I was medically discharged from Active Duty (Army) in May 0f 2007. I was giving a huge check, along with a ten percent disability rating. When I was separating from the military, I was told by the Army I would be able to file for the taxes withheld from my money that the army pay me due to it is none taxable income. Anyway, I have been running into some brick walls, and cannot receive a corrected W2 from DFAS, and dealing with the IRS is a Headache all in itself. If anyone on this blog knows of a good CPA that has dealt with this matter, and has gotten the individuals taxes withheld back, please feel free to email me at [email protected], or [email protected]
Physical Disability Board of Review Update
- Thread starter Jason Perry
- Start date
Money the Army pays you IS taxable but the money the VA gives you for disability is not. Thats why some don't accept the severance unless you can benefit from the cash quickly. Did you ever get a Disability rating from the VA? When I got med boarded I got a local DAV to do everthing for me.
PLEASE let us know when and how they respond. The last thing I want to be is the poster boy for Sleep Apnea and hard luck discharges, but I really feel screwed over and would rather the DOD fix this from the beginning than appear on some news show demanding justice. I'm just not comfortable discussing this in public, but praying it gets fixed.
Thanks Mike, I have submitted my dd294 and pointed out that the injuries that caused me to be found unfit for duty were judged at 30% by the VA. I submitted my VA award letter which started right at the date of discharge. I took my VA physical while on active duty. I had a good VA rep and family with the American Legion who helped me out.I think it does suck that they are only considering the same thing that caused discharge. They should have given me ratings for the same things the VA did.What is the point if they are not going to look at the whole thing.Anyway thank you for all the help and the site. My Veteran Services rep says I have an excellent case.That is my hope.John Falcetta
I know what you mean. I think maybe we all need to get together and assault the airwaves and let the public know what is going on and how they screw us.I would rather not talk about it either, I hate when I see people sell out the Military. But maybe the civilian outrage would do something for our benefit. Who knows but lets all hope we do not get screwed again. The PDBR says it only gives us one review. We all deserve our justice and our benefits lets hope we get emJohn Falcetta
Me and my wife are going through 294 route. If there is going to be an outlet post to media we are willing.
There was no option for me or my wife to not accept the severence money. It took me 3 years to pay the VA back 19k through my rating of 50% (combined).
They gave me an option but I took the cash and most, if not all, of the taxes I paid, I got back when I filed the following year. However, I was discharged in March and didn't work the rest of the year. I think I have about 3 months left in trying to pay it back.
Hi, Rangersigo. Have you heard anything further yet? We got the same letter, and looks like my husband is case # 79 or so. Wondered if anyone has had any progress other than the intake letter?
Brothers and Sisters,
For those of you who do not know me my name is Michael Christian. I was medicaly discharged from the USAF for type 1 diabetes on March 17.2003. I found this forum and met Jason last year due to my wife is being med seperated for Fibromyalgia. I am truly grateful as there was nothing like this forum when I was med booted.
My point... I have filed DD 294 and mailed it in on February 24, 2009. Through the wonderful marvels of the U.S. post service and the Internet I know the PDBR has recieved my aplication on February 26, 2009. Just to reinforce the situation I only know this through the certified mail email option and have not been contacted by PDBR.
I have sent along with my 294 five items. These include:
Member DD214, Veteran Affairs Vocational Rehab Document, AF Form 356- Separation Document ,VA Form 3288 and, VA Decision award letter.
I have chosen to post the date I sent my application in order for us to establish a time line for how long the process takes. I will post again when I recieve my reply for intake.
I was originaly awarded 20% by the USAF and the VA awarded me 40% for my service terminating condition.
So, Let's do it to it!
Mike Christian
For those of you who do not know me my name is Michael Christian. I was medicaly discharged from the USAF for type 1 diabetes on March 17.2003. I found this forum and met Jason last year due to my wife is being med seperated for Fibromyalgia. I am truly grateful as there was nothing like this forum when I was med booted.
My point... I have filed DD 294 and mailed it in on February 24, 2009. Through the wonderful marvels of the U.S. post service and the Internet I know the PDBR has recieved my aplication on February 26, 2009. Just to reinforce the situation I only know this through the certified mail email option and have not been contacted by PDBR.
I have sent along with my 294 five items. These include:
Member DD214, Veteran Affairs Vocational Rehab Document, AF Form 356- Separation Document ,VA Form 3288 and, VA Decision award letter.
I have chosen to post the date I sent my application in order for us to establish a time line for how long the process takes. I will post again when I recieve my reply for intake.
I was originaly awarded 20% by the USAF and the VA awarded me 40% for my service terminating condition.
So, Let's do it to it!
Mike Christian
Rangersigo
PEB Forum Regular Member
Hello all, I will keep you all posted on the progress of my case as well. I was assigned case number 1 and received a letter about 10 days after my original submission outlining a general procedure for adjuticating my case. Nothing more since.
