Physical Disability Board of Review Update

guntruckhammer,

It is important to remember that one cannot collect CRSC unless they have chosen to have their DoD retirement pay reduced by the amount of their VA disability compensation (thus necessitating a VA rating).

Here's an "okay" website on CRSC: https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/crsc/faq.html

I say it is "okay" because it is very general and does not offer the good advice found on this forum. However, it does outline the general criteria for qualification and payout pretty well.
 
I'm sure everyone has heard about the PTSD lawsuit that is in the news. I have been a party to this suit since December of '08 and it is about time we started seeing some results. The thing I don't understand is CRSC and concurrent receipt. I was under the impression that if I was medically retired at 70% for a designated combat related injury and I received a 70% rating from the VA as well that I would receive both at the same time. At least that seems to have been the "spirit of the law" that Congress enacted. However, it looks like the federal government has indeed bastardized that spirit again and in looking it up recently, it looks like my retirement will be nowhere near that. Can anyone explain the current CRSC and/or concurrent receipt policies/laws? I don't understand why someone who may have sat behind a computer screen for 20 years and took a military retirement is given more consideration than a combat veteran who was medically retired due to his/her injuries in combat?? It's amazing how this country operates, honestly, how do these politicians even look at themselves in the mirror in the morning?!
 
I wish someone could explain it more clearly than mud. Chapter 61 retirees are supposed to be eligible now. Its crazy. I was given severance. So far I have paid about half of that back to the VA. When I finally get my 60% retirement, I wont get that bacause I have 100% IU from the VA? I am kind of lost but I applied for the CRSC anyway. You never know unless you ask.
 
Jnthnt87,

The PDBR is wrought with continuing problems. The PDBR should review all conditions but they often don’t, especially if the condition was not covered in the NARSUM or MEB. The MEB was required to cover all conditions per DoDI 1332.38. You may have to go to the BCMR to get the lupus issue reviewed. There is a legitimate reason why the VA rating will be different. They VA rates all service connected conditions and the DoD only rates conditions the PEB deems unfitting for military service. However, the military often arbitrarily decide which conditions are unfitting to keep the ratings below 30% and avoid having to pay disability retirement. However the VA rating and the DoD rating for an unfitting condition should be the same.

Mike
 
maparker said:
Jnthnt87,

The PDBR is wrought with continuing problems. The PDBR should review all conditions but they often don’t, especially if the condition was not covered in the NARSUM or MEB. The MEB was required to cover all conditions per DoDI 1332.38. You may have to go to the BCMR to get the lupus issue reviewed. There is a legitimate reason why the VA rating will be different. They VA rates all service connected conditions and the DoD only rates conditions the PEB deems unfitting for military service. However, the military often arbitrarily decide which conditions are unfitting to keep the ratings below 30% and avoid having to pay disability retirement. However the VA rating and the DoD rating for an unfitting condition should be the same.

Mike
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The conditions are listed on the MEB except for the lupus they have it as fybromyalgia but at any rate the rating fro the VA was 40% for that alone without the Lupus. The doctor who did my original board was so kind to write a letter that it was obviously present at a sever level at that time. I also had major depressive disorder listed on the MEB that they didn't claiming it was irrelevant but unfitting the VA gave me 30% for the that was illegal what they did to avoid retirement. Is it worth going to the BCMR to add Lupus at this point I have already submitted my application to the board a week ago should I have them hold for the out come of the BCMR with adding the Lupus. If they rate according to the VASRD it appears I have enough to get me over the 30% hurdle. What do you suggest do I waive my right to the PDBR just to get my retirement I deserve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I suggest you continue with the PDBR especially if the VA rated an unfitting condition at 30% or more. You may have to go to the BCMR as a separate action if other conditions should have been listed and/or found unfitting.

Mike
 
Jason,here is a question, now that the pdbr retirement is rolling in for many of us(veterans) after for some of us, many many years since 2003, should there not be a penalty impose on the government-dod, who willfully denied us the proper retirement when we was first seperated with 0 to 10%, and severance pay for combat-ptsd?it would help to ease some opf the hurt a lot of us(veterans and our families went through)while appealing, and waiting for the wrong that was done to us(veterans) by the government-dod to be corrected, there should be a late paymen charge, for each month we was denied,just like in the civillian sector, if a person was denied a promotion, or whatever and that company correct the wrong done by the company, a penalty, plus back pay is given to ease the pain and suffering cause by certain action, the same should apply to us(veterans) who was denied a retirement by the branch of service we were in, and now that the government has admitted and is attemping to fix the wrong that was done to us we should be compensated for each month, that we had to endure the hardship on our selves and families, it would be unfair to only awards us the back pay ,or to only give us the csrc -retirepay, after we had to fight to get what we truly deserve,and the pdbr board was put in place to correct that wrong by the government.WE DESERVE LATE PAYMENT PENALTY,
 
