Worth Pursuing FPEB

[gsmeb4857]

Hello everyone.

I am AD Navy, 0-3 with 9 years 6 mos of service.

I received my findings at 30% DOD / 90% VA on TDRL.
Referred conditions are chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis.
I am electing to pursue the FPEB because my findings for sinusitis say stable but was still put on TDRL, I believe I should be on PDRL. I, my PEBLO and lawyer all think that’s a clerical error and asked for clarification from the board but they never responded by the deadline line to submit the EOO which was yesterday.

Additionally, I am pursuing CRSC because my sinuses were injured while flying aircraft which falls under Hazardous Duty.
I also think my referred conditions were rated incorrectly so I will be doing a VARR after the FPEB.

Overall questions for yall, is it worth pursuing the FPEB to be added to PDRL and CRSC?
Assuming I get a VARR and end up with 70%DOD and 100%VA, would the 70% DoD be higher? I’m not sure if I’m using the calculators properly on the DoD website being in BRS.

Thank you for all the help! This site is a great resource.

 

[Provis]

Hello everyone.

I am AD Navy, 0-3 with 9 years 6 mos of service.

I received my findings at 30% DOD / 90% VA on TDRL.
Referred conditions are chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis.
I am electing to pursue the FPEB because my findings for sinusitis say stable but was still put on TDRL, I believe I should be on PDRL. I, my PEBLO and lawyer all think that’s a clerical error and asked for clarification from the board but they never responded by the deadline line to submit the EOO which was yesterday.

Additionally, I am pursuing CRSC because my sinuses were injured while flying aircraft which falls under Hazardous Duty.
I also think my referred conditions were rated incorrectly so I will be doing a VARR after the FPEB.

Overall questions for yall, is it worth pursuing the FPEB to be added to PDRL and CRSC?
Assuming I get a VARR and end up with 70%DOD and 100%VA, would the 70% DoD be higher? I’m not sure if I’m using the calculators properly on the DoD website being in BRS.

Thank you for all the help! This site is a great resource.

So CRSC has nothing to do with this process. It is a mechanism to recoup some of the money lost due to the VA offset. I would definitely appeal via FPEB to PDRL. That is a no brainer. Did you mean combat related designation is what you are appealing? That would allow for your chapter 61 pension to be tax free. However in your situation that wouldn't really help you with anything. Your VA is already exempt from taxes and it will be much higher than your chapter 61 pension. So you will end up with all tax free money since it will all be from the VA.

CRSC is something you apply with your branch after you get out. It is tax free too. The most money you can get by law is the combination of your VA compensation and your earned longevity pension. So just calculate your earned pension by getting your HIGH 3 and then taking your 9.5 years of service at 2.5% if old system or if new BRS pension it will be 2%. That will be the cap you can get for CRSC. CRSC uses VA pay tables so once you know your earned longevity pension all you need to ensure is that your CRSC % pays out higher than that amount.

So bottom line. Do FPEB stating that unfitting conditions are stable and should be PDRL. Then after you get out go to your branches CRSC page to get application to apply for CRSC. Wait until you have your VA award letter. You will need that as part of your CRSC application along with DD214s etc.

 

[Provis]

Hello everyone.

I am AD Navy, 0-3 with 9 years 6 mos of service.

I received my findings at 30% DOD / 90% VA on TDRL.
Referred conditions are chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis.
I am electing to pursue the FPEB because my findings for sinusitis say stable but was still put on TDRL, I believe I should be on PDRL. I, my PEBLO and lawyer all think that’s a clerical error and asked for clarification from the board but they never responded by the deadline line to submit the EOO which was yesterday.

Additionally, I am pursuing CRSC because my sinuses were injured while flying aircraft which falls under Hazardous Duty.
I also think my referred conditions were rated incorrectly so I will be doing a VARR after the FPEB.

Overall questions for yall, is it worth pursuing the FPEB to be added to PDRL and CRSC?
Assuming I get a VARR and end up with 70%DOD and 100%VA, would the 70% DoD be higher? I’m not sure if I’m using the calculators properly on the DoD website being in BRS.

Thank you for all the help! This site is a great resource.

Also, you mentioned VARR. That a separate thing where you are appealing to the VA to see if they can increase your unfitting condition's %. If they increase it then the VA rating goes up and the corresponding DOD% rating for the condition is increased. I don't think its going to matter that much since your VA compensation will still be greater than your chapter 61 pension. However, it does create a higher income floor so for example if your VA % went to 0% then you get your chapter 61 pension instead. That is the lowest amount you can get. So it doesn't hurt to increase it but again 30% or higher PDRL and then applying for and getting CRSC after you are out are the 2 most important things. CRSC is what will make you whole and get you max compensation between your VA pay and your earned longevity pension.

