Decision guidance for MEB at 19 years in the National Guard

A

armyinc

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Ok. So I've read a lot of different threads and honestly, there is so much info out there that I'm confused to be honest. Here's the deal:
I'm in the VA Guard. I have 19 years on the 18th of July. I've been referred to a MEB. I'm also AGR (irrelevant as I only have 7ish years AFS) but was a title 32 technician and I have USERRA rights that I can still use.

From what I've read it's honestly better to just get Chapter 61 Med Retirement (I have LOD's for knees and mental health), apply for disability retirement from the FERS, and apply for CRSC and maybe/maybe not CRSC will be approved. This is all hanging on the fact I get at least 30% DOD rating. Basically, I would get this below that I read on another thread:

Technician w/ DOD disability retirement
1. VA % Compensation (tax free)
2. DOD % disability retirement (probably wouldn't get this due to the offset)
3. FERS 60/40 disability retirement
4. Social security
5. Thrift Savings Plan

So my question is, what is so important for me to hit 20 years? I get CDRP at age 60. I get being able to get my DOD retirement if not Chapter 61. Would it be possible to received DOD retirement due to CDRP right away if I hit 20 years and was Chapter 61 med retired? I'm just very confused on all of this. Leadership is saying Med retire and collect that check. But I wouldn't because i'm not at 20 years. If I hit 20 years, would I just be forced to retire, but not medically? From what I read on another post, it is not a good idea to go LAS (Limited Assignment Code) unless I'm below the 30% DOD rating.

I'm just not sure which one would be more beneficial for me. I know everyone's situation is different, but it seems there was a lot on AD (makes sense honestly) rather than guard. If it was guard, they were AGR.

Sorry for the long post, but is it worth it to drag this out for a year to try to hit 20 years and would it still be a Chapter 61 retirement even with 20 good years?

Also, I just had Knee surgery on June 9th and am in physical therapy. It has pushed my PEBLO back to Aug 4th to sit down with the VA person to schedule C&P appointments. Is there any way to "stop" this process while still doing physical therapy etc? Or am I just SOL? I get scheduling my C&P appointments back as long as possible, and rebut everything. I'll also have about 50 days of leave. Not sure what my Commander wants to do for Permissive TDY days. I'm going to ask for the max.
 
armyinc said:
Ok. So I've read a lot of different threads and honestly, there is so much info out there that I'm confused to be honest. Here's the deal:
I'm in the VA Guard. I have 19 years on the 18th of July. I've been referred to a MEB. I'm also AGR (irrelevant as I only have 7ish years AFS) but was a title 32 technician and I have USERRA rights that I can still use.

From what I've read it's honestly better to just get Chapter 61 Med Retirement (I have LOD's for knees and mental health), apply for disability retirement from the FERS, and apply for CRSC and maybe/maybe not CRSC will be approved. This is all hanging on the fact I get at least 30% DOD rating. Basically, I would get this below that I read on another thread:

Technician w/ DOD disability retirement
1. VA % Compensation (tax free)
2. DOD % disability retirement (probably wouldn't get this due to the offset)
3. FERS 60/40 disability retirement
4. Social security
5. Thrift Savings Plan

So my question is, what is so important for me to hit 20 years? I get CDRP at age 60. I get being able to get my DOD retirement if not Chapter 61. Would it be possible to received DOD retirement due to CDRP right away if I hit 20 years and was Chapter 61 med retired? I'm just very confused on all of this. Leadership is saying Med retire and collect that check. But I wouldn't because i'm not at 20 years. If I hit 20 years, would I just be forced to retire, but not medically? From what I read on another post, it is not a good idea to go LAS (Limited Assignment Code) unless I'm below the 30% DOD rating.

I'm just not sure which one would be more beneficial for me. I know everyone's situation is different, but it seems there was a lot on AD (makes sense honestly) rather than guard. If it was guard, they were AGR.

Sorry for the long post, but is it worth it to drag this out for a year to try to hit 20 years and would it still be a Chapter 61 retirement even with 20 good years?

Also, I just had Knee surgery on June 9th and am in physical therapy. It has pushed my PEBLO back to Aug 4th to sit down with the VA person to schedule C&P appointments. Is there any way to "stop" this process while still doing physical therapy etc? Or am I just SOL? I get scheduling my C&P appointments back as long as possible, and rebut everything. I'll also have about 50 days of leave. Not sure what my Commander wants to do for Permissive TDY days. I'm going to ask for the max.
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My wife maxed out compensation but did eke out a 20 year letter so that if she didn't get made whole via CRSC she would eventually be made whole going forward from age 60 and on.

