Physical Disability Board of Review Update

I called DFAS on Monday. According to their customer service rep, DFAS received my orders on march 2nd. Then on Monday march 8th, my packet was sent to a "blue team" or review board for processing. They had 30 working days to complete the process. Im glad thing are moving along.
 
Here is a new update. Got a packet from dept of the army review boards agency St Louis. First there were 3 copies of PDRL orders at 40% dated 16 DEC 09.Next there were two copies of my updated DD 214. The 3 copies of orders rescinding my initial discharge orders from Ft Leonard wood and those orders were dated 20 JAN 10. So that is a big step forward. Now waiting on DFAS and Tricare.
 
Hey everyone,

Just a little update on my case. My packet was sent up to DC on Dec 18, I received notification of my approval for PDRL on Febuary 24th apparently the board met on February 18th or so. I got my packet and started poking around and figuring how to get orders. I followed some advice on here and called my transition point, which by the way was Fort Carson. I got the run around there as they didn't know what I was talking about. Eventually I got a rude person on the phone who basically told me I was a moron and not to call again. Well, I then called the IG to complain about the customer service from the supervisors office. Well needless to say two days and a fax of my paperwork later I had orders placing me on PDRL.
Thank you IG I see that you know how to get stuff done lmao. By the way it was my first time ever calling IG and I'm not technically in the army anymore.

Mrs. Preston emailed me my orders and they had the wrong retirement date so FT. Carson had to amend them. Anyway I finally called Ft. Leonard Wood and got a copy of all my amended and rescinded orders from the retirement lady there. I went up to Ft. Leonard Wood enrolled in DEERS and filled out my SBP paperwork, which by the way the lady said DFAS needs to initiate the pay inquiry. The best part about all of this is that Mrs. Preston said it would take 6-9 months to do all of this but I got it accomplished in less than two weeks. My DD214 was also expedited and it is finished. I have to wait on it in the mail. So anyway from February 24th to now I have medical and DFAS has thirty days to work my backpay issues. I hope this will be of some help to someone and I'll break it down now to steps involved for me.

Dec 18th packet sent to DC
Feb 18th Board met and decided case
Feb24th received packet in mail
Feb 26th After calling IG at Ft.Carson Orders are cut
Mar 1st DD214 is expedited, I have yet to receive it
Mar 3rd DEERS enrollment and Tricare enrollment completed
Mar 17 SBP sent up to DFAS
Mar 22nd DFAS initiates action on backpay/retired pay
Mar 29th called DFAS to verify action has been taken. Told that claim is in processing department and they have thirty days from the 22nd to finish it.

I hope that this can be of help to someone, and remember only YOU can be proactive when it comes to your retirement.

I would also like to thank Mrs Hill of Fort Carson IG and Mrs. Preston of PDBR along with the Mrs. Kelley of Fort Leonard Wood Retirement.
 
mrs preston of the pdbr is so full of it, and she lies, i am happy you have done the grunt work and got your retirement on, ,good luck, mrs preston, only knows how to give the run around with her memory lost self, once again bro, good luck in the new retirement
 
redlegdvldg

It's good to see that a fellow redleg is getting what he has earned.

I have a few question if you dont mind.

1. When did you get out, and what is the retire date on your ammened DD214?
2. What date are they using for backpay?

Thanks for all the info it has been very helpful.
 
Thanks redleddvdg.

Did you accept the severecnce? Did you receive any documentation on how they are going to handle that?

Sorry for all questions but thanks for taking the time.
 
I did accept the severance and no I haven't gotten any info except to say that all severance pay will be withheld from any backpay.
 
Anyone now who to contact about ako privileges as ako says you have to call HRC about being put on the ITAP-R.. What say u? I'm call tomorrow however just wanted to know if anyone else knew the inside story ok..
 
Update Tuesday 18 May 2010.

