A small summary of what happened to cause my MEB if anyone is interested.
Initial injury in May 2013, rolled ankle during pt. did some physical therapy and that was that, my ankle kept hurting when I would run though. I deployed to Tampa for 6 month (legit deployment in my career field) and when working out my ankle continued to hurt more. Once I got back I finally got an MRI and had a torn ligament, had surgery a little over a year after the initial tear. Did physical therapy for about a year on my foot and still could barely move it. Pt was done by the air force and wasn’t good at all. After that foot got better I rolled my other ankle during PT (2014), didn’t tear anything but pulled a ligament so hard that it chipped off some bone. Physical therapy again with the air force and that was that. After all that I didn't have anymore big injuries but my feet kept hurting more and more. Deployed in 2016 then again 2017-2018. January of 2019, my feet and hurting worse and worse so I get seen again. Go through all the processes (physical therapy, then AF ortho for custom insoles, AF ortho for custom braces) finally get referred to a specialist. Turns out both my arches collapsed cause severe flat feet, plantar fasciitis and my ankles were bowing outward. Now I need both my feet reconstructed. Jan 2020 right foot reconstructed, no weight on it for 3 months, around 3 or 4 months of off base PT. waited a few months after finishing PT and had the left foot done in November of 2020. So now I have 3 screws, a new ligament, and a piece of bone in the right foot, and 4 screws in the left foot. Same healing process but now I am getting constant pain and numbness all the time. At this point the IDES process was just starting. For the pain I go to pain management and end up having a DRG stimulator(basically a small generator that has electrical leads going onto the nerves in my spinal cord) put into my back going into my L5 and S1 vertebrae.
Being Med boarded cause of my feet and ankles, I got plenty of other things wrong that I claimed but those are the main issues.
During the start of the process I did a lot of research into the VA and MEB process. I made sure to have all my records in the system and as much as I could do on my part to help it all run smoothly.
My timeline so far. (rough dates)
Feb 15 - PCM starts my case by sending it to the DAWG (DAWG review only happens once a month at the end of the month, package wasn’t sent up in time to make February’s review board)
Mar 29 - DAWG reviews package and initiates the IRILO (Initial review in lieu of MEB)
April 6 – First contact from PEBLO, IRILO process officially starts. I start reviewing the information that I need to send to my PEBLO
April 20 – Receive commanders impact statement
May 4 – NARSUM completed and sent to PEBLO (complete package gets sent back to DAWG for review)
May 10 – Package is reviewed by AFPC Medical Evaluation Branch and requires a full MEB
May 16 – Fill out 21-526EZ Application for disability compensation (PEBLO set me up with a VA rep to help me fill it out correctly)
May 24 – VA contacts me to schedule C&P exams (got all exams scheduled at once)
June 1 - Accepted into the Air Force wounded Warrior Program, now have a 9W300 AFSC
June 8 – First C&P exam
June 21 – Last C&P exam
July 1 – PEBLO receives C&P exams and forwards them plus case file to MEB provider
July 9 – Reviewed MEB package with PEBLO, agreed with their findings. Signed and sent to IPEB
Now the waiting game to hear back from the IPEB, I'm so ready for this to be done. All in all though it has gone pretty smoothly and my PEBLO has been on top of everything.
Initial injury in May 2013, rolled ankle during pt. did some physical therapy and that was that, my ankle kept hurting when I would run though. I deployed to Tampa for 6 month (legit deployment in my career field) and when working out my ankle continued to hurt more. Once I got back I finally got an MRI and had a torn ligament, had surgery a little over a year after the initial tear. Did physical therapy for about a year on my foot and still could barely move it. Pt was done by the air force and wasn’t good at all. After that foot got better I rolled my other ankle during PT (2014), didn’t tear anything but pulled a ligament so hard that it chipped off some bone. Physical therapy again with the air force and that was that. After all that I didn't have anymore big injuries but my feet kept hurting more and more. Deployed in 2016 then again 2017-2018. January of 2019, my feet and hurting worse and worse so I get seen again. Go through all the processes (physical therapy, then AF ortho for custom insoles, AF ortho for custom braces) finally get referred to a specialist. Turns out both my arches collapsed cause severe flat feet, plantar fasciitis and my ankles were bowing outward. Now I need both my feet reconstructed. Jan 2020 right foot reconstructed, no weight on it for 3 months, around 3 or 4 months of off base PT. waited a few months after finishing PT and had the left foot done in November of 2020. So now I have 3 screws, a new ligament, and a piece of bone in the right foot, and 4 screws in the left foot. Same healing process but now I am getting constant pain and numbness all the time. At this point the IDES process was just starting. For the pain I go to pain management and end up having a DRG stimulator(basically a small generator that has electrical leads going onto the nerves in my spinal cord) put into my back going into my L5 and S1 vertebrae.
Being Med boarded cause of my feet and ankles, I got plenty of other things wrong that I claimed but those are the main issues.
During the start of the process I did a lot of research into the VA and MEB process. I made sure to have all my records in the system and as much as I could do on my part to help it all run smoothly.
My timeline so far. (rough dates)
Feb 15 - PCM starts my case by sending it to the DAWG (DAWG review only happens once a month at the end of the month, package wasn’t sent up in time to make February’s review board)
Mar 29 - DAWG reviews package and initiates the IRILO (Initial review in lieu of MEB)
April 6 – First contact from PEBLO, IRILO process officially starts. I start reviewing the information that I need to send to my PEBLO
April 20 – Receive commanders impact statement
May 4 – NARSUM completed and sent to PEBLO (complete package gets sent back to DAWG for review)
May 10 – Package is reviewed by AFPC Medical Evaluation Branch and requires a full MEB
May 16 – Fill out 21-526EZ Application for disability compensation (PEBLO set me up with a VA rep to help me fill it out correctly)
May 24 – VA contacts me to schedule C&P exams (got all exams scheduled at once)
June 1 - Accepted into the Air Force wounded Warrior Program, now have a 9W300 AFSC
June 8 – First C&P exam
June 21 – Last C&P exam
July 1 – PEBLO receives C&P exams and forwards them plus case file to MEB provider
July 9 – Reviewed MEB package with PEBLO, agreed with their findings. Signed and sent to IPEB
Now the waiting game to hear back from the IPEB, I'm so ready for this to be done. All in all though it has gone pretty smoothly and my PEBLO has been on top of everything.
