New to the process

Hey all,

After 12 Years in the Army, 3 years fighting the MEB process, convincing my PCM and Orthopedic surgeon that I can do fine with a P2 profile, I finally decided that My back is not getting any better. 8 bulging Discs, 2 herniated, and one sequestered, alone with all the great nerve pain that extends down my leg. My Ortho Dr. Just submitted my P3 yesterday 01DEC16 which is now a permanent Profile one day later. I received a call from the MEB office to collect some Admin data and was informed that I would be contacted soon my a PEBLO. It is slightly nerve racking that my career, which started out as a 4 year stint just because I wanted to do something different, is coming to a close. I am hoping that the process goes smoothly and am grateful of all the information that is found on this FORUM.

-Steve
 
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Here is a question....couldn't find to much about it in the search. My Back injury, which started about 8 years ago during Combat Training Exercises, got much worse during my last deployment to Afghanistan. I was at a smaller FOB which only had a troop clinic, and my Team had our own medic. Because of this, I did not go to medical for my back pain because our medic was able to give me meds to help with the pain. I went on many Missions outside the wire, was in multiple fire fights, and was awarded the Combat Action Badge because of the Combat I saw.

So, since the extent of my back injury was not found until 3 months after returning from Afghanistan, due to time between sick call, seeing the pcm, and getting referred for an MRI....how much of this do you think will affect my injury being Combat Related. I know for a fact that it is, but was told that you have to be seen down range for it to be rated that way......any insight would be appreciated.

-Stephen

01DEC16 P3 Initiated
01DEC16 Contacted by MEB Admin office for Admin data
07DEC16 P3 Signed and now Valid
15JAN17 P3 re-submitted
20JAN17 P3 Valid
24JAN17 In-processed MEB @ Hunter
26JAN17 Initial VA Claims meeting
 
Got a call from my PEBLO today, my UNFIT memo came back UNFIT, not too bad took 42 days to come back. I meet with her tomorrow AM to go over the results. Does anyone know when the 90 days starts....is it at receipt of the UNFIT Memo or when I get my orders?

-Stephen
 
If you just got your unfit memo that means your packet has just been sent to the VA. You still have the VA to do your ratings, them send back to PEB for your 199 to be made, and then sent to you for signature. You still have at least a month or more till you will get your 199 probably. Your 90 clock doesn't start till your name hits the TRANSPROC list which is after you have signed your 199 and it has gone thru PDA.
 
Try to get the medic and any other witnesses to the incident to fill out sworn statements on the time and place in combat. Depending on the cause of the injury, it could be considered combat related, but not necessarily unless you were injured by an instrument of war. I'd still get the sworn statements, regardless.
 
Also, I was a high performing Sergeant First Class until I was injured. I didn't get a bad NCOER, but it pretty much said that I was a decent guy with a pulse. I was treated terribly by the Group DCO and a few others. That was for a year and 9 months from 2002 until release in 2004.
My point is that neither I nor anyone else ever looked at that last review ever again. It's hard to imagine life outside of the military until you're out and then you marvel at how trivial some of those things were in your new perspective. Hang in there.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. So my memo states as the unfitting condition

Lumosacral degenerative disc disease with left radiculopathy. (MEB Dx 1) (V1-N; V3-N; V4-Y)

I know that according to those codes I will still get taxed if its severance, but will not pay recoupment.

Looking at my NARSUM and the guidelines the VA uses for rating, my back shouldnt be any more than 20%, and the radiculopathy should be minimum, possibly 0% because it does not affect my everyday, just really hurts sometimes and my leg gets numb.

At this point unless my back rates at 50% or more, which I really doubt, I would rather take the severance and VA instead of the medical retierment. It will be quite a hefty chunk of change, and we already have secondary healthcare through my wifes work, so the retierment is not appealing at all.

I am waiting on ratings now, going to clear CIF in the meantime. 12 years of stuff coming out of my attic.

Stephen
 
Here is what happened for me, a little different situation, but the principles may help you understand your situation. I was, and still am, a single income household with kids:

Disability discharged (13 years total, last 10+ active, prior NG, E-7)
Bone spur against spinal cord in neck/numbness in hand, multiple DDD: 10%
Ankle ligament reconstruction: 0% (instrumentality of war/parachute: had sworn statements, but did not see a doctor immediately)
Anxiety NOS: 0% diagnosed when my daughter was born premature and in icu, but no more issues afterwards
Hip pain: 0%

Received a tax exempt lump sum of around $70K+ in 2004. Had to go to the VA or taxes would be recouped:
Neck: 20%
Anxiety: 0%
Ankle: 0%
Knees: 10%/10%
Hip: 0%
40% Total
I get about $460 a month with $260 withheld until 2019 to pay back the lumpsum.

I had a 4-year degree in political science and was unemployed for 6 weeks after discharge. I took a job asap at $32K gross, 50% take home pay of an E-7 in 2004, to keep from burning through the lumpsum too quickly. Within 5 months was hired for GS-11 with regular grade and step increases. It still took about 7 years to get back to equivalent take home pay, but the lump sum was gone by then and credit card balance went up for a few years.

The lump sum seemed like a lottery at first, but didn't last long.

Smart things I did with the lump sum:

paid off high interest and revolving debt, like credit cards and car loans, immediately to reduce monthly living expenses.
I took a job to keep the remainder from bleeding out and have insurance (may not be a problem for you), until something better came along.
Took a federal job so my time counted toward retirement and maxxed out my tsp match.

