Hello everyone,
I joined this site because I recently finished dealing with the VA and was given a 90% disability rating for about 9 different issues which I will outline what caused it below.
Back story:
I was working as an active duty member in the Air Force as a Power Production Journeyman. On May 1st, 2008 I went to run one of our generators at the base BX when I found that it was broken. Per shop guidelines I had to replace the generator with one of our back ups so I went on to get everything set up for a gennie switch out. My shop was poorly equipped, with only allen wrenches to remove the lugs from inside the electrical panel which hooked the bldg up to the gen. When I got back to the electrical room I began undoing the lugs and lead wires after I did everything I knew to do to ensure the panel was de-energized. Unknown to me at the time, the panel was miswired and there was voltage going to the bottom portion of the panel where voltage was not supposed to be. As I was undoing the ground wire my wrench slipped and hit a live lug causing an arc flash, sending 480V of electricity through my body, leaving me with 1st-3rd degree burns. A month in the hospital and a year in and out of a burn rehab center left my hands and forearms scarred, me with PTSD, neuropathy of both of my hands (feeling loss), strength loss and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head.
Sadly, the month prior to all of this I had re-enlisted for another 6 years since I had planned on being a lifer. Months of fighting with Air Force personnel and dealing with facing returning to work, the Air Force told me I could not train out of my job and I was forced to Palace Chase (go from active to traditional guard) in order to get out of a job I feared could cost me my life and fulfill my contract. I went into a new career field thinking that I would be free from dealing with electrical components. Of course the ANG did a rework of my new career field where I will be put into a position where I will have to work with electrical components again, which honestly scares me and leaves me feeling anxious and worried.
Add to that, my VA disability compensation far outweighs my weekend E-4 pay as does the benefits that go with that. This coupled with my new fear and some issues that I have going on at home that leaves it hard for me to go to drill on the weekends, I desperately want to end my time in which is nearing 7 years.
So question #1: How do I go about getting medically evaluated to show that I no longer am able to carry on my duties and #2 do I qualify for medical retirement since I was injured while on active duty?
Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.
I joined this site because I recently finished dealing with the VA and was given a 90% disability rating for about 9 different issues which I will outline what caused it below.
Back story:
I was working as an active duty member in the Air Force as a Power Production Journeyman. On May 1st, 2008 I went to run one of our generators at the base BX when I found that it was broken. Per shop guidelines I had to replace the generator with one of our back ups so I went on to get everything set up for a gennie switch out. My shop was poorly equipped, with only allen wrenches to remove the lugs from inside the electrical panel which hooked the bldg up to the gen. When I got back to the electrical room I began undoing the lugs and lead wires after I did everything I knew to do to ensure the panel was de-energized. Unknown to me at the time, the panel was miswired and there was voltage going to the bottom portion of the panel where voltage was not supposed to be. As I was undoing the ground wire my wrench slipped and hit a live lug causing an arc flash, sending 480V of electricity through my body, leaving me with 1st-3rd degree burns. A month in the hospital and a year in and out of a burn rehab center left my hands and forearms scarred, me with PTSD, neuropathy of both of my hands (feeling loss), strength loss and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head.
Sadly, the month prior to all of this I had re-enlisted for another 6 years since I had planned on being a lifer. Months of fighting with Air Force personnel and dealing with facing returning to work, the Air Force told me I could not train out of my job and I was forced to Palace Chase (go from active to traditional guard) in order to get out of a job I feared could cost me my life and fulfill my contract. I went into a new career field thinking that I would be free from dealing with electrical components. Of course the ANG did a rework of my new career field where I will be put into a position where I will have to work with electrical components again, which honestly scares me and leaves me feeling anxious and worried.
Add to that, my VA disability compensation far outweighs my weekend E-4 pay as does the benefits that go with that. This coupled with my new fear and some issues that I have going on at home that leaves it hard for me to go to drill on the weekends, I desperately want to end my time in which is nearing 7 years.
So question #1: How do I go about getting medically evaluated to show that I no longer am able to carry on my duties and #2 do I qualify for medical retirement since I was injured while on active duty?
Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.