NARSUM Questions

A

armymommy8701

New Member
Registered Member
To start off here is a little background to the situation. My husband has been in the Army now for 11 years. For at least half of this time he has had P2 profiles on his right knee. At this point in his career, his has had multiple issues in his ankle that have just now seen the push for him to seek out a MEB for the ankle. He has went through PT, surgery, and PT again without anything improving, and actually becomig worse. We just got his NARSUM back. He is worried that because the NARSUM only says the ankle is found as fails to meet retention standards it is not enough for the MEB to go well for his being found unfit. His commanders comment was not favorable at all. It basically stated that his duty is limited, but he felt that it was still within normal recovery period.

Basically, should we feel anixiety toward the findings? The main issue the MEB was started was found unfit for retention, but the commanders comments weren't exactly favorable.
 
The first thing to do is talk to MEB legal. The PEB looks at all the medical evidence along with the NARSUM to decide fit or unfit. Even my commander's statement was not favourable. It was checked as retain and says that I can do my MOS but my conditions puts physical limitations. The commander wrote one line only, the lawyer said that its unlikely that statement would affect the PEB's decision for me.
As we haven't seen the commander's statement its hard to say how much it will impact but the legal should be able to tell that. In the mean time start gathering evidence that support that your husband should be found unfit.
 
The commander's letter is not intended to serve as a professional medical opinion - "within the normal recovery period." The purpose of the letter is to comment on the members performance and value to the unit. I suspect the comment will be given no probative value in the decision of the IPEB.

The ankle only MEB is probably more of a concern. The failure of the knee first then ankle appear to be correlated. Please consider engaging the soldier's counsel ASAP.
 
With just the ankle being found to be medically unacceptable/fail retention standards, the likelihood is that he will not reach a 30% rating and, thus, will likely face being separated with severance pay.

You should seek out counsel as soon as possible. Likely, requesting an impartial review of the MEB and submitting a rebuttal is the preferred course of action.
 
Thank you for the advice pertaining to the NARSUM and commander. If any other information is requested in the paperwork that he has received please let me know and I'll post it.

He already was already intending to seek the advice of legal and impartial review. At this point in time for his career (occupation) and age we are already leaning towards a hopeful severance pay.
 
Severance pay is almost guaranteed if he just signs paperwork and goes along with things. As noted, the commander's medical advice is next to worthless, but his noting of limitations isn't. The commander supported an unfit finding.

He likely has a very good case for retirement. There is most likely a good reason for his knee to be bumped up to a P3, fail retention standards, and also be part of the unfit finding. Severance pay is incredibly short term, while not unbelievable that it would be a better outcome in some instances, I would urge caution in pursing it over retirement.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top