Hello PEB Community members,
I'm in a really weird position and have been stonewalled everywhere I go. I don't believe this has been done on purpose. I believe this is more due to my unicorn of a situation.
First off, I'd like to start by thank you for taking the time to read my post here. I hope that the information I provide will suffice and give enough insight that you or a fellow member can shed some light in my dark times.
I'm going to omit major details as my case is open and I am feeling completely vulnerable, lost, and I don't want to give away my identity online.
I was recently I-RILO'd for debilitating chronic pain in my right groin, hip, and the nerve that connects from the hip and runs down to the knee. I can't sit nor stand for long periods of time. I can't bend, crawl, stretch, reach, twist, jump, kneel, basically can't human. I've been dealing with this for over 5 months post-surgery for a labrum repair in the hip along with a femoral head resurfacing all done arthroscopically. Pain has been god damn unimaginably brutal to where I've been fighting an uphill battle since the onset post-surgery. Pain management can't fix me, physical therapy has been unable to help manage pain but has helped some in range of motion, however, the biggest credit goes out to cupping and cold tooling for helping desensitize the heavy contact points on my right side to where wearing clothes is bothersome but not longer excoriating to where I'd rather be naked or dead.
What's really got me messed up is that I was supposed to recovery within a couple months and fairly pain free. And on top of that, I'm a new military member whose approaching his 2yr mark 2 weeks. I feel absolutely angry, confused, depressed, anxious, lost, and helpless. I have talked to my shirt in order to see if I could find out where they think my I-RILO will lead and given the issues I am having and work limitations along with the simple fact I can't perform my job even if i wanted to and I agree with the notion of being unfit for duty; there's a high likelihood that they're going to push for a MEB and I reluctantly agree. I would have loved to xtrain and be in a different job where my limitations don't keep me from helping protect and serve our country, but I guess I f84ked it up for myself and can't keep up my valor.
Anyway, personal feelings aside I want to ask hard to ask questions because I still haven't fully accepted anything MEB related as it still hasn't come down as final, yet...
Here we go...
In regards to being medically separated, I don't believe this will be the case given the circumstances of my limitations and potential ratings but it doesn't mean it can't happen. However, I understand separation is for those with a rating of <30%. But when it comes to being medically retired, that's for those with a rating greater and/or equal to 30%. I spoke to my shirt about this and I tried to figure out how that works as I don't understand medical retirement from the military as a 2yr A1C. (Joined right out the gate as an A1C due to college credits). I am part of the Blended Retirement System and contribute to both roth and tradition IRAs in the TSP. I can't see how I can qualify for medical retirement or how to calculate any estimates in that regard. If someone could please link me some sources as I've used google/bing/youtube/afportal and leadership for guidance and as I said before, been stonewalled. Perhaps I'm not asking the right questions but this is unknown-unknown territory for me. I don't have a network of veterans who know how any of this works and it seems to be a common theme in my direct line of individuals.
Along with that, what types of questions, red flags, should I look out for as to ask and to avoid? Who should I be wary of if there is anyone? I've been working closely with a couple Majors in Medical on base throughout my entire nightmare of injury to surgery to 'recovery'. I'm terribly scared of being medboarded due to this because it's not at all how I thought my career would go. I absolutely love being part of the effort to protect our nation 24/7 and thrive in that sacrifice and comradery. I'm heartbroken over it and have finally sought out mental health in ways of learning to cope with the chronic pain and the challenge of never being whole again.
Again, thank you for reading my ramblings, I want to thank anyone who posts a helpful link ahead of time. I will be checking back to this post periodically to reply to questions/concerns in case it is required but I will try to keep anonymity throughout this and I hope everyone can respect that.
I'm in a really weird position and have been stonewalled everywhere I go. I don't believe this has been done on purpose. I believe this is more due to my unicorn of a situation.
First off, I'd like to start by thank you for taking the time to read my post here. I hope that the information I provide will suffice and give enough insight that you or a fellow member can shed some light in my dark times.
I'm going to omit major details as my case is open and I am feeling completely vulnerable, lost, and I don't want to give away my identity online.
I was recently I-RILO'd for debilitating chronic pain in my right groin, hip, and the nerve that connects from the hip and runs down to the knee. I can't sit nor stand for long periods of time. I can't bend, crawl, stretch, reach, twist, jump, kneel, basically can't human. I've been dealing with this for over 5 months post-surgery for a labrum repair in the hip along with a femoral head resurfacing all done arthroscopically. Pain has been god damn unimaginably brutal to where I've been fighting an uphill battle since the onset post-surgery. Pain management can't fix me, physical therapy has been unable to help manage pain but has helped some in range of motion, however, the biggest credit goes out to cupping and cold tooling for helping desensitize the heavy contact points on my right side to where wearing clothes is bothersome but not longer excoriating to where I'd rather be naked or dead.
What's really got me messed up is that I was supposed to recovery within a couple months and fairly pain free. And on top of that, I'm a new military member whose approaching his 2yr mark 2 weeks. I feel absolutely angry, confused, depressed, anxious, lost, and helpless. I have talked to my shirt in order to see if I could find out where they think my I-RILO will lead and given the issues I am having and work limitations along with the simple fact I can't perform my job even if i wanted to and I agree with the notion of being unfit for duty; there's a high likelihood that they're going to push for a MEB and I reluctantly agree. I would have loved to xtrain and be in a different job where my limitations don't keep me from helping protect and serve our country, but I guess I f84ked it up for myself and can't keep up my valor.
Anyway, personal feelings aside I want to ask hard to ask questions because I still haven't fully accepted anything MEB related as it still hasn't come down as final, yet...
Here we go...
In regards to being medically separated, I don't believe this will be the case given the circumstances of my limitations and potential ratings but it doesn't mean it can't happen. However, I understand separation is for those with a rating of <30%. But when it comes to being medically retired, that's for those with a rating greater and/or equal to 30%. I spoke to my shirt about this and I tried to figure out how that works as I don't understand medical retirement from the military as a 2yr A1C. (Joined right out the gate as an A1C due to college credits). I am part of the Blended Retirement System and contribute to both roth and tradition IRAs in the TSP. I can't see how I can qualify for medical retirement or how to calculate any estimates in that regard. If someone could please link me some sources as I've used google/bing/youtube/afportal and leadership for guidance and as I said before, been stonewalled. Perhaps I'm not asking the right questions but this is unknown-unknown territory for me. I don't have a network of veterans who know how any of this works and it seems to be a common theme in my direct line of individuals.
Along with that, what types of questions, red flags, should I look out for as to ask and to avoid? Who should I be wary of if there is anyone? I've been working closely with a couple Majors in Medical on base throughout my entire nightmare of injury to surgery to 'recovery'. I'm terribly scared of being medboarded due to this because it's not at all how I thought my career would go. I absolutely love being part of the effort to protect our nation 24/7 and thrive in that sacrifice and comradery. I'm heartbroken over it and have finally sought out mental health in ways of learning to cope with the chronic pain and the challenge of never being whole again.
Again, thank you for reading my ramblings, I want to thank anyone who posts a helpful link ahead of time. I will be checking back to this post periodically to reply to questions/concerns in case it is required but I will try to keep anonymity throughout this and I hope everyone can respect that.