90 days. They need to hire more people if they are so back logged. I can see the longer process if you have multiple claims and they are making sure everything is correct and nothing is missed, but come on this is too long!
PEB found me unfit Apr 11
Packet went to VA in Seattle
18 May I Called VA in Seattle (waited 30 miutes) was told that they made the final decision on my ratings and it would be about 23 days (odd number) that I would receive something in the mail at my personal residence.
24 May called PEBLO here in Hawaii, told on average it takes 2-4 months to hear from PEB on the VA ratings???
Why does it take 2-4 months to go from Seattle VA to PEB at Ft Lewis which is about 30 minutes apart?
This really screws a Soldier over, keep you waiting and waiting. How can you properly plan for your future and your family's survival when you get out if they keep jerking you around? All this wait time and not knowing really puts job searching and hiring on hold because you don't have a definitive date. I thought this whole process was supposed to be faster.
On the old system my friend was boarded for his back and from start to end he was done in 90 days. They need to hire more people if they are so back logged. I can see the longer process if you have multiple claims and they are making sure everything is correct and nothing is missed, but come on this is too long!
I called the VA this morning and they gave me the same 23 day answer as well. I thought that was strange too. I asked if they could fax me or tell me what they found so far but the VA rep told me he was unable to do so and I had to wait those 23 days. At least progress is being made and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer.
I feel your anxiety on the wait too, being all the PEBLO's on JBLM/Ft. Lewis last month were supposedly forced to take a week to do some kind of training. It caused a massive 2 week back-log that Madigan hospital failed to forsee... This is probably going to force another probe/investigation on Madigan yet again for blatant stupidity LOL. I am at Ft. Lewis, the PEB has had my packet for 30 days and was told to wait another month at minimum for any new info. I was told they were adjucating on my packet again last week but that was it. Also if you have any mental claims plan on waiting closer to 5-6 months on the Seattle VA to rate you. Friend of mine just got notified her ratings got back after 5 1/2 months from VA at Seattle.
For those of you that freak out about getting ratings from a place called Auburn, WA... It's a suberb of Seattle where the VA has a bunch of offices at, this means they hired more raters!!!
Not sure how true this is. My packet was received at the Seattle VA in April around the 13th and was assigned to a case worker on 4 may for my preliminary findings. On 23 May those preliminary findings were complete and now just waiting on approval. I was told today by calling the 1800 VA number that they sent me my results in the mail on Friday. I keep hearing about this 6 month wait, but I think that time period is shrinking from what my PEBLO told me last week. I was surprised today to find out that I was being sent my proposed ratings in the mail, however they are not official until the final approval. I was told to expect 23 days for that to occur from 23 may. I think things are starting to speed up after all the attention the IDES/VA system has been receiving. Maybe I am wrong, but I hope for everyone's sake that I am not.
I pray that they are speeding things up, I have alot of VA appointments and have already been approved for the VR&E program through the VA. The faster they do things the faster I get to work on an education after waiting 8 years in the Army. Never held a position that allowed me to have much personal time, always held E-6 positions even as a E-2...
My Seattle VA rating office took almost 4 months to rate my packet. Mine was complicated with many different physical issues, rating/severity variables, and one MH issue.
It was OK for me that the VA DID take enough time to get my ratings correctly done. If they had tried to push my packet through just to satisfy my need for speed and other life issues, I'm sure the results would have shorted me my just and fair due.
I'd rather they come up with a correct answer the first time, so that I won't have to keep fighting after discharge to get the right answer from them. And possibly even have to continue to fight the Army, too, if those /percentages weren't correct.
I know this is a pain - the putting of your life on hold for a bit longer. But this is a very important part of the process - your disability retirement dollars can hang in the balance here. So cut them a little slack, pray they get it right, and then you can take a breather for awhile with all this fighting you've had to do just to get this far.
If they've hired more help - wonderful! Sure hope the new hires are competant in the VASRD.
v/r,
nwlivewire
Does anyone have a direct line to Seattle VA office.
