at wits end……what to do.

[monterx7]

i have been med boarded for "lower back pain" and received a combined compensable percentage of 10 with Discharge with Severance Pay. the reason for only receiving 10 is because i have too much range of motion.

my formal hearing date is sept 4, and i still don't know what to do. after 2 conversations with my military attorney and everything clear as mud, i turn to everyone here.

from my understanding, the formal hearing is to either fight for more percentage on the unfit condition or fight for return to service. my range of motion is not bad enough to get up to 30%(thats on a bad day), but i also know that i would not be able to complete a full PT test. with no supporting documents to fight for either side of the coin, is there any reason to keep my formal hearing date? is there anything else i am not seeing?

at the moment i can not perform my AFSC duty description, but i can perform duty rolls that go with my TIS and pay grade. with only 1 yr and 9 mons till 20, and unfit condition at only 10% i would like to try and stay in by way of LAS(Limited Assignment Status).

that being said, i honestly do not know what to do. will i gain or lose anything by continuing with the formal hearing with no backing to be considered "fit", or will i gain or lose anything by canceling my formal hearing date?

does anyone know anyone that has been accepted for LAS?


as always i appreciate any and all help/direction you are able to provide.

thanks
michael

 

[chaplaincharlie]

Six years ago, I was found fit and returned to duty with an ALC and a permanent profile. One option would be to get your commander's support to stay in and fight to be returned to duty with an ALC and profile.

 

[monterx7]

ALC?

 

[Jason Perry]

from my understanding, the formal hearing is to either fight for more percentage on the unfit condition or fight for return to service.

No, the PEB cannot change the percentage on the unfitting condition- the percentages are determined by the VA. At the FPEB you would fight for additional conditions being found unfitting or for return to duty.

my range of motion is not bad enough to get up to 30%(thats on a bad day), but i also know that i would not be able to complete a full PT test. with no supporting documents to fight for either side of the coin, is there any reason to keep my formal hearing date? is there anything else i am not seeing?

at the moment i can not perform my AFSC duty description, but i can perform duty rolls that go with my TIS and pay grade. with only 1 yr and 9 mons till 20, and unfit condition at only 10% i would like to try and stay in by way of LAS(Limited Assignment Status).

Would not recommend applying for LAS without carefully considering your options and also making sure you meet all requirements, can get strong chain of command support, etc.

If you want to contend for a return to duty finding, that would be the better choice in most cases. But, I don't know enough about your case to say whether you have a case for fighitng for a higher AF rating (or VA rating for that matter).


Also, understand, you have VA Rating Reconsideration Request option (if you have not already exercised it) after a SAFPC appeal (if things go sideways at FPEB). I have had cases take 14 months or more to come back after exercising all appeals. (The key is to draft comprehensive appeals to both SAFPC and VA/DRAS...if you don't, the results will come back much faster). I have one case that came back about ten days ago that went to a Formal PEB last November, got a bad result, appealed through SAFPC and then, with no change from that, appealed to VA/DRAS and got an increase to 60%. This was a very fast case for me as there was only one issue on appeal. Ideally, when trying to stretch things out, it is best to identify several issues to appeal; not every case has that.

Unfortunately, the AF assigned counsel do not normally assist with the appeals, other than reviewing what you draft. (That is wrong in my opinion).

that being said, i honestly do not know what to do. will i gain or lose anything by continuing with the formal hearing with no backing to be considered "fit", or will i gain or lose anything by canceling my formal hearing date?

Don't see that you have anything to lose by cancelling FPEB; you give up arguing your case as well as the appeal options by doing so.

does anyone know anyone that has been accepted for LAS?

Last few years they have tightened up quite a bit on LAS (used to be that they would follow PEB recommendations on placement on LAS; about 18-24 months ago, they stopped allowing PEB to make recommendations). I have not seen hardly any (none that I can recall) LAS approvals.

Your case is "high risk/high stakes" and would take really knowing all of the details to offer much help. You need skilled legal representation to maximize your chances (which is not to say that you will get a good outcome even with such help).

I hope all goes well for you. Best of luck!

 

[monterx7]

Thank you for clearing things up for me.

My supervisor/section chief and the AMU superintendent are writing letters in support to keep me in until my 20 yr mark, and depending on our manning for my AFSC, the functional manager may be writing one also. would the fact that i havent completed a PT test, trump any chain of command support?

anyone else i should be looking at to get a letter from?


thanks again