Why can't you string it out to reach 20 good years and still get medically retired? That would give you an extra layer of protection and you would still qualify for FERS disability. I believe for that you are required to apply for SSDI to get it though most everyone gets declined for SSDI since the standard is much higher than the standard for FERS disability. SSDI means you can't do any job period. FERS disability is that you can do your federal job or a similar one. So most apply are declined for SSDI and that's one step checked towards getting disability for FERS.

So the things that are most important are #1 getting 30% or higher DOD. Next is getting CRSC. if your point total is low then it means you don't have as much to lose and it won't take a very high CRSC % to claw back the money lost due to the VA offset. Its always nice to have another backup option that's why I said try to delay a bit to get 20 good years if possible. If you get enough CRSC you won't need it but never hurts to have it.

Find an hire at the very least a FERS disability attorney. Going through that process without one is a no go. I would strongly suggest hiring a private IDES attorney too but unlike the FERS attorney they require money up front so its up to you if you want to risk it or not. SSDI is super hard to get. You have to be completely disabled and not able to anything. if you can answer a phone for example its going to be hard to win. My wife was approved but she is bedridden with migraines 33% to 50% of the month so there is no reasonable accommodations where an employer would hire her. Its not impossible but just know its very hard. Took my wife 2+ years and only got it after being seen by a Judge during the ALJ hearing.
 
Provis said:
My wife maxed out compensation but did eke out a 20 year letter so that if she didn't get made whole via CRSC she would eventually be made whole going forward from age 60 and on.

Why can't you string it out to reach 20 good years and still get medically retired? That would give you an extra layer of protection and you would still qualify for FERS disability. I believe for that you are required to apply for SSDI to get it though most everyone gets declined for SSDI since the standard is much higher than the standard for FERS disability. SSDI means you can't do any job period. FERS disability is that you can do your federal job or a similar one. So most apply are declined for SSDI and that's one step checked towards getting disability for FERS.

So the things that are most important are #1 getting 30% or higher DOD. Next is getting CRSC. if your point total is low then it means you don't have as much to lose and it won't take a very high CRSC % to claw back the money lost due to the VA offset. Its always nice to have another backup option that's why I said try to delay a bit to get 20 good years if possible. If you get enough CRSC you won't need it but never hurts to have it.

Find an hire at the very least a FERS disability attorney. Going through that process without one is a no go. I would strongly suggest hiring a private IDES attorney too but unlike the FERS attorney they require money up front so its up to you if you want to risk it or not. SSDI is super hard to get. You have to be completely disabled and not able to anything. if you can answer a phone for example its going to be hard to win. My wife was approved but she is bedridden with migraines 33% to 50% of the month so there is no reasonable accommodations where an employer would hire her. Its not impossible but just know its very hard. Took my wife 2+ years and only got it after being seen by a Judge during the ALJ hearing.
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It's just been a lot of reading and I wanted to make sure I could get 20 years and still be able to get a medical retirement. it's not really explained in the greatest of detail.... Or I'm burnt out from reading so much about this and looking over regulations etc. So even at the place I'm at right now (MEB is directed) I can still drag it out a year? That's good to know. I'll have about 50 leave days by the end of the year and if it goes past that, that's just extra. As it stands right now, if I can get to April 22nd, 2026, and my Commander gives me 20 days PTDY, I'll hit July 17th 2026.

Left Knee surgery knocked my next meeting with my PEBLO to Aug 4th. I'm assuming at that point, he will schedule me within a two week period to sit down with a lady to go over my VA C&P Exam scheduling? Hopefully the VA will be slow with that and I can knock that back to at least end of Sept or early Oct? Obviously rebut what I can each time without shooting myself in the foot. I'm just a little nervous about the timeline. I'm not sure how much CRSC would help as I have osteoarthritis in my righty knee (which started the MEB) and I can link that to an LOD where I was a flying crew chief in 60's. That's if they take that.

Ok, Points wise, I will have roughly 3900 ish. Hopefully the arthritic knee and anxiety can get me to that 30% DOD. I appreciate the response and insight.
 
armyinc said:
It's just been a lot of reading and I wanted to make sure I could get 20 years and still be able to get a medical retirement. it's not really explained in the greatest of detail.... Or I'm burnt out from reading so much about this and looking over regulations etc. So even at the place I'm at right now (MEB is directed) I can still drag it out a year? That's good to know. I'll have about 50 leave days by the end of the year and if it goes past that, that's just extra. As it stands right now, if I can get to April 22nd, 2026, and my Commander gives me 20 days PTDY, I'll hit July 17th 2026.

