Army MEB with 19 years 1 month.

S

shortess

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Good day. I’ve been reading through the forums for over a year and decided today is the day I will post.

Ive been in the active Army for exactly 19 years and 1 month. Recently found myself in an SRU 90 days ago and of course the talk is an MEB. I have PTSD due to MST while deployed and Fibromyalgia (a few other diagnoses). I’m so close to 20 but know that they are going to press that MEB button any day. I’ve sat in fear of losing my retirement because I’ve seen it happen and I am not betting on COAD as an option. I’ve called Branch and they highly discouraged using COAD as a way to hit my 20 years. I’ve read gotten tons of advice. Most are saying don’t depend on trying to draw out the MEB as well because it can happen as quickly as 6 months.
Thoughts? The entire idea of being separated at 19 years has me a bit sick right now.
 
shortess said:
Good day. I’ve been reading through the forums for over a year and decided today is the day I will post.

Ive been in the active Army for exactly 19 years and 1 month. Recently found myself in an SRU 90 days ago and of course the talk is an MEB. I have PTSD due to MST while deployed and Fibromyalgia (a few other diagnoses). I’m so close to 20 but know that they are going to press that MEB button any day. I’ve sat in fear of losing my retirement because I’ve seen it happen and I am not betting on COAD as an option. I’ve called Branch and they highly discouraged using COAD as a way to hit my 20 years. I’ve read gotten tons of advice. Most are saying don’t depend on trying to draw out the MEB as well because it can happen as quickly as 6 months.
Thoughts? The entire idea of being separated at 19 years has me a bit sick right now.
Click to expand...
Here are a few things you can do: Drop your retirement packet. Having a retirement approved is a good way to persuade the them to just let you retire in 11 months. Also, some of the waiting periods have been reduced. It's no longer appeal and respond on the 10th day to delay things 10 days at a time. It has been shortened for the Army to 6 days. My wife just had her 1st counselling by her assigned PEBLO and that was a big surprise.

Also, save all of your leave. Do this is for 2 reasons. It will help hit your 20 years if in IDES and it can help convince your commander to retain you. That leads me to the last part which is talk to your commander. If you have 60 days of leave saved then you really only have 9 months left since you will have terminal leave. If he or she is on your side you could request a call or letter from them stating that you are still useful to your unit and strongly suggest that a fit for duty exam is not needed since you are retiring in 11 months and only will be working for the next 8 to 9 months. COAD is a last ditch effort. Don't rely on it. Also, if you do get forced into IDES make sure Peblo knows how close you are to hitting 20. There are others in the process that can help you slow it down. Paperwork can get misplaced! So be very nice to everyone involved if you do get put into MEB. My wife hits 19 years this August. She will probably not be able to hit her 20 years to get CRPD. You have many opportunities to get there. Do everything you can to hit 20 years.
 
Last edited:
Provis said:
Here are a few things you can do: Drop your retirement packet. Having a retirement approved is a good way to persuade the them to just let you retire in 11 months. Also, some of the waiting periods have been reduced. It's no longer appeal and respond on the 10th day to delay things 10 days at a time. It has been shortened for the Army to 6 days. My wife just had her 1st counselling by her assigned PEBLO and that was a big surprise.

Also, save all of your leave. Do this is for 2 reasons. It will help hit your 20 years if in IDES and it can help convince your commander to retain you. That leads me to the last part which is talk to your commander. If you have 60 days of leave saved then you really only have 9 months left since you will have terminal leave. If he or she is on your side you could request a call or letter from them stating that you are still useful to your unit and strongly suggest that a fit for duty exam is not needed since you are retiring in 11 months and only will be working for the next 8 to 9 months. COAD is a last ditch effort. Don't rely on it. Also, if you do get forced into IDES make sure Peblo knows how close you are to hitting 20. There are others in the process that can help you slow it down. Paperwork can get misplaced! So be very nice to everyone involved if you do get put into MEB. My wife hits 19 years this August. She will probably not be able to hit her 20 years to get CRPD. You have many opportunities to get there. Do everything you can to hit 20 years.
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Thank you so much. I appreciate your advice and will drop my retirement. I am not going to be able to avoid the MEB. My social worker has been telling me she is ready so the writing is on the wall.
 
