First of all, thank you all for reading this. I want to give you a little background information to see if you can point me in the right direction with my questions at the end of this letter. I am hoping this demotion action stops at the FW level, but I want to be prepared to fight it no matter what (IG, SECAF, or Article 138). I also know I need to fight to get an impartial/3rd party review of my medical records because since I work in the MDG (and ticked off my leadership), and knowing that the doctors all work for my leadership I don't feel that this will work in my favor as I have already seen the commanders influence a flight doctor regarding my case and they have ignored my PCMs notes.
I will start with the issue of PT failures and how that evolved in to a demotion. I had a squadron CC who gave me an LOR for a failed PT waist measurement right before he PCSed. His replacement came in and of course I failed another one 90 days later and he gave me an LOR and added a UIF since it was my 2nd one. I took a 3rd test and miraculously passed and I also passed the 4th one 6 months later. Due to the failure, and being on a strict medical profile that prohibited me from TDYs due to all of the appointments I had, I was not able to go to "in residence" NCOA. This wasn't too bad because you are considered PME complete once you do Course 15 (which I had done). My Sq CC was pretty upset about this and actually had my profile changed so that I could go. I fought that because at the time they thought I had Multiple Sclerosis and that was pretty much all I could think about. I won, but it caused a lot of tension between my leadership and me. That year I received a bad EPR despite the growing medical evidence. Fast-forward to 19 months after the 2 failures and I had another test scheduled (Dec 2015). I knew I was close on the measurement, so I basically starved myself since I am physically not able to do much and lost 10lbs. I passed my mock test (1.5 inches under) and I was pretty confident, but showed up to the testing center and actually GAINED 3 inches from the previous official PT test and of course earned myself a 2nd bad EPR. This is the part where the demotion came in. I had an initial meeting with the Sq CC, 1st Sgt, and my Sq Superintendent (my supervisor/flight CC was out on con leave) in Jan 2016. I explained the situation to them and told them how surprised I was that this happened and updated them on my medical issues and what I was doing to address the problem. I was surprised again a few days later, when I was told to report in service dress and received the demotion paperwork.
Since 2011 I have been having chronic pain issues and issues with my large joints dislocating and tearing of the tendons (shoulder and hips). I saw Dr. F and he sent me to a few Orthopedic docs and surgeons and I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, arthritis and labral tears and I was sent in for right hip surgery in November 2013 (after fighting with tricare to have it approved for almost a year, I finally found a military doctor who was qualified to perform the surgery. The recovery for that surgery was horrible and it felt like it took forever and honestly some days it still hurts like it did before. After that, I started to have more issues with mental health, low immunity and inability to heal from even minor injuries, endocrine system, neurological issues, my memory and ability to process information (not a good thing as far as work is concerned), pain in my joints, bones, and skin, and sleep issues. I documented all of this over the years and I have a 4 page and growing summary of diagnoses, meds, and symptoms that I give to all of the doctors I see and I make sure I update it any time something changes or something new starts happening no matter how small because I am afraid they will miss something important since my medical record is pretty huge now.
When Doctor F left, I got transferred to Doctor H and I was glad to have a fresh pair of eyes to review my case and I love the fact that he listens to me and orders tests if I request them. He sent me to a few specialists including pain management, more ortho docs, neurology/physical medicine who diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, physical therapy (for months at a time), mental health, cardiology, and most recently (March 2016) I was sent to endocrinology due to some abnormal lab results showing that all of my hormones came back low. He has helped me by working with tricare, referrals, and patient travel to get me to all of these doctors despite the all of the frustration of dealing with the red tape and waiting weeks to months to get in to see these specialists. Captain H has been on my side this entire time and he told me a while back that he didn't want to send me to the DAWG for an MEB until he knew what was causing my issues and he has tried to treat all of the symptoms that I have despite the lack of a diagnosis and multiple "misdiagnoses" from the different specialist to include Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, psychological issues that were causing the symptoms (basically saying it is in my head), bone issues, muscle pain (myofascial tension), and many other theories that made sense at the time but were ruled out with testing.
