medical discharge?

Question

Has anyone here ever been medically discharged from the service? I have 13 years active duty but have a few med problems that are making me reconsider staying active. Would it be more beneficial to just stay active and ride the time out, or try to get a med discharge? Hopefully medically retired. any help would be greatly appreciated.

I severly hurt my back, knees and ankles. I can do my job on a day to day basis. but when I am running around all day, doing PT, carrying heavy loads or even walking in the mall with my wife. I am in pain and need to sit down. I can do my job, but i fear I may be creating a more severe med condition for myself that will affect me later on in life. Know what I mean. I know that sounds selfish and i'm seriously not trying to be.

Answer 1

I'm a retired Navy Medical Service Corps officer with 12 years of experience in disability matters, handling members in all branches of the service. If you feel your conditions are interfering with your ability to continue your service, you owe it to yourself and your brothers in arms to consider transfer to the Disability Retired List via a Medical Board and the Physical Evaluation Board system. Most times you're transferred to the Temporary Disability Retired List (TDRL), where you will receive a follow-up medical evaluation every four years. If your conditons improve to the point where you once again meet retention standards, you will be ordered back on active duty. Send me an e-mail via my profile. I'll try to give you some valuable feedback.

Answer 2

First, there is no such thing as a Medical Discharge. It would be up to your Dr's and a Medical Board to determine if you are unfit for duty.
If so the Medical Evaluation Board at Randolph would give you a disability rating based on the major reason for being unfit.
With the amount of time you have in, it is unlikely they would give you a retirement.
They have the options to return to duty, discharge with severance pay, place you on an observation program to monitor your medical condition for improvement, or place you on a TDRL (Temporary Disability Retirement List).
I was given a full retirement at 17 1/2 years.

Answer 3

Well I made it all the way to my 20 yrs so at first I was retired out about a month. I also had some major medical problems (brain tumors)and after a period of 3 yrs I way given a 100% retired. Now mind you all mine was related to my time in the service. I've been this way now going on 11 yrs. I set on the TDRL(Temporary Disabled Retied List) for 3 yrs then they upgrade it to PDRL(Permanent Disabled Retired List). So depending on what your medical situation is you have a big decision to make. In my case now that I'm 100% our kids rate school under chapter 35, I not only get my retirement I also get a disablity and SSI. My wife works and life could be better but we live OK for now.
Seen a lot of guys get the boot because they did not pick up a rank at the 12 yr mark. They lost a lot of stuff, after all that time. Hope this is not your case.

Answer 4

I was medically retired after 13.5 years active duty in the Air Force for back and other problems so I know where you are coming from.

The Medical Review Board is a long drawn out process. The first thing you need to do is to make SURE you have doccumentation of all of these conditons. You are doing yourself no favours by toughing it out when you are in pain from a medical Board standpoint.

There will be a lotof medical apts and MRIs and tests and all sorts of things.

My MEB was STARTED nearly 4 years after my back started giving me major issues and took nearly a year after the start for a determiination came through.

If you can make the PT and do your duties I would suggest staying it out. If I had been able to work out and maintain fitness standards with my problems, I would have stayed on rathear than go for the MEB.

The MEB can make one of 3 basic decisions.
1) return to duty with a profile
2) medical separation (You will get a severance pay but NO retirement pay or benefits)
3) Medical Retirement temoprary (up to 5 years with annual follow ups then determination permanent retirement or return to duty)

IF you get a determination of temp or permanent retirement you MAY appeal and provide more information to support your claim for desired results but they still will come back with one of the three decisions.

Answer 5

My understanding is that soldiers do not refer themselves for medical discharge. The process typically begins if the soldier is hospitalized, or is "on profile" for an extended period of time. At some point, if a medical officer, or a commanding officer, feels the soldier is unfit for duty, the soldier's case is referred to a medical evaluation board (MEB).

The MEB decides if there is enough evidence to refer the soldier to a physical evaluation board (PEB).

The PEB is where most of the decision-making occurs. The PEB will first decide if the soldier's medical condition makes him unfit for duty, based on the soldier's occupation, duty position, rank, and the particular service's regulations. If the PEB finds the soldier unfit, then the PEB will determine if the medical condition is service-connected. (If you've been in for 13 years, a finding of service-connection is usually automatic.)

Then, if the PEB finds you unfit, and that service-connection exists, then the PEB has two options. They can give you permanent separation, or place you on the Temporary Disability Retired List (TDRL).

If PEB gives you permanent separation, then they will determine your percentage of disability. The percentage will be calculated by consulting the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities, with some modifications specified in your service's own reguations. Now, and most important, if the percentage disability is 20% or less, then you will be separated with separation pay. You will not get retirement. If it is 30% or more, then you will be given full retirement, with the retirement pay based on either your percentage of disability, or years of service, whichever is greater.

If you are placed on TDRL, then you will automatically receive retirement benefits for the duration of your time on TDRL, and receive retirement pay based on a minimum 50% disability rating. You can be on TDRL for a maximum of 5 years. At the 5 year point, the PEB again determines your fitness for duty, etc., as if you were referred to PEB for the first time. The difference is that if PEB finds you fit for duty, you are not required to return to duty if you do not want to.

So, obviously the key becomes, is your condition severe enough to warrant a 30% rating, because, if not, you will not receive a retirement. This is huge, because retirement gives you an ID card, Tricare, and commissary/PX privileges, among other things. Separation gives you practically nothing. I recall one person who was on profile forever, continued insisting he was unfit, and stuck around doing limited duty tasks for two years. He was finally given a medical separation, with a 0% rating.

You can get an idea of what your rating will be by looking at the VA schedule yourself. It is in Code of Federal Regulations, Title 38, part 4, which is accessible through the Government Printing Office website.

So, should you hide your condition and ride out the next seven years? Only you can answer that, but you should consider, among other things, how your condition will affect your squad and fellow soldiers if you are ever deployed to a war zone.

Answer 6

I know some people who have medically retired. They had to fight a considerable number of years to get the right %.

Stay in or not? That is harder to answer. Can you do the job? Can you be deployed and still deal with your medical problems? What % would you get and what kind of employment could you get? Then would you be able to live off of that? Better than staying in?

You don't have to give the answers to these questions - they are just something to think about.

Answer 7

Do your medical conditions permit you perform other duties such as becoming an instructor at one of the service schools? Would your commanders support your retention even if it means you will not be serving the needs of their unit? After 13 years of service you should be aware that what you want in this type of situation doesn't matter one bit, your future retention in the military is based on what good the military thinks you can serve its purposes.