Hello to all, let me introduce my self, I'm Jeremy, have 13 years AD,I'm currently med boarding, just received my ratings from the Army and the VA. The army found one unfit, which was PTSD at 50%. The Va had me at proposed 90%. They are several conditions that was found 0%. I guess what I'm asking is should I request a rating review in order to try to get up to 100%? I'm really not in a rush to be discharged, does anyone have experience with a rating review? Any in put would be appreciated, thank you in advance
Welcome to the PEB Forum!
In addition to
@Naughim's and
@gsfowler's feedback, upon your placement onto the DoD military TDRL for PTSD (my assumption; is that correct?) then I would tend to agree that completion of an increase to a VA rating percentage by the DoVA rating agency is a lot shorter in time duration versus the completion of a VA Form 21-0958 - Notice of Disagreement (NOD). Per the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), NODs are averaging about 291 calendar days for completion.
As such, upon receipt of your DoVA official rating decision documentation, your one-year response requirement to officially disagree with any DoVA official rating(s) shall start as of the date on the VA notification/decision letter in order to annotate the specific issues of disagreement via the DoVA NOD appeal.
Initially, at the very least via eBenefits, you could submit a DoVA claim for an increased benefit evaluation for any/all of the VA 0% ratings and/or any other VA rated disabilities if the symptomology of those medical disabilities are met in accordance with the criteria as annotated in the 38 CFR VASRD.
To that extent, under the eBenefits Disability Compensation module, you can complete an application for disability compensation benefits. While navigating thru the aforementioned application, complete each section with applicable information:
- When you reach the Disability Records section's "Disability Claims" module on "Your Disabilities" page, it shall show all of your military service-connected disabilities. At this point, you can submit a Request Increase for any of your VA rated disabilities in order to file a claim for an increased benefit evaluation.
- When you reach the Supporting Documents section's "Documents to Upload" page, you can upload your documents up to 25 MB maximum acceptable file size. To upload a file that is larger than 25 MB, split the file into separate files, then upload all of the files.
- When you reach the Final Review & Submission section's "Evidence Certification" page, you can select the Fully Developed Claim (FDC) option. If you upload all of your supporting documents and select FDC, then your DoVA claim shall be processed faster while giving the VA permission to process your claim without waiting for additional evidence. If you mail or fax additional documents after submission, or if you request that the DoVA obtain records, your claim will be processed as a standard DoVA claim, even if you indicate that it is fully developed.
Secondly, it's of the utmost
importance to closely monitor the tracking of the calendar time during the DoVA rating agency's processing of your FDC or defaulted to be processed as a standard DoVA claim (if warranted). Why? Because, you absolutely
don't want to miss your opportunity to submit a DoVA NOD appeal via the VA Form 21-0958 for any military service-connected disabilities
if the FDC or standard DoVA claim (if applicable) doesn't
successfully increase your DoVA disability official ratings.
By the way, you could also submit an Individual Unemployability (e.g., TDIU) request within the same DoVA claim (as mentioned above) via eBenefits if that's applicable to your personal desires. Take care!
Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer!"
Best Wishes!