I have done research for MEBs and demotions using every AFI, Internal MDGIs, DODIs, some of the MDG civilians that knew how things worked, and any links I could find on the internet (pebforum.com has helped). In my 11.5 years I have learned quite a bit about how other sections/parts of the medical field work just from being around it, but I am in no way an expert on administrative processes in the MDG.
When I got the demotion package from my Sq CC, I wrote a 3 page rebuttal and made sure to include how my waist measurement went up despite losing weight, general medical stuff, what I have tried to correct the situation and the general "who I am" paragraphs that were suggested by the ADC's template, and talked about my career and how despite all of the bad EPRs that I had only missed the MSgt cutoff score by 0.09 points my first time in 2015 and that I was pretty sure I would get it in 2016 (I was trying to steer them more towards removing my eligibility to make MSgt instead of taking my TSgt stripe which would be like taking 2 stripes over a medical problem). I also attached that medical summary sheet that I have been keeping, the last 6 years worth of medical records because I thought sharing my personal medical records would show that I was serious about this issue, and the AF's Medical Standards Directory that lists all retention standards by disease with my diagnoses at the time highlighted and the pages marked with tabs. I was also told that my case had been sent to the DAWG and I was "returned to duty." This ruling made my commander think I was “fine” and of course he forwarded the case to base legal. They held on to it for almost a month before it was sent to the MDG CC.
I made a meeting with the head of the DAWG (a doc in Flight Med) and asked him what was going on with my MEB. He explained that he couldn't MEB me because they didn't know exactly what was causing my issues and that Fibromyalgia wasn't a condition that required an MEB. I disagreed with him and showed him the Medical Standards Directory and we talked about my medical issues. He informed me that he would reconsider my MEB after my endocrinology appt and I also asked him to please talk to me Sq CC again and explain to him what is going on with my case and that "returned to duty" doesn't mean that nothing is wrong with me.
In Mar 2016, I was called to the MDG CC's office along with the 1st Sgt, my supervisor/flight commander, my Sq CC, and me in for a meeting. He said he was holding off on his decision until after the endocrinology appt. He also wrote a letter that held off my PT retest date for another 30 days (until April 2016).
I went to the endo doctor (a civilian off base) on 22 Mar 16 and he went over my case with me and he ordered a bunch of tests to do after I have stopped all hormones for >4 weeks. He told me that he is ruling out/confirming if I have high cortisol possibly cause by a pituitary adenoma (tumor) or Cushing's Disease and testing a long list of hormones. Both of these diseases and the low hormones all have multiple symptoms which happen to include inhibited ability to lose weight and fat accumulating around the mid section along with some others that I have listed above. No diagnosis was made since this was an initial appointment.
A few days later I was called in to the MDG CC's office again with the previously invited members. He said that the Flight Med doc talked to the Endo doc and that there was not a reason that I couldn't lose weight and that they were taking my TSgt stripe and making me a SSgt effective 28 Mar16. The MDG CC also stated that with the new information, the flight doctor was going to start a package for my MEB (even though no new information came from the endocrinology appointment). I was in complete disbelief and couldn't find any words to say. I immediately returned to my office in the lab and emailed the Flight Med doc because I wanted to find out exactly what was said between the 2 doctors because I am a little suspicious of how/what questions were asked (who as of 9Apr16 has still not replied or made an attempt to talk to me), the ADC lawyer and his paralegal, and I called the Endo doc's office to get a copy of the notes from my appointment.
