I wanted to know the pros and cons of appealing the Dod decision before getting out and the pros and cons of waiting to appeal after getting out of the military. My husband hasn't gotten his ratings yet, they were just received by the peb on Oct. 24th. He was just wanting to know so I figured I would ask people who have had experience. Thanks!
Pros and Cons
- Thread starter BigNes
- Start date
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kiefer82
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Once he gets his ratings for DOD and VA, post on here what his conditions are and whether they are combat related and we will go from there.
He only has one condition being rated right now so we already know he will be appealing. He should be getting 10% for his shoulder, we'll see though. Do you know how the appeal process works if he waits until he gets out? I know if he does it before he gets out, he can do a informal appeal and if he can't get his other two conditions moved to unfitting, he can do a formal appeal. Have no clue how it works if he waits until after he is out to appeal.
Did he appeal when he got his NARSUM? if not, why?
What are the conditions you want to appeal when the 199 comes back?
Like ameusn said do the appeal while on active duty. It's a long process on the outside and you are not getting paid while you do it.
What are the conditions you want to appeal when the 199 comes back?
Like ameusn said do the appeal while on active duty. It's a long process on the outside and you are not getting paid while you do it.
Yes he appealed his narsum and nothing was changed. He has DDD of the cervical spine and lumbar spine. He has more than just DDD with both but I can't remember everything at the moment. I prefer him to appeal while he is still active duty but convincing him might be hard. He is ready to go back home. Plus he is working on having a job lined up but don't know if they will wait for him because he already has to go to school for 4 months before can start the job.
That is the hardest part and the biggest mistake I see people make. You want out so bad and are so tired of the BS, you will sell your soul to end it. What you don't see is that there is so much more available to you as far as resources when you are still in. Once you get out, it's all on your dime.
The first step is to figure out what you have to lose or gain. What rank is he. How many years of service does he have? Are his conditions combat related? Do you guys have a go forward plan? How much is the VA going to pay?
Hopefully he will see it my way and appeal while he is still active duty. He pretty much just wants to get out as soon as possible and not thinking rationally. But what affects him, affects us as a family. Oh and about the VA rating, a VA representative said he has a good chance of 100% rating. But I'm still confused about if he gets stuck with severance in the end, after appeals, how is it paid back? Some people on here say all of your monthly VA is taken and some say just the percentage of the unfit condition is taken from the montly VA pay.
Are his conditions combat related? If yes, that will have a bearing on whether he can claim CRSC. That would allow him to forgo the VA from recouping severence. It would also allow him to get paid retirement from the Army and VA for conditions that are combat related.
I will be happy to talk to him if he wants. My email is [email protected]. If you guys message me there, I will get you my phone number.
Joe
I will be happy to talk to him if he wants. My email is [email protected]. If you guys message me there, I will get you my phone number.
Joe
If he doesn't appeal while on active he is giving up opportunities to have the wrong fixed. If he doesn't use his levels of appeal, and he in fact needs them, he is going to have a harder time appealing after he gets out. It's in his best interest to give the government an opportunity to fix the wrong at every level. It's short term pain for a potential long term gain. If he walks now and doesn't appeal when he should, he should probably come to terms with the fact that he will back himself into a corner and successful appeal later will be extremely difficult.
Imagine he has two levels of appeal available to him and he chooses to take severance over any appeal. Federal Court and BCMR are going to want to know why he didn't appeal then. It's kind of like saying, "I agree now, but then later I don't because I missed out on a lot of benefits."
Do what you can to convince him to fight it now rather than later. It will be time consuming and possibly more expensive to fight it later.
Imagine he has two levels of appeal available to him and he chooses to take severance over any appeal. Federal Court and BCMR are going to want to know why he didn't appeal then. It's kind of like saying, "I agree now, but then later I don't because I missed out on a lot of benefits."
Do what you can to convince him to fight it now rather than later. It will be time consuming and possibly more expensive to fight it later.
It really stinks that soldiers get backed into this corner. I was very lucky and my transition was very painless. Not sure if it was my rank, or position, but everybody made it easy for me. What I saw a lot of while I was going through it, was units treating soldiers horrible. Making it so miserable that they didn't want to do anything but get out the door as fast as possible.
If there was one thing I would change in the process, it would be as soon as a service member is officially going through MEB, pull them out of their unit. I gave a bunch of recommendations to the warrior task force and this was first and foremost. These line units destroy any chance of these guys getting a fair shake.
If there was one thing I would change in the process, it would be as soon as a service member is officially going through MEB, pull them out of their unit. I gave a bunch of recommendations to the warrior task force and this was first and foremost. These line units destroy any chance of these guys getting a fair shake.