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This is a thread for legal questions/advice on anything from VA claims, PEB procedural questions, Military Justice, Why that stripper you married is entitled to 1/3 of your gross pay etc. etc. I'll start off with some of the FAQs I've seen here, and invite any other legal types to help chime in to answer additional questions as they pop up. As with any internet legal advice, advice offered here does not form an attorney client relationship, and the best legal advice you will get on any legal question is "talk to a lawyer." Also, advice given here will have an admittedly Navy/Marine slant. I will try to stay aware of different procedures in different branches, but old habits die hard. Q: There's a guy outside my base who says that the LT Kaffee character from A Few Good Men is based on him. I should hire him, right? A: No. There are right now at least 5 former JAG attorneys in various states claiming to be the inspiration for the Tom Cruise character...they are all full of crap. Q: I got Med Boarded and they are saying I am broken. What happens next? Next you will go to what's called a Physical Evaluation Board. My information on this is a little dated, as I have not done PEB representation since 2006. I understand the process is largely similar but circa 2008, there was a move to make things more "joint" because numbers showed that air force personnel were getting disproportionately high ratings and marines were getting disproportionately low ratings. HOWEVER, the informal PEB will determine whether or not you are fir for duty and what your appropriate rating should be. This is a panel comprised of a medical officer and line officers. When their decision comes back, you have the right to appeal it, at which time you will have a lawyer assigned and will be scheduled for a hearing. Edit: apologies, as stated above my info on this is a little dated. Apparently now the process is more streamlined between va and peb and the ratings are assigned by the va. This is a good change. However the gist of the appellate/hearing process seems fairly consistent. However, it seems now having 2 different decision makers would complicate this. I'd be curious to hear thoughts of anyone currently involved in the new process Q: So that's good, right? I'll get a lawyer and they will take care of it? A: No. Your lawyer will likely be a first tour JAG. You have poo poo stains in your underwear that have been around longer than this kid's law degree. Some are good. Some are terrible. You roll the dice. Also, they will not get your file until less than a month before your hearing, and they will not actually meet you face to face until likely the day before your hearing. At this point, it's probably too late to do anything, because one thing the formal board will want to see is "new evidence" of medical issues. Good luck getting to a doc within a month. Yay military medicine. Occasionally I was able to get continuances if an appointment was already scheduled, but not always. You will need to have your "new evidence" prepared ahead of time. See a private doc the moment you decide to challenge the PEB findings. Also, try to retain private counsel. Many state bars have military and veteran sections, and many of those sections offer pro bono services if you can't afford a lawyer. If you can afford one, get one. And get one early. Look at it this way...the long term benefits of being on the medically retired list vice getting a severance check and a wave goodbye will more than pay for the lawyer. Additionally, your Commander's Non-Medical assessment will be crucial, especially if you are fighting to stay in. This is a document from your CO explaining whether or not, in their opinion, you are able to continue performing your job. Be careful wit this, and make sure it actually helps your case. Example: I had a marine client who was a great adjutant. But she had a severe condition that was putting her in the hospital 2 days a week. The 3 days she went to work, she was a rockstar. The CO did not want to say anything bad about her, so he wrote a letter claiming she could still do her job, thinking he was helping her. She was found fit for duty by the informal PEB. On appeal we had him rewrite the letter explaining that while her work product was stellar, she was missing a significant amount of work. On appeal she was released from active duty and put on medical retirement where she belonged. So, again, make sure that a well-meaning CO is not hurting your case. Also, there is something called permanent limited duty. This is a gamble, because you need to concede you are not fit for full duty. If you have over 18 years in, and your unit is willing to find a place for you to ride out the last two, this is an option worth pursuing, but you will need your command's support and, again, you have to concede the finding that you are not fit. Fianlly...don't get greedy. If you got over 30% think very carefully about whether or not you want to challenge it. That's the money number and gets you onto the TDRL (temporary disabled retirement list) and then, if things don't improve, onto the permanent list. This is a good