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Medical discharge from the National Guard with active duty injuries

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a1978fordguy

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Hello everyone,

I have been in the Army National Guard for the past 8 years.  I was currently found to be unfit for duty because of medical conditions.  I was active duty Army for 4 years in which I got the injuries and 8 years(5 good for retirement) in the Army Reserves before that.  I have received a 70% disability from the VA which is all service connected.  Right now the National Guard is saying all of my injuries are Non-duty related and they are trying to medical me out with no retirement, medical or anything because I don't have any LOD's from the guard.  I do have some medical documents from Active duty, I also ordered my complete medical file from the Active Duty clinic where I was stationed.  My Readiness NCO says she cannot make me LOD's from active duty.  If I don't get the LOD's they are saying that I will not be able to go to the MEB so I can get a medical retirement.  I've been in too long and done too much in the military not to even get a retirement for my time.  

Can someone please help me figure this out or point me in the right direction to which I can go to to take care of this?

Thanks Everyone in advance

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OK, I will try to help.  

First, your need to see your annual retirement document RPAS (Retirement Points Accounting System) from the Guard.  You should be seeing this and signing or initialing every year.  It should show you your complete time in the service and tell you what years were good or not, etc.  If there is time missing, either the Reserve or Active time, contact you retirement person at your State headquarters, and have them fix it.  Don't confuse them with your med seperation issues, etc., just like the VA, keep it to one task at a time.  You should have DD214 from active duty for you active time. Your Reserve time tracking form is unknown to me as I was all Guard and Active Guard and Reserve (AGR).

I see 8+4+5, which is 17.  You need 15 good years to get a med retirement out of the Guard.  This would be your retirement at a 60, not immediate like active duty.  There used to be a law that you had to have 8 years before you ended your carreer in the Guard (same State) to get a Guard retirement, however, I believe that has changed.

As far as LOD's are concerned, I dought that you can get a retroactive LOD.  Its is used in the Guard at the time of injury or shortly, and investigated by the Chain of Command to the State Surgeon.

I believe you need 15 good years on one document.  Need to fix that first.

 

Hamslice

 

 

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a1978fordguy:

 

First, I agree with Hamslice as you need to what your actual retirement status is first because that could affect everything in terms of your leverage. Secondly, you need to become educated about the MEB board and appeals processes by talking to friends and reading forums like this. Eventually, the National Guard will assign you a lawyer to work with you and your case anyway...so you'll get pretty good representation. But at the end, only you can control your own life and the events that affect you personally. Thirdly, don't take it personal, frankly,  it's a legal and medical process and that's were you win/lose the case. Frankly, I work with Wounded Warriors and many of them came out pretty well with their MEBs. Even when you get frustrated, always be polite, when asked for records or information-do your best to comply as soon as possible and try to be very diplomatic. Because, if you put the people that should be helping you into a "defensive posture" it could hurt your case in the long run. Also, be proactive and always follow-up on every action and keep your lawyer in the loop. Also, please never miss an appointment...that can really cause a problem....

I did extensive research on LODs and found that a lot situations arose in the military where the service member should have been given an LOD but it did not happen for a lot of reasons. Sometimes, the unit or commander don't think that the incident warrants and investigation but that's usually decided is there's a loss of equipment, body injury or time away from the unit or work due to the injury - then it can become automatic. Sometimes, the unit is lazy or has a high optempo and argue that they will go back later after deployment and do an investigation but never do that. Generally, from what I found, unless there were drugs, alcohol or misconduct involved in the accident, occurrence or incidence, then the services generally ruled on the side of the service member. The general presumption is that the service member is just doing their duty anyway and their actions are within the line of duty unless otherwise specified? However, I also learned that although the VA can rule their own way, they too will generally follow the recommendations of the military service and their original recommendations. However, keep in mind that each case rests upon its own merits and the facts of the case. Also, there are always two sides to the story and 'evidence is king" so it's critical to get enough evidence that puts the weight of evidence in your favor. You can also do this with buddy statements for those soldiers that were there when it happen. you can also write your own statements about you saw and felt. Statements from a spouse or family member can help as well. That said, medical evidence is really important if you can find it.  The key is to make it easy for the rater to rule in your favor and evidence is the grease to the wheel that makes that work for you...

Good luck and godspeed..Rootbeer22

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Thanks guys! I did talk to a few people this weekend while at drill and I went to Ft Lee medical clinic and talk to a civilian in the patient administration. He did point me in the right direction and he did say the medical documents that I had were enough to get started on an MEB. I will let you all know how everything goes when I get through some of the process.

Thanks again everyone!

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a1978fordguy:

 

Great..and ---good luck. I've learned a lot form this Hadit.Com Forum and went thru some of the same issues with regard to LODs as you are now. I had a major tank accident and the Army did not do an LOD. During that time, the CDR and XO all said this it was clear that I was not at fault..so an LOD was not warranted? But, it's different story when you are trying to file a claim years later, The good news is that there was plenty of evidence that helped my case and it went my way. Like I said, I found that as long as you are doing your duty when you are injured and there are no negative circumstance or negligence/misconduct...then the powers that be seem to favor the service member....besides most already  recognize that the military is a very dangerous business anyway...and soldiers get hurt.

 

Good Speed Rootbeer22 

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