Reservist MEB already VA 100%

R

rabrom

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Long time reader here to gain insight on my situation, but I still think it’s kind of unique and looking to see if anyone has advice/perspective

I am 15yrs in as an Air Force Reservist, was never active duty although I’ve accumulated five years through deployments/assignments

At my three year mark (as an E-4) I was struck by someone who worked on base as I was heading to training down in Texas. Severe TBI, induced coma, shouldn’t have survived it, but I was in hard-charging young Enlisted mode so I continued working hard through my career

I am now a Captain, and got a message a year ago that residuals of my accident are service disqualifying. As of this last February I am 100% due to Meniere’s, TBI, memory loss, brain hemorrhage, and when I asked the person working my case what they think may happen, they said I shouldn’t have been allowed to commission

I am up for Major in January. I’ve been a strong officer for my year group and expect to be selected then. I have my first visit with medical next week and cannot imagine an MEB and discharge would happen before then.

Any advice or insight here? Does promoting to Major even matter if medical retirement is based on high 3? Does already having a VA rating speed up the process?
 
Hello @rabrom ,

@Provis is one of the experts in the areas you mentioned.

You said, ”Any advice or insight here? Does promoting to Major even matter if medical retirement is based on high 3? Does already having a VA rating speed up the process?”

Your promotion to Major will have little if any impact on the retired pay you receive (which will be reduced by the amount of VA comp you receive). Average high three base pay is used in the computation. The promotion will possibly be a status/achievement factor.

I knew several retired Army E8 (pay grade) who served as both a first sergeant and master sergeant. All of them chose first sergeant as their retired rank.

Ron
 
rabrom said:
Long time reader here to gain insight on my situation, but I still think it’s kind of unique and looking to see if anyone has advice/perspective

I am 15yrs in as an Air Force Reservist, was never active duty although I’ve accumulated five years through deployments/assignments

At my three year mark (as an E-4) I was struck by someone who worked on base as I was heading to training down in Texas. Severe TBI, induced coma, shouldn’t have survived it, but I was in hard-charging young Enlisted mode so I continued working hard through my career

I am now a Captain, and got a message a year ago that residuals of my accident are service disqualifying. As of this last February I am 100% due to Meniere’s, TBI, memory loss, brain hemorrhage, and when I asked the person working my case what they think may happen, they said I shouldn’t have been allowed to commission

I am up for Major in January. I’ve been a strong officer for my year group and expect to be selected then. I have my first visit with medical next week and cannot imagine an MEB and discharge would happen before then.

Any advice or insight here? Does promoting to Major even matter if medical retirement is based on high 3? Does already having a VA rating speed up the process?
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How many points do you have? My advice is to fight to be found fit for duty. It's much easier to get found fit in the Reserves than active duty. All is not lost and you won't be discharged if they kick you out. If you have 15 good years or more than you would be put in the gray area retirement and get issued a 15 year letter but you really want to try to stay in until you get a 20 year letter because a 15 year letter won't qualify you for CRDP when you are eligible for a Reserve retirement. Since high 36 is used if you get Major just before getting out you won't gain financially by obtaining that rank IF you were being medically retired right away due to a LOD. If no LOD and they try to boot you out then getting Major is actually huge! That is because high 36 would be based on the rank and time in service tables out in the future at age 60 for your Reserve Retirement (Or slightly less than age 60 if reduced due to qualifying deployments)

I would talk to some private attorneys who specialize in this stuff. With their help I would try to determine the best path forward which may be fighting to stay fit OR argue that your unfitting condition was permanently aggravated by the AF reserves because if you can get it connected with a LOD then you get immediate retirement. All these scenarios except 20 year letter won't get you CRDP and so its possible that you only get your VA compensation because you have to agree to a VA offset to your pension and for reservists typically the VA compensation is greater than any pension you would earn. If you are certain that you would qualify for CRSC then not getting CRDP is mitigated.
 
I concur with the prior comments by Provis and Ron G. With regard to your promotion, if you are selected for O-4 when you are being processed through the Disability Evaluation System and are on the O-4 promotion list at the time it is determined you should be placed on the PDRL or TDRL, your retirement grade by statute is O-4. As previously noted, retirement as a major will have no financial impact, but it is the proper rank and should be reflected on your retirement orders and other personnel records. Below is the pertinent statutory provision, 10 U.S.C.A. § 1372. Subsection 1372(3) applies to the circumstance where an individual is on the promotion list at the time he or she is retired due to a disability.

§ 1372. Grade on retirement for physical disability: members of armed forces​

Unless entitled to a higher retired grade under some other provision of law, any member of an armed force who is retired for physical disability under section 1201 or 1204 of this title, or whose name is placed on the temporary disability retired list under section 1202 or 1205 of this title, is entitled to the grade equivalent to the highest of the following:

(1) The grade or rank in which he is serving on the date when his name is placed on the temporary disability retired list or, if his name was not carried on that list, on the date when he is retired.

(2) The highest temporary grade or rank in which he served satisfactorily, as determined by the Secretary of the armed force from which he is retired.

(3) The permanent regular or reserve grade to which he would have been promoted had it not been for the physical disability for which he is retired and which was found to exist as a result of a physical examination.

(4) The temporary grade to which he would have been promoted had it not been for the physical disability for which he is retired, if eligibility for that promotion was required to be based on cumulative years of service or years of service in grade and the disability was discovered as a result of a physical examination.
 
Really appreciate the responses.

This one will be LOD. I was on active orders training in Texas, the disqualifying incident/conditions are all linked to that, it’s just been a downhill progression since then that is well-documented with the VA. I’ve done about two years active cumulatively since then.

My reduced retirement age would be at 55 if I got the traditional reserve retirement, but I only have about 2400 points currently, not much. Seems a medical retirement would be best even if promoting to Major has no impact financially
 
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