thing. You can also be downgraded on appeal. So think carefully. If it looks like you're being greedy, you won't be successful. Especially because... Q: The PEB says I am only 20% but my VA rep told me I will probably get close to 70%. WTF? The PEB is only allowed to look at conditions that affect your ability to remain on active duty. VA can look at everything. Your VA number will almost always be higher, and will never be lower than your PEB number. Don't worry. Although they use the same rating schedule for the various issues, a low PEB number will not have any impact on your VA number. The VA is looking at more conditions. The PEB number only matters for purposes of whether or not you will be medically retired. Q: My back hurts A: That's not a question...but yes, back injuries are a common cause for Med Boards. They (along with migraines) are also highly suspect because they are easy to fake, impossible to objectively diagnose, unless actually broken, and malingerers love them. Your rating will depend on your range of motion, not your amount of pain. (There are also considerations for radiating pain, but that's a different matter) Go to a private doc. Do not take pain meds the day of your appointment. Do not do yoga that morning. Make sure the test is an accurate reflection of your baseline, unmedicated, range of motion ability. Do not bullshit. Doctors will administer what are called "Waddels Tests". They will basically do things throughout the exam (more than one) that cannot possibly have any impact on your back and ask "is it worse when I do this?" It's not nice to put "this person is faking" in your medical notes...so it will say "Waddels Failure 4 out of 5" or something like that. If that appears in your record, you have been busted. Thanks for playing. Just be honest. Q: While we're talking about honesty...my grandfather had his dick shot off by the Nazis and never asked for anything. I feel guilty taking money at all. A: Don't. Faking things, making poo poo up, claiming you have PTSD because you were almost raped that time someone touched your butt at the E-Club, or that time you heard an explosion 3 miles away while you were sorting toilet paper at Victory Base, is lovely. But your VA disability check is part of your contract. It was promised to you in exchange for low pay, unpaid overtime, lovely PCS moves, etc. etc. It's a contract benefit like any other. Look at it this way: in my new job, in addition to vacation time that rolls over, I get 3 personal days a year that do not carry over to the next year with which to conduct "personal business"...just because someone needed them "more" than I did and was dealing with actual important poo poo while I spent 3 days at home in December binge watching the Walking Dead doesn't mean it wasn't part of my contract and doesn't make me a bad person for taking them. Same here. As long as you aren't trying to game the system and be a malingering douchebag (and then telling the world you are a "disabled veteran") take what was promised and don't feel guilty about it. Additionally, even if you just go for a 0% rating...as long as the condition is documented, you can get medical care if it gets worse later. So don't feel guilty. Q: OK...now that I don't feel like a shitbag, how should I make sure my VA claim is done right? I should quickfile, right? A: Your experiences may vary, but when I was getting out, they were pushing Quick filing during TAPS like roofie-laced jungle juice at a frat party. They actually told people to just bring their medical records to TAPS and "you can just do the claim right there." Think about it. This is a huge freaking deal. Do you want to squeeze something that important in between your power-point lesson on what to wear to your first job interview and the mandatory bathroom break? Quick filing, in my experience, doesn't get your money to you that all that much quicker, and doesn't get you any more money in the long run because you will be entitled to backpay anyway. But once you submit a claim...it's really hard to go back and change it if you hosed it up. Take your time. Do it right the first time. I found the best approach is to ignore the on-base poo poo, hang on to your records, and set up an appointment with your state VA rep. Personal experience with Virginia and CT, both were awesome. They have a lower caseload, more time, and are generally very helpful. Make an appointment, sit down with them, go through your record, and let them help you figure out what to claim. Then go to your appointments and DON'T TRY TO BULLSHIT. Also, keep your medical record. For the love of God...keep your record and make copies. At least 4. Hope some of this is helpful. I'll try to do additional installments for other issues as I have time, and please feel free to post legal and legalish questions here. If you are also a legalish type, please feel free to respond, but please keep the sea-lawyering to a minimum. It was always a pain in the rear end starting every new client meeting explaining why any sentence that starts with "This guy I went to boot camp with says..." is probably incorrect. Edit: goddamnit...all that TLDR and there's a typo in the subject. 