Dumb things I did:
Turned down two higher paying (twice as much) job recruitments with USSOCOM due to military burnout after being treated like crap during my boarding process.
Taking a few pricey annual vacations, "because I earned it"
Spent a bit too much on holidays the first few years
I didn't take advantage of post 9/11 gi bill for a Masters until recently and almost waited too late
I used my disabilities as an excuse not to exercise and gained a ton of weight, until about two years ago. I lost 45 lbs and do PT-approved exercises with light weights.
*edit: down playing the anxiety out of ego was dumb too, I still had it but didn't like the meds and the anxiety really starts after separation on a single income.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm in PDBR now and in retrospect would have preferred retirement, even at 30%, if I had taken the other jobs immediately at the time.

So, either way, I somehow survived, but have certainly experienced ups and downs financially and emotionally.
 
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I actually want to be more hopeful than that for you guys about to transition. I have more than survived, I've had an awesome life in the past 13 years. Not perfect, I still wake up sore, but really good. I went through an early midlife crisis when I separated, but I discovered that there was more going on in this world that I had lost touch with while in the military. It's just another chapter of life.
 
Paradox.....I agree, I am looking forward to the next chapter....the Army has a tendency to convince its members and families that Army is life, and you will struggle with out them. My wife is a NP and makes 6 figures, which way overshadows my 12 years in the Army, advancing to a senior CPT. Asking her to give up her job and move every 2 yeard for a job making clos to $50,000 a year less is not fair at all.

We have had a second health insurance policy through her for all of us for a while because tricare is not the great policy that the military makes it out to be. Because of her job it is going to allow me to persue a career that I want to do, not one that I feel I have to do because I am stuck in it, and have no way out. Finally deciding to accept the MEB has been a huge relief.

I am hoping for the severance because there is so much more we can do with a 6 figure after tax payment, and then monthly VA payments, than a monthly payment that is not much more than the VA payment, health insurance we wont use and post privliages that we dont even use while Im in.

Stephen
 
Well here is my next question, dont know if anyone knows or not....since my unfitting condition seemd to be the combination of my back, and sciatic nerve, Lumosacral degenerative disc disease with left radiculopathy, how do you think it will be rated for DoD reasons? Would it be the combination of the 2 conditions?

Stephen
 
The back is very underrated when it comes to percentages. So if your Range of Motion hasn't lost that much then I would expect 10%, and 20% if it's a little worse. Some people have it as different disabilities and some have it lumped together. It is all on how it is written and how the VA does it.
 
All, well, I don't have anything back from the VA yet, but my E Benefits has changed from "Preparing for Decision" with the earliest date of 09/22/2017 to "Pending Decision Approval" with the earliest date of 06/15/2017.....I feel there is movement now.....just waiting on the ratings.....
 
Update for everyone.....Still waiting on my ratings.....going on a month now.....Ebenefits had changed to Gathering Evidence again, and now it is back to Preparing for Decision.....Hoping to see something soon.

Steve
 
Got my VA ratings on friday with a call from my Peblo, will sign my 199 on this coming thursday. I got 30 DoD and 40 VA. My unfitting injury was found to be in combat, and now I need to figure out how crsc will work....my DoD amount will be about $1800 based off my high 3, and VA is about $702....if any one has any insight about how crsc might factor in I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Steve
 
ArmyCPT81 said:
Got my VA ratings on friday with a call from my Peblo, will sign my 199 on this coming thursday. I got 30 DoD and 40 VA. My unfitting injury was found to be in combat, and now I need to figure out how crsc will work....my DoD amount will be about $1800 based off my high 3, and VA is about $702....if any one has any insight about how crsc might factor in I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Steve
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Do a search on here for CRSC. Tons of good info. Injuries do not have to be unfitting to qualify for CRSC. As long as it was rated at 10% or more and you have something to support that the injury was incurred in some situation that meets the requirements to be considered combat related, you can apply for CRSC.
 
Ive looked through some of the posys,about crsc and I think they have confused me more than anything else lol.

Stevr
 
The first thing I did was go to the HRC website to see what they had to say about CRSC. Once I had a good understanding (the best I could get) of what their requirements are, I read through the different posts in the CRSC section to other peoples' experiences, I think I've come up what I can actually justify as combat related versus things that were just incurred in theater. It's not as much as I'd hoped but I am hoping that the Army sees things the same way I do.
 
I have been doing the same thing. My unfitting condition was combat related, but not due to direct combat, and from what I gather that meets the requirements for CRSC. I will be signing my 199 this Thursday, hopefully can get some more info about CRSC from my PEBLO, she has been great, She reaches out to us every weds to keep tabs on everyone, and as soon as she has info she calls and lets you know.

-Steve
 
ArmyCPT81,

Since the DoD have you enough rating for retirement, could you still receive the lump sum if you wanted or now that it's over 30%, are you stuck with the monthly payments?
 
rjcruz said:
ArmyCPT81,

Since the DoD have you enough rating for retirement, could you still receive the lump sum if you wanted or now that it's over 30%, are you stuck with the monthly payments?
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It is now going to be a monthly payment based on 30% of my High 3. Had plans for the severance pay, but that will have to wait for now. Kinda wish I could still choose though....

-Steve
 
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