There are multiple post on the forum about delaying tactics. I recommend you do a quick search.
 
chaplaincharlie said:
There are multiple post on the forum about delaying tactics. I recommend you do a quick search.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I’m checking them out right now. This entire ordeal has me very stressed and confused. Any specifics that stand out to you Sir? I’ve been looking at timelines and I am going to save my leave: I’ll have at least 60 days. I see your name mentioned a great deal on the forums. Thank you for helping so many people.
 
If an MEB is started, I would consult with an attorney. I would take advantage of every possible option in the entire process. Delay appointment with PEBLO, delay appointment with MSC, request an IMR, rebut the NARSUM, appeal to the FPEB, have my command sit on my NMC letter, file a VARR, appeal to service secretary.... There is to much money on the line to do this by yourself.
 
These are all of your levels of appeal. each one takes time. At the end of each one you get 6 days to respond (used to be 10). Take all six days every time. Save your terminal leave. In my case, these appeals made the process take double the time... mine was 14 months total. The best option is to immeymake an appointment with the doctor who is starting the MEB and asking them if they can delay submitting it, perhaps there is a treatment they can do and take time and see what the results are, etc...


1. Narsum rebuttal basically means you are officially disagreeing with the narsum.

2. IMR is independent medical review and is exactly as it sounds. basically you are asking for a different doctor to review your case... and that doctor will submit their own narsum....


3. MEB Appeal means you disagree with the results of the MEB. You could be disagreeing based on the fit/unfit conditions, or minor mistakes they might have made.


4. PEB Appeal. The initial PEB results almost always agree with the MEB results, basically they rubber stamp whatever the MEB said... of course there are anomalies... but mostly they just go with whatever the MEB said. This is another chance to formally disagree with those results.


5. IPEB/FPEB. This means informal or formal PEB. You get one or the other but not both. Formal basically means you go in front of the PEB to appeal in person, informal means paper appeal. I went in person. There are ups and downs to going in person. Going in person means there are 3 field grade 04-06 officers (one medical, 2 others whose branch is immaterial) at the board. You will go in front of them with your lawyer and be questioned.... they have laptops and are literally looking at your entire career... your evaluations, your medical records (ALTHA notes), test results literally everything. Your story had better make sense or else!! They asked me how I could achieve top block officer evals if I was truly as sick as I said I was. I had a great answer... I was a recruiting company commander and my oers were based mostly on recruiting mission accomplishment. I had stellar NCOs that made the mission ethically. My illness didn’t stop them from making the mission, and as a result of their success, I had success. They loved that answer and it was literally the absolute truth.


6. VARR. This is VA rating review. If you got say 50% for mental health but had evidence that you should’ve been rated at 70% for mental health, this is where you would spell that out in detail.

7. Disability agency review. This is the final level of appeal. This is where you get to make your case to the department of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps.
 
Also you can ask your command to sit on their commanders recommendation...
 
chaplaincharlie said:
If an MEB is started, I would consult with an attorney. I would take advantage of every possible option in the entire process. Delay appointment with PEBLO, delay appointment with MSC, request an IMR, rebut the NARSUM, appeal to the FPEB, have my command sit on my NMC letter, file a VARR, appeal to service secretary.... There is to much money on the line to do this by yourself.
Click to expand...
So very grateful for your advice to myself and others and well as this forum. Thank you so much. I will post outcomes and timelines if I am entered into the MEB process and I will listen to you can consult with an attorney.
 
tony292 said:
These are all of your levels of appeal. each one takes time. At the end of each one you get 6 days to respond (used to be 10). Take all six days every time. Save your terminal leave. In my case, these appeals made the process take double the time... mine was 14 months total. The best option is to immeymake an appointment with the doctor who is starting the MEB and asking them if they can delay submitting it, perhaps there is a treatment they can do and take time and see what the results are, etc...


1. Narsum rebuttal basically means you are officially disagreeing with the narsum.

2. IMR is independent medical review and is exactly as it sounds. basically you are asking for a different doctor to review your case... and that doctor will submit their own narsum....


3. MEB Appeal means you disagree with the results of the MEB. You could be disagreeing based on the fit/unfit conditions, or minor mistakes they might have made.