ActusRhesus fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 16:24
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Now Let's Talk About Congressional Complaints. At some point, you will be upset about something and you will go to "legal" for advice. You will meet with a legal assistance attorney who has been a lawyer for 5 minutes and hates his job because he's answering stupid questions rather than cross-examining Jack Nicholson like his recruiter promised, or some older attorney, who has been banished to legal assistance because he is incompetent and can do the least amount of damage there. They will suggest you write your congressman. They may even help you write the letter. This is JAG code for "how can I get you out of my office as fast as possible?" The dirty little secret about Congressional complaints, is that no one generally gives a gently caress. What will happen is your letter will be sent to some junior staffer, who will send out a one paragraph form letter that boils down to "Dear Commanding officer whatever your name is: My constituent is angry about [insert complaint here]. I have attached his letter. Please look into this." This letter will be received and translated by the local SJA as "it's an election year and I have to pretend I give a poo poo about people in my district so here's some bullshit. Write me a form letter in response and we can all go back to doing whatever it is we were doing." And that's what will happen. There is one exception to this...if you have an in with a member of either Appropriations or Armed Services committee members, and can get them to write a "Real" inquiry letter...it's usually enough to get people to back off and leave you alone. Those letters look more like "It has come to our attention that...blah blah blah very vague, no names mentioned, please be advised we are monitoring this situation and would like to be kept appraised of any developments." It helps if it is signed by more than one member of Congress...your entire state delegation would be excellent...and will make your SJA crap themselves. Please note, though...that this is the nuclear option. After sending one of these, it's time to get out. But sometimes, it's worth it. Especially if it's clear you were going to have to get out anyway. Still, it's a good option to get people to back off until it's time to go...but only if you can get the real "scary" congressional. If it's going to be the "I have to pretend I care" letter, don't waste your time. ActusRhesus fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 16:57
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And one more before going back to pretending I'm employed. This one is quite common. Q: I'm getting divorced. Why is my ex getting my pension? We've only been married five minutes and I'm not even retired yet? A: The Uniform Former Spouse's Protection Act (UFSPA) treats pensions as "marital property." This was done to protect the 20 year spouse who gave up her career to go from duty station to duty station, and then got traded in for a 19 year old Pilipino hooker on the day of retirement. However, well-intended as the law may have been, it's now the number one way your spouse will try to screw you in your divorce. Luckily most family court judges are becoming savvy to that and rather than just giving out half of the pension, are doing some pro-rated advanced calculus. The most favorable calculation you can argue for is this: 50% of (the years of marriage divided by the years of military service) whatever a pension would be worth for the rank of the service member at the time of divorce. So, for example, lets say you are an E-2 who marries a stripper in Guam, wises up, divorces after 2 years, picks up a commissioning program and retires as an O-4 after 20 years. Rather than getting 50% (the marital property share) of an O-4 pension the ex spouse would get 5% of an E-2 pension. (50% * (2 years of marriage/20 years of service)). If your pension is a matter of principle (And for a lot of people it is)and you are able to get an uncontested divorce, you can also negotiate a waiver of the ex spouse's UFSPA rights in exchange for something else. For example, I was able to get a lot of separation agreement/divorce decrees to include a waiver of UFSPA in exchange for the service member funding 100% of the kid's college fund (in trust of course) or other provisions. The service member had no problem giving money to his kid...but the pension was a matter of principle, so negotiations were made. (the college one is a good start b/c refusing that offer, especially if the kids are old enough to understand that one parent was willing to stick them with student loan debt just to win a pissing contest with their ex) However, the spouse has to agree to waive it, as it is, unfortunately, a federally recognized law. Also, this applies to retirement pension only...NOT disability pay. So if you wanted to be really cheeky...you could get out at 18 years and just collect your VA check. Though I don't recommend that. ActusRhesus fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 18:05
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Awesome thread. Thanks!
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Oct 10, 2014 18:23
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thanks...a lot of military legal questions are pretty easy so hopefully this gives people decent information without having to stand outside legal assistance walk-in hours all day waiting to see someone who graduated law school five minutes ago who will just go onto google. (Seriously...that was 90% of what we did. "Oh...you can't see my screen? Well let me consult this very complicated electronic legal resource database...) The problem is, there are things that are black and white googleable law (your spouse gets part of your retirement pay) and things you learn from experience (unless we can persuade her to waive her right to it with a sufficiently juicy carrot...) Legal assistance JAGs are usually well meaning but very green and they are really limited as to what they can do. There used to be a great program called ELAP in the Navy (Extended Legal Assistance Program) where sailors E-4 and below could have a JAG appear in court with them for free on non-criminal matters on a pro hac vice basis (was a huge benefit for lemon law or landlord-tenant lawsuits), but they got rid of it for reasons not entirely clear. It would seem that helping the lower income sailors with real legal issues would be a much better and more rewarding use of a young lawyer's time than drafting wills for retired Admirals working at the SES level who are too cheap to hire an estate planner, or advising dependapotomoses how to screw over their active duty spouse. That one always peeved me the most...so let me get this straight...I have to advise this person who was off banging Jodi the whole time their spouse was deployed and now...because my office has seen them, we have to send the service member out into town to go hire a lawyer because of conflict of interest? crappy. And it's not like the ex-wives club doesn't know all this...we had a few that would go to appointments at every legal assistance office in a 50 mile radius, all service branches, with the same exact question, just to make sure the active duty spouse had nowhere to go. Really f'd up.
