Recieving both army and VA compensation.?

[DrumSarge]

I have talked to a couple different people going through the MEB process, or who have finished and are ETSing soon.
I understand that the Army assigns you a medical retirement percentage, and that than you put in your findings to the VA and apply for VA disability.

My question is, can a service member getting medically discharged, recieve his army severance pay, and VA disability compensation? or will he/she have to chose?
The person I talked to recieved a one time payment from the Army of 28,000 dollars for severance, and will be recieving 70% disability from the VA. As I am going through the process myself, I am wondering if that is normal/legal?

 

[maparker]

The Individual will get severance pay but the severance pay will be offset by VA compensation for the unfitting condition over time. However, if the unfitting condition incurred or was aggravated in a conbat zone, then the severance pay is not offset by VA compensation. Note: Incurred and aggravated in a combat zone is not the same as combat related.

Mike

 

[SGT Bob]

I have talked to a couple different people going through the MEB process, or who have finished and are ETSing soon.
I understand that the Army assigns you a medical retirement percentage, and that than you put in your findings to the VA and apply for VA disability.

My question is, can a service member getting medically discharged, recieve his army severance pay, and VA disability compensation? or will he/she have to chose?
The person I talked to recieved a one time payment from the Army of 28,000 dollars for severance, and will be recieving 70% disability from the VA. As I am going through the process myself, I am wondering if that is normal/legal?

If you started the MEB process recently, the VA claim is done simultaneously with your Army MEB (aka IDES system) process so they should both be complete by the time you get done. And, yes, getting severance pay from the Army and disability pay from the VA is completely normal. Ideally, you want to get a DOD rating of 30% or more which would mean you do NOT get the severance pay but you get retirement and better pay and benefits over time.

Also, if you get severance, it should most likely be tax free. See http://www.pebforum.com/site/threads/severance-pay-tax-info.10116/ on this site for more info.