lol, I'm starting to wonder if were in the same place aimspark, but I'm sure this issue is widespread across the military. I actually contact my PEBLO in the EXACT same manner. That is, about once every 3 weeks and usually by email, simply asking if there are any updates to my case and have I moved on the NARSUM tracker. This last time, for example, it took me 3 additional weeks of contacting him just to find out and even then I ended up getting incorrect information before pursuing another avenue of finding out.
Now, I am not an expert at all the positions that help run the IDES process but I can say this (at least in my case). It was presented to me very early on that my PEBLO was my "go to" guy for info. He was my link between the IDES process and the Soldier to keep them on track and updated. In my opinion, there needs to be a liason, a link, between the Soldier and the process. Someone they can go to that tracks their progress and understands how the IDES train works inside and out. They shouldn't have know medical terminology like a doctor or what not, but simply KNOW the IDES system. This way the Soldier doesn't have to literally self-educate themselves on a process that is, once finally understand, takes as much time to figure out as a freaking college engineering course. They should be able to answer the Soldiers question(s), break it down to understand easily what is happening at that time, and know who to contact to figure out exactly what is happening with their case at that time and relay it to them in a timely and understandable manner. I'll also add that they should be able to then see any hold-ups and shortcomings that can be addressed to the proper personnel to ensure their case stays on track, or close to it.
Now this may be what the job of the PEBLO is, it may not be, but either way it appears this portion of the system can be fixed easily. Either revise the position to require this out of them or employ a new position for it (unlikely w/ the current federal budget issues though). There are a lot of unknowns for Soldiers going through IDES and A LOT of preparing to do with the possibility of transitioning out of the military into the civilian sector. They shouldn't be put into a system like this with all this time to prepare, but not able to fully prepare because they can't even plan a window of at least 6 months when they think they will exit the service. But then again.. what do I know, right?
