Do I have any recourse?

Flsolman

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Registered Member
I was medically discharged from the USAF in mid/late 2004 as a SSgt with a line for Tech after four months shy of 8 years of AD service. I received a 2Q RE code for a Major Depressive Disorder EPTS.

I was deployed in 2001 and in the space of a week found out my wife at the time had drained the bank, was cheating on me, my unborn kid may have Downs (fortunately didn't BTW), said kid might not have been mine anyway, my grandmother who raised me had a month to live and was forced to testify against a really good friend of mine for a courts-martial. I expressed a desire to commit suicide and was sent home. Over the course of the 1-1.5 years I was medicated and tossed between shrinks. End of 2002 I stopped taking meds, divorced the wife, shrink appointments were down to once a month and I generally got everything back together. Mid 2003 I got into a tiff with the new Top over one of my troops and about a month later was notified I was being MEB based on the recommendation of a doc who had separated about a month after the MEB notice.

Meantime I was back on regular duty, carried 4 of my own troops and was writing on 1-2 others while their supervisors were deployed. I was also running part of a drivers training program and received a 4+ average on my last EPR. IPEB recommended discharge. They offered me $200 a month and I didn't take it and decided to fight. A couple months go by and I went to Lackland for the formal PEB hearing. I never saw the commanders letter until it was read in the hearing and was nothing short of an outright lie written VERY much in the style of the Shirt. This made sense as my commander had been at the unit maybe 5-6 weeks at the time.

Anyway, they held the discharge decision and I was asked politely to leave in mid-'04. 2 months later I was in Afghanistan as a contractor doing the IDENTICAL job and literally 1/2 of my shop were guys from my last two bases. Worked there for 3 years straight carrying a Secret clearance. I followed that with a couple more contracts in the states and then a couple years in Iraq where I was doing security (carrying a TS) for DoS until 2011. I've since come home finished a degree, gotten re-married, started a company, and generally built a pretty good life.

Moral of the story is that 2Q grates on me every day. I don't honestly think I'd ever want to go back in but to me it's pretty obvious the entire thing was a sham and knowing I can't just P***es me off to no end. Is there anything I can do?
 
Incidentally, I received a 0 rating from the AF and while the VA did service connect this they rated it at a 0% as well. I really don't care as there's really nothing wrong. Regardless, I just want it gone if at all possible. Also, on a slightly lighter if not tragic note, the one and only time I've been to VA the doc who reviewed my file said "were going to service connect this... man someone really wanted to screw you".
 
The 2Q discharge code defines you as being discharged for medical reasons. Based upon your narrative, it appears that is may have been the appropriate action by the AF at the time. This is not to say that you are not in a better place now, since you state that you have recovered from the illness that you faced in from 2001-2004.

Now here is where it gets tricky, you could try to get the discharge changed...it would be time consuming and potentially costly, of you could go to a recruiter and see if he would be willing to enlist you and request a waiver for the medical discharge, eventually you may get a new DD-214 without the 2Q, however this is a huge long shot too.

Now, let me explain this to you from the perspective of the Air Force...

You deployed and just about everything in your life had collapsed, ultimately you expressed your desire to commit suicide, which poses a serious risk for the Air Force. The Air Force has a duty to protect you against suicide, therefore you were evaluated by behavioral health and treated for at least two years. In that time, you were not determined to be cured by their standard and were subsequently referred to a MEB.

The MEB found you unfit and referred you to a FPEB, which subsequently found you unfit and recommended discharge.
 
Like gsfowler said you could try to reenlist, however it won't be easy. After I was discharged from the Air Force with a mental health condition (adjustment disorder) I tried to re enlist, MEPS wouldn't even let me in the door to physical and even finding a recruiter willing to send in the paperwork to get a waiver that will ultimately be denied was difficult as well.
 
Understood. The issue that I have really is that for the last year I was active duty (Sept 2003-Aug 2004) I had been released from medical care, taken off of all meds and returned to full duty. Now, I wasn't on a profile of any type and while I didn't deploy during that last year per se, I was sent TDY on at least two occasions once to attend an advanced school and the other to lead a team for an exercise. Bottom line is all of the previous issues had gone away and I was on track for another 5 EPR until the MEB letter. All of that coupled with the fictitious commander letter they submitted for the FPEB which stated that I had been on limited duty, non-deployable, and could not handle supervisory duties just really made me feel like I got railroaded. Even the attorney I was assigned at Lackland straight told me as we walked out of the hearing I should expect to be put out if for no other reason than they had just announced a 20k man drawdown.

I mean if there's nothing I can do then there's nothing I can do but I just really chaps my hide.
 
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