Left Knee surgery knocked my next meeting with my PEBLO to Aug 4th. I'm assuming at that point, he will schedule me within a two week period to sit down with a lady to go over my VA C&P Exam scheduling? Hopefully the VA will be slow with that and I can knock that back to at least end of Sept or early Oct? Obviously rebut what I can each time without shooting myself in the foot. I'm just a little nervous about the timeline. I'm not sure how much CRSC would help as I have osteoarthritis in my righty knee (which started the MEB) and I can link that to an LOD where I was a flying crew chief in 60's. That's if they take that.

Ok, Points wise, I will have roughly 3900 ish. Hopefully the arthritic knee and anxiety can get me to that 30% DOD. I appreciate the response and insight.
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Most don't get any compensation out of a medical retirement due to the VA offset. A medical retirement give you and your family tricare for life which is priceless. If you medically retire then you can get CRSC if approved. Look into presumptive conditions. There are dozens of conditions where all you need is a VA rating and proof you deployed to a qualified country. So if you deployed to Iraq, Kuwait, etc. and have VA rated conditions such a asthma, Sinusitis etc. So think exposure and not just in the line of fire. There are many ways to qualify. Basically you calculate your pensions worth and that is the most you can get for CRSC. So if your 3900 points divided by 360 times your HIGH 3 equals $1,000 a month. Then you can qualify for up to $1,000 a month in CRSC. That would make you whole and mean you don't need to use your 20 year letter. CRSC is tax free too. So if you got all of your VA compensation and CRSC that equaled your pension amount you are golden. You are actually ahead since both would be tax free whereas at age 60 you would get your VA and your non regular retirement pension which is taxed.
 
armyinc said:
It's just been a lot of reading and I wanted to make sure I could get 20 years and still be able to get a medical retirement. it's not really explained in the greatest of detail.... Or I'm burnt out from reading so much about this and looking over regulations etc. So even at the place I'm at right now (MEB is directed) I can still drag it out a year? That's good to know. I'll have about 50 leave days by the end of the year and if it goes past that, that's just extra. As it stands right now, if I can get to April 22nd, 2026, and my Commander gives me 20 days PTDY, I'll hit July 17th 2026.

Left Knee surgery knocked my next meeting with my PEBLO to Aug 4th. I'm assuming at that point, he will schedule me within a two week period to sit down with a lady to go over my VA C&P Exam scheduling? Hopefully the VA will be slow with that and I can knock that back to at least end of Sept or early Oct? Obviously rebut what I can each time without shooting myself in the foot. I'm just a little nervous about the timeline. I'm not sure how much CRSC would help as I have osteoarthritis in my righty knee (which started the MEB) and I can link that to an LOD where I was a flying crew chief in 60's. That's if they take that.

Ok, Points wise, I will have roughly 3900 ish. Hopefully the arthritic knee and anxiety can get me to that 30% DOD. I appreciate the response and insight.
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So 3900 points is just under 11 years. If just estimating 11 years time 2.5% if old legacy pension or 2% for BRS. So depending on your pension plan you get 27.5% or 22% of your High 3. That's how much you get at age 60 if you get a 20 year letter and that is one of the caps for CRSC. CRSC uses same VA pay tables so you can look up what CRSC% would be needed to claw back the pension you lost by being medically retired early.
 
Ok. So let me make sure I have this straight. If I get the 20 year letter, I'd roughly get $1606.80 (5951.10 base pay, 3900 points = 10.8 years x 2.5 = 27.08. Base pay of 5951.10 x 27% equals 1606.797) once I hit age 60 (minus roughly a few years for deployments etc). I'd only get that after I hit the age and nothing would really affect me monetarily by a medical retirement after 20 years.

If I were to medically retire before 20 years, If I applied for CRSC I could potentially get that 1606.80 back (depending on percentage of course) and that would be tax free. I've got an LOD for my knees from my Iraq deployment and just wear and tear from hazardous duty (Black Hawk Crew Chief). Apparently other things could be the case too for exposure from things in Iraq, UAE, and Qatar potentially.

Am I understanding that correctly? If I am, it seems like it would be better for me to just medically retire and not hit my 20 years... Also, I'm assuming I can't get CRSC if I hit my 20 years as I'd be eligible for CDRP.
 
Provis said:
So 3900 points is just under 11 years. If just estimating 11 years time 2.5% if old legacy pension or 2% for BRS. So depending on your pension plan you get 27.5% or 22% of your High 3. That's how much you get at age 60 if you get a 20 year letter and that is one of the caps for CRSC. CRSC uses same VA pay tables so you can look up what CRSC% would be needed to claw back the pension you lost by being medically retired early.
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Ok. So let me make sure I have this straight. If I get the 20 year letter, I'd roughly get $1606.80 (5951.10 base pay, 3900 points = 10.8 years x 2.5 = 27.08. Base pay of 5951.10 x 27% equals 1606.797) once I hit age 60 (minus roughly a few years for deployments etc). I'd only get that after I hit the age and nothing would really affect me monetarily by a medical retirement after 20 years.

