Boarded for MH Condition/Blatant Lies in CC Letter

AttitudeEra

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So, long story short, there is a lot of tension between my unit commander and I. I mean, aloooot of bad blood. I won't go into much detail, but she wrote a negative, sloppily written (different fonts and font sizes), typo-filled, CC letter in a passive aggressive attempt at retaliating against me for reporting her toxic behavior towards me to my therapists. (Which is childish because we're both leaving this base in a couple months anyway).

First of all, she doesn't even know what my AFSC is lmao! How do you turn in an official document that impacts another person's career without at least knowing the basics of your subordinate's career information or AT LEAST proof reading it. She wrote really short answers to the NMA questionnaire, so there is no way it should have had that any typos and mistakes. To me, it should prove to the MEB people that her assessment is not credible. Our unit is so unbelievably unorganized, that no one in my chain of command knows how my work is affected, because we don't even work together. I mean, I literally see my leadership MAYBE once every 2 weeks, so how would they know anything about me regarding my work?

Second of all, she blatantly LIED about the amount of time I've missed from work because of my medical conditions. She said something along the lines of "Airman missed 0 days of work and we made 0 accommodations to Airman's work schedule", when in reality I had a 2 week inpatient hospital stay for my MEB referred condition and for an entire week afterwards, I was working 4-6 hour days. I mean she CAME TO THE HOSPITAL WHERE I WAS, so there's no way she "didn't know" about it. She also "forgot" to mention the 5 total days of quarters I've had over the year. There is no excuse for it either. We have to turn in our quarters paperwork into CSS (Commander Support Staff) and the CC's staff puts our quarters paperwork into our personal information files. I know for a fact she knows that she could have easily gone through my personal information folder and counted up the days I was out of work because of quarters and annotated it in her CC letter/NMA. I have documentation to prove all of the days I missed.

Third of all, she orchestrated a plan to have my supervisor "escort" to my initial BH MEB appointment (and had my flight chief lie to me about their reasoning for it) to get more of my medical information. They legitimately thought I would allow my supervisor inside of a mental health appointment ROFLMAO! How that idea was logical to them, is beyond me. She said that THIS was the ONLY day off that they have had to give me for my medical condition. Well on that day, I had to meet with my supervisor early in the morning to get a GOV and he drove me up there, and then he drove me back on base. IMMEDIATELY afterwards, I had to work swing shift the entire night. She can't say she didn't know I had to work that night because my flight chief CALLED ME on my work phone that night asking if I was okay/tired. She and him both worked on my NMA together (so they say). They both knew. I ended up working technically an 18 hour day because they wanted to "help" me get to my MEB appointment (which broke my profile). The ONE DAY she decided to say I missed, is the one day that I worked18 hours and broke my profile because of her. (I was the only one on shift and couldn't leave.)

Fourth of all, she wrote that I perform all of my AFSC's duties, which is misleading to say the least. She knows for a fact that I'm not performing at my rank and skill level, because SHE removed me from my shop, and has me working at some low-level ass, Airman position. So, I guess, technically I am performing my AFSC duties...if I were lower enlisted! Which is idiotic to write on my NMA, because the doctor who wrote my NMA even knows that I'm not performing the job that someone my rank is supposed is supposed to be performing. He even wrote that in my NARSUM! (Which was news to me because my "leadership" NEVER ONCE spoke to me in person or even through e-mail about why I was abruptly moved to a new shop and left to rot there). So it automatically shows that she's knowingly lying about my work limitations or that she's extremely incompetent and knows nothing about me (which looks bad on her either way).

Fifth of all, after all of these blatant lies, in her personal little statement thing (which had barely any punctuation and typos for days) she chalked up my decline in performance and health to, and I quote, "a lack of motivation". LMFAO! Really?! She wrote that I "only meet standards" and have "no motivation". And that was it. ???? It just came off as really vindictive and unprofessional in my opinion. Especially since I spoke to her one-on-one regarding my MEB and she told me how well I was doing, but she wrote the complete opposite in my NMA. I even told her the specifics about how my condition impacts specific facets of my job, and somehow none of that made it into the NMA. I think she was asking about the specifics of my social anxiety/depression to get info for her own personal reasons rather than info to write in my NMA.

