Questions after CRSC Denial

QuebecBravo

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
I just received a denial letter from Army HRC. The justification for the denial was that my PEB stated that the condition is not combat related. However, along with my initial application I included military medical records and other evidence which I believe show the condition to fit into at least one if not two of the four categories for determining whether an injury is combat related.

Does anyone know if a finding by the PEB that an injury is not combat related determinative as to a CRSC claim? If not, is there an army regulation or dod memorandum that lays out specifically how the service branches are to determine CRSC eligibility? I can't seem to find anything except the U.S. Code, which isn't very specific.
 
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Hello @QuebecBravo

Here are a couple of selected excerpts from the Financial Regulation:

630404. Qualifying Disability Ratings (Percentages)
A. A member must be entitled to compensation for service-connected disabilities under 38 U.S.C., as rated by the VA. The rating must be awarded prior to the member’s date of death.
B. Disability ratings by the Secretary of the Military Department concerned (or designee), as of the date on which the member retired, may be used to help make determinations of whether the member meets preliminary CRSC criteria. The actual computation of the amount of CRSC payable to an eligible retiree is based solely on VA disability determinations and the amount of VA compensation paid, without regard to any disability that is not combat-related.
Military retirement decisions may be used to determine whether such disabilities are combat related.

630502. Other Combat-Related Disabilities A combat-related disability is a disability with an assigned medical diagnosis code from the VASRD. The Military Departments will determine whether a disability is combat-related based on the following criteria:
A. As a direct result of armed conflict,
B. While engaged in hazardous service,
C. In the performance of duty under conditions simulating war, or
D. Through an instrumentality of war. NOTE: The Department will record for each disability determined to be combat-related which of the circumstances provided qualifies the disability as combat-related. A determination of combatrelatedness (see section 6306) will be made concerning each separate disability with an assigned medical diagnosis code from the VASRD. A retiree may have disabilities that are not combatrelated. Such disabilities will not be considered in determining eligibility for CRSC or the amount of CRSC payable. An uncorroborated statement in a record that a disability is combat-related will not, by itself, be considered determinative for purposes of meeting the combat-related standards for CRSC prescribed herein. CRSC determinations must be made based on the program criteria.

Ron
 
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