I have some questions about all of it. Should I have been to a MEB before this PEB? I've been given little to no knowledge on any of the procedures for these. I've been enlisted for just over 2 years, and to be honest I thought that a med board was the same as a PEB.
Not necessarily. But if your case is to go to a PEB, it will be accompanied by a MEB report. A medical evaluation board is normally done by the specialist at the hospital you go to for treatment. Say Bremerton Naval Hospital, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton and so on. If the MEB determines that you are limited by your injury and that there is no other course of action that will return you to duty, they may refer you to a PEB. For us Navy folks, that is in Washington D.C.
Another question is do the PEB proceedings take my own requests into considerations? With my knees the way they are I could probably last another year or 2 in the service, as long as i can be waived from running or avoid any high impact activities, but I'd rather get back into a college and get a career going as soon as possible. Will I be asked what I want? And will that affect the decision?
Your Orthopedic specialist, normally the Doctor who would be treating your condition, may ask you if you feel you can return to unlimited duty. However, you may have little to say in the matter if the Doctor believes that you cannot return to duty. Your Command will have a larger influence on a PEB when they are asked to submit a Non-medical Assessment on your behalf. Things like "does the members condition prevent him/her from doing their job", "how well does the member perform their job?", etc.
If your command says that "despite Seaman SoNso's limitations, he/she is a great asset to the command in the assignments that he/she is assigned...", then I suggest this will work in favor of keeping you in. And the opposite would be true as well.
Though the Navy and the VA tend to give lower disability percentages for the knees, I have found that they (the knees) are not to be trifled with. Take care of them because when they get real bad, the pain is unbelievable. Worse, the meds that you will need to control the pain, inflammation etc.
Good Luck.