National guard 20 years MEB/PEB lost

L

laura160

New Member
Registered Member
I'm in the army national guard with 20 years. I just started the MEB process and don't know what to expect or what I should prepare for or how.
 
laura160 said:
I'm in the army national guard with 20 years. I just started the MEB process and don't know what to expect or what I should prepare for or how.
Click to expand...
20 good years? Are you being put in non duty related IDES or regular IDES with LOD?
 
laura160 said:
20 good years, yes. I believe it is regular IDES since my paperwork says on duty.
Click to expand...
Look at your condition or conditions that are being referred as unfitting and see what the symptoms are compared to the VA ratings. In IDES the DOD% uses the VA's rating for unfitting conditions. Look at what other conditions may be unfitting and if there are any of them start building your case so that they can be added at the FPEB stage. You want to study up on each condition and the symptoms and how that correlates to VA ratings to ensure you know how to communicate to the C&P examiner to ensure you get the correct ratings. Make sure all conditions that affect your ability to do your job are listed by your commander on the commander's impact statement. Write it up for them and see if they use your wording. If so, that helps you a lot. The 20 good years is nice because it gives you something to fall back on. If your DOD% is less than 30% you will decline severance and be placed in gray area retirement. You can't accept severance because then you would forfeit your earned Guard pension and tricare.

I always recommend hiring a private IDES attorney. They are expensive but having one that is dedicated from the start will ensure you get the best outcome. Your goal is to earn an immediate retirement. Some other perks could be tax exempt pension and or getting a higher DOD% which is important because until you reach the age for your Guard retirement any VA compensation you receive will offset your medical retirement pension.

Sending you some references now for attorneys. Way better to hire dedicated one than to rely on the free Jag services where they have way too many cases to give any one Soldier the proper time they need. Also, Jag typically gives advice and input but have you do all the work. Pretty hard to write up a rebuttal to a NARSUM or request a VARR to change a DOD% when you have never done it before.
 
Provis said:
Look at your condition or conditions that are being referred as unfitting and see what the symptoms are compared to the VA ratings. In IDES the DOD% uses the VA's rating for unfitting conditions. Look at what other conditions may be unfitting and if there are any of them start building your case so that they can be added at the FPEB stage. You want to study up on each condition and the symptoms and how that correlates to VA ratings to ensure you know how to communicate to the C&P examiner to ensure you get the correct ratings. Make sure all conditions that affect your ability to do your job are listed by your commander on the commander's impact statement. Write it up for them and see if they use your wording. If so, that helps you a lot. The 20 good years is nice because it gives you something to fall back on. If your DOD% is less than 30% you will decline severance and be placed in gray area retirement. You can't accept severance because then you would forfeit your earned Guard pension and tricare.

I always recommend hiring a private IDES attorney. They are expensive but having one that is dedicated from the start will ensure you get the best outcome. Your goal is to earn an immediate retirement. Some other perks could be tax exempt pension and or getting a higher DOD% which is important because until you reach the age for your Guard retirement any VA compensation you receive will offset your medical retirement pension.

Sending you some references now for attorneys. Way better to hire dedicated one than to rely on the free Jag services where they have way too many cases to give any one Soldier the proper time they need. Also, Jag typically gives advice and input but have you do all the work. Pretty hard to write up a rebuttal to a NARSUM or request a VARR to change a DOD% when you have never done it before.
Click to expand...
Provis, would you please share those references with me too? I am in a similar situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top