Not sure what that 23 day BS was all about. I contacted my VA rep in Hawaii and was able to give me my results. It took Seattle 19 days to rate my 15 conditions. I ended up with 20% DoD, 60% VA. Of course it still has to go back to the PEB and down the chain to my PEBLO so as far as I know, I doubt the rating will change unless I appeal....which I am not. I have a high salary job lined up and once I add my other "fitting" conditions to my exit service VA appointment, I should be looking at around 100% VA based off of the VASRD. I'm so ready for this to be over.
I, too, received my "proposed" ratings from the VA as a large, multi-page document which was sent to my home address. I rec'd this packet before I was medically retired.
I have now been medically retired since mid-April. The VA Rep at Waller Hall, Ft. Lewis (JBLM), told me when I was out-processing, that as soon as I was discharged, to send him (fax) a copy of my MEMBER 4 page of my DD-214 AND a filled-out/signed copy of the VA Electronic Deposit Form.
I did that on the first day of officially being a civilian again. I called the VA REP to make sure he got those two faxed items, that they were correct, etc. He said I was good to go and had just sent those two faxed documents of mine forward via their courier system from Ft. Lewis, WA., to the VA Regional Office in Seattle, WA (the Seattle office did my original "proposed" ratings). The VA Rep let me know a week later that the Seattle office had time/date stamped my two documents, so I assume they folded these documents into my case file for final review and processing.
Have not heard one word from the Seattle VA yet. But I did call the 1-800 VA number and they looked up my case via my Social Security number. My case is still up at the Seattle Regional Office and the 1-800 VA folks do not have any new information in their computer system yet. The 1-800 VA telephone agent said it can take an average of 45 BUSINESS days to process my claim at this juncture - so don't count week-ends or holidays on this 45 day average.
So maybe in July I will receive something from the VA - the final initial compensation award letter, and maybe even some compensation shortly thereafter.
Will keep you posted.
v/r,
nwlivewire
Thats great you have your ratings I am so happy for you. I hope mine is right behind you at the VA. So you had 15 unfitting and it took 19 days to come back. As far as I know I only had one thing found unfitting I hope that means I will hear back from them sooner. I have made peace with the fact that I wont appeal at this point I refuse to have this drag on any longer. I have to start school and every month that goes by is one less from me starting. Let me know how long it takes for your PEBLO and the PEB to get the ratings and every thing else that follows.
No, I had only two unfitting conditions, but had a total of 15 claims that were rated by the VA. 13 of those claims were considered fitting conditions. Once your eBenefits status changes to Pending Decision Approval, call your VA rep who you filed all your claims for your C&P exams with. That individual has the same access to your file as those at the 1-800 VA number. They were no help at all, other than telling me that my preliminary findings were completed, but refused to tell me the results because "they were enroute via the postal service." Well they mailed that a week ago and the time it takes for mail to reach Hawaii from Seattle is not a week, more like 3 days, maybe 4. My VA at Tripler, was more than willing to go over the findings with me, although couldn't tell me what each condition was rated at, only what my DoD percentage was and what my overall VA rating was. I'm sure you will hear something very soon. Watch eBenefits for any changes, then make that call to your personal VA rep. At least it worked in my situation. I'll keep you up to date regarding when both PEB and my PEBLO have an update.
Talked to my PEBLO today and she confirmed my VA ratings were sent to Ft Lewis on the 24th of May. She sees my VA proposed ratings but has no idea when Lewis will be sending her the 199 for me to review and sign. She hopes to see something within the next two weeks. I will update once Lewis sends the paperwork back down to my PEBLO.
I say again, in my case, the VA sent me a copy of my proposed ratings, that copy arrived before the PEBLO notified me.
Have you tried calling the 1-800 VA number? If the PEBLO stated a confirmed VA "proposed" rating, then it may be possible to contact the 1-800 VA number and see if they will send you a copy (assuming their computer system has been populated with the report as my situation was).