ActusRhesus fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 18:46
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Mr. Nice! posted:Awesome thread. Thanks! Sticky please.
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Oct 10, 2014 18:48
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does anyone know if this 'bitch' (female, not trying to be offensive) is hot?
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Oct 11, 2014 03:47
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anne frank fanfic posted:does anyone know if this 'bitch' (female, not trying to be offensive) is hot? She hasn't posted her tits yet, so she is probably a horrible monster.
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Oct 11, 2014 03:49
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zombie303 posted:She hasn't posted her tits yet, so she is probably a horrible monster. Beyond horrible. Truly revolting. Men laugh, children cry, and small dogs run from the sight of me.
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Oct 11, 2014 12:24
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Good enough place as any to park my advice on the MEB process, from someone who oversaw a ton of that poo poo, went through that poo poo, and came out on both ends (DoD and VA) happy on the first go around from Active Duty. I got hit around 10 years of active service, too. So I had seen the system from the first dude I helped bounce in the dark days of 04 all the way to me in 2013. loving MEBs and PEBs have changed a lot. I remember dudes getting rubber stamped and paid for a long time. The second budgets tightened? Wooooooboy. Wow. We kicked that one kid out of BMT when he developed AML and were like "lol no chemo for you sport, but don't worry they'll name a legal doctrine after you some day Mr. Airman 4th Class Eddie Slovak Ferres Jr." The DoD does sometime match the VA rating though. You've gotta be pretty deep into officer rank territory for it to ever make sense to take the DoD money instead of the VA money at that point. Reason? DoD is capped at 70% Of your high three for retirement pay purposes. And your rear end pays taxes on your DoD pension, whereas disability is tax free. There have only been 2 posters I know of here who might benefit from taking DoD pension over VA Disability payments for pay purposes. And it's none of you loving idiots. So take the VA money, and put it ALL in the TSP G fund to save up for that mustang.
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Oct 11, 2014 14:43
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zombie303 posted:Sticky please. Done. Next time just shoot me a PM if you post something you think should be stuck 
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Oct 11, 2014 15:31
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The Thread title says "you" instead of "your" and it is bugging the poo poo out of me.
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Oct 11, 2014 17:45
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zombie303 posted:The Thread title says "you" instead of "your" and it is bugging the poo poo out of me. He right.
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Oct 11, 2014 17:51
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This is timely. ActusRhesus, I just got a call from my PEBLO yesterday, told me that my ratings came back and that I got rated 100% army, 100% VA. I'm supposed to go in there Tuesday and check that poo poo out with the PEBLO. Seeing as how I hit the retard jackpot, should I even bother having JAG look over it or just sign that bitch and proceed to get the gently caress out as quickly as I possibly can? Anything that I should be looking for when I'm in there?
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Oct 11, 2014 18:08
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not caring here posted:This is timely. ActusRhesus, I just got a call from my PEBLO yesterday, told me that my ratings came back and that I got rated 100% army, 100% VA. I'm supposed to go in there Tuesday and check that poo poo out with the PEBLO. Seeing as how I hit the retard jackpot, should I even bother having JAG look over it or just sign that bitch and proceed to get the gently caress out as quickly as I possibly can? Anything that I should be looking for when I'm in there? Take it. Probably. If they are giving you a 100% rating on both ends I'd just point out that 100% TDRL is still TDRL. 100% chance they drop it on you later. If they're willing to own up to you bring 100% and combat related right now, demand PDRL if your willing to fight. It's what I did. It took time but I was fairly treated, if slowly. Also, you'll want to see if the 100% rating from the VA is one of the following: Permanent and Total Based on total disability (Multi disabilities) Based on total disability (Single disability) Employability From best to worst those are differences in 100% ratings. Also, find out whether the disability was determined to be combat related. If it happened in combat it's combat related. Make sure they note that. Permanent and Total is an important distinction in some places. Where I live being rated 100% P&T versus any other category means your saving ~10-12k in property taxes each year here. Plus other stuff. Same thing goes for combat related designation of your disability. Copies of your CAB or any other decs is usually all you need to make sure that's clear, but make sure what you sign reflects it, as it's much harder to fix the mistake later.