4. PEB Appeal. The initial PEB results almost always agree with the MEB results, basically they rubber stamp whatever the MEB said... of course there are anomalies... but mostly they just go with whatever the MEB said. This is another chance to formally disagree with those results.


5. IPEB/FPEB. This means informal or formal PEB. You get one or the other but not both. Formal basically means you go in front of the PEB to appeal in person, informal means paper appeal. I went in person. There are ups and downs to going in person. Going in person means there are 3 field grade 04-06 officers (one medical, 2 others whose branch is immaterial) at the board. You will go in front of them with your lawyer and be questioned.... they have laptops and are literally looking at your entire career... your evaluations, your medical records (ALTHA notes), test results literally everything. Your story had better make sense or else!! They asked me how I could achieve top block officer evals if I was truly as sick as I said I was. I had a great answer... I was a recruiting company commander and my oers were based mostly on recruiting mission accomplishment. I had stellar NCOs that made the mission ethically. My illness didn’t stop them from making the mission, and as a result of their success, I had success. They loved that answer and it was literally the absolute truth.


6. VARR. This is VA rating review. If you got say 50% for mental health but had evidence that you should’ve been rated at 70% for mental health, this is where you would spell that out in detail.

7. Disability agency review. This is the final level of appeal. This is where you get to make your case to the department of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps.
Click to expand...
 
So much information. I thank you for taking the time and being so thorough. I am learning so much from reading the forums. All things that I was not told here at the WTU. I was just handed an IDES booklet but it doesn’t compare to the information you all provided. Thanks again.
 
Another thing you can search for and ask questions about, it what the case timelines are like in your area very recently. My timeline in my signature was a MEB at ft Riley and PEB at JBLM in 2015.... some PEBs are backed up with more cases and thus longer times than others. as a result, some cases go quickly while others take a bit more time. Finding recent Army specific timelines in your region can give you a better idea of how long your case might take.
 
tony292 said:
Another thing you can search for and ask questions about, it what the case timelines are like in your area very recently. My timeline in my signature was a MEB at ft Riley and PEB at JBLM in 2015.... some PEBs are backed up with more cases and thus longer times than others. as a result, some cases go quickly while others take a bit more time. Finding recent Army specific timelines in your region can give you a better idea of how long your case might take.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more with this post. All too often throughout my process I was seeing people's timelines differ from mine only to find out their current region was processing quicker due to lower volume.

Get as much knowledge as you can through the forum. Whether it's dragging your feet to hit 20 years or educating yourself to ease anxiety about this or that this forum goes leaps and bounds above what anyone else can offer.
 
I will provide my timeline thus far, my MH provider decided to begin the MEB on August 16, 2021. So far this ordeal has been very stressful, however my PEBLO and lawyer communicate very well.

MRDP - August 16, 2021
Referral and claims development completed - August 27, 2021
VA exams - September 13, 2021 - October 26, 2021
MEB Rebuttal - November 19, 2021
IMR - November 26, 2021
Informal PEB - December 6, 2021
Found unfit - December 15, 2021
Proposed ratings -

I still need to make it 20 years which is April 4, 2022. About 4 months. Is it still possible. I have 50 days of leave saved at this point. Fingers crossed but it seems to be going by very fast.

I was found unfit for another condition on today. Fibromyalgia, but so far PTSD is the condition that caused the MEB.
 
shortess said:
I will provide my timeline thus far, my MH provider decided to begin the MEB on August 16, 2021. So far this ordeal has been very stressful, however my PEBLO and lawyer communicate very well.

MRDP - August 16, 2021
Referral and claims development completed - August 27, 2021
VA exams - September 13, 2021 - October 26, 2021
MEB Rebuttal - November 19, 2021
IMR - November 26, 2021
Informal PEB - December 6, 2021
Found unfit - December 15, 2021
Proposed ratings -

I still need to make it 20 years which is April 4, 2022. About 4 months. Is it still possible. I have 50 days of leave saved at this point. Fingers crossed but it seems to be going by very fast.