Bottom line: I think she is trying to fuck me out of getting decent ratings by saying that my conditions haven't affected my work, because she doesn't want me to leave this hellhole unscathed. She has called my doctors after hours trying to illegally siphon my private medical information out of them, so that she could influence my MEB, to no avail. She has done many other things to hinder me being found unfit because our squadron retention rate is shockingly low (30%...and even lower for NCOs). She has actually done similar things to other personnel going through MEBs in our unit as well. It's so prevalent, that her name is synonymous with fucking over MEB troops/troops on profiles. It's like a known thing within our squadron.

Who do I talk to fix these "discrepancies" that she knowingly made on my NMA? Who do I show my documentation to?
 
The best bet is to report to your higher command above her, with a request mast or formal complaint against her with evidence of mistreatment. I would also not really get too wrapped up in the Command letter. You medical evidence holds everything you need for MEB/IPEB determination for either fit or unfit. Although these letters paint a picture to the board about your duty status, there is certain recommendations the command can make and that is there duty to report this. If they are purposely trying to screw you, I recommend a letter to the board, through your PEBLO explaining these circumstances of unjust claims about your abilities and the actions you have taken. Sorry about your situation and best of luck. As soon as you see the opportunity to relocate to WWB or treatment unit with your branch, I would execute because the bias hate against service members that are injured or have mental issues is evident in your post. It happened to me as well and others in these forms.
 
The best bet is to report to your higher command above her, with a request mast or formal complaint against her with evidence of mistreatment. I would also not really get too wrapped up in the Command letter. You medical evidence holds everything you need for MEB/IPEB determination for either fit or unfit. Although these letters paint a picture to the board about your duty status, there is certain recommendations the command can make and that is there duty to report this. If they are purposely trying to screw you, I recommend a letter to the board, through your PEBLO explaining these circumstances of unjust claims about your abilities and the actions you have taken. Sorry about your situation and best of luck. As soon as you see the opportunity to relocate to WWB or treatment unit with your branch, I would execute because the bias hate against service members that are injured or have mental issues is evident in your post. It happened to me as well and others in these forms.


Thanks for responding! My main concern is that her terrible NMA will mess up my ratings since she's saying that my condition doesn't affect my work. But at the same time, her statements in the NMA are contradictory because of my C&P doctors have access to my medical records and see all of the hospital stays and quarters I've been. Hopefully they'll put 2 and 2 together and see that she's being childish and vindictive, and disregard her NMA statements altogether.

When you say a letter to the board, do you mean just a typed up memo? If so, I could write a memo stating the objective facts and proof about the time off I've actually had off throughout the year. Unlike her, it would be written professionally with no personal, emotional feelings attached to it.

Also, she has a commander climate survey coming up, and I was thinking I could just put her on blast in the survey lol.

Again thank you for responding! :D
 
I have a few comments and points for your consideration. Hope all goes well for your in the final result!

So, long story short, there is a lot of tension between my unit commander and I. I mean, aloooot of bad blood. I won't go into much detail, but she wrote a negative, sloppily written (different fonts and font sizes), typo-filled, CC letter in a passive aggressive attempt at retaliating against me for reporting her toxic behavior towards me to my therapists. (Which is childish because we're both leaving this base in a couple months anyway).

Understand, as a baseline, your CC's input goes mainly as weight to be given to any unfit finding. So, if the issue as to your condition(s) being unfitting are clear from the MEB/NARSUM/Medical documentation, then her input will not matter so much. (This is not to say that a "good" CC letter is not helpful or desired; just that if it is clearly wrong and not supported by the medical documentation, it may not matter much).

First of all, she doesn't even know what my AFSC is lmao! How do you turn in an official document that impacts another person's career without at least knowing the basics of your subordinate's career information or AT LEAST proof reading it. She wrote really short answers to the NMA questionnaire, so there is no way it should have had that any typos and mistakes. To me, it should prove to the MEB people that her assessment is not credible. Our unit is so unbelievably unorganized, that no one in my chain of command knows how my work is affected, because we don't even work together. I mean, I literally see my leadership MAYBE once every 2 weeks, so how would they know anything about me regarding my work?