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Oct 11, 2014 18:37
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That's looks like a pro post right there. I'll definitely be on the look out for that. Combat related, and permanent and total as opposed to temporary. Thanks for that.
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Oct 11, 2014 19:38
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Obama Africanus posted:
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Oct 11, 2014 19:48
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I fix. When I get to computer.
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Oct 11, 2014 19:50
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not caring here posted:That's looks like a pro post right there. I'll definitely be on the look out for that. Combat related, and permanent and total as opposed to temporary. Yeah. I was 100% DoD and VA by my IPEB, but it was TDRL for the DoD, and Permanent and Total by the VA. At my 1 year TDRL re-exam the neurologists were like "lol" and I'm now on PDRL. Oh and crazy but crazy is temporary, you can somewhat medicate crazy.
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Oct 11, 2014 20:41
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zombie303 posted:The Thread title says "you" instead of "your" and it is bugging the poo poo out of me. It is bugging the poo poo out of me also. Unless I am missing something, it doesn't look like subjects are editable.
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Oct 11, 2014 22:54
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ActusRhesus posted:It is bugging the poo poo out of me also. Unless I am missing something, it doesn't look like subjects are editable. When N4I gets home from the swim club, he will fix it.
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Oct 11, 2014 22:55
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Obama Africanus posted:Take it. Probably. ^This. If you are getting 100 from both sources, there's not much to appeal/review. However, as noted by Obama Africanus, make sure that they correctly note whether or not it's combat related, as that has huge tax implications down the road. Also, two quick notes on some of the above comments: PEB will almost ALWAYS put you on TDRL first, and it does not necessarily mean you will be reduced later. However, the regs say TDRL first. I had an amputee client put on TDRL. I suppose it was possible he was part starfish and would grow his leg back (???) however, at the end of the TDRL period low and behold, he was still missing a leg, he was put on PDRL where he belonged, no reduction, and all was well with the world. When you are put on TDRL, unless it's something that will obviously not improve (e.g. missing leg), make sure you continue to see physicians regarding your condition and make sure you keep records that way you have a paper trail that the condition indeed has not improved. This is especially important if it's mental health related. Too many times someone gets treatment...gets put on medication, never sees a doc again because the medication is working and "oh hey, look! You're all better now!" Only to end up with a relapse later on. Nature of the beast with mental health stuff. you think you're fixed because the meds or therapy is doing it's job...so you go off the meds/stop therapy and you're back to square one. Keep seeing the doc. Even if it's just to sit down and say "yep, I think this treatment plan is working well for me but I don't think I would be well without this medication/therapy plan/whatever." Keep the paper trail running. DoD rating matching VA? Possible...if the same condition that's making you service ineligible is the only thing wrong with you. Because both systems use the VASRD schedule and both interpret it fairly consistently (though VA is a lot more generous on mental health) that's entirely possible...but it's unlikely, as usually there are other minor ouchies that the VA can look at that weren't part of the PEB evaluation. Edit: it's been pointed out to me that the peb percentage is now also determined by the va. This is a huge improvement. However, bear in mind your peb number will still only reflect conditions that make you service ineligible As for when to take the retirement pay over the VA pay... I'm hesitant to agree with a blanket "always take the VA check" statement. That's true in many cases, but there are other variables that go into it (you can also waive only *part* of your retired pay). Things like divorce decrees, whether or not you qualify for dual compensation, whether you fall under any dual employment regs, whether you are combat related etc. etc. can make a big difference, and I don't want to muddy the waters with an "if this then that" wire diagram...so I'll just say if you find yourself in the medically retired category, it's probably worth the money to talk to an estate planner before deciding whether or not to waive anything in order to maximize your income while reducing your tax liability...but if you have specific questions with specific numbers, I can try to answer those. And again, check your local bar. They often have military and veteran's law sections that are willing to help on this sort of thing for no or low cost. ActusRhesus fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 11, 2014 23:08
