Hi everyone,
New here. Medically discharged in 2007 from the Army after 5 years service with issues from back, hearing loss, mental health, etc. Returned from Korea to Ft Gordon Med Hold where I stayed for 8-9 months and received a 0% rating twice despite being prescribed 210 lortab, 90 flexiril, zoloft, ambien, and valium (only for panic attacks) and having to use a cane from time to time. Medical hold at that time was a f*ckin nightmare. Cadre treated everyone like children and the medical staff made you feel worthless (which didn't take much given the situation), so I took the second 0% rating and ran with hopes of the VA giving me a better shake.
At the end of the day I was medically discharged with 0% for.....wait for it........wait for it..........shin splints. No BS
Check into the VA a short time after being discharged and they perform a thorough examination over the course of a week or so, and they come back with very different results. Mental health stuff was similar to what the Army had already found, Anxiety disorder, Severe clinical depression, manic, etc. But the physical was very different. Sure, I had shin splints and my legs and toes would go numb, but the VA found that I had/have PARS syndrome (spondylolisthesis & spondylosis) [as well as about 10 other things found to be service connected]. So they awarded 60%, which is currently being reevaluated for increase.
I received the letter early last year notifying me of a chance to appeal the Army's decision, which I jumped at given what I always felt was a knife in my back. I sent the application and all the requested paperwork to the PDBR on Feb 28th 2017. The last update I received was 10/5 stating they were waiting on my medical records from the VA & Army...............after over 7 months. So I sent an email requesting an update 14 days ago, and I have yet to receive a response.
I said all that to say this, has anyone had any correspondence with the SAF-MR email in the last couple of weeks?
TIA
New here. Medically discharged in 2007 from the Army after 5 years service with issues from back, hearing loss, mental health, etc. Returned from Korea to Ft Gordon Med Hold where I stayed for 8-9 months and received a 0% rating twice despite being prescribed 210 lortab, 90 flexiril, zoloft, ambien, and valium (only for panic attacks) and having to use a cane from time to time. Medical hold at that time was a f*ckin nightmare. Cadre treated everyone like children and the medical staff made you feel worthless (which didn't take much given the situation), so I took the second 0% rating and ran with hopes of the VA giving me a better shake.
At the end of the day I was medically discharged with 0% for.....wait for it........wait for it..........shin splints. No BS
Check into the VA a short time after being discharged and they perform a thorough examination over the course of a week or so, and they come back with very different results. Mental health stuff was similar to what the Army had already found, Anxiety disorder, Severe clinical depression, manic, etc. But the physical was very different. Sure, I had shin splints and my legs and toes would go numb, but the VA found that I had/have PARS syndrome (spondylolisthesis & spondylosis) [as well as about 10 other things found to be service connected]. So they awarded 60%, which is currently being reevaluated for increase.
I received the letter early last year notifying me of a chance to appeal the Army's decision, which I jumped at given what I always felt was a knife in my back. I sent the application and all the requested paperwork to the PDBR on Feb 28th 2017. The last update I received was 10/5 stating they were waiting on my medical records from the VA & Army...............after over 7 months. So I sent an email requesting an update 14 days ago, and I have yet to receive a response.
I said all that to say this, has anyone had any correspondence with the SAF-MR email in the last couple of weeks?
TIA