I was found unfit for another condition on today. Fibromyalgia, but so far PTSD is the condition that caused the MEB.
Click to expand...
Request an FPEB. The army's backed up several months for that. That is a great way to hit your target. If you request the formal PEB to add a third condition to be added as unfit. Once you know that you will hit your 20 years. You can request to cancel it.
 
Provis said:
Request an FPEB. The army's backed up several months for that. That is a great way to hit your target. If you request the formal PEB to add a third condition to be added as unfit. Once you know that you will hit your 20 years. You can request to cancel it.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer. I will use your advice. Much appreciative for the information.
 
D_street1030 said:
Couldn't agree more with this post. All too often throughout my process I was seeing people's timelines differ from mine only to find out their current region was processing quicker due to lower volume.

Get as much knowledge as you can through the forum. Whether it's dragging your feet to hit 20 years or educating yourself to ease anxiety about this or that this forum goes leaps and bounds above what anyone else can offer.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
Provis said:
Here are a few things you can do: Drop your retirement packet. Having a retirement approved is a good way to persuade the them to just let you retire in 11 months. Also, some of the waiting periods have been reduced. It's no longer appeal and respond on the 10th day to delay things 10 days at a time. It has been shortened for the Army to 6 days. My wife just had her 1st counselling by her assigned PEBLO and that was a big surprise.

Also, save all of your leave. Do this is for 2 reasons. It will help hit your 20 years if in IDES and it can help convince your commander to retain you. That leads me to the last part which is talk to your commander. If you have 60 days of leave saved then you really only have 9 months left since you will have terminal leave. If he or she is on your side you could request a call or letter from them stating that you are still useful to your unit and strongly suggest that a fit for duty exam is not needed since you are retiring in 11 months and only will be working for the next 8 to 9 months. COAD is a last ditch effort. Don't rely on it. Also, if you do get forced into IDES make sure Peblo knows how close you are to hitting 20. There are others in the process that can help you slow it down. Paperwork can get misplaced! So be very nice to everyone involved if you do get put into MEB. My wife hits 19 years this August. She will probably not be able to hit her 20 years to get CRPD. You have many opportunities to get there. Do everything you can to hit 20 years.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much.
 
tony292 said:
These are all of your levels of appeal. each one takes time. At the end of each one you get 6 days to respond (used to be 10). Take all six days every time. Save your terminal leave. In my case, these appeals made the process take double the time... mine was 14 months total. The best option is to immeymake an appointment with the doctor who is starting the MEB and asking them if they can delay submitting it, perhaps there is a treatment they can do and take time and see what the results are, etc...


1. Narsum rebuttal basically means you are officially disagreeing with the narsum.

2. IMR is independent medical review and is exactly as it sounds. basically you are asking for a different doctor to review your case... and that doctor will submit their own narsum....


3. MEB Appeal means you disagree with the results of the MEB. You could be disagreeing based on the fit/unfit conditions, or minor mistakes they might have made.


4. PEB Appeal. The initial PEB results almost always agree with the MEB results, basically they rubber stamp whatever the MEB said... of course there are anomalies... but mostly they just go with whatever the MEB said. This is another chance to formally disagree with those results.


5. IPEB/FPEB. This means informal or formal PEB. You get one or the other but not both. Formal basically means you go in front of the PEB to appeal in person, informal means paper appeal. I went in person. There are ups and downs to going in person. Going in person means there are 3 field grade 04-06 officers (one medical, 2 others whose branch is immaterial) at the board. You will go in front of them with your lawyer and be questioned.... they have laptops and are literally looking at your entire career... your evaluations, your medical records (ALTHA notes), test results literally everything. Your story had better make sense or else!! They asked me how I could achieve top block officer evals if I was truly as sick as I said I was. I had a great answer... I was a recruiting company commander and my oers were based mostly on recruiting mission accomplishment. I had stellar NCOs that made the mission ethically. My illness didn’t stop them from making the mission, and as a result of their success, I had success. They loved that answer and it was literally the absolute truth.


6. VARR. This is VA rating review. If you got say 50% for mental health but had evidence that you should’ve been rated at 70% for mental health, this is where you would spell that out in detail.

7. Disability agency review. This is the final level of appeal. This is where you get to make your case to the department of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps.
Click to expand...
Thanks for explaining so thoroughly.
 
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