Take disability over retirement.

mr.farmer

mr.farmer

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
If I'm rated at least 30% by the Army for my MEB could I ask instead of that just to take disability instead of retirment? I know some people would think this is nuts but I find it more beneficial if I had disability instead of retirement due to my own personal reasons. I do know 30% is temporary and that's all im waiting on now is my ratings. They were sent out to Washington State beginning of October so I'm sure I have a while.
 
I am not quite sure what you are asking here, but I think you are asking if you can choose to be medically separated with severance vs. medically retired if you are rated 30% or higher? 30% is also not necessarily temporary, It depends on the stability of your condition. Please clarify what you're seeking to have answered so someone can help you out.
 
Yes thats actually what I'm asking. Like for example if they say DOD rates me at 30% or higher can i just make a request to lower it instead 20% or so?
 
Not really, due to the legal rules and avoidance of BCMR and lawsuits it will not be done. They have to rate off of the VASRD and follow it to the T.
 
mr.farmer said:
Yes thats actually what I'm asking. Like for example if they say DOD rates me at 30% or higher can i just make a request to lower it instead 20% or so?
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You will be awarded the exact percentage the VA provides. If it's 20% or less, you get sev. 30% or more, retirement. Either way the VA is going to recoup the the unfitting conditions. For example if you had a bad back, and got a rating of 20% and severance. You would get your lump sum payment from the service for the 20%, but you would have to pay that back to the VA in the form of recoupment. They will deduct the 20% from your VA ratings until all money you got in severance is paid back.

Severance sounds like a great deal, but in the end, it is just a loan that you have to pay back unless you get the combat enhanced finding (Injury as a direct result of armed conflict)
 
ranger2992 said:
You will be awarded the exact percentage the VA provides. If it's 20% or less, you get sev. 30% or more, retirement. Either way the VA is going to recoup the the unfitting conditions. For example if you had a bad back, and got a rating of 20% and severance. You would get your lump sum payment from the service for the 20%, but you would have to pay that back to the VA in the form of recoupment. They will deduct the 20% from your VA ratings until all money you got in severance is paid back.

Severance sounds like a great deal, but in the end, it is just a loan that you have to pay back unless you get the combat enhanced finding (Injury as a direct result of armed conflict)
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I do have a combat enhanced finding from direct result of armed conflict. I just would find that would be more benefical because all my retarded debt would be eliminated and i have about 10 grand left to bank and just have typical bills like mortgage, utilties, and couple car payments to worry about.
 
What about CRSC? You could use your CRSC to pay down your debt. Do you have combat related disabilities?

Mike
 
Remember if you are given a rating of 30% or higher you are not only eligible for monetary benefits but many other great benifits, like medical, education benifits for your dependents etc etc etc, don't let the debt you have be your deciding factor, debt comes and leaves. I would be willing to vet that 90%+ of the members on here would say don't shoot for less then 30% espseaily if your condition is combat related.
 
I have a question in regards to payment. I was retired as of 22 November 2013 and I received a partial retirement pay of about $200 for 22 Nov-30 Nov.
My ratings are 40% Army & 80% VA which my VA ratings were finalized as of today 27December. The letter on ebenefits says that my effective date is 1 December and payment amount is $1,525.55. Should I expect any back pay? Can you guess estimate what I should get if there is any?
 
ebrown said:
I have a question in regards to payment. I was retired as of 22 November 2013 and I received a partial retirement pay of about $200 for 22 Nov-30 Nov.
My ratings are 40% Army & 80% VA which my VA ratings were finalized as of today 27December. The letter on ebenefits says that my effective date is 1 December and payment amount is $1,525.55. Should I expect any back pay? Can you guess estimate what I should get if there is any?
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1Dec2013? Is the the effective date?
 
I would employ you to think with longevity on this one; I do not know how much your severance would be, but purely mathematically speaking, the following is a financial outlook of both.

**All hypothetical because I dont know your numbers**
E-6 Seperated at 10 years, seperation amount approximatly (3228.00basepay X 2 X 10) = $64,560.

E-6 Seperated at age 30; Theoretically lives to age 75; (45 years of benefits )
Per month at 30%: 400.93 (currently)
Per Year at 30% : 4811.16 (currently)

Assuming NO yearly raises, which is being VERY conservative. Your total benefits not including raises, insurance, or base access, would equal $216,506.70.

If you want to get technical, and factor in a minimum yearly raise of .5% (we have not had less than a 1.5% raise in years)

Each year with a .5% raise:
4811.26
4835.316
4859.493
4883.79
4908.209
4932.75
4957.414
4982.201
5007.112
5032.148
5057.308
5082.595
5108.008
5133.548
5159.216
5185.012
5210.937
5236.992
5263.177
5289.492
5315.94
5342.52
5369.232
5396.078
5423.059
5450.174
5477.425
5504.812
5532.336
5559.998
5587.798
5615.737
5643.815
5672.035
5700.395
5728.897
5757.541
5786.329
5815.26
5844.337
5873.558
5902.926
5932.441
5962.103
5991.914
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So $242,122.60 over the course of 45 years assuming your ratings come in at 30% and dont increase EVER.

