Retire or push for Medboard?

[Dnbltn]

Looking for some advice on which way to go. I’m Army National Guard AGR with over 20 years of federal active duty service.

Here lately I’ve been having a lot of mental health related issues. Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, poor sleep etc. Just started therapy again after several previous attepts that just felt like I was wasting my time. I really want to be treated but I also think it’s time I need to look at my life beyond the uniform.

Should I just retire or attempt to get a profile and medboard? I had a P3 profile for psych in 2006 that was upgraded to a P2 and then just disappeared.

I’m not sure what the best route is. I’ve had friends that retired and said go the retirement route as opposed to medboarding at this point but through my own research I am unable to find any cons of going the medboard route besides the unknown end date of the process. Everything else seems to be more beneficial.

I’d love some input and advice from those who know the process better.

Thanks

 

[Provis]

Looking for some advice on which way to go. I’m Army National Guard AGR with over 20 years of federal active duty service.

Here lately I’ve been having a lot of mental health related issues. Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, poor sleep etc. Just started therapy again after several previous attepts that just felt like I was wasting my time. I really want to be treated but I also think it’s time I need to look at my life beyond the uniform.

Should I just retire or attempt to get a profile and medboard? I had a P3 profile for psych in 2006 that was upgraded to a P2 and then just disappeared.

I’m not sure what the best route is. I’ve had friends that retired and said go the retirement route as opposed to medboarding at this point but through my own research I am unable to find any cons of going the medboard route besides the unknown end date of the process. Everything else seems to be more beneficial.

I’d love some input and advice from those who know the process better.

Thanks

If you have 20 AFS then you are maxed out for compensation. As long as your VA total % is 50% or higher you will get all of your active duty pension and VA compensation. You can't gross more than that.

I would retire in your situation. If you are put in IDES you lose complete control of when you get out. Also, if chapter 61 retirement you would probably be TDRL and need another exam after getting out. Way too much stress with little to no payoff. There are a few benefits to medically retiring but there are small such as not paying the annual fee for tricare select. That is $300 per year in savings.

 

[PolloxTroy08]

I agree with Provis. If I were you, I'd retire. There is no real benefit to trying to get medboarded instead of just retiring. I believe the biggest signficant benefit to medboarding is if your unfitting condition is combat-related and you are awarded CRSC as your DoD pension would be tax free as well as your VA. A minor benefit is you should receive your VA benefits immediately upon retirement as you would have gone through the VA process as part of the medboard IDES process. If you're pending promotion you could also retire at that rank without completing the required time in service.

With you having over 20 years, there is no real consequence to getting medboarded (besides those minor ones listed above) either as you'll still be able to retire with your full pension no matter what. However, with you likely having to stay in service longer, the longer you may essentially be currently "working for free" if you think you will earn 100% VA upon retirement or even losing out on money depending on your rank. You also mentioned a reluctance to keep up with therapy and what not; if you were medboarding and wanting to be found unfit, you would need/want to keep up with regular therapy. If not, it's more likely the PEB would find you FIT and the whole thing would have been a waste of time.

 

[Provis]

I agree with Provis. If I were you, I'd retire. There is no real benefit to trying to get medboarded instead of just retiring. I believe the biggest signficant benefit to medboarding is if your unfitting condition is combat-related and you are awarded CRSC as your DoD pension would be tax free as well as your VA. A minor benefit is you should receive your VA benefits immediately upon retirement as you would have gone through the VA process as part of the medboard IDES process. If you're pending promotion you could also retire at that rank without completing the required time in service.

With you having over 20 years, there is no real consequence to getting medboarded (besides those minor ones listed above) either as you'll still be able to retire with your full pension no matter what. However, with you likely having to stay in service longer, the longer you may essentially be currently "working for free" if you think you will earn 100% VA upon retirement or even losing out on money depending on your rank. You also mentioned a reluctance to keep up with therapy and what not; if you were medboarding and wanting to be found unfit, you would need/want to keep up with regular therapy. If not, it's more likely the PEB would find you FIT and the whole thing would have been a waste of time.

To add to your point... if you have 20 AFS you can still get all of your pension exempt from taxes without chapter 61 if your CRSC% is high enough. There are Soldiers that retire normally with 100% CRSC that pay no taxes between CRSC and VA Pay. CRSC replaces taxable income from the pension.