I have 18 years in and injured my neck and back in 2012 on acticve duty Title 10 orders. All I was provided was a DA 2173 and didn't get an LOD. I then went back to my national guard unit. I recently injured my knee and am being referred to the MEB for my right knee. I asked if my neck and back would be reviewed as well and they are telling me that the MEB is only going to review my right knee. I should totally be medical retired as I can't do anything PT related. Any advice on what I can do to seek my medical retirement?
STATEMENT OF MEDICAL EXAMINATION AND DUTY STATUS
- Thread starter gcurry32
- Start date
18 good years? How many points?
Do you have a VA ratings for disability? If so what is the %?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Rank? Need a bit more information in order to steer you in the right direction.
Okay. So if possible try to stick it out to hit 20 years before MEB. If not possible at best you are getting tricare for free for life for you and your family. Any pension would be offset by your VA disability received so no extra compensation. If you hit 20 years then you qualify for CRDP at age 60 or slightly lower age with qualified deployment reductions. So at the very least that offset would go away when you reach the age to get a Guard retirement.
Also, if no LOD the chances of getting medically retired are almost zero. If your only LOD is knee they use the VA ratings and knee conditions rarely ever get rated 30% or higher which is need to medically retire.
Chances are you get kicked out and since you have 15+ good years you can get a 15 year letter and put into the retired reserves and be a gray area retiree. The 15 year letter does the exact same thing as a 20 year letter. However, you won't get CRDP with a 15 year letter at the time you qualify for a Guard retirement so that's why I say try to hit 20 good years. If found unfit with below 30% I would apply for COAR which is basically saying they know you are unfit and can't do your job but they will let you finish up your 20 good years and then be put in the retired reserves as a gray area retiree.
It won't be possible. They are looking sending me to the MEB review board soon. I injuries documented on when I was on active duty. I have the sick hall slips where I was seen and the DA 2173 showing the injuries took place in the line of duty. Why wouldn't the DOD look at that while they are looking at my LOD on my knee?
The NG is the one referring conditions that they believe will be unfitting. So even if you have other injuries that occured while on AD doesn't mean they qualify as unfitting. The PEB stands for Physical Evaluation Board. So basically if you wanted to try to add unfitting conditions you may want to consider talking to your assigned JAG for IDES. You are going to have to show that the other unreferred conditions prevent you from doing your job. That means current profiles etc. It's an uphill climb. Also, you may want to look at your HIGH 36 and compare to what you receive for VA compensation. Any pension you get will be offset by VA compensation. So let's say you got 60% DOD and your HIGH 3 is $4500. 60% of $4,500 = $2,700. If you are married with no kids at 90% your VA compensation is: $2,429. So if your chapter 61 pension was $2,700 at 60% then it would be offset by $2,429 which means your pay after offset is : $271 a month from chapter 61 pension + VA compensation you already receive.
So you see if you only have the knee there is no way to get higher than 60% according to VA charts and most that have knee condition get a much lower rating. The max compensation for DOD is 75%. So maybe you could eke out a bit more than the $271 a month. Later on if you get VA% up to 100% your entire pension will be offset even if you were to max out at 75% DOD since the VA compensation will be much higher than a chapter 61 pension.
I will send you some private attorneys to look at. If you are trying to ensure you get the best result you will want to work with an attorney early to ensure a proper strategy to get the best outcome. The PEB will review NCOERs, profiles, commander's impact statement, NARSUM to include any rebuttals etc. So working on these things early will ensure those items back your case to add a condition later on if you choose to request a FPEB. At the very least you can figure out the costs of a private attorney and a realistic goal since not all outcomes are likely.