Please Help!

[gineric12]

I am researching the medical retirement/disability system due to being considered for medical seperation and have some questions I hope someone can help with...

The way I understand it is if you are deemed unfit for military service by the local MEB, the boards findings are sent to the PEB (Physical Evaluation Board) to determine what percentage will be assigned for your particular disability. If you are assigned less than 30%, you will be given a "lump sum" payment based on your years in service and base pay. If it is 30% or higher, you will receive that percentage of your base pay (top 3) monthly, like a normal retirement.

My questions are:

1) I understand that in the 2nd situation (you are getting monthly payments), the income is taxable. Is this true?

2) If a soldier is medically retired (getting monthly payments), does he get the same benefits that he would if he were to retire "normally" after 20 years (i.e. medical coverage for family, etc.)

3) I have had my lumbar spine fused and also had a revision surgery (2 surgical repairs total) to the same area, as well as some nerve damage to a leg. Does anyone have any insight/similar personal experience that could assist me in finding out what percentage I could expect from the board? I have nearly 15 years in and am trying to decide if I should pursue the medical retirement or try to "gut it out" for 5 more years and hope I don't get an assignment that requires me to do things I am no longer capable of doing.

4) From my research, I understand that a soldier being considered for medical retirement can petition to retire "normally" if he has a minimum of 15 years in. Is this true? If so, how likely is it to be approved? Would it be more beneficial to retire normally? When in the process can this petition be generated (i.e. Can you weigh your options and attempt to file a petition after you see what percentage the PEB is going to give you?)?

If anyone can provide any insight into any of the questions above, it would be greatly appreciated.

[gineric12]

I just met with my surgeon last week and he informed me that due to the reservists that have been activated coming home from deployment and reporting untraceable back pain (implying that they were trying to "cash in") that the medical board is skeptical of anyone getting processed for back issues and he went as far as to say that they have adopted a 10% across the board disability percentage for back issues. He said that I SHOULD qualify for more considering my extensive medical history (i.e. 2 surgeries and documented permnent nerve damage) but he wanted to prepare me for the worst.

So, to me that means that unless I can petition for an early "normal" retirement, I could be throwing 15 years down the drain for a cash settlement which I deem unacceptable for my service.

Does anybody have any insight about their experience with the Physical Evalution Board's percentages for back issues? Any help you can offer is appreciated.