PDBR Case(s)

commosgt

commosgt

PEB Forum Regular Member
PEB Forum Veteran
I am curious to know if anyone knows what cases the PDBR are currently working on. Secondly, how did you find that information. Did you have to call someone or is it published. If you called someone to find out where your case is as far as being adjudicated please publish your information so that other veterans may know. The more information that is shared it will benefit everyone.
 
commosgt said:
I am curious to know if anyone knows what cases the PDBR are currently working on. Secondly, how did you find that information. Did you have to call someone or is it published. If you called someone to find out where your case is as far as being adjudicated please publish your information so that other veterans may know. The more information that is shared it will benefit everyone.
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My husband went through the PDBR. They will send you a letter stating that you are being sent to the board. I would highly encourage you to be pro active and call them. My husband called them everyother week (because his wife kept pushing him to). It was a good thing he did too, because they had a huge hang up with the VA not sending them the records that they requested. It took over a year for them to rule on him. I don't know the phone number anymore, but I do know that it is listed in these threads. I think it is also listed on the letter that they send you when they tell you that they have received your packet for the board.
 
Trish, thank you so much for the information and I am sure everyone including myself appreciates that. I am curious how long did it take from the time that your husband submitted the packet ie DD-294 till you received your first letter?
 
commosgt said:
Trish, thank you so much for the information and I am sure everyone including myself appreciates that. I am curious how long did it take from the time that your husband submitted the packet ie DD-294 till you received your first letter?
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Wow that was so long ago. I don't think the first letter took very long. It stated that they received the packet. Let me see if I can dig it up.

Ok I found the first letter. He submitted the packet dated January 19, 2009-(we had overnighted it, and put every medical record and shread of evidence that we could dig up in it) and the first letter was dated January 22, 2009. It states on the first letter that all correspondence should be addressed to: SAF/ MRBR (PDBR UNIT), 550 C Street West, Suite 41, Randolph AFB TX 78150-4743. It also has the phone number of 210-565-3256 on it!

The last letter he got from them was on March 3, 2010 with the disability retirement recommendation.

What I thought was funny is that we paid a lot of money when we overnighted the packet to the PDBR and included a complete copy of his medical records, both VA and Army (it was a large box) and yet the PDBR kept saying the hold up was that they needed the VA records. The PDBR kept requesting the records from the VA and of course the VA wasn't giving them the records. This went on for months. I can remember my husband calling the PDBR everyother week and then calling the VA record department right after for a long time.

The person at the PDBR that kept speaking to my husband did seem helpful, even though I am sure that they were tired of hearing from him.

Good luck, and thank you for your service!

Don't give up, we are all in this mess together.
 
My case is in the greater 400 range. I submitted in Aug of 09 file went to adjucation unit in Feb 10. Called today said still processing but that there has been recent activity on my case (prob moved to rear of line). Told to hang in there and that I would prob here from the Sec of Navy before they did. Told the recent hold ups have come from the opening of the PTSD cases added from the lawsuit. Hopes this helps. Rizzo you heard anything new??
 
After reading these posts, I am under the impression that I will be waiting forever... I sent in my application August 9, 2010 and received my letter from the Office of the Assistant Secretary (stating that they received my app) on August 30, 2010. I was told that the whole process could take anywhere from 3-9 months. I haven't heard anything about them transferring my case to the adjudication unit. Any words of wisdom for the long wait ahead? Also, I was told that medical bills from the time that I separated until the decision could be reimbursed, does anyone know what all I would need to submit for that? I was given a severance payment when I separated, 1 1/2 years later I filed with the VA, ended up getting a much better disability rating and when I started receiving compensation, they took the severance pay back(which is totally fair).... My other question is, if my case goes through on the positive note, are they going to take the severance pay back again? I sent in VA papers with my app that clearly state the severance pay was repaid... Just wondering what to expect.
 
