Hello all, thank you for taking the time to read this long posting. I could use your help!
A little summary: I am on orders to Fort Belvoir's WTU right now -- reporting on 30JUL2012.
Joined Army July 2003. One tour to Iraq in 2005-2006, injury was not sustained there.
I have a permanent profile (333111) for multiple issues, with the main issues being chronic neck pain/cervicalgia, C5-C6 radiculopathy and severe numbness/tingling and loss of strength in right hand/arm. ROM has also decreased significantly in my neck/wrist/arm/shoulder as well, and I am also now starting to experience similar symptoms on my left side.
I had ACDF surgery to repair the C5-C6 area in my neck as the nerves were being impinged causing me to lose nearly all functioning/strength and movement of my right arm/hand. I had this surgery on January 19, 2011. The issues with my neck/arm have been going on about 8 months longer than that however.
Also on the profile are many limitations (essentially it is a dead-man's profile), and then also notations such as "no overhead reaching or repetitive bending or lifting anything greater than 10 pounds" (even though anything over 5 pounds with my right side/arm feels like 500 pounds). No prolonged sitting or standing. May walk at own pace/distance as tolerated.
My questions are the following:
I am under the impression that I will be going to the WTU and processing my MEB paperwork that will make its way to the PEB and I'll be deemed unfit for continued military service. I am okay with that. I have been dealing with these injuries for a long while now without any improvement (with some regression--thanks to not having the best physical/occupational therapy available to me in Area 1 of Korea as they sent me here 5 weeks after my neck surgery!)--that's another story!
So, once I complete the combined VA/DOD physical to get my ROM measurements and to document all the minor and major disability claims, I assume I will just be waiting on the letter from the VA stating what disability rating I will receive for one. And then separately I will be awaiting the DOD/Army to come back to me and offer their disability rating (and if it is 30% or greater I will receive medical retirement)....Correct? I get the whole 30-50% is 50% of your high-3 base pay as the medical pension from the Army.
Now if the VA gives me say an 80% rating and that is somewhere around $1700/month...won't I get the $1700 plus the Army's medical retirement pension payment also? So if that is $1500 and the VA is $1700, won't I be getting $3,200/month in disability payments? Please correct me if I am not understanding this correctly.
Also, I wanted to list some things that the VA would rate me on, as some of them I couldn't find the code/%'s for, and was hoping you all could help with that and the math on the VA possible disability rate.
Sleep Apnea (use CPAP) - 50%
Ulnar Nerve Issues (8516) - 50%
Chronic Pain Disorder (9422) - 30%
Neurolgia (8710) - 20%
Chronic Kidney dysfunction (kidney stones 7502) - ?%
Allergic Rhinitis with nasal polyps (6522) - 30%
Dysuria/Nocturia (section 4.115a) - 20%
Cubittal tunnel syndrome right elbow - ?%
ROM shoulder - 10%
ROM wrist - 10%
ROM neck - ?%
High blood pressure - ?%
Irritable Bowel Syndrome - moderate - 10%
Frost bite on toes (7122) -- have numbness, discoloration -- 20%
Chronic PTSD (9411) - 10%
Tinnitus - ?%
Insomnia - ?%
So yes, I know there are a ton of things listed there. And I don't even think I listed the issues with my arm/hand/neck/nerve issues properly there. So I don't know exactly how that all will add up. But I cannot lift anything without a lot of neck pain, can't bend down and pick something up, can't run or jerk my head side-side quickly, and have been told that I should not be driving.
So please help me out and let me know what you all think, and please help me understand the whole getting VA disability money and DOD/Army medical retirement pension money. I am under the impression I would be eligible for both. Now that I am so close to getting out, I need to start doing some financial planning/forecasting so my family (wife and 2 kids under 18) and I can figure out our game plan going forward.
Thank you for reading this long thread.
Regards,
Anthony
A little summary: I am on orders to Fort Belvoir's WTU right now -- reporting on 30JUL2012.
Joined Army July 2003. One tour to Iraq in 2005-2006, injury was not sustained there.
I have a permanent profile (333111) for multiple issues, with the main issues being chronic neck pain/cervicalgia, C5-C6 radiculopathy and severe numbness/tingling and loss of strength in right hand/arm. ROM has also decreased significantly in my neck/wrist/arm/shoulder as well, and I am also now starting to experience similar symptoms on my left side.
I had ACDF surgery to repair the C5-C6 area in my neck as the nerves were being impinged causing me to lose nearly all functioning/strength and movement of my right arm/hand. I had this surgery on January 19, 2011. The issues with my neck/arm have been going on about 8 months longer than that however.
Also on the profile are many limitations (essentially it is a dead-man's profile), and then also notations such as "no overhead reaching or repetitive bending or lifting anything greater than 10 pounds" (even though anything over 5 pounds with my right side/arm feels like 500 pounds). No prolonged sitting or standing. May walk at own pace/distance as tolerated.
My questions are the following:
I am under the impression that I will be going to the WTU and processing my MEB paperwork that will make its way to the PEB and I'll be deemed unfit for continued military service. I am okay with that. I have been dealing with these injuries for a long while now without any improvement (with some regression--thanks to not having the best physical/occupational therapy available to me in Area 1 of Korea as they sent me here 5 weeks after my neck surgery!)--that's another story!
So, once I complete the combined VA/DOD physical to get my ROM measurements and to document all the minor and major disability claims, I assume I will just be waiting on the letter from the VA stating what disability rating I will receive for one. And then separately I will be awaiting the DOD/Army to come back to me and offer their disability rating (and if it is 30% or greater I will receive medical retirement)....Correct? I get the whole 30-50% is 50% of your high-3 base pay as the medical pension from the Army.
Now if the VA gives me say an 80% rating and that is somewhere around $1700/month...won't I get the $1700 plus the Army's medical retirement pension payment also? So if that is $1500 and the VA is $1700, won't I be getting $3,200/month in disability payments? Please correct me if I am not understanding this correctly.
Also, I wanted to list some things that the VA would rate me on, as some of them I couldn't find the code/%'s for, and was hoping you all could help with that and the math on the VA possible disability rate.
Sleep Apnea (use CPAP) - 50%
Ulnar Nerve Issues (8516) - 50%
Chronic Pain Disorder (9422) - 30%
Neurolgia (8710) - 20%
Chronic Kidney dysfunction (kidney stones 7502) - ?%
Allergic Rhinitis with nasal polyps (6522) - 30%
Dysuria/Nocturia (section 4.115a) - 20%
Cubittal tunnel syndrome right elbow - ?%
ROM shoulder - 10%
ROM wrist - 10%
ROM neck - ?%
High blood pressure - ?%
Irritable Bowel Syndrome - moderate - 10%
Frost bite on toes (7122) -- have numbness, discoloration -- 20%
Chronic PTSD (9411) - 10%
Tinnitus - ?%
Insomnia - ?%
So yes, I know there are a ton of things listed there. And I don't even think I listed the issues with my arm/hand/neck/nerve issues properly there. So I don't know exactly how that all will add up. But I cannot lift anything without a lot of neck pain, can't bend down and pick something up, can't run or jerk my head side-side quickly, and have been told that I should not be driving.
So please help me out and let me know what you all think, and please help me understand the whole getting VA disability money and DOD/Army medical retirement pension money. I am under the impression I would be eligible for both. Now that I am so close to getting out, I need to start doing some financial planning/forecasting so my family (wife and 2 kids under 18) and I can figure out our game plan going forward.
Thank you for reading this long thread.
Regards,
Anthony