gelnhausen said:
Jason,here is a question, now that the pdbr retirement is rolling in for many of us(veterans) after for some of us, many many years since 2003, should there not be a penalty impose on the government-dod, who willfully denied us the proper retirement when we was first seperated with 0 to 10%, and severance pay for combat-ptsd?it would help to ease some opf the hurt a lot of us(veterans and our families went through)while appealing, and waiting for the wrong that was done to us(veterans) by the government-dod to be corrected, there should be a late paymen charge, for each month we was denied,just like in the civillian sector, if a person was denied a promotion, or whatever and that company correct the wrong done by the company, a penalty, plus back pay is given to ease the pain and suffering cause by certain action, the same should apply to us(veterans) who was denied a retirement by the branch of service we were in, and now that the government has admitted and is attemping to fix the wrong that was done to us we should be compensated for each month, that we had to endure the hardship on our selves and families, it would be unfair to only awards us the back pay ,or to only give us the csrc -retirepay, after we had to fight to get what we truly deserve,and the pdbr board was put in place to correct that wrong by the government.WE DESERVE LATE PAYMENT PENALTY,
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I think they sould atleast let us keep the severance. I already paid mine back.
 
Mrs Preston Called and said her computer went down so I needed to send her my copies again. She said shes working overtime to get stuff finished up.
 
gelnhausen said:
Jason,here is a question, now that the pdbr retirement is rolling in for many of us(veterans) after for some of us, many many years since 2003, should there not be a penalty impose on the government-dod, who willfully denied us the proper retirement when we was first seperated with 0 to 10%, and severance pay for combat-ptsd?it would help to ease some opf the hurt a lot of us(veterans and our families went through)while appealing, and waiting for the wrong that was done to us(veterans) by the government-dod to be corrected, there should be a late paymen charge, for each month we was denied,just like in the civillian sector, if a person was denied a promotion, or whatever and that company correct the wrong done by the company, a penalty, plus back pay is given to ease the pain and suffering cause by certain action, the same should apply to us(veterans) who was denied a retirement by the branch of service we were in, and now that the government has admitted and is attemping to fix the wrong that was done to us we should be compensated for each month, that we had to endure the hardship on our selves and families, it would be unfair to only awards us the back pay ,or to only give us the csrc -retirepay, after we had to fight to get what we truly deserve,and the pdbr board was put in place to correct that wrong by the government.WE DESERVE LATE PAYMENT PENALTY,
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I agree, that there should be interest payments for wrongfully withheld benefits. However, in order for this to happen, Congress would have to pass a law authorizing any such payments. The law does not currently provide for any such payment. Seems kind of shocking, especially when you take into account that no penalty actually gives an "incentive" for the military/government to not pay benefits and wait to pay out later, without penalty (in fact, it is like an interest free loan from the Veteran). Now, I don't think that the military is consciously doing this, however, I do believe that if there was a penalty, they would apply more resources to getting cases right earlier in the adjudication/appeals process. To clarify, I think the lack of incentive to get this right early causes more bad outcomes than if they had a greater incentive to accurately award benefits earlier.

However, like I said, the solution to this lies with Congress. There is no provision of current law to allow for a payment such as this.
 
Mrs. Preston called me yesterday to tell me she hadnt got my orders from ft leonard wood yet, even though she told me last week that she them and had mailed them to me and DFAS. It seems like those people are trying hard but may be inundated cases. She said she would call back next week.
 
Well, it is now officially been over a year since i applied to the PDBR and my case docket 144 has been in D.C. since July 7th and I have not heard one word from them. Is my case really that difficult, have i been dropped through the cracks, heck i have no idea what to do. Anybody got an idea?

Thank You
 
I called DFAS today just to see if anything was going on. The representative told me that DFAS received my paper work on January 20th and that it would take 30 days to get processed. I hope that is true. I still havent received any orders.
 
guntruckhammer said:
I called DFAS today just to see if anything was going on. The representative told me that DFAS received my paper work on January 20th and that it would take 30 days to get processed. I hope that is true. I still havent received any orders.
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Well add 2 weeks to the processing time. ALL of Washington DC was off ALL last week due to snow, and this week (today) is President's day, so off again. If you where waiting on any kind of board action or DOD action (or inaction) by the time they get back to work and organized, they wont be doing anything productive till Thursday or Friday.

On my side just a quick update. I got my letter from the PDBR approving my retirement back in the beginning of October. DFAS opened an account and started working my pay. Or so I thought. I called DFAS in January and they said they had closed my account and stopped all processing due to lack of response from the Army to their requests for orders / information.

Thanks to this website I had an idea who to call. I talked to the transition center at Fort Bliss (where I separated in 2002) and they knew they had to generate amended orders, and I called the Army Disability Agency in Virgina, and they knew they had to tell Fort Bliss to generate the orders. But that is where it sat as of 15 January. I could not get anyone to move or do anything. Just more lame excuses and alibis, and telephone tag.

