Commander's Letter Abyss

TellItLikeItIs

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Hello everyone,

I am new to the PEBF and I have been looking for an answer as to HOW LONG a CC has to complete their letter portion of the MEB. I have numerous aliments and am getting worse. (PTSD, Severe Sleep Apnea, Fibromyalgia, Myositis, Anxiety non-specific, joint pain non-specific and I had an MPFL reconstruction). When I had a medical appointment my PCM was surprised to see that the MEB process hasn't medically retired/separated me.

Is there ANYTHING, I can do to interject and have the commander finish his portion of the letter. I am not WW qualified, I can't do 3/4 portions of the AF fitness test. I cannot lift objects over 20 lbs. Cannot deploy (I haven't been able to deploy for over a year), can't go TDY, can't PCS.

Any insight on this would be fantastic.

-TellItLikeItIs
 
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7 days suspense. Ask the PEBLO to get in contact with the commander. If the commander blows off the PEBLO, the PEBLO should escalate through your chain. Everyone has a boss. I recommend doing your own write up and ask the commander to concur or change it. If he doesn't care enough to write it, they'll tend to just concur. Bring up the problem through the enlisted leadership, they can often help raise the priority of a task.
 
Be assertive and research the regs and write up the commanders letter and submit it to your commander instead of waiting. This way you can influence the outcome. If your commander doesn't know you from Jack. Or doesn't care, then the letter you wrote will be an easy way out... If your commander does in fact care, then they will take charge of the situation and writ a real commanders letter themself!
 
im sorry but a seven day suspense is garbage... The army has numerous ongoing requirements for its commanders.. For it to impose a 7 day suspense for anything is ridiculous....
 
Your commander's letter is one of the most important things that goes into your package to the board(s). I wouldn't ruffle a lot of feathers to gain a few days/weeks in a process that can take upwards of a year to get through. Stay on your CC's good side and remind him/her about it in a friendly manner if at all possible. CCs have a pretty full plate, and this letter isn't easy to do.

As a matter of fact, sound advice would be to offer to help him/her out with writing the letter (actually in the AF, it is a multi-question "survey"). Have your CC or secretary send you the blank copy for you to fill out. At the very least, be sure you talk to your CCin detail about your conditions and specifically how it affects your ability to perform your AFSC.
 
also remember your CC's E9, senior enlisted adviser, go see your command chief who can then twist your commanders arm to make him write it up. of course be respectful and courteous at all times, and if possible submit one already filled out. I filled mine out and all my commander had to do was sign it.
 
Took me four months to get it from my commander. After two attempts of properly going through my chain of command I final emailed him and cc'd everyone above him. Also attached my previous requests and explained the urgency. Had it the dame day. He still managed to screw it up and he had it corrected within two weeks. But me and him didn't see eye to eye so I suggest staying on your commanders good side if you are already there, if not then in my opinion do what ever needs to be done to get it.
 
It took about 2 weeks to get mine. However, I typed the letter myself by looking over this exact forum. I had it drafted prior to my CC even being notified by the PEBLO. I think sent it to her secretary to do all the little things they do like make sure all of the spacing is correct blah blah blah.

I had printouts from Tricare of the many diagnosis that I have and that I was referencing in the letter. I also printed out a list of the 40+ appointments that I had in 2014ish. I also kept a "pain calendar" and printed that out in color so she could see the days away from work that I missed as well as days on quarters. Finally I drafted my own letter to the board(not required but I wanted to sell it) and included that. I did all this so that awesome letter that I typed up would have no questions. She was beyond impressed and told me it was the most information she had ever seen for a CC letter. I then made it a point to let her know the only portion of the letter that I did not type up was her actual recommendation, so she had 1 paragraph to type out of the entire 3 pages. She contacted my PCM, he said the same things I did. BOOM She added a small bit about relieving me of my pain and expediting my package. She removed nothing that I put in the letter, it was all truths, however having my folder with all of that info printed out for her to see, sealed the deal I'm sure.
 
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