Hello, first let me thank Jason and all the other people who have made this forum possible. PLease move this to a more appropriate area in the forum, if needed. Jason, I do need to speak with you in a professional capacity.
I don’t want to go into a lot of specifics because my career has been unique enough that anyone who knows me would know I’m the one who posted this. I’m not paranoid, but I am in serious “cover my a$$” mode. I’m publicly asking these question because I think there may be a lot of reserve component members dealing with all or some of my issues/questions.
I will say that I was on the homestretch of being able to retire and was trying to hold myself together to the end. My issues are all mental and are literally documented back to the day after returning from a 2003 deployment. I do have more than a year and a half to go. I have always been a Reserve Component member. More than half that time is in AD status, in one capacity or another.
I have just started (last week) into the process(nightmare) of the MEB/PEB/DES. It has been a long six years in coming. I have so many questions I don’t know where to begin.
Note: I’m giving this next info not because I’m glorifying myself or have an ego, but because it comes into play with one of my questions. I have a documented history (12 years worth) of being a “firewall 5” Airman who made rank in record time, excelled up through the ratings of his professional career, was chosen for many challenging or high profile assignments, and literally have a ½ inch stack of various attaboys and 13 letters of recommendation from general officers down through E-9’s. Now I’ve got six years worth of medical records. My medical records have gone from one inch thick for the first 15 ½ years to now 3 inches thick!!!
If anyone can answer my questions could you please cite where in the regs that info can be found. That’s the problem I’m having is forgetting where I’ve seen stuff in preparing myself for what’s to come. Bouncing between DoD, Service, and Reserve Component regs has become a nightmare, and I’m trying to organize myself.
1. When there is a conflict in regs, what takes precedence? i.e. DoD regs trump service regs? What is the hierarchy?
2. What, if anything, is the difference between “Service-Connected” and “Line of Duty”? And where can I find the service-connected info? I read it once, but now can’t find it again. I’m getting uncomfortable vibes that they may try this end play.
3. Because my meltdown started coming off a deployment, I was Title 10 at the time. Then, when I finally bottomed out, and started picking up the pieces, I was on another long-term Title 10 status. Now, I’m just a “Reservist”. They are currently talking of putting me on AD medical hold orders as this moves forward. From what I’ve been able to figure out, I think the best position to be in is if they handle me in the AD system. Do they process me as an AD member because everything happened when I was AD? And in what status are they legally bound to handle my case. It’s very confusing and I can’t figure out what status I should be in, or how they should treat me. I will say that from what I’ve read I get the impression that it would be in my best interest if they handled me like an AD member. Am I wrong?
4. Now for the reason/question I talked myself up earlier. Unlike an amputation or a documented TBI, mental issues can be very subjective. Somewhere I read that I can give supporting evidence/documents to validate my case. In this instance, over a decade worth of an extremely good career to instantly flipping a switch and starting a three year mental train wreck, with three more years of doing everything I can to fix myself and really not making any progress. I asked the question and was told it might make a difference administratively, but not medically. Is that true, and when during the process am I entitled to get that information into the records?
5. Because I’ve been “just a reservist” for awhile I’ve been seeing a civilian doc for the last 8 months. Now the military is talking about “if I go AD”(medical hold) the military psychiatrist will probably not want me seeing my civilian doctor. From a personal health point of view I don’t know if it’s in my best interest to be seeing more than one doctor at a time anyways, so that’s OK, if my civilian doctor agrees. However, from a legal point of view, I do want the civilian doctor to have access to my military doctors records, for two primary reasons: First, that civilian doctor is going to be the one who continues to help me after my military life is behind me. Second, I know that my civilian doctor is impartial and doesn’t have split loyalties, and I can rely on them to let me know if they see anything “professionally fishy”, if you know what I mean. Do I have the right to ask that my civilian doctor has access to my ongoing and newly generated military mental health records? This civilian doctor has the highest credentials in helping veterans and dealing with veterans issues. That’s why I selected them.
6. Next is the question of “stabilized”. I now have almost 2 ½ years of documented therapy behind me. Air Force, VA, and civilian. My civilian doctor says this is going to be a long-term process and throws “severe, long-term, and chronic” into their diagnosis. Now there’s talk of meds and trying other things from the military doctors. If I allow that to happen does not that now throw me into the category of, “Well, now your condition is not stable so we need to keep you on the hook for three months to see what happens before we make any decisions!” This looks like it could turn into an endless string of them continually keeping me in changing treatments and never getting to a point where they can make a “stable” determination. My civilian doc has already diagnosed this as a long-term condition that isn’t going to change any time soon, and says that continued service is causing me more harm than good.
I have many, many more questions, but these are the few that came to mind why I was typing this. Now I need to get my rear out the door to yet another doctor’s appointment. One of many over this last two weeks.