v/r,
nwlivewire
I think one of us might be confused. I did call the 1-800 VA number. I was initially told Seattle VA had sent my preliminary results via mail and I would have to wait. A week went by without it showing up, so I called again, but this time was connected to a call center in Arizona. The rep I spoke to told me he would send me my results again in the mail. I got that in the mail on Saturday. Keep in mind, I still haven't received the same document the Seattle VA supposedly sent me a week earlier. So today I called my PEBLO. I started out asking if she had any info and she told me no, nothing to update. She told me Seattle must still be preparing my rating. I was really just trying to see if she knew what I already knew and it was crystal clear she didn't know anything. I then told her that I already knew what my results were. So, with that, she looked me up and sure enough she saw my results and verified Ft Lewis had received the preliminary findings, which I already knew. I'm not sure why my PEBLO didn't get a notification that the VA had finished the rating and returned it to the PEB. From what I can gather, they don't really play a role until the PEB finishes the 199 and sends it to them. That's when the PEBLO reacts and notifies the soldier. At least that is my belief. I could be wrong, but I doubt the PEBLOs input everyone into a computer each day to check on their most current status. That was proven at least in my case.
Hmmmmm.... It seems to me if the VA sends their results directly to the PEB, then why can't the PEB simply notify the PEBLOs thru their boss, with a list of names of SMs they have rec'd from the VA? Doesn't the PEB have to "log in" receipt of VA determinations anyway? Why can't they forward the list to the PEBLO/PEBLO's boss?
It does take a bit of time for the PEB to get to your case and complete their part of the DA 199. Depends on how many cases are ahead of you and how many board members they have on hand during this phase. Summer and holiday season last year slowed things down as only so many PEB members, and they go on leave, too.
Do you have of copy of your NARSUM that went forward to the VA for rating? If so, armed with your VA Proposed rating paperwork, and your NARSUM, you can get a rough idea of what the Army will rate your unfitting conditions at, and also your VA proposed rating, too.
For me, it took 3-4 weeks from the time my VA stuff came out of the PEB with a DA Form 199 - I mean, that's how long it took from arrival to PEB until PEBLO notification.
v/r,
nwlivewire
That's what I meant by the VA sent me my preliminary rating. I was awarded 20% DoD, 60% VA. That is what the VA sent me last week that I received on Saturday. I doubt the PEB will change it. 3 of my other "fitting conditions" weren't even rated for some reason and the VA is sending me to another appointment since the doctor who did my C&P didn't detail a few things correctly. That could possibly change my rating but it won't affect the DoD rating, just the VA. But as far as the notification part, I'm not sure why my PEBLO wasn't given a heads up that my preliminary rating was complete and sent back to the VA in Seattle for the DA 199 to be completed. Your guess is as good as mine.
Notification to all on Ft. Lewis...
Most of the PEBLO's and Techs on post are being "tasked" to do some special hush-hush tasking until 3 Aug 12! There is no way now for me to have any communication with anyone about my case. I even went to Patient Advocacy today and they gave me a number to the guy in charge of all PA for MEB/PEB personnel on JBLM... I AM FURIOUS that there is only one damn person to represent all of us in MEB on this post. I am even more upset that there is no notification to us that they were even doing this. I have a soldier that has been waiting on his NARSUM for 3 months and they won't talk to him or communicate for another friggin' month it was ready to sign last week! WTF is wrong with this post?!?!? I am about to call the local news and let them know the up-and-up on what is going on here. Now I am expecting even longer to stay in now that they are stopping everything at the PEB as far as I am aware. They are already a month behind because of one week off in March! A whole month now? They will now be 4 months behind!!!
I even went to Madigan main MEB office and waited there for 1 1/2 hours to be completely ignored by 5 PEBLO's that were there.
Most of the PEBLO's and Techs on post are being "tasked" to do some special hush-hush tasking until 3 Aug 12! There is no way now for me to have any communication with anyone about my case. I even went to Patient Advocacy today and they gave me a number to the guy in charge of all PA for MEB/PEB personnel on JBLM... I AM FURIOUS that there is only one damn person to represent all of us in MEB on this post. I am even more upset that there is no notification to us that they were even doing this. I have a soldier that has been waiting on his NARSUM for 3 months and they won't talk to him or communicate for another friggin' month it was ready to sign last week! WTF is wrong with this post?!?!? I am about to call the local news and let them know the up-and-up on what is going on here. Now I am expecting even longer to stay in now that they are stopping everything at the PEB as far as I am aware. They are already a month behind because of one week off in March! A whole month now? They will now be 4 months behind!!!
I even went to Madigan main MEB office and waited there for 1 1/2 hours to be completely ignored by 5 PEBLO's that were there.