Is my PEBLO right?

Blackhawkgeo

PEB Forum Regular Member
I just received my 199 and I've been awarded 70% Military and 70% V.A (permanent). I have 14 years in and my Peblo swears up and down that I will get both military and V.A. pay. I keep telling him that he's not correct. I do not qualify for concurent receipt. He's telling me that because my ratings are so high, I will get both. Who's right?
 
Pretty sure not him! You would have to qualify for CRSC, or CRDP to get that. What is going to happen is you are going to get paid by the Army as soon as you separate. It will take a couple of months for VA to finalize your ratings and then they are going to pay you monthly. If the VA is not as high as your retirement, you will get paid the by the Army the difference between what what the VA pays you and your retirement pay is.

Is your PEBLO new? I wish it was like that.
 
Good link. It will show him what his VA pay will be and what his differential pay will be. It won't tell him whether he will get paid both.
 
If your Army rated conditions are combat related, dont you get both checks tax free?
 
I saw the link. It doesn't answer my key question on the time of service factor. What about for reservists? Does 20 good years count as 20 good years, or do they do use equivalent years factoring like how they use to compute benefits before the law change (NDAA of 2008)? (In other words do you get screwed as a reservist?). I have 20+ good years as a reservist but only the equivalent of 7 active duty years and expect my injuries to exceed both VA and Army to be in excess of 70%, all combat related (with PH awarded). In other words am I qualified for either CRDP or CRSC since I have 20 good "reserve" years and my injuries are in excess of 50% and combat related. Hard to get a straight, firm answer for the reservist question as it relates to CRSC and CRDP. Thanks.
 
I saw the link. It doesn't answer my key question on the time of service factor. What about for reservists? Does 20 good years count as 20 good years, or do they do use equivalent years factoring like how they use to compute benefits before the law change (NDAA of 2008)? (In other words do you get screwed as a reservist?). I have 20+ good years as a reservist but only the equivalent of 7 active duty years and expect my injuries to exceed both VA and Army to be in excess of 70%, all combat related (with PH awarded). In other words am I qualified for either CRDP or CRSC since I have 20 good "reserve" years and my injuries are in excess of 50% and combat related. Hard to get a straight, firm answer for the reservist question as it relates to CRSC and CRDP. Thanks.
CRSC you can apply for. If awarded CRSC and you are a chapter 61 retiree you will receive VA/DoD combo after medical retirement. You will not be eligible for CRDP until 60(minus those extra months for active duty time).

If you are not medically retired (chapter 61) than you would only receive VA compensation after retirement. At age 60 you would then be entitled to CRSC and CRDP.
 
My conditions are not combat related. I'm very happy with 70 and 70, just need to tell the PEBLO that he's giving out wrong info.
 
I wish it was like that.

It can be (even without CRSC), if S 344 gets the nod from the Senate when Reid present it this month:

http://capwiz.com/fra/issues/bills/?bill=53115576&alertid=53115581

Up in the upper right portion is a place to type in your zip to make contact with your state legislation to encourage them to support this. It is easy and fast, and will have impact.

Additionally, here is a list of legislators that support this, and those that don't. Check if your state legislation is on here as a non-supporter...we need them to hear us more than anybody.

All this info came from commosgt in this thread:
http://www.pebforum.com/site/thread...-for-us-less-than-20-years-folks.11260/page-3
 
Thanks USAFaviator, I went to the link and sent the email. Thank you guys so much that really keep up with everything. Can you do me a big favor since you seem to be an expert. PTSD is one of my conditions for my PEB, and I have done multiple deployments and it along with other health issues are documented as Combat Related. Can you tell me what the benefits are of DOD vs VA retirement and whether I will qualify for the CRSC or whatever that is that everyone talks about. I would really appreciate it. Going to get an answer soon and I want to be well prepared. I am married and have two children.
 