Well I will try to give a review update of my case up to now. I was originally discharged from the Army in June 2002 with a 10% rating and transferred back to the National Guard. I elected to take my reserve retirement and the Guard retired me on 31 DEC 2002. I received my retired reserve ID card and am eligible for everything except retired pay and Tricare. Both of which will start on my 60th birthday. Due to taking the reserve retirement I collect NO severance pay. I was rated 10% for each knee (20% total) and 10% for DJD in my lumbar spine (another 10%) by the VA. VA total 30%. This VA rating was effective on my date of discharge, as the VA had examined me just prior to my release from Active Duty. (Thank you President Clinton).

1. Applied to the PDBR in Texas in April of 2009.

2. Notified that my packet had been forwarded to the actual board in Washington D.C. late June 2009.

3. Board approved me on 31 July 2010 (I did no find this out till Oct 2010)

4. The Undersecretary Of The Army (Head of Army Review Boards) concurred with the PDBR on 31 AUG 2009

5. I receive a packet in the mail on 24 OCT 2009 informing me of #3 and #4 above, and telling me it may be months before the various Army agencies act.

6. Called DFAS in late NOV 2009 and they state they had opened up a case file for me pending more information from the Army.

7. January 2010 DFAS closes my case file due to lack of response from the Army.

8. Late January 2010 write my congressman to try to get the Army moving.

9. February 2010 get an email from the National Guard Bureau saying they are generating my retirement orders.

10. Late February 2010, I get my orders. WITH THE WRONG SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.

11. Late March 2010, They finally generate a correct set of retirement orders with my social security number.

12. April 2010, I call DFAS my case has been re-opened but is once again awaiting information from the Army.

13. Early April 2010 the Guard calls me again telling to contact a local RSO (Retirement Services Officer) at my nearest base to start retirement process.

14. Early April 2010 part 2. I contact the RSO at Macdill AFB in Tampa, Fl. He asks me to fax him my orders, and he actually coordinates with DFAS and gets my Tricare turned on and my DEERS entries made so I can get my new blue retired ID card etc.

15. Early May 2010, I call DFAS and they have my retired pay computed at $747. (30% of an O4 -VA of $1064 and SBP of $115 - Federal Taxes) My pay should start on 1 June (not holding my breath here yet).

Notes:
a. No news on back pay. DFAS estimates I will hear something in late June on that.

b. No news on whether DFAS will try to limit me to 6 years of back pay.

c. No ID cards. Lazy civilian RAPIDS ID clerks keep screwing me over whenever I can get time off from work to process ID cards. These people couldn't hold a job at Wal-Mart.

LESSONS LEARNED.

1. Once you get your orders hook up with your nearest Retirement Services Officer. Just Google it on the web to find the one nearest you.

2. It seems in my case the fact that all 3 conditions (Left Knee 0%, Right Knee 0%, Lower Back 10%) where in my NARSUM and where evaluated by my PEB / MEB (even though they lowballed me at 10%) it was the key to my approval. That and the fact that the VA examined me prior to discharge and rated me for the exact same 3 conditions, at 30%. There was no way the PDBR could claim the conditions got worse as the VA examined me prior to discharge. This was part of a discharge program initiated by the Clinton administration to process all VETs through the VA prior to discharge. Never heard of it before then. And I had done numerous Active Duty tours prior to June 2002.
 
Wilson,

I have never been an advocate of reporting wrong doings to the IG, however, in your case if you feel that the civilians are not doing their job or you are not being treated with fairness, you should talk to the local IG. Good luck to you and I hope that everything works out for you.

Frank,
 
Funny story. I Live in Kissimmee, Florida near Orlando. All the RAPIDS clerks at the reserve center are civilians. My wife and I called ahead, brought the documents they told me to bring, and then they told us that we forgot a document (that is why I called ahead) we waited 3 hours to find that out. We both took off work.