A poorly written CC letter will reflect its own shortcomings. Really, I think the main focus should be on getting an accurate picture (and/or argument and evidence that supports an accurate picture of your case) before the board.

Not really clear where you are at in the process (i.e., whether your case has already gone forward to the PEB or if it is still at the MEB level).

Second of all, she blatantly LIED about the amount of time I've missed from work because of my medical conditions. She said something along the lines of "Airman missed 0 days of work and we made 0 accommodations to Airman's work schedule", when in reality I had a 2 week inpatient hospital stay for my MEB referred condition and for an entire week afterwards, I was working 4-6 hour days. I mean she CAME TO THE HOSPITAL WHERE I WAS, so there's no way she "didn't know" about it. She also "forgot" to mention the 5 total days of quarters I've had over the year. There is no excuse for it either. We have to turn in our quarters paperwork into CSS (Commander Support Staff) and the CC's staff puts our quarters paperwork into our personal information files. I know for a fact she knows that she could have easily gone through my personal information folder and counted up the days I was out of work because of quarters and annotated it in her CC letter/NMA. I have documentation to prove all of the days I missed.

Provide the documentation and evidence. That is all you can do to present your case.

I would strongly advise steering away from framing your case as a fight against your commander or your leadership. This is a bad approach. Instead, make your arguments and present the objective evidence that supports your case. That is the tack to take to "win."

Third of all, she orchestrated a plan to have my supervisor "escort" to my initial BH MEB appointment (and had my flight chief lie to me about their reasoning for it) to get more of my medical information. They legitimately thought I would allow my supervisor inside of a mental health appointment ROFLMAO! How that idea was logical to them, is beyond me. She said that THIS was the ONLY day off that they have had to give me for my medical condition. Well on that day, I had to meet with my supervisor early in the morning to get a GOV and he drove me up there, and then he drove me back on base. IMMEDIATELY afterwards, I had to work swing shift the entire night. She can't say she didn't know I had to work that night because my flight chief CALLED ME on my work phone that night asking if I was okay/tired. She and him both worked on my NMA together (so they say). They both knew. I ended up working technically an 18 hour day because they wanted to "help" me get to my MEB appointment (which broke my profile). The ONE DAY she decided to say I missed, is the one day that I worked18 hours and broke my profile because of her. (I was the only one on shift and couldn't leave.)

While this set of events is likely a horrible leadership and case processing failure, it is likely a bad idea to focus on this. Focus on the facts of your case. Focus on the points your want to prove and the result (I am not exactly clear on what those points and issues are). You can "rail" against your treatment and the process thus far or you can focus on getting your due and the outcome you should get. A very common failure and error I see in cases is focusing on the wrong issue (and raising those issues in lieu of getting to what matters). My sense is you have a "winnable" case; my further sense is that you can lose your case by focusing on the wrong issues.

Fourth of all, she wrote that I perform all of my AFSC's duties, which is misleading to say the least. She knows for a fact that I'm not performing at my rank and skill level, because SHE removed me from my shop, and has me working at some low-level ass, Airman position. So, I guess, technically I am performing my AFSC duties...if I were lower enlisted! Which is idiotic to write on my NMA, because the doctor who wrote my NMA even knows that I'm not performing the job that someone my rank is supposed is supposed to be performing. He even wrote that in my NARSUM! (Which was news to me because my "leadership" NEVER ONCE spoke to me in person or even through e-mail about why I was abruptly moved to a new shop and left to rot there). So it automatically shows that she's knowingly lying about my work limitations or that she's extremely incompetent and knows nothing about me (which looks bad on her either way).

My sense is that you may be able to provide evidence showing your unfitness. But, the focus should not be the "fight" against your commander and your leadership. The "fight" should be in demonstrating your unfitness.

You can get tied up in fighting and being mad about your "leaderships" failures. (Wrong approach, in my opinion). Or you can take your case and address what is needed (and hopefully provide it) to get a "win."

Just a point of reference- I constantly come across cases and folks who have or have had "winning" cases, but have "lost" because they made the "wrong arguments" and/or fought the wrong fights.

