AGR in the WTU-VA/Army Retirement

R

Ramadi Joe

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
I have concerns about my MEB/PEB & IDES and what I will end up with from the Army and VA. I know I will receive VA compensation, and get at least 30 from the Army, but will I receive a medical retirement from the Army? I am AGR and I have 12 years of AGR, and a 20 year letter. I have been here since April 2016, as of April I had 5162 points for retirement pay on my NGB 23. The points ad up to 14.3 years of AD for pay, my NCM-Nurse Case Manager said I would be here for at least another year or more. I have been accepted in the AW2 program here as well.

I have 5 Approved LOD's for the following, Sleep Apnea-ILOD, PTSD-ILOD due to OIF, Shoulder injury-ILOD due to OIF, Right Knee-ILOD, and a Right lung Condition-ILOD.

I am at the WTU @ FTCKY and I am pending a recommendation for surgery on my shoulder, I have been to IOP-Intensive Outpatient Therapy for PTSD. I am just starting EMDR for PTSD. I see the surgon for my shoulder this next week. I hope you understand what I am asking.
 
As National Guard or Reserves, if you're rated at 30% or above by the military you will be Medically Retired just as if you were Active Duty. Your points divided by 360 will be the years in service for calculations, other than that you will be afforded Tricare Prime or Standard (your choice) for you family and yourself, base facilities access, and most likely military retirement check minus what is already covered by the VA disability benefits. You are also eligible for SBP insurance to protect your spouse in the event you pass away before them.

Hope this helps...
 
If you have a 20Y letter and at least a 50% rating with the VA, you will be able to collect your reserve retirement at age 60 (concurrently) with VA C&P. If you have qualifying active duty time after 28 Jan 2008, you may be able to collect your reserve retirement earlier per the 2008 NDAA.
 
thanks, I have been AGR since nov 2004,with one deployment in 2005/2006, and one after 2010, the rest is AGR time. you think I'm eligible for crsc since my lod is service connected to OIF for PTSD and my shoulder? I know that's if I get retirement pay.
 
Is this true regardless of your time in service or AD time?

FloridaInjuredInCombat said:
As National Guard or Reserves, if you're rated at 30% or above by the military you will be Medically Retired just as if you were Active Duty. Your points divided by 360 will be the years in service for calculations, other than that you will be afforded Tricare Prime or Standard (your choice) for you family and yourself, base facilities access, and most likely military retirement check minus what is already covered by the VA disability benefits. You are also eligible for SBP insurance to protect your spouse in the event you pass away before them.

Hope this helps...
Click to expand...
 
C0ACH78 said:
Is this true regardless of your time in service or AD time?
Click to expand...
In my case at the time of retirement, I had about 8 years on AD, and with points from my years in RC (Guard drill status) I came out with a calculation of right at 10 years. If you're an M-Day RC Soldier, your AD time just gets entered into the POINTS EARNED and the total is divided by 360 to get your years of service calculation. I believe this holds true for all RC M-Day Soldiers, but they might have some program for those who've been on AGR the majority of their careers, it didn't apply in my case, even with the majority of my TIS being AD.

The good news is, even if you've only got Basic and AIT under your belt, if you're MEDICALLY Retired as a RC Soldier, you will receive benefits (medical and base privileges) as well as VA disability payment (and depending on how much TIS you're credited for Army Retirement pay). That's a much better deal than the typical RC Retiree who doesn't see any retirement benefits at all until they hit age 60.

Hope this helps...
 
Thank you very much for your input. I have had surgery and still doing EMDR (post IOP). I have appointment for General Surgon for a lump above my belly buttion. I have a pending TBI refferal once complete with EMDR. I have heard is you have 15 years AD you would recive a Army retirement of some kind. IDK I guees it will be what it will be.
 
Today I was seen by a MEB provider, and assigned a PEBLO. Like I said I am AGR with 15 AD years and 21 GOOD years total. I am pending acceptance at the TBI Clininc as well.
 
If you're AGR and going through a MEB and found unfit, rated at >30%DoD, you should get an AD medical retirement. What I don't know: can you still draw your Guard retirement at age 60 (if have at least 20 years) if you were medically retired under the AGR program. I would suspect it's one or the other but thinking Tricare: $500'ish/year for family or $1013/month under the Tricare Reserve Retired plan? Being in the "gray-area" vs actual AD retirement are two different programs.
 
I'm in this boat. I have 17 years of active duty and just got my 20 year letter. The way it was explained to me is that since I don't have 20 years of active duty, I won't qualify for concurrent receipt. I'll get my pension or VA check, whichever is higher. Once I hit 58 (60 minus qualifying deployment periods), I will qualify for concurrent receipt as a non-regular retiree. That means I'll get my pension on top of my VA pay. So getting that 20 year letter is a game changer for an AGR soldier that doesn't have 20 years of active duty. Also, AGR soldiers getting medically retired is the same as regular Army soldiers getting medically retired (same pay and benefits).
 
Last edited:
mrando69 said:
I'm in this boat. I have 17 years of active duty and just got my 20 year letter. The way it was explained to me is that since I don't have 20 years of active duty, I won't qualify for concurrent receipt. I'll get my pension or VA check, whichever is higher. Once I hit 58 (60 minus qualifying deployment periods), I will qualify for concurrent receipt as a non-regular retiree. That means I'll get my pension on top of my VA pay. So getting that 20 year letter is a game changer for an AGR soldier that doesn't have 20 years of active duty. Also, AGR soldiers getting medically retired is the same as regular Army soldiers getting medically retired (same pay and benefits).
Click to expand...