If I were to medically retire before 20 years, If I applied for CRSC I could potentially get that 1606.80 back (depending on percentage of course) and that would be tax free. I've got an LOD for my knees from my Iraq deployment and just wear and tear from hazardous duty (Black Hawk Crew Chief). Apparently other things could be the case too for exposure from things in Iraq, UAE, and Qatar potentially.

Am I understanding that correctly? If I am, it seems like it would be better for me to just medically retire and not hit my 20 years... Also, I'm assuming I can't get CRSC if I hit my 20 years as I'd be eligible for CDRP.
 
armyinc said:
Ok. So let me make sure I have this straight. If I get the 20 year letter, I'd roughly get $1606.80 (5951.10 base pay, 3900 points = 10.8 years x 2.5 = 27.08. Base pay of 5951.10 x 27% equals 1606.797) once I hit age 60 (minus roughly a few years for deployments etc). I'd only get that after I hit the age and nothing would really affect me monetarily by a medical retirement after 20 years.

If I were to medically retire before 20 years, If I applied for CRSC I could potentially get that 1606.80 back (depending on percentage of course) and that would be tax free. I've got an LOD for my knees from my Iraq deployment and just wear and tear from hazardous duty (Black Hawk Crew Chief). Apparently other things could be the case too for exposure from things in Iraq, UAE, and Qatar potentially.

Am I understanding that correctly? If I am, it seems like it would be better for me to just medically retire and not hit my 20 years... Also, I'm assuming I can't get CRSC if I hit my 20 years as I'd be eligible for CDRP.
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So a 20 year letter is just a backstop. It means you can qualify for a guard/reserve pension at age 60 or slightly earlier if reduced due to qualified deployments. So if you get 20 year letter then you for sure get everything you are entitled to at age 60. If you medically retire before reaching your 20 year letter then its a bigger risk. If you are losing $1,600 due to VA offset then you need CRSC% to be high enough to equal that amount. So if approved lets say for 40% CRSC and you are single then the pay is $775 for CRSC. If that was the most you could get then you lose about $800 for the rest of your life. That's where the 20 year letter helps. You would be able choose concurrent receipt at age 60 instead of CRSC and then your pay would increase to $1,600 to get the full value of your earned longevity pension + VA compensation.
 
Provis said:
So a 20 year letter is just a backstop. It means you can qualify for a guard/reserve pension at age 60 or slightly earlier if reduced due to qualified deployments. So if you get 20 year letter then you for sure get everything you are entitled to at age 60. If you medically retire before reaching your 20 year letter then its a bigger risk. If you are losing $1,600 due to VA offset then you need CRSC% to be high enough to equal that amount. So if approved lets say for 40% CRSC and you are single then the pay is $775 for CRSC. If that was the most you could get then you lose about $800 for the rest of your life. That's where the 20 year letter helps. You would be able choose concurrent receipt at age 60 instead of CRSC and then your pay would increase to $1,600 to get the full value of your earned longevity pension + VA compensation.
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Ok. That makes a whole lot more sense to me. I have literally 365 days until I hit 20 years. So here is my thought process:

June 11th: Informed a full MEB is required.
Meeting to set up VA C&P exams with MSC delayed until around August 11-15 due to left knee quad tendon repair (new issue, not what I'm being MEB'd for). I plan on talking with my Physical Therapist and Othro Surgeon to see if the C&P Exams needs to be pushed back as they'd have to rate my newly repaired knee.
I'm assuming I will then get those schedule for the end of August or early September.
Once the MEB decision comes in, I'll stall on that for the 10 days and then appeal it?
I plan on appealing at pretty much every step of the way if need be.

I'm just trying to get to July 17, 2026 or later for my 20 year date. If I get the 90 days leave (60 annual leave that i will have, and 30 PTDY), I will need to hit 19 April, 2026 as my "last" day in the military before my 20 year mark and potential medical retirement. How feasible is that?
 
armyinc said:
Ok. That makes a whole lot more sense to me. I have literally 365 days until I hit 20 years. So here is my thought process:

June 11th: Informed a full MEB is required.
Meeting to set up VA C&P exams with MSC delayed until around August 11-15 due to left knee quad tendon repair (new issue, not what I'm being MEB'd for). I plan on talking with my Physical Therapist and Othro Surgeon to see if the C&P Exams needs to be pushed back as they'd have to rate my newly repaired knee.
I'm assuming I will then get those schedule for the end of August or early September.
Once the MEB decision comes in, I'll stall on that for the 10 days and then appeal it?
I plan on appealing at pretty much every step of the way if need be.