My sense is you likely have a very winnable case and may prevail if you approach things "smartly." But, I also sense your frustration and anger. I get it. I just strongly suggest that your approach may well benefit greatly from shifting from your "fight" with your command and actually addressing your case issues.

I don't say this lightly. (And, generally, I dislike folks just saying, "do what I say, because I know better.") But, I have tons of experience in this area of military disability law. I think you are focusing your angst and concerns on your "closest target," your command and leadership. I think that is a mistake. I think you likely have a case to win, unless you screw it up by focusing on the wrong issues.

Fifth of all, after all of these blatant lies, in her personal little statement thing (which had barely any punctuation and typos for days) she chalked up my decline in performance and health to, and I quote, "a lack of motivation". LMFAO! Really?! She wrote that I "only meet standards" and have "no motivation". And that was it. ???? It just came off as really vindictive and unprofessional in my opinion. Especially since I spoke to her one-on-one regarding my MEB and she told me how well I was doing, but she wrote the complete opposite in my NMA. I even told her the specifics about how my condition impacts specific facets of my job, and somehow none of that made it into the NMA. I think she was asking about the specifics of my social anxiety/depression to get info for her own personal reasons rather than info to write in my NMA.

See my above comments.

Bottom line: I think she is trying to fuck me out of getting decent ratings by saying that my conditions haven't affected my work, because she doesn't want me to leave this hellhole unscathed. She has called my doctors after hours trying to illegally siphon my private medical information out of them, so that she could influence my MEB, to no avail. She has done many other things to hinder me being found unfit because our squadron retention rate is shockingly low (30%...and even lower for NCOs). She has actually done similar things to other personnel going through MEBs in our unit as well. It's so prevalent, that her name is synonymous with fucking over MEB troops/troops on profiles. It's like a known thing within our squadron.

Got it. See my above comments. Her motivations are not really helpful to your big picture outcome.

Who do I talk to fix these "discrepancies" that she knowingly made on my NMA? Who do I show my documentation to?

Not sure where you are at in the process. If the MEB has not happened, then I would raise any "relevant" (and by that I mean, don't raise a ton of issues that are extraneous...just address your points in the MEB process). Otherwise, you will have to appeal to the PEB.

I recommend a letter to the board, through your PEBLO explaining these circumstances of unjust claims about your abilities and the actions you have taken. Sorry about your situation and best of luck.

I don't agree. I would not get into a fight about what folks said, generally. Instead, I would provide my arguments with evidence showing and supporting my position.

My main concern is that her terrible NMA will mess up my ratings since she's saying that my condition doesn't affect my work. But at the same time, her statements in the NMA are contradictory because of my C&P doctors have access to my medical records and see all of the hospital stays and quarters I've been. Hopefully they'll put 2 and 2 together and see that she's being childish and vindictive, and disregard her NMA statements altogether.

The CC Letter is only one piece of evidence. You have to consider the case, overall. Sounds to me like you may have a good case. That said, I also can see you completely screwing things up and making your case worse.

I hope you get a good outcome. Best of luck.
 
I have to agree with Jason, hands down his approach is what will win, and the way you can "beat" your commander is to win your case.

I was fortunate to have a great commander who let me do most of the write up. My anger came towards the VA CP examiner nurse practitioner who misdiagnosed me with "somatoform disorder" now that seriously pissed me off to no end!!! I was the guy, before I got sick that had less than ten pages of medical records in my first 40 years of my entire life, and in the last three years I amassed over 500 pages (because doctors couldn't figure it out and kept referring me around). I wanted to put this nurse practitioner in a choke hold. "Somatoform disorder" is really just saying it's not real, that my symptoms are all in my head.

This all made my anxiety much worse. I hated this misdiagnosis and the PEB initially offered 50% and TDRL. As luck would have it, the VA optometrist pointed out some abnormalities with my vision and told me to see a neuro opthalmologist which I did, I saw two of them. And they both wrote powerful letters on my behalf which I used to overturn the misdiagnosis and ultimately was rated 100% PDRL.

Had I focused only on my anger at the nurse practitioner and combating every word that she had said, I would not have been successful at all.

Try and beat your commander with the facts and be professional in all that you do.
 
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