Thank you for any feedback. Again, please remember to give me citations, if you know them. I’ll most likely be posting more questions as I have time and they come to mind.
Talkstoself.
I don’t want to go into a lot of specifics because my career has been unique enough that anyone who knows me would know I’m the one who posted this. I’m not paranoid, but I am in serious “cover my a$$” mode. I’m publicly asking these question because I think there may be a lot of reserve component members dealing with all or some of my issues/questions.
I will say that I was on the homestretch of being able to retire and was trying to hold myself together to the end. My issues are all mental and are literally documented back to the day after returning from a 2003 deployment. I do have more than a year and a half to go. I have always been a Reserve Component member. More than half that time is in AD status, in one capacity or another.
I have just started (last week) into the process(nightmare) of the MEB/PEB/DES. It has been a long six years in coming. I have so many questions I don’t know where to begin.
Note: I’m giving this next info not because I’m glorifying myself or have an ego, but because it comes into play with one of my questions. I have a documented history (12 years worth) of being a “firewall 5” Airman who made rank in record time, excelled up through the ratings of his professional career, was chosen for many challenging or high profile assignments, and literally have a ½ inch stack of various attaboys and 13 letters of recommendation from general officers down through E-9’s. Now I’ve got six years worth of medical records. My medical records have gone from one inch thick for the first 15 ½ years to now 3 inches thick!!!
If anyone can answer my questions could you please cite where in the regs that info can be found. That’s the problem I’m having is forgetting where I’ve seen stuff in preparing myself for what’s to come. Bouncing between DoD, Service, and Reserve Component regs has become a nightmare, and I’m trying to organize myself.
1. When there is a conflict in regs, what takes precedence? i.e. DoD regs trump service regs? What is the hierarchy?
2. What, if anything, is the difference between “Service-Connected” and “Line of Duty”? And where can I find the service-connected info? I read it once, but now can’t find it again. I’m getting uncomfortable vibes that they may try this end play.
3. Because my meltdown started coming off a deployment, I was Title 10 at the time. Then, when I finally bottomed out, and started picking up the pieces, I was on another long-term Title 10 status. Now, I’m just a “Reservist”. They are currently talking of putting me on AD medical hold orders as this moves forward. From what I’ve been able to figure out, I think the best position to be in is if they handle me in the AD system. Do they process me as an AD member because everything happened when I was AD? And in what status are they legally bound to handle my case. It’s very confusing and I can’t figure out what status I should be in, or how they should treat me. I will say that from what I’ve read I get the impression that it would be in my best interest if they handled me like an AD member. Am I wrong?
4. Now for the reason/question I talked myself up earlier. Unlike an amputation or a documented TBI, mental issues can be very subjective. Somewhere I read that I can give supporting evidence/documents to validate my case. In this instance, over a decade worth of an extremely good career to instantly flipping a switch and starting a three year mental train wreck, with three more years of doing everything I can to fix myself and really not making any progress. I asked the question and was told it might make a difference administratively, but not medically. Is that true, and when during the process am I entitled to get that information into the records?
5. Because I’ve been “just a reservist” for awhile I’ve been seeing a civilian doc for the last 8 months. Now the military is talking about “if I go AD”(medical hold) the military psychiatrist will probably not want me seeing my civilian doctor. From a personal health point of view I don’t know if it’s in my best interest to be seeing more than one doctor at a time anyways, so that’s OK, if my civilian doctor agrees. However, from a legal point of view, I do want the civilian doctor to have access to my military doctors records, for two primary reasons: First, that civilian doctor is going to be the one who continues to help me after my military life is behind me. Second, I know that my civilian doctor is impartial and doesn’t have split loyalties, and I can rely on them to let me know if they see anything “professionally fishy”, if you know what I mean. Do I have the right to ask that my civilian doctor has access to my ongoing and newly generated military mental health records? This civilian doctor has the highest credentials in helping veterans and dealing with veterans issues. That’s why I selected them.
6. Next is the question of “stabilized”. I now have almost 2 ½ years of documented therapy behind me. Air Force, VA, and civilian. My civilian doctor says this is going to be a long-term process and throws “severe, long-term, and chronic” into their diagnosis. Now there’s talk of meds and trying other things from the military doctors. If I allow that to happen does not that now throw me into the category of, “Well, now your condition is not stable so we need to keep you on the hook for three months to see what happens before we make any decisions!” This looks like it could turn into an endless string of them continually keeping me in changing treatments and never getting to a point where they can make a “stable” determination. My civilian doc has already diagnosed this as a long-term condition that isn’t going to change any time soon, and says that continued service is causing me more harm than good.
I have many, many more questions, but these are the few that came to mind why I was typing this. Now I need to get my rear out the door to yet another doctor’s appointment. One of many over this last two weeks.
Thank you for any feedback. Again, please remember to give me citations, if you know them. I’ll most likely be posting more questions as I have time and they come to mind.
Talkstoself.