MEB on Ed Delay for Vet Corps

Hello,

I am looking for advice/personal experiences on my situation involving the MEB. I was honorably discharged from the Army in 2007 in order to participate in the Green to Gold Scholarship Program. I was placed on IRR and fell under HRC for reporting purposes. When I commissioned in 2011, I was given an Education Delay for Veterinary Corps and remained on IRR (I did not get an HPSP scholarship). During my time in school, I herniated my L5 disk during a crossfit workout (that required a ridiculous amount of time and treatment, but has now developed into DJD and caused other issues) and I also developed a heart arrhythmia that I am symptomatic to. HRC received my PHA and requested all of my medical records pertaining to both issues. About a week ago, I received an option letter from the HRC Command Surgeon. The letter stated that I was found unfit for duty and gave me 4 options. 1. Request PEB (to appeal findings), 2. Request MEB for disability compensation, 3. Retirement, and 4. Discharge. I have spoken with JAG and we believe my best option is the MEB for disability compensation. Is there anyone out there that has been in my situation? Since I have already been found unfit for duty, does the board automatically go over my active duty medical records that I send and calculate my disability rating? Will I have to go to more medical appointments (even though they have very recent and updated medical records from this year)? Any advice would be extremely helpful. Thank you so much!

Nicole
 
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I should also mention I have 6.5 years of AD service and had several back injuries, fractured leg, and fractured feet during that time.
 
The MEB requires an exam of record, so they should get a new exam to decide the extent of the disabilities for compensation purposes. When a doc does a normal exam they are/should be more concerned with what they can do to treat you and often skip over information that is needed for rating.

i.e. To treat the back condition they mostly want to know where the damage is and what the area looks like under imaging. This doesn't help much when it comes to the rating, where they need to know how far you can bend in different directions. Its pretty unlikely the doc cares how far you can bend when deciding if surgery vs PT is a better option, so probably never measured it.
 
My ortho surgeon did use a goniometer to test flexion and extension. He recommends another series of epidurals, which I have had in the past for the same injury. I imagine the MEB will still want to set up appointments, though. They never make it easy.

My cardiac specialist ordered an event monitor for me as well as a stress test. That's how we definitively diagnosed the arrhythmia that was causing me to pass out during cardio activities.

A lot has been done already. I guess this process is just a little overwhelming for me.
 
AuburnVet said:
Hello,

I am looking for advice/personal experiences on my situation involving the MEB. I was honorably discharged from the Army in 2007 in order to participate in the Green to Gold Scholarship Program. I was placed on IRR and fell under HRC for reporting purposes. When I commissioned in 2011, I was given an Education Delay for Veterinary Corps and remained on IRR (I did not get an HPSP scholarship). During my time in school, I herniated my L5 disk during a crossfit workout (that required a ridiculous amount of time and treatment, but has now developed into DJD and caused other issues) and I also developed a heart arrhythmia that I am symptomatic to. HRC received my PHA and requested all of my medical records pertaining to both issues. About a week ago, I received an option letter from the HRC Command Surgeon. The letter stated that I was found unfit for duty and gave me 4 options. 1. Request PEB (to appeal findings), 2. Request MEB for disability compensation, 3. Retirement, and 4. Discharge. I have spoken with JAG and we believe my best option is the MEB for disability compensation. Is there anyone out there that has been in my situation? Since I have already been found unfit for duty, does the board automatically go over my active duty medical records that I send and calculate my disability rating? Will I have to go to more medical appointments (even though they have very recent and updated medical records from this year)? Any advice would be extremely helpful. Thank you so much!

Nicole
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AuburnVet said:
I should also mention I have 6.5 years of AD service and had several back injuries, fractured leg, and fractured feet during that time.
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AuburnVet said:
My ortho surgeon did use a goniometer to test flexion and extension. He recommends another series of epidurals, which I have had in the past for the same injury. I imagine the MEB will still want to set up appointments, though. They never make it easy.

My cardiac specialist ordered an event monitor for me as well as a stress test. That's how we definitively diagnosed the arrhythmia that was causing me to pass out during cardio activities.

A lot has been done already. I guess this process is just a little overwhelming for me.
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Welcome to the PEB Forum! :)

In retrospect many many years ago, I was a product of the military Active Duty ROTC Scholarship Program (now called the revised Green to Gold Scholarship Program), participated in the Educational Delay Program for Signal Corps albeit assigned to an active military USAR unit by choice until called back onto military active duty as a Commissioned Officer!

Indeed, it saddens me to hear about your current situation! Hmm, did the USAHRC Command Surgeon letter mention which PDES (e.g., Request MEB for disability compensation option) would you come under whether the "DoD IDES" process or the "DoD LDES" process? :confused:

With that all said, take care, please continue to get well, and enjoy life! :cool:

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
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It is definitely a sad situation, since my ultimate goal was to be a Veterinarian for the Army. Unfortunately, I can't do much if I'm unconscious :( The option letter did not mention what process I would be going through. I did speak with a very nice lady at the MEB office that gave me a lot of great information. I have all of my AD records and I just recently requested complete copies of all of my VA records while on IRR. I hope those records will be here by next week, so I can review them and send everything off.

I was given some advice by a friend I served with on AD and he said to highlight/mark/notate anything and everything that would strengthen my case. I've already been determined to be unfit for duty, but I need to ensure that I can prove my AD injuries have been "aggravated" at this point. Any comments on this?
 
AuburnVet said:
It is definitely a sad situation, since my ultimate goal was to be a Veterinarian for the Army. Unfortunately, I can't do much if I'm unconscious :( The option letter did not mention what process I would be going through. I did speak with a very nice lady at the MEB office that gave me a lot of great information. I have all of my AD records and I just recently requested complete copies of all of my VA records while on IRR. I hope those records will be here by next week, so I can review them and send everything off.

I was given some advice by a friend I served with on AD and he said to highlight/mark/notate anything and everything that would strengthen my case. I've already been determined to be unfit for duty, but I need to ensure that I can prove my AD injuries have been "aggravated" at this point. Any comments on this?
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Indeed, it's very unfortunate and I am sorry too albeit its probable in your best interest to again contact that "very nice lady at the MEB office..." then make the inquiry as to if are you going to be processed under the DoD IDES or DoD LDES?

Well, I was informed by a DoVA representative not to highlight/mark/notate anything extra onto your medical records/documentation because that would slow the process down for your particular case file while converting it to a digital file.

Hmm, I don't know about being "aggravated" at this point albeit I do know that your medical evidence/documentation must show "chronic" medical conditions in order to be eligible to receive DoVA disability compensation.

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
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