I'm just trying to get to July 17, 2026 or later for my 20 year date. If I get the 90 days leave (60 annual leave that i will have, and 30 PTDY), I will need to hit 19 April, 2026 as my "last" day in the military before my 20 year mark and potential medical retirement. How feasible is that?
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1 year is feasible. My wife need 14 months and she reached it through delaying. Luckily she maxed out on CRSC so she no longer needs her 20 year letter. In fact, if you can get there by CRSC you come out slightly ahead. That's because CRSC isn't taxable. So you could end up with tax free VA pay and tax free CRSC. If you don't max out and need VA pay + concurrent pay for pension then the pension is taxable.

Unless things have changed it was reduced from 10 days to 6 days a couple of years ago so the time to sign at each step is shortened. The best part to delay is the exams themselves. My wife said she only felt comfortable with seeing female docs. She lucked out that QTC that was contracted to do the exams couldn't find for her a female doc for dentistry and optometry. She delayed 5 months and once it looked like she would reach her 20 good year mark she dropped those claims to move along the process. The NARSUM stage you should be able to delay too by requesting and IMR or doing a rebuttal. Remember to save all of your leave. For the Army you can move your NLT date back to use all of your saved leave. An O6 signature is required on a DA4187 personnel form to do it. Not every branch will allow you to do that.

Also, I always recommend hiring a private attorney. If you want to hire one budget 10K and hire them at the very beginning. There are a handful of them out there that only do IDES and they are awesome. Not only do they give you the best chance of getting the best result, but they do all the work on the appeals and that means you have a roadmap of things you need to do on your end and its much less stressful of a process. When you get a curveball you just send it to your private attorney and they will know how to handle it. I will PM you some good options for attorneys.

My wife was and O4 with 17AFS and 20 good years. She was AGR and only 1 or 2 PCS's away from retiring with a regular retirement She had a lot to lose as she had 6200 points. Your best protection is getting as high of a DOD% as possible. My wife got 75% DOD by making sure to max out ratings for referred conditions and by adding a condition. That meant that her baseline minimum compensation would be higher and so it wouldn't hurt as much if she didn't' qualify for CRSC. Almost all of her health issues had to do with Gulf War exposures. The Pact Act was passed while she was in IDES. She didn't want to take any chances. Also, by having a high DOD% it means her VA compensation isn't as important. If her DOD% had gotten to where it was higher than her combination VA pay + Reserve pension then CRSC and CRDP are pointless especially if her chapter 61 pension was exempt from taxes due to a combat related unfit condition. That's the only time you can max out pay and nothing else will get you higher. Typically it happens with Guard or Reserve officers with low points. So it didn't do that in her case. Even with a 6K compensation her chapter 61 pension she was missing out on $1,500 a month compared to getting the value of her VA compensation + Reserve Pension.
 
Provis said:
1 year is feasible. My wife need 14 months and she reached it through delaying. Luckily she maxed out on CRSC so she no longer needs her 20 year letter. In fact, if you can get there by CRSC you come out slightly ahead. That's because CRSC isn't taxable. So you could end up with tax free VA pay and tax free CRSC. If you don't max out and need VA pay + concurrent pay for pension then the pension is taxable.

Unless things have changed it was reduced from 10 days to 6 days a couple of years ago so the time to sign at each step is shortened. The best part to delay is the exams themselves. My wife said she only felt comfortable with seeing female docs. She lucked out that QTC that was contracted to do the exams couldn't find for her a female doc for dentistry and optometry. She delayed 5 months and once it looked like she would reach her 20 good year mark she dropped those claims to move along the process. The NARSUM stage you should be able to delay too by requesting and IMR or doing a rebuttal. Remember to save all of your leave. For the Army you can move your NLT date back to use all of your saved leave. An O6 signature is required on a DA4187 personnel form to do it. Not every branch will allow you to do that.

Also, I always recommend hiring a private attorney. If you want to hire one budget 10K and hire them at the very beginning. There are a handful of them out there that only do IDES and they are awesome. Not only do they give you the best chance of getting the best result, but they do all the work on the appeals and that means you have a roadmap of things you need to do on your end and its much less stressful of a process. When you get a curveball you just send it to your private attorney and they will know how to handle it. I will PM you some good options for attorneys.