So around January 20th I finally gave up and built a packet with all my documents and sent them to my Congressman Bill Posey requesting assistance. I copied my original orders and DD-214 to Fort Bliss Transition and the Army Disability Agency. Well 7 days later the Army Disability Agency gives me a panicked call promising they are all over my retirement paperwork and my orders should be done by the end of the week, Friday. (Good to see an old fashioned congressional still gets their attention!)

That would be the Friday before the big snowstorm. So far Fort Bliss has nothing and DFAS is still waiting for orders. So I can only assume the last 10 days of Snow and Federal Holidays just brought everything to a halt.

Hope everyone out there is doing better then I seem to be with the bureaucracy :)

I will note, that it is my observation that the USAF seemed to have a plan for what to do if the PDBR approved a USAF service members retirement. They seemed to start the paperwork almost immediately. Probably because USAF is lead agency for the PDBR. But the other branches of service in general, and the Army (in particular) did not seem to have any plan in place for what to do next. They certainly don't seem to be exercising any sense of urgency in getting the troops taken care off. Urgency, hell their effort to date doesn't even qualify as lethargic!!!!!!
 
Mike,

To tell you the truth I don't know. No one in all the various agencies / people I have worked with can tell me. I believe my retirement orders will be retroactive to June 2002 (PDBR Memo says it should). However DFAS threatens to impose a six year statute of limitations on my back pay. Jason thinks (and I agree) that it should not apply to PDBR actions.

I will let you know as soon as I know, but that appears to still be some indefinite point in the future. I am hoping I will know by the middle of next month, but I am purely guessing there. Esssentially I will know when I get my orders and DFAS issues the back pay check.

Also the VA just upgraded me to 60% disability from 40% this week. (Based on a shoulder injury they missed when I was separated). I am hoping DFAS does not apply my 60% retroactively to June 2002 when figuring back pay. I did not take severance pay, so VA should be all they deduct from my back pay.

By the way, do you know if I can get some kind of accounting sheet from the VA detailing what they have paid me since June 2002?

Thank you as always!

Larry
 
wilsonle61 said:
Well add 2 weeks to the processing time. ALL of Washington DC was off ALL last week due to snow, and this week (today) is President's day, so off again. If you where waiting on any kind of board action or DOD action (or inaction) by the time they get back to work and organized, they wont be doing anything productive till Thursday or Friday.

On my side just a quick update. I got my letter from the PDBR approving my retirement back in the beginning of October. DFAS opened an account and started working my pay. Or so I thought. I called DFAS in January and they said they had closed my account and stopped all processing due to lack of response from the Army to their requests for orders / information.

Thanks to this website I had an idea who to call. I talked to the transition center at Fort Bliss (where I separated in 2002) and they knew they had to generate amended orders, and I called the Army Disability Agency in Virgina, and they knew they had to tell Fort Bliss to generate the orders. But that is where it sat as of 15 January. I could not get anyone to move or do anything. Just more lame excuses and alibis, and telephone tag.

So around January 20th I finally gave up and built a packet with all my documents and sent them to my Congressman Bill Posey requesting assistance. I copied my original orders and DD-214 to Fort Bliss Transition and the Army Disability Agency. Well 7 days later the Army Disability Agency gives me a panicked call promising they are all over my retirement paperwork and my orders should be done by the end of the week, Friday. (Good to see an old fashioned congressional still gets their attention!)

That would be the Friday before the big snowstorm. So far Fort Bliss has nothing and DFAS is still waiting for orders. So I can only assume the last 10 days of Snow and Federal Holidays just brought everything to a halt.

Hope everyone out there is doing better then I seem to be with the bureaucracy :)

I will note, that it is my observation that the USAF seemed to have a plan for what to do if the PDBR approved a USAF service members retirement. They seemed to start the paperwork almost immediately. Probably because USAF is lead agency for the PDBR. But the other branches of service in general, and the Army (in particular) did not seem to have any plan in place for what to do next. They certainly don't seem to be exercising any sense of urgency in getting the troops taken care off. Urgency, hell their effort to date doesn't even qualify as lethargic!!!!!!
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Hi Larry,

I must be the only Coast Guard person to apply to the board. The only thing i have heard is my application is under review now. I only heard that through my Senator's office. It's been 13 months, i'll keep waiting with my fingers crossed. DFAS is really backed up, i am processing PCS claims through them and it's taking forever.
 
just for shits and giggles I called the retirement service officer at Ft Leonard Wood. The woman I talked to said that my new orders were cut on * Feb 2010 and forwarded to Mrs Preston at the Army Disability Agency. She said she would email a copy. havent seen them yet but that okay. Just happy the wheels are turning
 
I got my retirement orders this morning in an email from Ft Leonard Wood. Glad that done. The distribution list includes DFAS so they should be getting a copy as well.
 
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