Had my first interaction with my PEBLO. Yesterday received my ODC brief and the individual stated something i didn't agree with. Currently I'm being MEB for PTSD/Anxiety at 17.5 AGR and 24 sat years. I was told by my wing I would receive my AGR retirement since I'm being medically retired. The paralegal said i wouldn't get my check until 60. Can someone clarify this for me? I feel I am getting bad information.
MEB Question
- Thread starter LoneStar
- Start date
What is your Service?
How much Chapter 1405 time do you have in addition to your 17.5 years of Active Federal Service (AFS)?
As you probably know, for non-disability, you get Regular Retirement after doing 20 years AFS (retired pay immediately), and less than that you get your RC Non-Regular Retirement (retired pay at age 60 unless you have AD time that qualifies for a reduction - max it can be reduced is to age 50 I believe).
So the para-legal is not necessarily wrong. But it is more complicated.
With military disability, they allow you to add your Chapter 1405 time to your AFS time (the time at retirement- after the whole process) to get the 20 years. Hence the importance of knowing your Chapter 1405 time....to see how close you are to 20 years with that added in...considering the whole MEDBOARD process could easily take over a year and add to your AFS.
You really want to have it over 20 years (AFS + Chapter 1405 time) when the process is all said and done. The obvious is getting the retired pay immediately vice waiting. Second is you would NOT qualify for getting CRDP if granted a disability retirement with less than that 20 years...so you wouldn't get both checks (though there is CRSC that you may qualify for that could help and I think once you reach the age for non-regular you would then get CRDP...regardless, still not an optimal outcome). Third, having over 20 guarantees disability retirement regardless of DOD% (so no worry about Disability severance pay if 10% or 20%...lump sum check) (though I am not sure how those rules work with the fact that you already have earned non-regular retirement. Others can chime in on that).
I know in the Army, the regulation guarantees Secretarial Review for cases Over 18 years AFS (which you should hit) and Less than 20 Years AFS. Basically the SECArmy can decide to retain you on Active Duty and then grant your disability retirement when you hit 20 years AFS.
Not sure what the other services do, so hence why asking.
So there is more to this whole story than the quick answer you probably got from that para-legal....
How much Chapter 1405 time do you have in addition to your 17.5 years of Active Federal Service (AFS)?
As you probably know, for non-disability, you get Regular Retirement after doing 20 years AFS (retired pay immediately), and less than that you get your RC Non-Regular Retirement (retired pay at age 60 unless you have AD time that qualifies for a reduction - max it can be reduced is to age 50 I believe).
So the para-legal is not necessarily wrong. But it is more complicated.
With military disability, they allow you to add your Chapter 1405 time to your AFS time (the time at retirement- after the whole process) to get the 20 years. Hence the importance of knowing your Chapter 1405 time....to see how close you are to 20 years with that added in...considering the whole MEDBOARD process could easily take over a year and add to your AFS.
You really want to have it over 20 years (AFS + Chapter 1405 time) when the process is all said and done. The obvious is getting the retired pay immediately vice waiting. Second is you would NOT qualify for getting CRDP if granted a disability retirement with less than that 20 years...so you wouldn't get both checks (though there is CRSC that you may qualify for that could help and I think once you reach the age for non-regular you would then get CRDP...regardless, still not an optimal outcome). Third, having over 20 guarantees disability retirement regardless of DOD% (so no worry about Disability severance pay if 10% or 20%...lump sum check) (though I am not sure how those rules work with the fact that you already have earned non-regular retirement. Others can chime in on that).
I know in the Army, the regulation guarantees Secretarial Review for cases Over 18 years AFS (which you should hit) and Less than 20 Years AFS. Basically the SECArmy can decide to retain you on Active Duty and then grant your disability retirement when you hit 20 years AFS.
Not sure what the other services do, so hence why asking.
So there is more to this whole story than the quick answer you probably got from that para-legal....
Look into see if you qualify for CRSC. When you get chapter 61 retired any VA compensation received will offset that retirement. if your VA compensation is higher than your chapter 61 pension then all you get is Tricare and VA compensation. That is where CRSC comes in. CRSC helps you claw back tax free money up to the amount of the value of your pension which for you is a lot since you are 17.5 AFS. My wife was in the same spot. O4 AGR with 17AFS. Your 20 year letter is less helpful when medically retiring because you can't access until you reach the age for non regular retirement which is 60 or less if reduced by qualified deployments. Since you are medically retiring it gets even worse. You won't be put in gray are retirement so the pay tables with be todays pay tables that you are paid off of instead of the ones at non regular retirement.
Now your situation gets even trickier. Your conditions typically are put on TDRL and not PDRL meaning you have to make sure to seek treatment via VA and do it regularly and make sure you keep meds the same etc. If you get evaluated and later put on lower % PDRL then it possible to be kicked out with no immediate retirement after off of TDRL. That's because if lower than 30% DOD then you have to decline severance and only collect VA compensation until you reach the age for non regular retirement. The only + if that happens is that in that exact scenario you would be put on the retired awaiting pay and get paid your non regular retirement at pay tables at age 60 instead of now. The reason you have to decline severance is because if you accept you forfeit your Reserve/NG pension (Non Regular Retirement).
I highly recommend hiring a private dedicate IDES attorney. That is what my wife did. You have too much to lose to risk it to chance and magically doing all the right decisions with limited guidance from JAG. I will send you reference via direct message.
Just sent you some options for private representation if you want to hire a dedicated attorney instead of using JAG. Sorry for the delay, sent info to the wrong person earlier.