My wife was and O4 with 17AFS and 20 good years. She was AGR and only 1 or 2 PCS's away from retiring with a regular retirement She had a lot to lose as she had 6200 points. Your best protection is getting as high of a DOD% as possible. My wife got 75% DOD by making sure to max out ratings for referred conditions and by adding a condition. That meant that her baseline minimum compensation would be higher and so it wouldn't hurt as much if she didn't' qualify for CRSC. Almost all of her health issues had to do with Gulf War exposures. The Pact Act was passed while she was in IDES. She didn't want to take any chances. Also, by having a high DOD% it means her VA compensation isn't as important. If her DOD% had gotten to where it was higher than her combination VA pay + Reserve pension then CRSC and CRDP are pointless especially if her chapter 61 pension was exempt from taxes due to a combat related unfit condition. That's the only time you can max out pay and nothing else will get you higher. Typically it happens with Guard or Reserve officers with low points. So it didn't do that in her case. Even with a 6K compensation her chapter 61 pension she was missing out on $1,500 a month compared to getting the value of her VA compensation + Reserve Pension.
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Good Day, reviewed this thread. I'd be interested in getting some recommended private attorneys, who work IDES, per your comments. I'm also looking to enter MEB just inside 1 year out of my 20 years active service and want to be sure I don't complete the process prior to.
 
JSS said:
Good Day, reviewed this thread. I'd be interested in getting some recommended private attorneys, who work IDES, per your comments. I'm also looking to enter MEB just inside 1 year out of my 20 years active service and want to be sure I don't complete the process prior to.
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Sending to you now via direct message.
 
ok. So here is the timeline:
This is through Langley AFB for the VA ANG.

January 22, 2025: informed of IRILO Process
February: Met with the Commander: Do Not Retain
April 25th: Completely tore my quad tendon TDY
June 9th: Full MEB required and quad tendon surgery repair
June 11th: PEBLO Meeting to go over disposition for Full MEB and briefing
August 10th, 2025: reengaged with PEBLO to restart MEB Process as surgery put me on hold for a minute to meet appointment requirements
September 15th 2025: Met with MSC
September 30- October 23 2025: VA Appointments
November 20 and 24 2025: New appointments for blood pressure per the VA.

Now just waiting... which is the worst part... But I'm trying to make it to July 19 of 2026 to hit my 20 year mark. I currently have 48.5 days of leave, and it will be 51 at the end of December.
 
armyinc said:
ok. So here is the timeline:
This is through Langley AFB for the VA ANG.

January 22, 2025: informed of IRILO Process
February: Met with the Commander: Do Not Retain
April 25th: Completely tore my quad tendon TDY
June 9th: Full MEB required and quad tendon surgery repair
June 11th: PEBLO Meeting to go over disposition for Full MEB and briefing
August 10th, 2025: reengaged with PEBLO to restart MEB Process as surgery put me on hold for a minute to meet appointment requirements
September 15th 2025: Met with MSC
September 30- October 23 2025: VA Appointments
November 20 and 24 2025: New appointments for blood pressure per the VA.

Now just waiting... which is the worst part... But I'm trying to make it to July 19 of 2026 to hit my 20 year mark. I currently have 48.5 days of leave, and it will be 51 at the end of December.
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Found out an interesting fact which hurts those who have 20 year letter. When medically retired and your a Guard/Reservist you don't get put in retired awaiting pay status. So if you need to utilize your 20 year letter the pay tables are going to be used based on the current tables of the year you medically retire. If you are like my wife who had 20 years before she reached eligible age then you pay will get eroded by inflation. Basically its treated like you were discharged at that point. The only way to use future pay tables is if you are in the retired reserves.

So getting the highest DOD% AND getting the highest CRSC% immediately after getting out are of utmost importance. If you can't max out compensation right after getting out via combination of VA, Chapter 61 pay and CRSC pay you will lose substantial income due to inflation.

So make sure you are running all the numbers to see the value of your ANG pension and combine that with your total VA pay. That is the total you want to match with getting those other pays. My wife hired an attorney privately to represent her. Thankfully she maxed out compensation so that she doesn't need to try to utilize her 20 year letter at age 60.

Let me know if you need references for a private attorney. I almost always recommend paying for a private dedicated one that can help you optimize your results since there can a be a wide variation of outcomes in pay and so you want to do everything you can to try to max out compensation.
 
BTW, I just went thru the process and Provis is correct that you now only have 6 calendars vice the old 10 to make most elections at all the stages. Though always check with your PEBLO and the service regs to make sure. Appointed or private counsel should know as well.