I turned in the appeal package on 31 Mar 16 and I once again requested that my rank be reinstated (to TSgt as of May 2013) because I am still doing my job as the NCOIC of the lab and covering all of my other duties and projects despite everything that is going on. I explained that my symptoms have progressively gotten worse and that I had upcoming medical testing that would prove that my waist measurement issues were a medical problem (and reiterated that I had diagnostic testing that showed multiple low pituitary hormones and those hormones are what controls the metabolism, fat storage, and body composition). I wrote about my appointments with the endo doc and Dr. H and any updated information I could add. I added 5 attachments to the appeal. The first one was my original rebuttal because I wanted whoever was reading it to review what I had previously written, an updated medical summary, the doctor notes from the endocrinology appt showing that a diagnosis had not been made because he wanted to perform additional testing, a spreadsheet with my weekly waist measurements from unit PTLs that showed a drastic fluctuation in measurements from week to week from being under the passing measurement to failing by 3 inches despite a 30lb loss in the last 8 months (with the help of Dr. H prescribing me Phentermine to help and having to keep my calorie intake dangerously low just to lose a few lbs), and 51 pages worth of excerpts, studies, charts, and articles written by medical professionals showing how each hormone affects the body when it is low, and how Cushing's Disease and pituitary adenomas cause similar issues and I highlighted everywhere it said something about weight gain, fat storage, or metabolism. A week later on 7 Mar 16, the 1st Sgt came to the lab to tell me that the MDG CC rejected my appeal and that the paperwork was going to legal that day and it will be forwarded to the FW CC or the Vice FW Commander when they finish their review.
I have no idea when I am going to find out what the final verdict is since that "3 days to respond" rule apparently only applies to the person being punished. I can’t really involve anyone in my leadership because they are pretty annoyed with me and since everyone in the MDG works for my commander it would negatively affect them if they did help, and I don’t feel like my ADC lawyer is too awfully invested in this since I have only heard from him when he reviewed my rebuttal and appeal even though he mentioned that he could talk to the MDG CC and FW CC in advance for me. I am still the NCOIC of the lab despite being the lowest ranking NCO and I had all of my airmen removed from being my subordinates in addition to the demotion. I have to do whatever I can to fight this because it sounds like I am going to be in the AF for quite a while due to this MEB process/legal battle and I don’t want to face any more demotions for something that is not in my control.
How did anyone with experience in demotion try to fight it? Did you file an article 138, contact a congressman, or IG complaint while you were in or did you wait until you were out? I am also curious about what could happen if I do find a way to prove my condition is the cause of all of this when my new tests this month get done. The demotion regulation explains how to make the date of rank for demotions and says if it is reinstated that they make the DOR the day they reinstate your rank (basically taking away 3 years of TIG from me if that happens). I don’t feel like that is right if it turns out that the command made a decision off of incomplete information, but I will fight that battle when it comes.
I will start with the issue of PT failures and how that evolved in to a demotion. I had a squadron CC who gave me an LOR for a failed PT waist measurement right before he PCSed. His replacement came in and of course I failed another one 90 days later and he gave me an LOR and added a UIF since it was my 2nd one. I took a 3rd test and miraculously passed and I also passed the 4th one 6 months later. Due to the failure, and being on a strict medical profile that prohibited me from TDYs due to all of the appointments I had, I was not able to go to "in residence" NCOA. This wasn't too bad because you are considered PME complete once you do Course 15 (which I had done). My Sq CC was pretty upset about this and actually had my profile changed so that I could go. I fought that because at the time they thought I had Multiple Sclerosis and that was pretty much all I could think about. I won, but it caused a lot of tension between my leadership and me. That year I received a bad EPR despite the growing medical evidence. Fast-forward to 19 months after the 2 failures and I had another test scheduled (Dec 2015). I knew I was close on the measurement, so I basically starved myself since I am physically not able to do much and lost 10lbs. I passed my mock test (1.5 inches under) and I was pretty confident, but showed up to the testing center and actually GAINED 3 inches from the previous official PT test and of course earned myself a 2nd bad EPR. This is the part where the demotion came in. I had an initial meeting with the Sq CC, 1st Sgt, and my Sq Superintendent (my supervisor/flight CC was out on con leave) in Jan 2016. I explained the situation to them and told them how surprised I was that this happened and updated them on my medical issues and what I was doing to address the problem. I was surprised again a few days later, when I was told to report in service dress and received the demotion paperwork.
