I wanted to first give kudos to the creator and moderators of this site. I found it by accident during a search for my condition and let me say, wow. I have poured over a great deal of information on this site to the point my head hurt.
Secondly, I want to thank all those that posted on here. It wouldn’t be what it is without you. So now I guess it's my turn.
A few years ago (2005) I was diagnosed as having two bulging disks (L3-L4 & L4-L5) as well as spinal stenosis in the same areas. For the last couple of years I have had problems with PT testing and in May 2010, I failed my fourth test in two years. In April 2010 I went for another MRI and it showed progression of everything. Disks are bulging more and the stenosis has spread to vertebrae that it wasn’t in from the 2005 report. After the fourth test I went to my PCM and asked him to start the MEB process. While doing research for the referral EPR and LOR I was given for the fourth failure, I discovered all kinds of issues in AFI 10-248 with my base and my circumstances. Moral of the research is a lot of things were mishandled or not done correctly, as far as I can see and I have a promotion on the line that no one but me seems to care about.
Now that I have the fourth failure, my commander is initiating the Retention package. I’m already listed as code 37 so I know my PCM did what I asked.
I will provide more of the story as necessary but my questions are, how far in can the retention package go while the MEB is still pending? What kind of disability can I actually look at from the AF or VA if I get separated/retired? BTW I have 14 years active and 16.5 total. What happens to the whole thing if I do the surgery that the neurosurgeon says I need to do to quasi-fix my back? I have more questions but have totally brain dumped typing this. Any help would be much appreciated and as I stated, I will give more details to help anyone help me.
Thanks for all that everyone does and God bless
Chris
Secondly, I want to thank all those that posted on here. It wouldn’t be what it is without you. So now I guess it's my turn.
A few years ago (2005) I was diagnosed as having two bulging disks (L3-L4 & L4-L5) as well as spinal stenosis in the same areas. For the last couple of years I have had problems with PT testing and in May 2010, I failed my fourth test in two years. In April 2010 I went for another MRI and it showed progression of everything. Disks are bulging more and the stenosis has spread to vertebrae that it wasn’t in from the 2005 report. After the fourth test I went to my PCM and asked him to start the MEB process. While doing research for the referral EPR and LOR I was given for the fourth failure, I discovered all kinds of issues in AFI 10-248 with my base and my circumstances. Moral of the research is a lot of things were mishandled or not done correctly, as far as I can see and I have a promotion on the line that no one but me seems to care about.
Now that I have the fourth failure, my commander is initiating the Retention package. I’m already listed as code 37 so I know my PCM did what I asked.
I will provide more of the story as necessary but my questions are, how far in can the retention package go while the MEB is still pending? What kind of disability can I actually look at from the AF or VA if I get separated/retired? BTW I have 14 years active and 16.5 total. What happens to the whole thing if I do the surgery that the neurosurgeon says I need to do to quasi-fix my back? I have more questions but have totally brain dumped typing this. Any help would be much appreciated and as I stated, I will give more details to help anyone help me.
Thanks for all that everyone does and God bless
Chris