BL: I think you should easily be able to burn a year (or more) to get your 20 good years for non-regular retirement.
Here are the details from my case:

As Provis said, delay during the C&P exams will help you. Then, after that, when the MEB comes back with their decision, you will have those 6 calendar days to make election. PEBLO can extend this deadline for various reasons. Easiest one is that you must be able to consult your appointed MEB counsel during that time. If they are busy or you need more consultation, the PEBLO can extend the 6 calendar day election period (mine did just by asking...each election period in the whole process. Not by much, but it was a delay.). Not sure how that works with having private counsel though as I used MEB counsel.

I started MEDBOARD on 07JUL24.
After all my C&P exams, got initial MEB decision (DA 3847...not sure the AF form if you are Air Guard...and for some reason the Army form stated I only had 5 calendar days for decisions) on 21OCT24.
Now there were some mistakes that I and counsel saw and the MEB had to correct, so got corrected MEB Decision on 04NOV24.

They have to find at least one condition does "NOT MEET RETENTION STANDARDS" for it go forward to the PEB, otherwise, MEDBOARD over and you return to duty. You can fight that decision though.

Regardless, you have those calendar days to make your choices:
1. CONCUR with MEB decision (doesn't help you delay).
2. NON-CONCUR and that you wish to submit a rebuttal. That choice states you have an additional 7 calendar days to submit the written rebuttal (lawyer will write it. So you have those calendar days to make this decision, then 7 more calendar days to submit).
3. Request an IMR (Impartial Medical Review).

Army regs state you can choose both IMR and rebuttal if you want.
I did rebuttal, didn't need IMR. Submitted it on 12NOV24.

MEB responded to my rebuttal and transmitted my file to the PEB on 12DEC24.

I got my Proposed VA Ratings and initial decision by IPEB (DA199) on 11MAR25.
I did NOT CONCUR with IPEB, submitted a written rebuttal and demanded a Formal PEB Hearing on 18MAR25.
I got notice the week after that my Formal PEB Hearing was scheduled for 31OCT25!

Was told there was (and probably still is) a HUGE backlog in scheduling Formal PEB Hearings. And was told I could always choose to forgo the Formal Hearing before the 31OCT25 date and just accept the IPEB decision. So this added a HUGE delay in my proceedings.

Now, I was told about 30-60 days prior to the Formal Hearing, someone at the PEB would actually respond to my rebuttal with a potential offer to amend the IPEB decision and forgo the formal hearing. Kinda akin to a plea bargain. If your rebuttal request is reasonable and supported by the evidence, they may just give you what you ask for to save everyone time and effort of a formal hearing

That is what happened to me.
Got a call on 09SEP25 from appointed MEB counsel stating PEB was going to give me half the things I was asking in my rebuttal if I would forgo the formal PEB hearing scheduled on 31OCT25. They said I had a few days to choose and I agreed.

Got my revised DA199 back from PEB at the end of SEP25.
I decided to agree with PEB decisions (no real other options on the DoD side at that point), but I submitted a VA Request for Reconsideration (VARR) as the proposed VA rating for one of my unfit conditions was jacked up (saw that back in March when I got the proposed VA ratings, so figured I would be doing this step). Usually you need new or not considered evidence to even do a VARR and be successful, but it does provide another delay.
I made my DA199 elections and submitted my VARR on 03OCT25.

Was told VA takes about 6 weeks to answer VARRs, and even though this all happened during the GOV shutdown, they were right.
Got my VARR response and revised DA199 on 19NOV25.

Then I got my finally fully-signed DA199 and Physical Disability Information Report (PDIR) on 26NOV25.

On the day the PDIR is published they put a date in there 90 calendar days in the future (I got 135 days as Army added 45 days due to GOV shutdown). That date is your No Later Than (NLT) date for being in the military. They give you that time to transition and use 10 and 10 days of PTDY you get and use your accrued Leave. If you need it extended due to not being able to take all accrued Leave, you need an O6 to endorse the request and decision authority can approve an extension. So you get more time after it is pretty much all over before you are truly OUT.

My last day in the military will be 29MAR26.

So my process took from 07JUL24 to 29MAR26!

Hope these details help! I think you will be just fine!

BTW, I am T10 ARNG AGR. I already have 20 years for non-regular retirement and over 20 AFS for Regular Retirement. Not tech either. So I really don't know all the specifics for your situation, but Provis already gave you all his expert knowledge on CRSC, CRDP, FED Disability, and SSDI!

Best of luck!
 
Trommj and Provis,
Thank you for the heads up and timelines. I just finished my VA appointments on Nov 24th, so I don't even have my proposed ratings yet. I have no doubt i can make it to my 20 years. I just don't know what they will consider for the CRSC. That's one of my concerns.