mahenry2582,

My best advice to you is to relax and keep yourself busy doing other things. With that said I would check with the PDBR every two to three weeks for an update. Believe me when i say that my experience with the VA has taught me a thing or two about playing the waiting game (up to 24 months) on a decision. Secondly, my own experience with the PDBR as of this week after talking with them is that once they receive the application (even if you submit supporting documents) they are still going to verify by getting infomation from your military service and the Veteran Affairs. Once they have gotten everything they need then and only then do they move forward to adjudication. The toughest thing i have found as well as what i was told is that the VA takes the longest to get information from (pain in the A$$). Now, knowing this from experience and what is currently going on, what i would do is call the PDBR and talk with Virginia (nicely) as i did which i asked her if she could make an entry into the system if that the PDBR is having issues with the VA to contact me via phone or by letter or by email and she stated she would add that information and actually thanked me for offering. Granted I could do all of these things to help them but in turn in the end be denied retirement. My thing is if it happens well atleast i did all i could do to better myself. Maybe just maybe by helping them they may help me but that is not always the case beleive me i have been denied lots of times with the VA. My thing with them is i didn't quit!!! Hope this helps! PM me if you need to!!
 
mahenry2582 said:
After reading these posts, I am under the impression that I will be waiting forever... I sent in my application August 9, 2010 and received my letter from the Office of the Assistant Secretary (stating that they received my app) on August 30, 2010. I was told that the whole process could take anywhere from 3-9 months. I haven't heard anything about them transferring my case to the adjudication unit. Any words of wisdom for the long wait ahead? Also, I was told that medical bills from the time that I separated until the decision could be reimbursed, does anyone know what all I would need to submit for that? I was given a severance payment when I separated, 1 1/2 years later I filed with the VA, ended up getting a much better disability rating and when I started receiving compensation, they took the severance pay back(which is totally fair).... My other question is, if my case goes through on the positive note, are they going to take the severance pay back again? I sent in VA papers with my app that clearly state the severance pay was repaid... Just wondering what to expect.
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My husband was awarded retirement via the PDBR. What I did to get back part of the medical bills was:
1. I waited till Tricare kicked in. When it kicks in they back date it to when you were separated.
2. I called Tricare and explained the situation to them.
3. I had to fill out a form from Tricare to look at the old claims and to process them.
4. I had to call and ask every clinic and hospital to send the claims to Tricare. I tried submitting what I had and tricare would not take the bills I had saved.
5. Then I kept calling Tricare to see if they received all the claims.

Be prepared to make a lot of phone calls back and forth between Tricare and the clinics. The clinics don't understand why you want them to submit old stuff that has already been paid, and of course Tricare doesn't want to look at old stuff.

Tricare only pays the claims under Tricare standard. They do not give you the "prime" rate, so it is a lot lower.

My husband underwent surgery twice about a year after he got out of the military and we had paid a good amount of money for this. It was all service connected, but the VA refused to see him because they stated since he was rated at 0 by the army and had no rating from the VA (they hadn't finished processing his rating yet) they wouldn't do anything. Tricare did pay for a small portion for his out of pocket expenses for this service connected surgeries after he was retired. We were so happy when we got the check in the mail from the hospital for this. We both smiled and giggled, because of this small victory!D

My daughter is special needs, and her medical bills are huge- and I am soooo happy that we have insurance for her now.

I don't know how else to get back anything for the medical bills. If anyone else has any ideas please let us all know!

If you payed back the severance money they should not try to recoup the money again. My husband had paid back every dime prior to being awarded retirement, and the army has not tried to recoup the money twice. He did call DFAS when he was awarded retirement to make sure that they had the correct home address, phone number, bank information and that they knew that the severance money was repaid in full. They were able to verify that it was paid in full. It did take DFAS a few weeks after he received the letter recommending retirement to get him back into DFAS's system, so you will have to be patient with them- they probably will not have all the information as soon as you get the recommended retirement letter.

I wish you the best of luck on the long wait ahead- hopefully the PDBR is working out all the little kinks and will move faster for you!
 
Trish,

Did your husband have to pay the Tricare Premiums from back to the date of his retirement?

I got a bill of over 1,400 dollars for the SPB dating back to my retirement.