Since 2011 I have been having chronic pain issues and issues with my large joints dislocating and tearing of the tendons (shoulder and hips). I saw Dr. F and he sent me to a few Orthopedic docs and surgeons and I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, arthritis and labral tears and I was sent in for right hip surgery in November 2013 (after fighting with tricare to have it approved for almost a year, I finally found a military doctor who was qualified to perform the surgery. The recovery for that surgery was horrible and it felt like it took forever and honestly some days it still hurts like it did before. After that, I started to have more issues with mental health, low immunity and inability to heal from even minor injuries, endocrine system, neurological issues, my memory and ability to process information (not a good thing as far as work is concerned), pain in my joints, bones, and skin, and sleep issues. I documented all of this over the years and I have a 4 page and growing summary of diagnoses, meds, and symptoms that I give to all of the doctors I see and I make sure I update it any time something changes or something new starts happening no matter how small because I am afraid they will miss something important since my medical record is pretty huge now.
When Doctor F left, I got transferred to Doctor H and I was glad to have a fresh pair of eyes to review my case and I love the fact that he listens to me and orders tests if I request them. He sent me to a few specialists including pain management, more ortho docs, neurology/physical medicine who diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, physical therapy (for months at a time), mental health, cardiology, and most recently (March 2016) I was sent to endocrinology due to some abnormal lab results showing that all of my hormones came back low. He has helped me by working with tricare, referrals, and patient travel to get me to all of these doctors despite the all of the frustration of dealing with the red tape and waiting weeks to months to get in to see these specialists. Captain H has been on my side this entire time and he told me a while back that he didn't want to send me to the DAWG for an MEB until he knew what was causing my issues and he has tried to treat all of the symptoms that I have despite the lack of a diagnosis and multiple "misdiagnoses" from the different specialist to include Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, psychological issues that were causing the symptoms (basically saying it is in my head), bone issues, muscle pain (myofascial tension), and many other theories that made sense at the time but were ruled out with testing.
I have done research for MEBs and demotions using every AFI, Internal MDGIs, DODIs, some of the MDG civilians that knew how things worked, and any links I could find on the internet (pebforum.com has helped). In my 11.5 years I have learned quite a bit about how other sections/parts of the medical field work just from being around it, but I am in no way an expert on administrative processes in the MDG.
When I got the demotion package from my Sq CC, I wrote a 3 page rebuttal and made sure to include how my waist measurement went up despite losing weight, general medical stuff, what I have tried to correct the situation and the general "who I am" paragraphs that were suggested by the ADC's template, and talked about my career and how despite all of the bad EPRs that I had only missed the MSgt cutoff score by 0.09 points my first time in 2015 and that I was pretty sure I would get it in 2016 (I was trying to steer them more towards removing my eligibility to make MSgt instead of taking my TSgt stripe which would be like taking 2 stripes over a medical problem). I also attached that medical summary sheet that I have been keeping, the last 6 years worth of medical records because I thought sharing my personal medical records would show that I was serious about this issue, and the AF's Medical Standards Directory that lists all retention standards by disease with my diagnoses at the time highlighted and the pages marked with tabs. I was also told that my case had been sent to the DAWG and I was "returned to duty." This ruling made my commander think I was “fine” and of course he forwarded the case to base legal. They held on to it for almost a month before it was sent to the MDG CC.
I made a meeting with the head of the DAWG (a doc in Flight Med) and asked him what was going on with my MEB. He explained that he couldn't MEB me because they didn't know exactly what was causing my issues and that Fibromyalgia wasn't a condition that required an MEB. I disagreed with him and showed him the Medical Standards Directory and we talked about my medical issues. He informed me that he would reconsider my MEB after my endocrinology appt and I also asked him to please talk to me Sq CC again and explain to him what is going on with my case and that "returned to duty" doesn't mean that nothing is wrong with me.
In Mar 2016, I was called to the MDG CC's office along with the 1st Sgt, my supervisor/flight commander, my Sq CC, and me in for a meeting. He said he was holding off on his decision until after the endocrinology appt. He also wrote a letter that held off my PT retest date for another 30 days (until April 2016).