Good to know there is a backlog for FPEB's. I'll keep that in my back pocket.

It really all depends on what I qualify for and how much that adds up to like Provis stated. If all is good, I won't really need to delay anymore at this point because my knee surgery did just that. That should also add to the list of problems/claims. Being a flying crew chief on black hawks during my Army days should hopefully provide something for CRSC so we shall see what happens.

I figured I would get those proposed ratings back probably around Feb/March timeframe. If I get them in Feb or March, I'll probably request a FPEB to just give me a little more time. At that point, if it is still back logged, I would assume my date would be after my 20 year mark. At that point, I could always just change my mind and agree to the FPEB should all the ratings be where I need them to be. Again, I'm not sure what will qualify for CRSC but hopefully that could be discussed with the PEBLO? I know I have to apply for it after I get out, but hopefully he has a good idea?

As far as the technician side, I need the medical retirement so I could potentially retire via disability from the FERS Program. I'm not aware of ANY like positions that is within the 50-mile commuting distance that is LIKE my nondestructive inspection job for the VA ANG. Not saying they don't exist. Most of them are contractor jobs though.

We shall see what happens and I will keep you guys posted. Thanks again!
 
I won't need to do CRSC. So, I really cannot help there. And not a Fed Tech, so I know nil about the Fed Disability process.

I do agree with the above advice though; you probably need a good attorney to help you thru all this. Just shop around and let them know what you are trying to accomplish. Most likely will be money well spent! Nice to have an advocate in your pocket!

As for your PEBLO, he/she may be friendly, helpful, and potentially knowledgeable about CRSC and other things.
Just remember, they are paid to ensure you get thru the process and they can guide/advocate a bit, but you definitely should not rely on them to take the place of competent counsel.

Good luck and keep us all posted!

-Jason
 
armyinc said:
Ok. So I've read a lot of different threads and honestly, there is so much info out there that I'm confused to be honest. Here's the deal:
I'm in the VA Guard. I have 19 years on the 18th of July. I've been referred to a MEB. I'm also AGR (irrelevant as I only have 7ish years AFS) but was a title 32 technician and I have USERRA rights that I can still use.

From what I've read it's honestly better to just get Chapter 61 Med Retirement (I have LOD's for knees and mental health), apply for disability retirement from the FERS, and apply for CRSC and maybe/maybe not CRSC will be approved. This is all hanging on the fact I get at least 30% DOD rating. Basically, I would get this below that I read on another thread:

Technician w/ DOD disability retirement
1. VA % Compensation (tax free)
2. DOD % disability retirement (probably wouldn't get this due to the offset)
3. FERS 60/40 disability retirement
4. Social security
5. Thrift Savings Plan

So my question is, what is so important for me to hit 20 years? I get CDRP at age 60. I get being able to get my DOD retirement if not Chapter 61. Would it be possible to received DOD retirement due to CDRP right away if I hit 20 years and was Chapter 61 med retired? I'm just very confused on all of this. Leadership is saying Med retire and collect that check. But I wouldn't because i'm not at 20 years. If I hit 20 years, would I just be forced to retire, but not medically? From what I read on another post, it is not a good idea to go LAS (Limited Assignment Code) unless I'm below the 30% DOD rating.

I'm just not sure which one would be more beneficial for me. I know everyone's situation is different, but it seems there was a lot on AD (makes sense honestly) rather than guard. If it was guard, they were AGR.

Sorry for the long post, but is it worth it to drag this out for a year to try to hit 20 years and would it still be a Chapter 61 retirement even with 20 good years?

Also, I just had Knee surgery on June 9th and am in physical therapy. It has pushed my PEBLO back to Aug 4th to sit down with the VA person to schedule C&P appointments. Is there any way to "stop" this process while still doing physical therapy etc? Or am I just SOL? I get scheduling my C&P appointments back as long as possible, and rebut everything. I'll also have about 50 days of leave. Not sure what my Commander wants to do for Permissive TDY days. I'm going to ask for the max.
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Medically retiring after hitting 20 years will enable you to also get and keep your VA Disability compensation. Also, when medically retiring just over the 20 year mark, will allow you to get between 50 to 75% of base pay, based on the DoD awarded disability percentage. So, medically retiring after 20 years can provide up to 1.5 times the monthly retirement, verses the standard 50% of base pay for a regular 20 year retirement. Hope this makes sense to you.
 
JSS said:
I don't recall getting the private message, might you be able to resend it?
Click to expand...
hmm thought i did. sending now
will be in the mailbox symbol next to your username on upper right side.
 
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