I checked with the local DAV office and they are unwilling to represent an appeal tot he PDBR, but were very nice when explaining why not...
I believe that DOD simply licked the can down the road when the made an assumption that third party organizations such as DAV, VFW AMVETS or even state sanctioned veterans departments would step to the plate and assist in these filings. There is no upside for any of them to take on more paperwork/casework especially when there are no funds to pay for the effort. This is more of the same DOD "Artful dodger" antics.
fdm
fdm
[email protected]
PEB Forum Regular Member
Every group that I contacted had no idea of what I was talking about, I felt like I was the service officer. I know that this is a new direction for the DOD to actually to look at the VA decisions so we are the pioneers for this process. Because we are at the forefront, we must stick together and make sure that this process is done fairly. I am excited to start hearing the outcomes of these cases.
[email protected]
PEB Forum Regular Member
Have any of my Army brothers or sisters recieved ammended set of orders pretaining to your severance Pay? The orders are really generic and the POC on the letter that came with the orders did not have my records and couldn't tell me anything. I have called all over the country without any resolve. Basically it looks like they are going to pay severance according to the actual time that you served. Anyone know anything about this?
Like you stated, we really need to stick together on this. I received a letter from the intake unit for the PDBR yesterday. It said the preliminary processing is complete and its going on to further processing and will eventually end up at the JCAU. However, I’m not to confident about my outcome after seeing the article from Tom Philpott on February 26, 2009 entitled “Review Board to Disappoint Vets Disabled Since 9/11”, At least it’s getting out there but I know we need to do more.
I think everyone should request ad IMA and see how the system reacts.
"E3.P1.2.6.1.2. Upon request of a Service member referred into the DES, an impartial physician or other appropriate health care professional (not involved in the Service member’s MEB process) is assigned to the Service member to offer a review of the medical evidence presented by the narrative summary or MEB findings. In most cases, this impartial health professional should be the Service member’s primary care manager (PCM).The impartial health professional will have no more than 5 calendar days to advise the Service member on whether the findings of the MEB adequately reflect the complete spectrum of injuries and illness of the Service member.
"E3.P1.2.6.1.2. Upon request of a Service member referred into the DES, an impartial physician or other appropriate health care professional (not involved in the Service member’s MEB process) is assigned to the Service member to offer a review of the medical evidence presented by the narrative summary or MEB findings. In most cases, this impartial health professional should be the Service member’s primary care manager (PCM).The impartial health professional will have no more than 5 calendar days to advise the Service member on whether the findings of the MEB adequately reflect the complete spectrum of injuries and illness of the Service member.
Here's Jason's original post on the IMA.
DOD Policy Memo 2008 NDAA: Independent Medical Advisor
"E3.P1.2.6.1.2. Upon request of a Service member referred into the DES, an impartial physician or other appropriate health care professional (not involved in the Service member’s MEB process) is assigned to the Service member to offer a review of the medical evidence presented by the narrative summary or MEB findings. In most cases, this impartial health professional should be the Service member’s primary care manager (PCM).The impartial health professional will have no more than 5 calendar days to advise the Service member on whether the findings of the MEB adequately reflect the complete spectrum of injuries and illness of the Service member.
E3.P1.2.6.1.3. After review of findings with the assigned impartial health care professional, a Service member shall be afforded an opportunity to request a rebuttal of the results of the MEB. A Service member shall be afforded 7 calendar days to prepare a rebuttal to the convening medical authority. The convening medical board authority shall be afforded 7 calendar days to consider the rebuttal and return the fully documented decision to the Service member. In the case of a MEB rebuttal, the MEB shall not be forwarded to the PEB until the rebuttal is finalized and MEB results indicate the Service member may be unfit for duty. The fully documented rebuttal will be included with the MEB information sent to the PEB. Exception to timelines may be granted by an authority appointed by the Secretary concerned.
E3.P1.2.6.1.4. Medical evaluation participants shall be trained in accordance
with this issuance and existing policy."
The important things to draw from this are as follows:
YOU HAVE TO REQUEST THE IMPARTIAL PHYSICIAN. It doesn't say in this regulation that you have to do it in writing, but I would.
It will likely be your PCM assigned. If your PCM wrote any part of your Narrative Summary, I would object to the PCM being assigned to you for this purpose. Also, consider asking for a specialist if your condition is not of a general nature but requires the expertise of a specialist to accurately review.
Timelines:
Once you ask for it, the Impartial Physician has 5 days to respond. I think that if you just ask them to review, you will likely get poor assistance. Unless there is something glaring, they are likely to just agree. I would consider asking them, in writing, the answer to specific questions. I would not just throw random questions, but specific questions based on your condition, its impact on your function, and specific rating issues. I would also be aware of the issue of the response not helping/hurting your case. I would argue that this is for your benefit, and so should not be used against your interests independently, but it is a much stronger position if you can get an attorney (civilian or JAG) to draft the questions (thus invoking attorney-client work product privilege).