Well my wife is from San Fransisco. When we where on vacation there last November, I wanted to get her a Reserve Dependents ID card. These are available to dependents of reservists who are retired from the reserve and awaiting there retired pay at age 60. It allows your dependent to shop at the PX etc, but again no Tricare till you reach age 60.

There is a small USCG base in SF near her parents home. Well the 2 US Coast Guard E-4's had us in and out with her ID in like 15 minutes. My wife asked why it went so smoothly at the USCG base in San Fransisco. I told her it's the difference between military personnel and civilians. My wife was duly impressed. Semper Paratus USCG!!!!


PS: No use calling the IG, they will just hire another under qualified GS-3 at 20K a year to grumble and screw up and not know their job. I am not angry, so don't misread my tone. Just a realist. Actually they did not even know the difference between a reserve retired ID card (Pink) and a Regular retired ID card (Blue). The lady I was trying to explain it to had a rather large poster of all the ID cards behind her with a description of them. I had to point it out to her. She has been there for years, you think she would have glanced behind her chair occasionally. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP ROFLMAO!!!!
 
Funny story. I Live in Kissimmee, Florida near Orlando. All the RAPIDS clerks at the reserve center are civilians. My wife and I called ahead, brought the documents they told me to bring, and then they told us that we forgot a document (that is why I called ahead) we waited 3 hours to find that out. We both took off work.

Well my wife is from San Fransisco. When we where on vacation there last November, I wanted to get her a Reserve Dependents ID card. These are available to dependents of reservists who are retired from the reserve and awaiting there retired pay at age 60. It allows your dependent to shop at the PX etc, but again no Tricare till you reach age 60.

There is a small USCG base in SF near her parents home. Well the 2 US Coast Guard E-4's had us in and out with her ID in like 15 minutes. My wife asked why it went so smoothly at the USCG base in San Fransisco. I told her it's the difference between military personnel and civilians. My wife was duly impressed. Semper Paratus USCG!!!!


PS: No use calling the IG, they will just hire another under qualified GS-3 at 20K a year to grumble and screw up and not know their job. I am not angry, so don't misread my tone. Just a realist. Actually they did not even know the difference between a reserve retired ID card (Pink) and a Regular retired ID card (Blue). The lady I was trying to explain it to had a rather large poster of all the ID cards behind her with a description of them. I had to point it out to her. She has been there for years, you think she would have glanced behind her chair occasionally. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP ROFLMAO!!!!


Coasties do it best!!!
 
My retired pay started this month (June 2010) I saw my first deposit hit the bank.

QUESTION: Does anyone know who you talk to about back pay? I know it is DFAS Indianapolis (I think it is anyway) but no one at DFAS Cleveland knows or can check on any status to make sure that it is in the works. They assure me it is, but even they admit they can't really tell. My case is weird and so far no assurance I have received to date about anything to do with the whole PDBR process have proved 100% correct.
 
just like you bro, the first payment i recieve from dfas cleveland was also the last, no one can say if i will recieve back pay even though i was retro retired back to feb2005, right now i am hitting up the csrc people for combat pay and they csrc are giving me the round around talking bout that only some of my injuries are combat related, when i was medivac from iraq, so brother, you arte not the only one guessing, if you are recieving v.a com pensation, iam, mines is 100 unemployable, you will only see one retirement check fromdfas cleveland, so dont be so happy brother they dod and va are full of tricks.
 
Just an update on my hubby's case: finally got word in May 2010 (we filed original review Jan 2009) that he was approved; they overturned the 10% and reinstated full retirement at 30% (YAY!!). Got a letter from DFAS Cleveland yesterday that the first payment will be Sept 1. No word on back pay yet, but things are moving forward.
 
Congrats! What was his number 2009-???? It's good to hear that your husband got his retirement! Enjoy!
 
Thanks and once again congrats! Does anyone have a contact number for the Joint Adjucation Unit in DC? My package was recieved there 26 feb 10. Any info would be outstanding thanks.
 
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