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Landlords and why they suck Got asked this question for the second time this month, so probably worth putting here: (Caveat...this applies to US leases only. Overseas plays by a whole different set of rules) Q: My buddies and I rented a house together and one of them got orders. Now my landlord says we owe for his share. wtf? A: Your friend, though I'm sure he didn't mean it, is a bit of a blue falcon here. What likely happened is you signed a lease in which you were jointly and severally liable for the rent. What that means is that you are all liable together...and if one of you (or all but one of you) are able to break the lease, the rest of you are still on the hook. Your buddy most likely invoked the Servicemember's Civil Relief Act which, among other provisions, allows you to break a lease if you receive orders out of the area for more than 90 days. Great for him...lovely for you. Q: How can I avoid this? A: Generally near base you will have three types of landlords: (1) other servicemembers who bought a house and need someone to squat in it until their PCS is over; (2) retirees or others with favorable to neutral feelings about the military; (3) asswipes who know you have limited bargaining power and will likely be too far away when your lease is up to do anything if they screw you over and anyway you don't have the time to sue (or the desire to be the command problem child). see also: slum lords. There are pros and cons to each of these. If you're looking to max out your in-pocket share of your BAH, option three may have some advantages in the short term, but really you are better off renting from 1 or 2. 1 in particular. Generally more understanding...less likely to hold your feet to the fire if you have to back out of the lease early (so long as you help mitigate the damages by helping them find a new tenant) etc. etc. They also have an interest in not being "that guy screwing over another servicemember". You can also, if you plan on having roommates, ask for separate leases. 4 of you each owe 1/4 of the total rent and "rent" a specific room (or portion of a room). The positive here is that if one of you splits, your rent stays the same. The negative is the landlord can replace them with someone you might not want to live with. Probably the best thing you can do is negotiate a term wherein you, with 30 days notice, can break the lease. Professional landlords will probably not go for this (unless it's a month to month lease, in which case they can do the same thing) but other servicemembers may agree to this if you are candid with them and make clear you only plan to execute that option if one of you has to leave the area. OK, great for next time...but I'm being hosed now. A few things you can do here...most of them painful. If your friend is deploying, they may be willing to keep up their share of the rent until you can find a new roommate. Especially as deployments generally do not have much in the way of living expenses. This is the "good friend" thing to do...but there is no legal obligation. Or you can eat higher rent while waiting to find a new roommate. If you are financially unable to do so, organizations like Navy Marine Corps relief society may be able to help with zero interest loans until the new roommate is found. You can also ask your landlord about breaking your lease...they may surprise you and agree...especially if you were locked into a long term lease, are in a high demand area, and the landlord thinks they can increase the rent for a new tenant. They may, however, keep you on the hook until the new tenant is found. A last resort is to simply break the lease. This is a dice roll...they may decide you are not worth the trouble, find a new tenant, and move on (but you won't get your deposit back.) Or they can sue you. Most likely in small claims court. If this happens, depending on your state, they probably have a duty to mitigate their damages, so they will have to try to find a new tenant...if a new tenant is found, you are only responsible for the empty months. If they don't try to mitigate, it's up to the judge how much their laziness is worth. However, odds are, you will be found liable for at least something, going to court is a huge pain in the dick, and an adverse judgment will poo poo on your credit rating. Finally, there's just the option of taking a 90 day TAD if available. One thing you absolutely should not do is have a friend in your admin shop, or a sympathetic chain of command issue you 90 day TAD orders or a letter on command letterhead stating you will be receiving orders imminently, orders which...for some odd and unexplainable reason...are cancelled 2 days after you've moved out. This would, strictly speaking, be fraud. I would never advise someone to commit fraud... On a related note, SCRA protects dependents in this situation, but not girlfriends/boyfriends/fiances/etc. Best thing to do if you are not married is not put them on the lease. that way they don't get stuck if you get orders.
