Fitness vs. Unfitness

[Jason]

This thread is for discussing everything related to fitness and unfitness in the PDES.

[Jason]

Many Soldiers are confused about why the Board did not rate one or more of their conditions. The Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) may have found a condition to be medically unacceptable and recorded that condition on the Soldier's DA Form 3947 (Medical Evaluation Board Proceedings). However, the PEB may have not given the Soldier a rating for that condition. Sometimes, Soldiers are confused about this and want to submit letters from doctors proving that they have this condition. This is not helpful to the case if the Board has found the condition to not be separately unfitting. That is because the PDES is a performance based system that only rates conditions that keep a Soldier from performing his or her duties.

Title 10 US Code, Chapter 61, Sections 1201 et. seq., state that disability benefits depend "[u]pon a determination by the Secretary concerned that a member...is unfit to perform the duties of the member's office, grade, rank, or rating because of physical disability...". This law means that the Board can only rate those conditions that by themselves (i.e., not taking other conditions into consideration) render a Soldier unfit to perform their duties.

Some Soldiers feel this is unfair. Whether it is or not is a policy question, but it may help to understand the purpose of the PDES. AR 635-40, para 3-2b. (1), explains the purpose this way: " (1) Disability compensation is not an entitlement acquired by reason of service-incurred illness or injury; rather, it is provided to Soldiers whose service is interrupted and they can no longer continue to reasonably perform because of a physical disability incurred or aggravated in service." So, is a Soldier out of luck in getting compensation for conditions that are not unfitting? Not necessarily. The VA will compensate for service connected disabilities.
One last thought. What should the Soldier do if he believes his condition is unfitting? More proof of the existence of the condition is not helpful. The evidence needed to demonstrate unfitness must relate to the condition causing limitations or shortcomings in performance. This can include profiles that limit performance because of the disability, Commander's/First Sergeant's Letters documenting limitations, Counseling statements, OER/NCOER's, or medical evidence that clearly demonstrates inability to perform duties.

[Jason]

I use this example to explain how the fit vs. unfit finding works. The biggest problem people seem to have in understanding this is the fact that they may have the condition but they are fit. When this is the case, no amount of further testing, diagnoses from doctors, or lab tests will change the outcome. This example sometimes helps people understand.

One day, two Soldiers board an aircraft for a jump. The first is an E-4 in the infantry. The second Soldier is an O-4 Finance Corps officer. They both hit hard on landing and both twist their right knee. They are taken to the MTF where they are found to have both torn the same ligaments in their right knee. The orthopedist is amazed because they have the exact same condition. Well, after a year of rehab after surgery, they both have recovered to the exact same degree. They both still have painful knees that result in profile limitations on their duty performance to include a "no" for the ability to carry a fighting load at least two miles. For the E-4 infantryman this is very likely an unfitting condition because he needs to be able to carry a fighting load over more than 2 miles to reasonably perform the duties of his grade and MOS. However, the Finance Corps major has no such duty requirement. He can reasonably do his job without rucking any distance whatsoever. So he is likely to be fit. Two Soldiers, same condition, but based on their grade and MOS, two different outcomes as to fitness at the PEB.

[seph123]

This may be my exact situation of being unfit but fit. As a Marine all Marines are riflemen, expected to act as such but also designated a specific MOS in my case Data Systems. If you read my mos up in the MOS manual you will see that it says that I am mostly just responsible for setting up and maintaining networks - mostly brainwork. but because my chronic pain in my neck and back from the MVA i was involved in on OCT 15TH 2006 I feel that its very hard to concentrate to do my job and I have been suffering doing it. Even so that I have been suffering it would seem that I am still doing a kick ass job at my work. This being said I may be seen as fit since I can still sit in front of a computer, in pain, and work.

I am also the Station Commander's driver and have been doing that as a colateral duty since my MVA! This makes my situation look even worse I think..... Would it help me at all to have the Station Commander (O-6) write a letter saying that the injury has affected me some how?

[martin]

i dont know about the Marines, but the Army looks at it is "can he do his basic soldier skills" like load and fire his/her weapon, can you hump 2 miles with a 40 pound ruck, can you dig a defensive position. if you CAN, then you may be deemed fit, but not as an infantryman. we would look into reclassifying to an MOS like for example "Remington Raider" (clerk typist), but as you stated every marine is a rifleman first. as for me, i cant load my magazine past the 4th or 5th round as i have no strength in my thumbs to push the round down, and its difficult to pull back the charging handle using my pinky finger.i cant do the P.T. test anymore. If your desire is to reclass to stay in the service, ANY kind of positive letters wouldnt hurt, after all ,theres a Marine deployed back to Iraq as an amputee because he wanted to be found fit. ( pretty ballsy guy) when i was in the Corps, i never knew of anyone that had a profile that precluded them from p.t or the p.t. test. when i went into the army and heard of this, i thought you gootta be kidding me. of course i was only 17 years old at the time i joined the Marines, and wasnt broken down then. good luck amigo! martin

[bhooray]

I'm in the unfit category wanted to stay in. My IPEB cam back with an unfit finding and 20% disability. I am an insulin dependant diabetic just recently diagnosed. I can no longer perform by present duties (only because of flight medicine standards) but I can perform just about any other job. I have 12.5 years in the AD Air Force. My Commander's letter and Narrative Sumary from my specialist were both very supportive for a fit finding.
So now what? I appeal. But what else do I need to do to convince the Formal Board to keep me in. My Commander, Specialist and Flight Commander will all be present to support me. Am I missing anything?? Do I need more letters and witnesses?

[NDSportTrac]

I didnt know that my AFSC had anything to do with my MEB? I am a cop in the Air Force. I have been unable to do my primary duties or carry a weapon because of my conidition now for 4 months. Are you telling me that if I was in a different career field, my MEB results could be different. Even if someone else was suffering from thr exact same condition? I thought that the factor was deployability, which I am also not able to do at this time. It just seems unfair.

[builtgypsy]

Originally Posted by NDSportTrac

Are you telling me that if I was in a different career field, my MEB results could be different. Even if someone else was suffering from the exact same condition?

This is how I've come to understand it. However, I think there are other concerns besides just your rate, though; being able to do emergency drills, being able to navigate your work area (climbing, if need be, swimming, running, that kind of thing). Also being able to do the fitness exam. At least I hope these are taken into consideration for the servicemember, it is a huge portion of the job requirements of being in the military.

[xeno]

Originally Posted by NDSportTrac

I didnt know that my AFSC had anything to do with my MEB? I am a cop in the Air Force. I have been unable to do my primary duties or carry a weapon because of my conidition now for 4 months. Are you telling me that if I was in a different career field, my MEB results could be different. Even if someone else was suffering from thr exact same condition? I thought that the factor was deployability, which I am also not able to do at this time. It just seems unfair.

AFI44-157
This is a commander responsibility. If the unit commander feels that the member is not capable of performing in an AFSC, the commander requests retraining through the military personnel flight.

Would if you had a bad knee and your an admin troop working in orderly room. Or if your SOCOM & jump Qual. Big difference in the usage of your knee.

My friend had some kinda rash thiing on his feet, he was SP at the time, they made him cross train to weather (actually he had a couple choices at the time).

X

[bhooray]

I could be wrong but I don't think deployability is a factor at all. There was nothing in my IFEB decision about deployability. Once found fit if your condition (like mine) makes you not world-wide deployable you will be C coded. Then they will reclass you into an AFSC that is suitable.