Guidance for a confussed TBI soilder

[JHilliard806]

Background: MEB/PEB 2008

DOD 30% for 8599-8510 Residuals, Right hand injury, Postoperative (Major) AR 40-501, ch.3-41 e.(1)

Other conditions listed on PEB DA Form 3947: PTSD, Left Knee Pain, Left Shoulder Pain, Low Back Pain.

Initial VA rating 70% Currently 100%

After leaving service VA and Community Care determined I had TBI with Vertigo, Sleep Apnea, Migraines, Tinnitus, Positional Vertigo, Bilateral Hearing Loss, Loss of Sense of Taste, Loss of Sense of Smell. All service connected and Gulf War incurred.

Do I have a course of action to have my DOD rating increased? I have in-service medical records and a Command Letter showing Combat PTSD event, Multiple instances of exposure to Mortar attacks, and Blast Exposure from firing 155mm in combat (Field Artillery MOS).

I am very slow to react and it took me about 2 hours to piece this together. So please bare with me as I respond. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Provis]

Background: MEB/PEB 2008

DOD 30% for 8599-8510 Residuals, Right hand injury, Postoperative (Major) AR 40-501, ch.3-41 e.(1)

Other conditions listed on PEB DA Form 3947: PTSD, Left Knee Pain, Left Shoulder Pain, Low Back Pain.

Initial VA rating 70% Currently 100%

After leaving service VA and Community Care determined I had TBI with Vertigo, Sleep Apnea, Migraines, Tinnitus, Positional Vertigo, Bilateral Hearing Loss, Loss of Sense of Taste, Loss of Sense of Smell. All service connected and Gulf War incurred.

Do I have a course of action to have my DOD rating increased? I have in-service medical records and a Command Letter showing Combat PTSD event, Multiple instances of exposure to Mortar attacks, and Blast Exposure from firing 155mm in combat (Field Artillery MOS).

I am very slow to react and it took me about 2 hours to piece this together. So please bare with me as I respond. Any help is greatly appreciated.

have you considered applying for CRSC? that would allow you to recoup your earned longevity pension due to the VA offset.

Retro upgrade dod% would be super hard because they would base it off of symptoms at the time and not later on. Also, its meant for error or injustice. If you did not appeal anything via FPEB it would be hard to argue that there was an error or injustice. Even if you were to increase your DOD% it may still not net you any more compensation if your VA compensation is still higher than your chapter 61 pension with a higher DOD%.

CRSC seems to the better course. You can apply and get back paid up to 6 years. How long did you serve? The longer you served the higher your earned longevity pension is and the more you would get back via CRSC assuming your CRSC% is high enough.

 

[JHilliard806]

I was looking at that. Someone stirred me into looking into ABCRM?? because my PEB/MEB was done with retention standards and not VARSAD??? Said that was possibly grounds to have the higher rating the CRSC. I get all this confused but have all my records from in service showing treatment and requests for treatment for everything the VA rated me. My whole MEB/PEB took 5 months and seems like it missed a lot.

 

[DaveK]

I was looking at that. Someone stirred me into looking into ABCRM?? because my PEB/MEB was done with retention standards and not VARSAD??? Said that was possibly grounds to have the higher rating the CRSC. I get all this confused but have all my records from in service showing treatment and requests for treatment for everything the VA rated me. My whole MEB/PEB took 5 months and seems like it missed a lot.

So what are you hoping to get by increasing your DoD percentage?

 

[Provis]

I was looking at that. Someone stirred me into looking into ABCRM?? because my PEB/MEB was done with retention standards and not VARSAD??? Said that was possibly grounds to have the higher rating the CRSC. I get all this confused but have all my records from in service showing treatment and requests for treatment for everything the VA rated me. My whole MEB/PEB took 5 months and seems like it missed a lot.

I think you were misinformed. For a condition to be unfitting or fitting has to do with whether it inhibits your ability to do your job. Those retention standards aren't binding. I highly doubt you are going to win and if you did there is a high likelihood that it wouldn't increase your compensation. Most people have no clue how the LDES or the current IDES process works and what should be unfitting and given a DOD% or fitting which means no DOD%. The VA will rate you for every condition. A rating from the VA doesn't mean that the condition should or would have been found unfit and given a DOD%.

Have you applied for CRSC? How long did you serve? CRSC is the answer to claw back money lost due to the VA offset. You can get an extra check for the money lost up to the amount of your earned longevity pension. The value of your earned longevity pension depends on how long you have served and your rank since the computation is % longevity times the average of your Highest 36 months of pay.