I'm really upset over this whole severance pay thing, i am going to sue.
 
seminole72 said:
Trish,

Did your husband have to pay the Tricare Premiums from back to the date of his retirement?

I got a bill of over 1,400 dollars for the SPB dating back to my retirement.

I'm really upset over this whole severance pay thing, i am going to sue.
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No we did not have to pay back premiums for tricare, you only pay premiums for tricare prime. But since we didn't have prime during that time- tricare only paid the standard rate (much lower than prime).

He did get a few letters stating that he owed for survivor benefit plan. It was ironic though, because before he got the bill someone called him and told him that the army would try to screw him on it, and to call him when we got the bill and he would help us get rid of it. I will try to speak with my husband and see if he still has the information on how to get rid of it. There is a way- and it didn't seem too hard to do. My husband and I have not gotten rid of the survivor benefit plan yet though because I want to research it more before I decide if I want to keep it or not. We have a child who has some serious medical issues and it is my understanding that if my husband and I were to pass on then she might be able to keep half of his retirement with this plan, and so I need to research this more.

I just talked to my husband the phone number is 216-204-2137. He cannot remember the guys name (he thinks it is Ken)
 
Trish, thank you for the information. I spoke with the PDBR this morning and was told that they just received my "STR" papers and my case went for review with the PDBR late last week. The lady said it would take about 2 weeks before it will be sent to the last stage and that she didn't know how long that would take. I sent every VA letter I had with my application so hopefully that helped. I even sent my continued evaluation letters. I have heard that since I have a 50% rating with the VA, that is a good thing for my case. I also have a special needs child and this would be a wonderful thing if it is a positive outcome. My husband has had surgery twice on his ankle (we think he broke it jumping out of airplanes while active duty) and we have been fighting to prove that it happened while he was active duty. They never did Xrays when he went for treatment (just told him it was a sprain) so it's hard to prove. We found out it was broken after his separation. We just found out that he has to have surgery again and the last one cost $40,000. This has been a tough time and we are hoping for a good outcome. Waiting is not really a problem. We had to wait for almost 2 years on my decision from the VA. Everything is slow with the government! Thanks again for your reply!
 
mahenry2582 said:
Trish, thank you for the information. I spoke with the PDBR this morning and was told that they just received my "STR" papers and my case went for review with the PDBR late last week. The lady said it would take about 2 weeks before it will be sent to the last stage and that she didn't know how long that would take. I sent every VA letter I had with my application so hopefully that helped. I even sent my continued evaluation letters. I have heard that since I have a 50% rating with the VA, that is a good thing for my case. I also have a special needs child and this would be a wonderful thing if it is a positive outcome. My husband has had surgery twice on his ankle (we think he broke it jumping out of airplanes while active duty) and we have been fighting to prove that it happened while he was active duty. They never did Xrays when he went for treatment (just told him it was a sprain) so it's hard to prove. We found out it was broken after his separation. We just found out that he has to have surgery again and the last one cost $40,000. This has been a tough time and we are hoping for a good outcome. Waiting is not really a problem. We had to wait for almost 2 years on my decision from the VA. Everything is slow with the government! Thanks again for your reply!
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You are so welcome!
I think you are right that since the VA has you rated at 50 percent that you will probably get it.
It is nuts how it takes so long for the VA to decide anything. And I think the first time you put in a claim they just have a rubber stamp that says denied for everything. I think that the system is just too overwhelmed with the number of vets needing help that they are not able to process or even look at what is being asked of them. It is a sad situation, that I hope will change.
Thank you for my freedom, and if I can answer any other question you or anyone else has, I will.
 
I received a letter from the PDBR Intake Unit stating that my application had been received on 15 November 2009. I then received a letter from the PDBR Intake Unit stating my package was being send to the PDBR in Crystal City Virginia on 15 March 2010. Today I called the PDBR Intake Unit, (210) 565-3256, and they told me a decision had been rendered and their recommendation had been sent out to the Secretary of the Navy this morning. I have no idea how long it will take for the Sec'y of the Navy to sign the recommendation but I think it is approximately 30-60 days. I will keep you posted when I get my fedex from the Sec'y of the Navy.
 
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