$242,122.60 vs the hypothetical 64,000 issued by severance; Even if you had 20 years in you could not beat the longevity of retirement. Factor the cost of insurance into that and its really obvious...


But then again! I dont know your situation and you could find yourself in a spot that the much much less amount could benefit now.
 
Just my experience. I got 10% Navy and 80% combined VA. Separated with severance after 19 years and 1 month. If If I fought and stuck it to 20, I would of got $1200 a month (about, I took the 15year rudux). With disabilty I getting 40% more than what I would of got with retirement. I know I would of got Tri-care too, but have you seen the changes lately? My wife's job provides the same cost as if we were on tri-care, and we get a-lot more with her jobs health care. Besides we both use VA anyway, its just for our kids mainly. Getting separated via PEB waved that Redux. And that 19 year severance... got me debt free and then some.
 
alibs said:
Just my experience. I got 10% Navy and 80% combined VA. Separated with severance after 19 years and 1 month. If If I fought and stuck it to 20, I would of got $1200 a month (about, I took the 15year rudux). With disabilty I getting 40% more than what I would of got with retirement. I know I would of got Tri-care too, but have you seen the changes lately? My wife's job provides the same cost as if we were on tri-care, and we get a-lot more with her jobs health care. Besides we both use VA anyway, its just for our kids mainly. Getting separated via PEB waved that Redux. And that 19 year severance... got me debt free and then some.
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Each person has their own personal reasons for making the decisions that will be more beneficial for them. For you, maybe severance helped you out in the short run. $1200 a month might not sound like a lot in the beginning but in the long run it can add up. I'm playing with numbers here with what you posted but I take it that with you High-3 your average was about $3000.

So your severance was about 3000x2=6000x19yrs=$114000 give or take. Now if that was taxed, then your amount would be less.
If you would have waited and retired at 20yrs, even if you would be getting $1200 because of the 40% based on reduxed, you would have made the $114000 in about 7-8 yrs time frame. (114000/1200=95 payments / 12 months=7.91 yrs.) 7-8 years later, you would have made another $114000 on retirement and so on.

Also at 20 yrs, you would have qualified for CRDP meaning you would be getting your retirement and VA disability benefits at the same time. So you would have been receiving retirement $1200+ VA $1746 (at 80% with spouse and 1 child)=$2946. This is just the monetary compensation we are talking about. There are more benefits not mentioned besides tricare.

Again each person has their own reasons for choosing severance over retirement, but I believe that retirement outweighs severance most of the time.
 
You guys are great with the numbers and I can't believe anyone would consider anything but trying to get a retirement. If you start trying to decrease your percentage, what if the VA decreases as well.

We had massive bills and we were under the DES system. By the time the VA began to pay we had exhausted our savings and filed bankruptcy. I certainly did not want to do it but what choice did we have. In 20 months we will be free and clear of the amount that we have to pay and we will be sitting very pretty. You should not have to do that because the VA comes quicker. If you took all the retirement and put it against the bills, you are still much farther ahead.
 
Jeep Freak said:
You guys are great with the numbers and I can't believe anyone would consider anything but trying to get a retirement. If you start trying to decrease your percentage, what if the VA decreases as well.

We had massive bills and we were under the DES system. By the time the VA began to pay we had exhausted our savings and filed bankruptcy. I certainly did not want to do it but what choice did we have. In 20 months we will be free and clear of the amount that we have to pay and we will be sitting very pretty. You should not have to do that because the VA comes quicker. If you took all the retirement and put it against the bills, you are still much farther ahead.
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Indeed, a very good point-of-fact supportive by personal experience in my opinion! :)

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
alibs said:
Just my experience. I got 10% Navy and 80% combined VA. Separated with severance after 19 years and 1 month. If If I fought and stuck it to 20, I would of got $1200 a month (about, I took the 15year rudux). With disabilty I getting 40% more than what I would of got with retirement. I know I would of got Tri-care too, but have you seen the changes lately? My wife's job provides the same cost as if we were on tri-care, and we get a-lot more with her jobs health care. Besides we both use VA anyway, its just for our kids mainly. Getting separated via PEB waved that Redux. And that 19 year severance... got me debt free and then some.
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If you would have fought and stuck it out, you would be pulling your DoD RETIREMENT and VA DISABILITY. Making double what you are making now. I am helping a recent 20 year retiree go through the VA process for disabilities and the outlook is very positive. I dont mean for this post to be negative, but what Jeep Freak went through (I didnt want to use him as an example, but he posted it anyway) is prime example of the financial benefits of retirement!

@Jeep Freak - Keep chugging along mate!
 
Severance is not a payment unless you get a 0% DoD rating, it is just a loan from the DoD against your future VA C&P payments.
 
It all boils down to ones personal situation, a severance might be more beneficial than retirement, specially if your able to work, then a steady paycheck can recoup the money being paid back to the VA, also if you end up P&T there is CHAMPVA( not sure how it amount to tricare)
 
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