Hello,

I am going through the MEB due to numerous reasons with the main one being PTSD. This is what I have found out so far since this process is confusing as hell....

If your son is rated 0%, 10%, or 20% he collects a severance check from the military. The amount is the same no matter what his rating is between 0% to 20%. It is affected by his years of service. There is a calcuation which I believe is 2 months times base pay times years of service with another calculation figured out if, I believe, the soldier has less then three years. He gets a lump sump payment and, in return, the military washes their hands of your son.

If your son is rated 30% or higher, he is not granted a severance pay but is medically retired by the branch of service he belongs to. He collects a percentage of his pay from that branch and has access to retiree benefits from the military i.e tricare, px benefits, etc. He is not given a severance check but will collect a retirement check from that branch of service for the rest of his life. The percentage again is a calculation which I am told is your disability rating times the average pay of your past 36 months.

When your son goes to the VA, his disability check is affected by his percentage rating. The higher the rating, the higher the paycheck. To begin collecting his check, though, if he received a severance check from the military he first has to pay the amount back before he gets the full amount of disability compensation from the VA.

There are a lot of calculations to compute pay. If the VA, which is tax free, is higher then the military, you want to collect the VA check. Also, if your sons PTSD is due to combat, he can apply for CRSC, etc. Most of this will be better covered by someone more familiar and the VA/DRO/Finance when that time comes.

Your son is on the TDRL list. He is automatically given 50% but it is temporary. He will be re-evaluated after 18 months and will not be on that list for longer then 5 years. At the re-evaluation they will determine if your son is doing better or worse, is his condition stable or unstable, and is he fit or unfit for duty. They will look at many things i.e. medications, hospitalizations, employment, school, etc. This can affect his rating; it can stay the same, go higher or go lower. It is not inevitable that it will go down as your son has been told.

To sum it up though, your son is in a good position. The TDRL status is good to have and hopefully will one day become PDRL with at least 30% because it gives him the medical retiree benefits. The severance check looks great and helps out some individuals right off the bat i.e. those with oustanding bills, settlement costs, etc. but usually it is not in the best interest of most individuals. Most rather have those retiree benefits from their respective military branch or would like to start collecting their monthly check right off the bat.

Also, the PEB/MEB process is full of misconceptions or “he said, she said” information. Your son should write down a lot of these questions and have discussions with his PEBLO or moderators on this board that are more informed because those questions are great to have at this time. I know I listened to a lot of individuals who, in the end, I found out were blowing a lot of smoke out their rear ends. =) Its best to find out what is going on straight from the camels mouth.

Edit:

The laws changed recently where the military services are to go by the VA ratings. A lot of soldiers got out on 0 or 10% disability ratings for mental disorders (PTSD being one of them) but then were given a higher rating by the VA. (there are many other conditions where this was a problem i.e. sleep apnea, etc but I am using your sons PTSD for example)

The VA felt that if a soldier was medically discharged due to a mental disorder, he demonstrated such an impairment socially or occupational to determine a 50% rating with re-evaluation after 6 months. It makes sense. With a 10% rating, the military determined (based on what a description of 10% for mental disorder is) your son only exhibit signs under sever stress but is fine otherwise and / or is controlled with medications.

Basically he is fine but yet, at the same time, is not fit to be a soldier? You know how many individuals that I currently serve with that are on medications or exhibit symptoms under stress but seem fine otherwise? You know how many are worse off then this and fit the other rating catagories but are still serving? If, going by your sons percentage rating, a large majority of the army right now is unfit and so we should all be discharged. I felt your sons original 10% is really unjust and should of fought it. I am happy to hear that they went back and corrected it to 50%