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Oct 12, 2014 00:03
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zombie303 posted:When N4I gets home from getting drunk , he will fix it. FTFY
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Oct 12, 2014 01:24
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A note about the PEB stuff and being combat related. It is called Combat Related Special Compensation or CRSC and combat related doesn't necessarily mean what most people think it means. As per the regulation: quote:Disabilities that may be considered combat related include injuries incurred as a direct result of: What that means is if your disabilities is a result of some jackass flipping a hmmwv during a training exercise stateside, you most likely qualify for CRSC. You can find some more info on this from these places: http://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/disability/crsc.html https://www.hrc.army.mil/TAGD/Combat%20Related%20Definitions IDR posted:PEB will almost ALWAYS put you on TDRL first, and it does not necessarily mean you will be reduced later. However, the regs say TDRL first. Both of these statements are wrong. There is no requirement or regulation that says you be put on TDRL before going to PDRL. You will be put on TDRL if your physicians and the PEB believe that your condition isn't stable. That means if they think there will be any significant change in your condition for the better or the worse in the next few years they will want you on TDRL. The reason why you don't want to be on TDRL is that you will be required to be reevaluated every 6-18 months for the next 5 years or until your condition has stabilized. After you have stabilized if you are still hosed up they will give you a permanent rating based on your current condition and if your not too hosed up they can bring you back in the service to finish up your enlistment where you left off. PDRL gives you the peace of mind that your income won't be going down suddenly after a doctor's visit and that you won't get dragged back in. As far as the DoD rating matching the VA, the current process only has the VA rating your disabilities. The PEB no longer has any say in what percentage you get. The PEB will decide whether or not each condition renders you unfit for duty and will determine your DoD rating based on what rating the VA gives for each of your conditions that the PEB decided made you unfit for duty.
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Oct 12, 2014 04:24
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Ok, long one here regarding PEB and whatnot. I am rated by the VA 100% P&T all resulting from combat/combat training with 13 years in (3 Active, the rest Guard, with 3 Iraq Deployments). No one has told me what to expect from any of this- let me rephrase that, I am getting tons of conflicting reports. I have been told at various times that I will get a pension, a severance, that I will get special pension that allows me to draw both DoD and VA, and assorted other typical Army bullshit. Is there a typical dispensation with someone in my situation?
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Oct 12, 2014 04:49
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What the gently caress does any of this poo poo mean. Mods please put disclaimer for fat fucks only, since youre talking in fatbody shimsham speak to a bunch of malingering females, fats, and fuckers
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Oct 12, 2014 05:25
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Delizin posted:There is no requirement or regulation that says you be put on TDRL before going to PDRL. You will be put on TDRL if your physicians and the PEB believe that your condition isn't stable. That means if they think there will be any significant change in your condition for the better or the worse in the next few years they will want you on TDRL. The reason why you don't want to be on TDRL is that you will be required to be reevaluated every 6-18 months for the next 5 years or until your condition has stabilized. After you have stabilized if you are still hosed up they will give you a permanent rating based on your current condition and if your not too hosed up they can bring you back in the service to finish up your enlistment where you left off. PDRL gives you the peace of mind that your income won't be going down suddenly after a doctor's visit and that you won't get dragged back in. DoD Inst 1332.18. A Service member will be placed on the TDRL when the member meets the requirements for permanent disability retirement except that the disability is not determined to be stable but may be permanent. A disability will be determined stable when the preponderance of medical evidence indicates the severity of the condition will probably not change enough within the next 5 years to increase or decrease the disability rating percentage. The language I used above was inartful, however, please note I said almost always. There are very few conditions that don't meet this "could get better or worse" criteria and the boards are somewhat lazy. As there are differences between benefits at various thresholds, it's not necessarily a bad thing to be on TDRL if there's a possibility you may get worse. Still, the appointments every 18 months would be annoying. Also, if you go to a private doc, make sure they are familiar with VA requirements. You can get your private records to count for this, but only if they meet TDRL exam requirements. quote:As far as the DoD rating matching the VA, the current process only has the VA rating your disabilities. The PEB no longer has any say in what percentage you get. The PEB will decide whether or not each condition renders you unfit for duty and will determine your DoD rating based on what rating the VA gives for each of your conditions that the PEB decided made you unfit for duty. I'm pretty sure that's not accurate. DoD directives as of 2014 still have PEB weighing in on the rating. They do still use the same schedule as the VA though (VASRD). Do you have some documentation of that change? I don't want to give bad info on here, but I am 100% positive that the rating % was always a big part of the FPEB fight. http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/133218p.pdf Edit: found it. You are correct. Thanks. I'll edit above to reflect this. As I said my info is a little dated as I have not been actively doing peb appeals for some time Good points on the combat related stuff. Yes...it is not the same criteria as a CAB/CAR/Purple Heart. ActusRhesus fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 12, 2014 12:42