I went to the endo doctor (a civilian off base) on 22 Mar 16 and he went over my case with me and he ordered a bunch of tests to do after I have stopped all hormones for >4 weeks. He told me that he is ruling out/confirming if I have high cortisol possibly cause by a pituitary adenoma (tumor) or Cushing's Disease and testing a long list of hormones. Both of these diseases and the low hormones all have multiple symptoms which happen to include inhibited ability to lose weight and fat accumulating around the mid section along with some others that I have listed above. No diagnosis was made since this was an initial appointment.
A few days later I was called in to the MDG CC's office again with the previously invited members. He said that the Flight Med doc talked to the Endo doc and that there was not a reason that I couldn't lose weight and that they were taking my TSgt stripe and making me a SSgt effective 28 Mar16. The MDG CC also stated that with the new information, the flight doctor was going to start a package for my MEB (even though no new information came from the endocrinology appointment). I was in complete disbelief and couldn't find any words to say. I immediately returned to my office in the lab and emailed the Flight Med doc because I wanted to find out exactly what was said between the 2 doctors because I am a little suspicious of how/what questions were asked (who as of 9Apr16 has still not replied or made an attempt to talk to me), the ADC lawyer and his paralegal, and I called the Endo doc's office to get a copy of the notes from my appointment.
I turned in the appeal package on 31 Mar 16 and I once again requested that my rank be reinstated (to TSgt as of May 2013) because I am still doing my job as the NCOIC of the lab and covering all of my other duties and projects despite everything that is going on. I explained that my symptoms have progressively gotten worse and that I had upcoming medical testing that would prove that my waist measurement issues were a medical problem (and reiterated that I had diagnostic testing that showed multiple low pituitary hormones and those hormones are what controls the metabolism, fat storage, and body composition). I wrote about my appointments with the endo doc and Dr. H and any updated information I could add. I added 5 attachments to the appeal. The first one was my original rebuttal because I wanted whoever was reading it to review what I had previously written, an updated medical summary, the doctor notes from the endocrinology appt showing that a diagnosis had not been made because he wanted to perform additional testing, a spreadsheet with my weekly waist measurements from unit PTLs that showed a drastic fluctuation in measurements from week to week from being under the passing measurement to failing by 3 inches despite a 30lb loss in the last 8 months (with the help of Dr. H prescribing me Phentermine to help and having to keep my calorie intake dangerously low just to lose a few lbs), and 51 pages worth of excerpts, studies, charts, and articles written by medical professionals showing how each hormone affects the body when it is low, and how Cushing's Disease and pituitary adenomas cause similar issues and I highlighted everywhere it said something about weight gain, fat storage, or metabolism. A week later on 7 Mar 16, the 1st Sgt came to the lab to tell me that the MDG CC rejected my appeal and that the paperwork was going to legal that day and it will be forwarded to the FW CC or the Vice FW Commander when they finish their review.
I have no idea when I am going to find out what the final verdict is since that "3 days to respond" rule apparently only applies to the person being punished. I can’t really involve anyone in my leadership because they are pretty annoyed with me and since everyone in the MDG works for my commander it would negatively affect them if they did help, and I don’t feel like my ADC lawyer is too awfully invested in this since I have only heard from him when he reviewed my rebuttal and appeal even though he mentioned that he could talk to the MDG CC and FW CC in advance for me. I am still the NCOIC of the lab despite being the lowest ranking NCO and I had all of my airmen removed from being my subordinates in addition to the demotion. I have to do whatever I can to fight this because it sounds like I am going to be in the AF for quite a while due to this MEB process/legal battle and I don’t want to face any more demotions for something that is not in my control.
How did anyone with experience in demotion try to fight it? Did you file an article 138, contact a congressman, or IG complaint while you were in or did you wait until you were out? I am also curious about what could happen if I do find a way to prove my condition is the cause of all of this when my new tests this month get done. The demotion regulation explains how to make the date of rank for demotions and says if it is reinstated that they make the DOR the day they reinstate your rank (basically taking away 3 years of TIG from me if that happens). I don’t feel like that is right if it turns out that the command made a decision off of incomplete information, but I will fight that battle when it comes.