 

[Provis]

Hello everyone.

I am AD Navy, 0-3 with 9 years 6 mos of service.

I received my findings at 30% DOD / 90% VA on TDRL.
Referred conditions are chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis.
I am electing to pursue the FPEB because my findings for sinusitis say stable but was still put on TDRL, I believe I should be on PDRL. I, my PEBLO and lawyer all think that’s a clerical error and asked for clarification from the board but they never responded by the deadline line to submit the EOO which was yesterday.

Additionally, I am pursuing CRSC because my sinuses were injured while flying aircraft which falls under Hazardous Duty.
I also think my referred conditions were rated incorrectly so I will be doing a VARR after the FPEB.

Overall questions for yall, is it worth pursuing the FPEB to be added to PDRL and CRSC?
Assuming I get a VARR and end up with 70%DOD and 100%VA, would the 70% DoD be higher? I’m not sure if I’m using the calculators properly on the DoD website being in BRS.

Thank you for all the help! This site is a great resource.

Sending you some private dedicated attorneys to talk to in case you wish to hire one. I am a huge advocate of hiring someone that specializes in IDES and are dedicated to your case. They are pricey but in my opinion worth it.

 

[gsmeb4857]

So CRSC has nothing to do with this process. It is a mechanism to recoup some of the money lost due to the VA offset. I would definitely appeal via FPEB to PDRL. That is a no brainer. Did you mean combat related designation is what you are appealing? That would allow for your chapter 61 pension to be tax free. However in your situation that wouldn't really help you with anything. Your VA is already exempt from taxes and it will be much higher than your chapter 61 pension. So you will end up with all tax free money since it will all be from the VA.

CRSC is something you apply with your branch after you get out. It is tax free too. The most money you can get by law is the combination of your VA compensation and your earned longevity pension. So just calculate your earned pension by getting your HIGH 3 and then taking your 9.5 years of service at 2.5% if old system or if new BRS pension it will be 2%. That will be the cap you can get for CRSC. CRSC uses VA pay tables so once you know your earned longevity pension all you need to ensure is that your CRSC % pays out higher than that amount.

So bottom line. Do FPEB stating that unfitting conditions are stable and should be PDRL. Then after you get out go to your branches CRSC page to get application to apply for CRSC. Wait until you have your VA award letter. You will need that as part of your CRSC application along with DD214s etc.

Provis,

Thank you very much for the detailed response and the link for the private attorneys, definitely going to reach out to them.
Yes, you are correct in that I meant combat-related designation instead of CRSC. My IPEB attorney advised that having the combat related designation from the PEB helps with CRSC in the future.

One thing I forgot to mention, another discrepancy we found was that even though sinusitis and allergic rhinitis were rated separately by the VA, at 30 and 10 percent respectively, the DOD findings only assigned a percentage to the sinusitis and listed the rhinitis as secondary to the sinusitis with no rating. From what I have read the rhinitis also should have been rated separately by the PEB for a total DOD of 40%. Another reason for the FPEB.

I believe that I have enough evidence to raise my referred condition percentages to 50 and 30%.
Assuming the VARR increases my DOD to 70% I'm seeing the DOD retirement at $5003. Would that not be worth pursuing since even at 100% VA the compensation is $3,737?

 

[Provis]

Provis,

Thank you very much for the detailed response and the link for the private attorneys, definitely going to reach out to them.
Yes, you are correct in that I meant combat-related designation instead of CRSC. My IPEB attorney advised that having the combat related designation from the PEB helps with CRSC in the future.

One thing I forgot to mention, another discrepancy we found was that even though sinusitis and allergic rhinitis were rated separately by the VA, at 30 and 10 percent respectively, the DOD findings only assigned a percentage to the sinusitis and listed the rhinitis as secondary to the sinusitis with no rating. From what I have read the rhinitis also should have been rated separately by the PEB for a total DOD of 40%. Another reason for the FPEB.

I believe that I have enough evidence to raise my referred condition percentages to 50 and 30%.
Assuming the VARR increases my DOD to 70% I'm seeing the DOD retirement at $5003. Would that not be worth pursuing since even at 100% VA the compensation is $3,737?

Never hurts to get a higher DOD%. Most don't go from 30% to 70% from VARR's. Sure go for it. Just know that its very hard to get 50% on the chronic sinusitis. You need multiple surgeries to get that rating. They also probably won't give you a rating for both. The symptoms create a pyramid so its more likely than not you will stay 30% and 0% or if successful go from 30% to 50% but still 0% for the other. You can't get similar conditions separate when relying on the same symptoms. Same thing for asthma and sleep apnea. Both are breathing conditions. So if 30% asthma and 50% OSA. You will end up with one rating of 50%.