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bulletsponge13 posted:Ok, long one here regarding PEB and whatnot. OK, people are crossing the streams a little bit here. you've got 100% from the VA. What is your PEB rating, if you know it? And can I assume you are being medically separated? You VA disability is separate from your DoD retirement or severance. Everyone who leaves service and has injuries, even if they were fit for duty may me entitled to a VA disability check. As for DoD, to get any money at all you need to be separated for medical reasons. If your PEB rating comes back 30% or lower, you will get severance pay. 30% and up medical retirement. Generally speaking, you are not entitled to receive compensation twice for the same injury unless you fit certain criteria, so your VA payment will be reduced in the amount of your medical retired pay, unless you waive your medical retired pay. (there are times when this makes A LOT of sense...there are times when it doesn't, so without more info on your numbers I don't want to weigh in on this.) You have less than 20 years, so the only one that might apply to you is the combat related provisions. This is covered at length in the 2008 NDAA. Basically, if it's combat related, you are exempt from the dual compensation restrictions. This article does a fairly decent job explaining it and explaining what is "combat related. It's military.com...eeew. But it's a lot clearer than trying to slog through the NDAA. http://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/special-pay/combat-related-special-compensation.html If you get me more specifics on your PEB findings/breakdown, we can look at this further. Edited to add: sorry. En route to garlic festival and mind is on garlic but reserves and guard have some additional complications. Will give you a more thoughtful look tonight if someone doesn't beat me to it. ActusRhesus fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 12, 2014 12:59
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ActusRhesus posted:Do you have some documentation of that change? I don't want to give bad info on here, but I am 100% positive that the rating % was always a big part of the FPEB fight. http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/133218p.pdf The only time the PEB gets input on the actual ratings it in the legacy DES. IDES was started in 2008 and at this point almost everyone going through a MEDBOARD is put into that system. In IDES only the VA provides ratings for disabilities. It is covered in that same directive that you posted. Here is a handout you can verify. http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/pcola/SpecialLinks/Documents/IDES%20Overview%20Handout.pdf
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Oct 12, 2014 15:24
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Yeah, I found it shortly after posting, thanks for the catch and I've edited above posts to reflect this. Apologies for the bad gauge. A lot of the big changes were being discussed when I was doing peb stuff but didn't go into effect until after I left. From what I've read this looks like a good change for purposes of consistency (that was our chief complaint...different branches were rating differently even though the vasrd should be pretty straight forward) but it seems like appealing to 2 different decision making entities would be a huge pain in the dick at the FPEB stage. Any experience with that?
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Oct 12, 2014 15:48
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Appeals are pretty straightforward. If you have a problem with the ratings you ask for a VA reconsideration and if you have a problem with which conditions make you unfit to serve or if you need to add conditions that were left out then you take it to the PEB. It is a little slower now to add conditions since the PEB will then have to send it to the VA for a rating, but it is more consistent.
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Oct 12, 2014 16:04
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Delizin posted:Appeals are pretty straightforward. If you have a problem with the ratings you ask for a VA reconsideration and if you have a problem with which conditions make you unfit to serve or if you need to add conditions that were left out then you take it to the PEB. It is a little slower now to add conditions since the PEB will then have to send it to the VA for a rating, but it is more consistent. That's good to hear. The consistency issue was pretty awful circa 2006. Pretty much boiled down to: if Air Force, medical retirement. If marine, severance check or get the gently caress back to work. Plus, and I don't know if other branches did this, but navy had to deal with the wonderful issue of service disqualifying being determined by your rate. So one rate could get retirement, another found fit and sent back to work only to be kicked out as a prt failure for the exact same condition. Glad to hear things seem to have been fixed somewhat.
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Oct 12, 2014 16:15
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What do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?
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Oct 12, 2014 17:58
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EVA BRAUN BLOWJOBS posted:What do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean? I don't know, what do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?
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Oct 12, 2014 18:02
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A good start.
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Oct 12, 2014 18:07
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EVA BRAUN BLOWJOBS posted:A good start.  
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Oct 12, 2014 18:08
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Everyone hates lawyers until they need one. And then they still don't like them all that much.
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Oct 12, 2014 18:13
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I watched Philadelphia recently and that one has been stuck in my head.
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Oct 12, 2014 18:15
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ActusRhesus posted:OK, people are crossing the streams a little bit here. you've got 100% from the VA. What is your PEB rating, if you know it? And can I assume you are being medically separated? I don't have a PEB rating yet, I'm not even in IDES tracker yet.lol
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Oct 12, 2014 18:22
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