I'm cross-posting this from vets.yuku.com because I just found this forum and I think this may help me out more than the other. We'll see.
First of all, thanks for viewing and potentially answering my question. I've browsed a few of the posts, but they are all from people over 20 years in service. I'll start by explaining my career thus far and then get into the medical stuff. Feel free to ask any questions as I realize this may be confusing.
I joined in August 2009 (Air Force if it matters). I was active duty up until January 2015, when I palace chased to the reserves. No break in service. Started reserve duty the day after I was separated from active duty. That put me at 5.5 years of active duty service. I am a traditional reservist so the whole one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year, etc. I was deployed April of this year, but was returned early due to mental health conditions (returned after only 5 days in country). That is my service history. Essentially, 7 years of total service next month.
Now for the medical story. When I separated from active duty, I was rated 30% combined disability from the VA with 10% for depression, 10% for acne, 10% for tinnitus, and 10% for runners knee. I was treated outpatient for depression while I was active duty for about a year. The condition never went away, but I managed it, until after I separated from active duty and ended up in a mental hospital April 2015 for suicidal ideation. After that, I saw the VA psychologist and he explained that would definitely get me some disability (which it eventually did). Fast forward a year to April 2016 when I was deployed. I notified the doctor during my pre-deployment health assesment of my mental hospital stay exactly a year prior and my disability for depression, but he cleared me anyway. 5 days in, I was returned home due to suicidal ideation, anxiety attacks, and some pretty hefty depression. Just this past Tuesday, I am at an active duty base seeing a psyschologist for an assesment. I had been told by military doctors in the deployed location that I may have BPD, and this was echoed by my therapist that I have been seeing for over a year for my depression. HOWEVER, the psychologist I saw with the military said that I may not have BPD just based off what I was telling her from my symptoms, experiences, etc. She also said that she was already leaning towards an MEB recommendation rather than administrative separation based on my case file. I am going to get tested with a civilian psychologist with a BPD screen, depression screen, anxiety screen, and ADHD screen (unrelated to my military career).
Now to the juicy part: my question. If I am MEBd, and lets say eventually medically retired, what happens to my 30% combined disability? I understand the depression disability may change, but what happens to the physical disabilities? I will still have them physically, but will I still receive compensation if I receive medical retirement pay. Bonus question: How the heck do I calculate retirement pay, disability pay, etc. if I am medically retired? I found the formula that is the Disability Rating x Basic Pay, but it comes to like 43,000 dollars at 40% (which is minimum for medical retirement). Is that a yearly amount? And how does that factor in with my prior disabilities from active duty?
Sorry for the long post, but I'm doing my best to lay out my career so far and such. Again, feel free to ask any questions for clarification. And thank you for any help.
Bonus bonus question: Some of the posts over at the other forum say the "magic number" for medical retirement is 15 years, but I was under the impression that you could be medically retired at any time in service as long as you have at least a 30% disability rating. Anyways, what are my chances of being medically retired? I realize you probably don't know and feel free to say that, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
First of all, thanks for viewing and potentially answering my question. I've browsed a few of the posts, but they are all from people over 20 years in service. I'll start by explaining my career thus far and then get into the medical stuff. Feel free to ask any questions as I realize this may be confusing.
I joined in August 2009 (Air Force if it matters). I was active duty up until January 2015, when I palace chased to the reserves. No break in service. Started reserve duty the day after I was separated from active duty. That put me at 5.5 years of active duty service. I am a traditional reservist so the whole one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year, etc. I was deployed April of this year, but was returned early due to mental health conditions (returned after only 5 days in country). That is my service history. Essentially, 7 years of total service next month.
Now for the medical story. When I separated from active duty, I was rated 30% combined disability from the VA with 10% for depression, 10% for acne, 10% for tinnitus, and 10% for runners knee. I was treated outpatient for depression while I was active duty for about a year. The condition never went away, but I managed it, until after I separated from active duty and ended up in a mental hospital April 2015 for suicidal ideation. After that, I saw the VA psychologist and he explained that would definitely get me some disability (which it eventually did). Fast forward a year to April 2016 when I was deployed. I notified the doctor during my pre-deployment health assesment of my mental hospital stay exactly a year prior and my disability for depression, but he cleared me anyway. 5 days in, I was returned home due to suicidal ideation, anxiety attacks, and some pretty hefty depression. Just this past Tuesday, I am at an active duty base seeing a psyschologist for an assesment. I had been told by military doctors in the deployed location that I may have BPD, and this was echoed by my therapist that I have been seeing for over a year for my depression. HOWEVER, the psychologist I saw with the military said that I may not have BPD just based off what I was telling her from my symptoms, experiences, etc. She also said that she was already leaning towards an MEB recommendation rather than administrative separation based on my case file. I am going to get tested with a civilian psychologist with a BPD screen, depression screen, anxiety screen, and ADHD screen (unrelated to my military career).
Now to the juicy part: my question. If I am MEBd, and lets say eventually medically retired, what happens to my 30% combined disability? I understand the depression disability may change, but what happens to the physical disabilities? I will still have them physically, but will I still receive compensation if I receive medical retirement pay. Bonus question: How the heck do I calculate retirement pay, disability pay, etc. if I am medically retired? I found the formula that is the Disability Rating x Basic Pay, but it comes to like 43,000 dollars at 40% (which is minimum for medical retirement). Is that a yearly amount? And how does that factor in with my prior disabilities from active duty?
Sorry for the long post, but I'm doing my best to lay out my career so far and such. Again, feel free to ask any questions for clarification. And thank you for any help.
Bonus bonus question: Some of the posts over at the other forum say the "magic number" for medical retirement is 15 years, but I was under the impression that you could be medically retired at any time in service as long as you have at least a 30% disability rating. Anyways, what are my chances of being medically retired? I realize you probably don't know and feel free to say that, but it doesn't hurt to ask.