You are also on the unique position to create a civil service retirement if you so desire. Once you are medically retired from the NG, you can apply for vocational rehabilitation with the VA and be trained for another government position through a non-paid work experience internship (which you can collect a stipend for). From there you can get hired by the agency, buy back your active duty time and have 17 years towards retirement.

You will also be able to keep you non-regular retirement [CSRS and FERS Handbook, Chap. 22, Section 22A4.1-1]
 
Last edited:
gsfowler said:
You are also on the unique position to create a civil service retirement if you so desire. Once you are medically retired from the NG, you can apply for vocational rehabilitation with the VA and be trained for another government position through a non-paid work experience internship (which you can collect a stipend for). From there you can get hired by the agency, buy back your active duty time and have 17 years towards retirement.

You will also be able to keep you non-regular retirement [CSRS and FERS Handbook, Chap. 22, Section 22A4.1-1]
Click to expand...

I had a ten year break in service, 6 of that was as a DoD civilian. I left my money in FERS and found out last year that I have a federal pension locked in and I'll be looking to add to it after I retire. I did not know about the internship though. I'm going to have to look at that. Thanks for the info :)
 
So were you told you could be medically retired on active duty (keep Tricare For Life) and draw VA disability? or you have to make a choice: retire as a 20-year Guard member, collect VA disability pay, and then collect Guard pension at 60, minus special deployment provisions that would reduce eligibility to draw at 57 1/2? If the latter, you would not receive the Tricare for AD retiree, but under the Tricare Retired Reserve Select, a much more expensive program... I wouldn't mind collecting my guard pension at 60 while I draw VA until then but I know I wouldn't be able to afford the Tricare Retired Reserve Select for the rest of my life. IF you receive a DoD rating of >50% and VA, at least on DFAS calculator, you should get a small portion in retired pay AND VA pay (former taxed/latter is not). I'm hoping my PEBLO can explain all this to me. I'm at 18 years AGR, 20 years total Guard time. The AGR program is unique in and of itself. The key goals are to get 20 AGR if possible; if not, at least >30% DoD.
 
I think you may be mistaken. >30% gives you Tricare for retirees. Once you are eligible for Medicare part b then you convert to Tricare for life.

Tricare retired reserve is for reserve retirees that are not disabled, under the age of 60
 
Primary Alternate said:
IF you receive a DoD rating of >50% and VA, at least on DFAS calculator, you should get a small portion in retired pay AND VA pay (former taxed/latter is not).
Click to expand...

What that calculator is telling you is that with a 50% DOD rating, your pension will be higher than your VA benefits. However, the VA entitlement offsets the DOD pay. A simple example of that would be if your DOD pension was $2000 and your VA entitlement was $1000. Since you don't have 20 years of active duty, you would receive $2000 total. But $1000 of that would be from the VA and tax free. If you had 20 years of active duty and at 50% or greater VA disability, then you can collect both with no offset $2000 DOD + $1000 tax free from the VA = concurrent receipt. Does that help or did I not explain it well enough? I'm still getting my head wrapped around this stuff :)
 
Update from original post

I am AGR and a 20 year letter. I have been here since April 2016, as of FEB 2017 I have 5462 points for retirement pay on my NGB 23. The points ad up to 15.17years 5462 divided by 360 of AD for ret pay. I have been accepted in the AW2 program here as well.

I have 5 Approved LOD's for the following, Sleep Apnea-ILOD, PTSD-ILOD due to OIF, Shoulder injury-ILOD due to OIF, Right Knee-ILOD, and a Right lung Condition-ILOD.

MY main concerns are DOD rating and VA. I am wondering what maybe you thingk I might be looking at for DOD/VA rating based on the LOD's. I have claimed other stuff; I am just looking for some input, i understand who really knows.

I have a idea of what I think, DOD 50% 90% VA, INPUT?
 
Ramadi Joe said:
Update from original post

I am AGR and a 20 year letter. I have been here since April 2016, as of FEB 2017 I have 5462 points for retirement pay on my NGB 23. The points ad up to 15.17years 5462 divided by 360 of AD for ret pay. I have been accepted in the AW2 program here as well.

I have 5 Approved LOD's for the following, Sleep Apnea-ILOD, PTSD-ILOD due to OIF, Shoulder injury-ILOD due to OIF, Right Knee-ILOD, and a Right lung Condition-ILOD.

MY main concerns are DOD rating and VA. I am wondering what maybe you thingk I might be looking at for DOD/VA rating based on the LOD's. I have claimed other stuff; I am just looking for some input, i understand who really knows.

I have a idea of what I think, DOD 50% 90% VA, INPUT?
Click to expand...

It is really going to come down to what the C&P physicians document on the DBQ's

  • Sleep apnea with use of a CPAP 50%, will not be unfitting
  • PTSD, likley to be at least 50% (TDRL) may or may not be unfitting
  • Shoulder injury, probably your referred condition, will depend on range of motion, likley 20% unless the range of motion is pretty bad
  • Right knee, unless you were referred for it, not likley to be unfitting, will depend on range of motion, knee injuries typically hurt like hell, but they only rate 10-20%
  • Right lung condition, really going to have to see the DBQ on that, the term "lung condition" is pretty broad.
You can do onto the HRC website and calculate your estimated reserve non-regular retirement based upon your points
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top