Unique situation

pm4usmc

pm4usmc

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I have a unique situation here and can’t find any true guidance online. I was hoping someone here might help. I spent 14 years active duty, got 100% VA rated. Joined the reserves did 3 years reserves. I got VTach when I was on orders and ended up in the ER. I now have irreversible advanced heart failure, and will definitely be 100% dod medically retired. Is there any possible way that I get retirement pay concurrent with my VA Pay? I’m trying to plan for the future and it’s hard to without this info. Any loop holes like weird exceptions, I really wanted to finish my 20 and am sadly not able to.
 
Normally by law CRDP is earned two ways... Completion of 20 years active duty or completion of 20 years reserves and meeting retirement age.

The only exception that I am not really familiar with would be under TERA. Marines are the only ones eligible for TERA. Someone here with more knowledge will need to help you.

Otherwise you will earn all your VA, any left over residual DoD, and CRSC if eligible.
 
DaveK said:
Normally by law CRDP is earned two ways... Completion of 20 years active duty or completion of 20 years reserves and meeting retirement age.

The only exception that I am not really familiar with would be under TERA. Marines are the only ones eligible for TERA. Someone here with more knowledge will need to help you.

Otherwise you will earn all your VA, any left over residual DoD, and CRSC if eligible.
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Thanks, this helps a lot. I am a Marine, so I believe I do have that option for TERA. I’ll work on getting some of my VA ratings switched over to combat related in the mean time. It’s not specifically in my medical records but majority of my muscle skeletol issues are from flying or training. I assume I’ll probably need to hire a lawyer to help prove any CRSC stuff.
 
pm4usmc said:
Thanks, this helps a lot. I am a Marine, so I believe I do have that option for TERA. I’ll work on getting some of my VA ratings switched over to combat related in the mean time. It’s not specifically in my medical records but majority of my muscle skeletol issues are from flying or training. I assume I’ll probably need to hire a lawyer to help prove any CRSC stuff.
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The military will assign you legal council if you enter the IDES process. However, they typically are limited due to time and overloaded in cases. There are just a very few experienced civilian IDES specific lawyers. And it can be a bit expensive. Having legal council for that process is key. One of those lawyers who has a high level of experience is actually the founder of this forum and you can connect to him that way.

That said, generally there is no lawyer needed for CRSC. One simply fills out the paperwork and just sends it in to their branch. But this only occurs after the DoD IDES and VA processes are all complete and the service member is retired.

Getting your ailments to be clearly linked to combat will be a key element in helping you. For CRSC combat simulated training can also count. Sometimes there is difficulty from what I've seen related to CRSC and flying ailments though. There are presumptive elements that will be assumed as combat related as well that you will not need to prove beyond that you simply have the ailments.

To clarify, there are specific laws that guide the DoD LDES process, the DoD IDES that falls under VA standards, the VA process, and the CRSC process. (Stay away from LDES as your rights are near nothing compared to IDES). A service member may get one condition approved during one process but not another. This is common.
 
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Update, I should qualify for CRSC as my advanced heart failure is most likely due to Burn pit exposure during combat deployments. My Ejection fraction is 28% which is an automatic 100% for the VA. Should I also get 100% disability from the PEB/MEB? From my understanding I want the PEB to rate me at least 75% and that will almost double my retirement money. It would have been 43% otherwise. I don’t see why they wouldn’t rate me 100% but I’m not familiar with the process. I do still have a civilian job I plan on keeping until my health starts to deteriorate.
 
pm4usmc said:
Update, I should qualify for CRSC as my advanced heart failure is most likely due to Burn pit exposure during combat deployments. My Ejection fraction is 28% which is an automatic 100% for the VA. Should I also get 100% disability from the PEB/MEB? From my understanding I want the PEB to rate me at least 75% and that will almost double my retirement money. It would have been 43% otherwise. I don’t see why they wouldn’t rate me 100% but I’m not familiar with the process. I do still have a civilian job I plan on keeping until my health starts to deteriorate.
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If you are enlisted this is how it will go...
You will get 75% of your HIGH 3 for chapter 61 pension. Then that amount will be offset by any VA compensation you get. For most it ends up being all VA compensation and no chapter 61 pension even if you max out the 75% payout if enlisted. CRSC is designed to claw back the value of your earned pension that was offset by getting VA compensation. So if you max out CRSC to get the full value of your pension then the total compensation will be your VA check and a CRSC check that will equal the full value of your earned pension.

My wife for example was losing out on $1,500 a month. She applied for CRSC and got 80% for CRSC. CRSC uses the same pay tables as the VA but there are many caps. The most common cap is that you can't get more than the value of your earned pension that was lost due to the offset when taking into consideration VA compensation and any chapter 61 pension left after the VA offset. She was an O4 officer and so she had 2k left paid to her by her chapter 61 pension. Even with that 2k she was still not getting the full value of VA compensation + earned longevity pension. She had 17 AFS as an O4 so her pension was worth a lot. 80% CRSC pays out over 2k. She got a check for $1,500 due to hitting CRSC cap. Between her VA compensation + chapter 61 pension paid out after VA offset + $1,500 for CRSC she was made whole. The total amount between those 3 checks equaled the value of her VA compensation + earned longevity pension. For reference my wife was in AGR in the Reserves with 20 good years and 17AFS and only needed 1 or 2 more PCS to reach her 20 AFS.

The key for you is to get medically retired with the highest DOD%. Then apply for and be approved for CRSC that is a high enough % to claw back enough money to equal the value of your earned pension. If you do that you max out pay. You get tricare for life for you and your family with a chapter 61 pension. Also, if that happens you will probably end up netting more compensation than if you retired with 20 years. That is because CRSC is exempt from taxes. If your chapter 61 pension is completely offset by VA compensation you will end up no taxable income. All of your VA pay and CRSC is TAX FREE! If you had reached 20 AFS your VA pay would still be tax free but your regular or Reserve pension would have been taxed.
 
Good intel here. If any of the experts wouldn't mind sharing some insights on my similar but slightly different situation:

11 years in ARNG, 6 years active, medically retired 100% combat connected injury. VA & DOD rating at 100%. Do I receive 75% of my O3 >6yr base pay, then offset VA Comp from that and whatever leftover is my DOD pension? Then if I apply for CRSC that leftover DoD pension then become non-taxable? For easy math, will say there is $1000 leftover after VA offset.

Thanks.
 
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