After the 5 days, you then have 7 days to submit a rebuttal to MEB.
The MEB Convening Authority then has 7 days to respond to your rebuttal. The Policy states that all of this will be included in your case file forwarded to the PEB. I think it is proper for the response to be included. This is why I think it is key to have good legal advice before submitting your rebuttal. Again, I have concerns with damaging comments, and I believe that you could invoke the privilege in a subsequent court case. BUT, I strongly suspect that this may not necessarily be successful at the PEB. This will be an interesting issue to see how the courts treat this issue. Key to making this point will be objecting to any damaging info.
I have doubts that the timelines will be adhered to. This policy is like an unfunded mandate. The result of this is to impose more work on the MTF/MEB section but without putting more resources against the problem. We will have to see how this plays out, but note that there are also requirements for the military to stand up more MEBs and PEBs if they fall behind on case processing timelines. This provision may actually provoke this requirement if it is used widely.
I think this is a great tool to use in preparing your case. As this is implemented, we will see how this plays out. Anyone who has experiences, good or bad, and feels comfortable sharing them should post the positives or negatives.
__________________
Jason
fdm
"E3.P1.2.6.1.2. Upon request of a Service member referred into the DES, an impartial physician or other appropriate health care professional (not involved in the Service member’s MEB process) is assigned to the Service member to offer a review of the medical evidence presented by the narrative summary or MEB findings. In most cases, this impartial health professional should be the Service member’s primary care manager (PCM).The impartial health professional will have no more than 5 calendar days to advise the Service member on whether the findings of the MEB adequately reflect the complete spectrum of injuries and illness of the Service member.
E3.P1.2.6.1.3. After review of findings with the assigned impartial health care professional, a Service member shall be afforded an opportunity to request a rebuttal of the results of the MEB. A Service member shall be afforded 7 calendar days to prepare a rebuttal to the convening medical authority. The convening medical board authority shall be afforded 7 calendar days to consider the rebuttal and return the fully documented decision to the Service member. In the case of a MEB rebuttal, the MEB shall not be forwarded to the PEB until the rebuttal is finalized and MEB results indicate the Service member may be unfit for duty. The fully documented rebuttal will be included with the MEB information sent to the PEB. Exception to timelines may be granted by an authority appointed by the Secretary concerned.
E3.P1.2.6.1.4. Medical evaluation participants shall be trained in accordance
with this issuance and existing policy."
The important things to draw from this are as follows:
YOU HAVE TO REQUEST THE IMPARTIAL PHYSICIAN. It doesn't say in this regulation that you have to do it in writing, but I would.
It will likely be your PCM assigned. If your PCM wrote any part of your Narrative Summary, I would object to the PCM being assigned to you for this purpose. Also, consider asking for a specialist if your condition is not of a general nature but requires the expertise of a specialist to accurately review.
Timelines:
Once you ask for it, the Impartial Physician has 5 days to respond. I think that if you just ask them to review, you will likely get poor assistance. Unless there is something glaring, they are likely to just agree. I would consider asking them, in writing, the answer to specific questions. I would not just throw random questions, but specific questions based on your condition, its impact on your function, and specific rating issues. I would also be aware of the issue of the response not helping/hurting your case. I would argue that this is for your benefit, and so should not be used against your interests independently, but it is a much stronger position if you can get an attorney (civilian or JAG) to draft the questions (thus invoking attorney-client work product privilege).
After the 5 days, you then have 7 days to submit a rebuttal to MEB.
The MEB Convening Authority then has 7 days to respond to your rebuttal. The Policy states that all of this will be included in your case file forwarded to the PEB. I think it is proper for the response to be included. This is why I think it is key to have good legal advice before submitting your rebuttal. Again, I have concerns with damaging comments, and I believe that you could invoke the privilege in a subsequent court case. BUT, I strongly suspect that this may not necessarily be successful at the PEB. This will be an interesting issue to see how the courts treat this issue. Key to making this point will be objecting to any damaging info.
I have doubts that the timelines will be adhered to. This policy is like an unfunded mandate. The result of this is to impose more work on the MTF/MEB section but without putting more resources against the problem. We will have to see how this plays out, but note that there are also requirements for the military to stand up more MEBs and PEBs if they fall behind on case processing timelines. This provision may actually provoke this requirement if it is used widely.
I think this is a great tool to use in preparing your case. As this is implemented, we will see how this plays out. Anyone who has experiences, good or bad, and feels comfortable sharing them should post the positives or negatives.
__________________
Jason
fdm