Thanks USAFaviator, I went to the link and sent the email. Thank you guys so much that really keep up with everything. Can you do me a big favor since you seem to be an expert. PTSD is one of my conditions for my PEB, and I have done multiple deployments and it along with other health issues are documented as Combat Related. Can you tell me what the benefits are of DOD vs VA retirement and whether I will qualify for the CRSC or whatever that is that everyone talks about. I would really appreciate it. Going to get an answer soon and I want to be well prepared. I am married and have two children.

No problem at all. Everything I know I learned here on this forum from other members (this particular info about S 344 I picked up from user commosgt), so I can only hope that I can return the favor by keeping the knowledge circle spinning. All sm's going through this system deserve to know as much as possible about it, and this forum (and all the members here) is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal to ensure we all get a fair break from DoD and the VA.

There really is no such thing as a VA retirement, only VA disability compensation. If you get less than 30% rating, you get a one time severance payment, then monthly VA comp according to your rating percentage and dependent status. Outside of your short grace period immediately after separation, you will lose Tricare and will have to find your own insurance, or hopefully your new employer has a good insurance plan. You lose the BX/PX and all other base/post privies. VA compensation is periodically reassessed, and can decrease if your condition improves.

If you are able to get a DoD retirement (30% or greater rating), that is the way 99% of sm's want to go. You keep Tricare (especially with dependents, this will takes loads of weight off your shoulders as a civilian), get a DoD retirement pension that will never have the opportunity to decrease (unlike VA compensation), keep all your base privies (BX/PX, commissary, outdoor rec, auto hobby/wood shop etc.) just like a regular DoD retiree with 20 years.PTSD usually warrants an automatic 50%, but unless tied in with other conditions that are deemed to be stable, usually gets TDRL at first, then (after the end of the eval process), usually converts to PDRL (from what I have read from other members here).

If you get the DoD retirement, you will also get the VA pay, but there is a dollar for dollar offset (which is what S 344 aims to eliminate). This means that for ever dollar that you receive from the VA, your DoD (or vice versa) retirement amount is reduced one dollar. The only good thing about this situation at this point is that your whole VA amount is tax free...for example, if your DoD retirement pay is $1500, and your VA pay is $1000, you will receive the higher of the two (DoD in this case), however, $1000 of the $1500 is tax free.

As for CRSC, you have to wait to apply for it until you have retired and receive your DD 214. That will be my next battle. CRSC will net you both the DoD pension and VA compensation, and is typically a considerable chunk of change. Especially with your conditions being documented as combat related, I think you should apply as soon as you can after you are out and fight if you have to. Since I haven't met the CRSC board yet, I have just been compiling all my documentation, studies and jotting down notes of events that I can remember during the time I was injured to try to prepare as strong a case as possible. All this said, if S 344/NDA of 2013 makes it through unscathed, sm's will not need CRSC to get both pays.;)
 
In terms of RC disability retirement with those who have less than 20 years AFS or less than 7200 points but have 20 qualifying years, the only way they can receive both is to give up the AD disability percentage retirement and opt out for a RC point retirement when eligible. A reservist can than receive both. In my case, if I receive 75% AD disability retirement this is my total payment since I have under 20 years AFS. If I'm awarded 60% AD disability, it is more advantageous for me to accept a 6500 point retirement plus 100% VA Disability which would equal about or perhaps a little more than 75% AD base pay. This is how finance and legal explained this situation. Any other insights. The bill stated above will not help a RC SM under this situation.

I have two additional questions for the group: Thanks for your help.

1: If my AD disability rating is tax free due to being combat related will my RC point retirement be tax free if I accept this option ILO the AD Disability percentage retirement.

2: My PTSD and TBI are combat related but not sure if they will determine thoracic and cervical spine combat related. If I am able to add thoracic and cervical spine which may not be combat related, will the entire DOD disability retirement rating remain combat related and thus all tax free even if one referred condition is not combat related?
 
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