So I’ve been going through the LDES process for 6 months now . In December I was found fit and requested an appeal for a formal board my CO and 4 doctors submitted statements to disagree with the Fit findings. I now have a FPEB next month. Can anyone explain what happens at a FPEB? Would you advise getting a lawyer outside of the one appointed to you ? Any stories or advice would help TIA!
What happens at a FPEB
- Thread starter RRT2020
- Start date
My FPEB went like this. I met my appointed counsel 10 minutes prior, he basically told me I was not allowed to bring any notes or paperwork whatsoever in. We talked for a few minutes and then we’re called inside the room.
Once inside, the FPEB introduced themselves. I was a Captain, and they were a Major; Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel. Only the Colonel was a medical background. The lieutenant colonel was a battalion commander, Field Artillery I think. They each had a laptop in front of them and explained they could see everything in my career, from
Officer evaluation reports to Medical doctors notes, all ten years of my time in the Army, every detail in my OMPF, they could read it. And it seemed they had read much of it before they called me in.
They asked me a lot of questions. From the basic stuff like what my symptoms were that made me ultimately not fit for duty to questions like “we see your OERS are exemplary, how do you explain how you did so well despite being ill?”
That was the toughest question. My response was easy, I was a recruiting company commander and my company made its recruiting mission... it was a numbers game and I had some great NCOs making that happen. They absolutely got it. The biggest issue they didn’t get was that I had a neurological misdiagnosis. They ultimately decided against my plea to correct the misdiagnosis... I won on appeal later but this was a major ordeal for me at the time.
To answer your question about the lawyer, I wish I had hired one, my appointed one sucked. I basically wrote all of my own appeals...
Once inside, the FPEB introduced themselves. I was a Captain, and they were a Major; Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel. Only the Colonel was a medical background. The lieutenant colonel was a battalion commander, Field Artillery I think. They each had a laptop in front of them and explained they could see everything in my career, from
Officer evaluation reports to Medical doctors notes, all ten years of my time in the Army, every detail in my OMPF, they could read it. And it seemed they had read much of it before they called me in.
They asked me a lot of questions. From the basic stuff like what my symptoms were that made me ultimately not fit for duty to questions like “we see your OERS are exemplary, how do you explain how you did so well despite being ill?”
That was the toughest question. My response was easy, I was a recruiting company commander and my company made its recruiting mission... it was a numbers game and I had some great NCOs making that happen. They absolutely got it. The biggest issue they didn’t get was that I had a neurological misdiagnosis. They ultimately decided against my plea to correct the misdiagnosis... I won on appeal later but this was a major ordeal for me at the time.
To answer your question about the lawyer, I wish I had hired one, my appointed one sucked. I basically wrote all of my own appeals...
AF member meet their attorney face to face the day before the FPEB, but they telcon before that day.