New To The Board, Usaf Vet Of 18 Years, Need Advice.

[fiasco007]

Hey guys whats up? Just stumbled upon this site and i'm already hooked. anyway;

Im currently and active duty AF member, E-7, with almost 18 years total service. I have a few problems, and needed your advice on how to go about getting this disability thing situated for when I retire. Anyway. The list is'

1 Herniated disc, had the back surgery in Oct, but the pain and symptoms are starting to return. Next week I am going to a pian clinic for some injections.

2 Sleep apnea - diagnosed with mild case, but havnt pushed the issue and i am currently not on the machine.

3 GERD- off and on. severe sometimes, havnt been to the doc in a few years

4 Carpal Tunnel syndrom - been to the doc, they gave me the wrist braces and motrin. Thats about it.

5 Bad shoulder. Been to the doc, got motrin/ibuprophen

6 Bad knee. been to the doc, got motrin/ibuprophen

7 Tinitis

Now besides the herniated disc and Sleep apnea. How do you think I should go about getting these conditions documented? Like I said before, I have been to the doc for the shoulder/knee/carpal tunnel several times in the past. So I know it is in my records. But everytime I go, it is the same result. Doc says take it easy for awhile, and take some ibuprophen. These things hurt me everyday, but i still push forward and do my job.

Is this enough to be compensated when I retire? Or should I push to have something else done like PT or surgery.

I am a air plane mechanic, and it has been a rough ride. hard on the body. Now that I am getting older, i feel like I am falling apart.

any advice you guys could give on this, plus your thoughts on what my rating might be, is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[john999]

Were any of your injuries combat related or due to dangerous duty assignments. If so you might be able to get your regular retirement pay and your disability pay without any offset. You have to finish your 20 years if you are able. I would do as you have been told and keep documenting all your medical problems. Your command may not like it but you need to look out for yourself because, as you know, once you are discharge the military is through with you. You are delivered into the loving hands of the VA. You came into the military able bodied. Why should the AF just be able to dump you back into society without making effort to fix you?

[tanker2]

its all about issue+evidence

[Commander Bob]

Hey guys whats up? Just stumbled upon this site and i'm already hooked. anyway;

Im currently and active duty AF member, E-7, with almost 18 years total service. I have a few problems, and needed your advice on how to go about getting this disability thing situated for when I retire. Anyway. The list is'

1 Herniated disc, had the back surgery in Oct, but the pain and symptoms are starting to return. Next week I am going to a pian clinic for some injections.

2 Sleep apnea - diagnosed with mild case, but havnt pushed the issue and i am currently not on the machine.

3 GERD- off and on. severe sometimes, havnt been to the doc in a few years

4 Carpal Tunnel syndrom - been to the doc, they gave me the wrist braces and motrin. Thats about it.

5 Bad shoulder. Been to the doc, got motrin/ibuprophen

6 Bad knee. been to the doc, got motrin/ibuprophen

7 Tinitis

Now besides the herniated disc and Sleep apnea. How do you think I should go about getting these conditions documented? Like I said before, I have been to the doc for the shoulder/knee/carpal tunnel several times in the past. So I know it is in my records. But everytime I go, it is the same result. Doc says take it easy for awhile, and take some ibuprophen. These things hurt me everyday, but i still push forward and do my job.

Is this enough to be compensated when I retire? Or should I push to have something else done like PT or surgery.

I am a air plane mechanic, and it has been a rough ride. hard on the body. Now that I am getting older, i feel like I am falling apart.

any advice you guys could give on this, plus your thoughts on what my rating might be, is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Welcome 'fiasco007'.

Thanks for your service. You will find outstanding direction, advice and opinions here at Hadit.

Hang in there... You are your best advocate.

Best wishes.

Bob

[fiasco007]

Were any of your injuries combat related or due to dangerous duty assignments. If so you might be able to get your regular retirement pay and your disability pay without any offset. You have to finish your 20 years if you are able. I would do as you have been told and keep documenting all your medical problems. Your command may not like it but you need to look out for yourself because, as you know, once you are discharge the military is through with you. You are delivered into the loving hands of the VA. You came into the military able bodied. Why should the AF just be able to dump you back into society without making effort to fix you?

Not directly, but were aggrevated due to deployments/TDYs. Every condition I have, started while I was in the AF. Nothing pre-existing before I came in. The problem is that I have had these conditions for years, but wasnt enough to actual shut me down. I would just pop the Motrin and keep on going.

After talking to some friends, and seeing some older retired guys with the disability they get, It pushed me to really start looking into fixing these problems.

[fiasco007]

With the conditions you have listed it seems that you should be on physical limitation profiles that would stop you from being able to be world wide deployed and unable to perform your duties due to the pain from use. Depression is a common secondary disability that arises from the daily pain, are you having problems with sadness? If so talk with a psychologist and get it noted so that later when it really becomes frustrating after your retirement you can connect the dots. If you can set the basis for your VA claim now, you will have an easier time to achieve the 50% disability rating, this is important because your retirement pay will be reduced by your disability pay if you do not get to the 50%.

My best advice is to step outside of your military doctors opinions and get an independent opinion on the status of your disabilities, you can check out your x-rays and other tests conducted by the military doctors and take them to a civilian doctor. This will save you a lot of money since the military has provided diagnostics, you may even ask your military doctor for any tests that a civilian doctor says is neccessary to determine your limitations (updated MRI).

A MEB is just the first step in a long process and it's a good time to start it now, I was discharged from the AF with 10% w severance pay, I was an aircraft mechanic and it took almost 24 months to complete the process from MEB to separation. You have opportunities to climb the appeal ladder after every decision, keep going and get used to it because it is the same when dealing with the VA after your separation. You will get low balled by the military and the civilian opinion will not hold the same weight as it does with the VA but it becomes part of your Service Military Records and this is what you are building so the VA cannot low ball you so easily.

I ran out of time on my appeal process in the Air Force, there is a law where they cannot hold you over to increase your disability rating and will just issue orders to separate you, my appeal went to the Secretary of the Air Force and within 4 weeks they agreed with the formal PEB and 3 weeks later I was out and the fight with the VA started, they claimed there is no records of an injury or disease that occurred or was aggravated by military service. I did not appeal that decision because I was just so tired of the bull from the military and now 26 years later I still am trying to get the VA to at least assign a 0% rating for the disability that the Air Force and DOD recognize as still existing.

Best advice is to take control of your medical problems, get outside second opinions and don't give up.............

At the momment I am. Mainly due to the disc herniation. I am on and off profiles every few months. Not suppossed to deploy, but I can still perform the job so they keep me around.

The AF Drs are getting to the point, where they use the MEB as a tool to threaten people. The last time I went to see the Dr. She used it as a threat and said, "WELL I DONT SEE ANY OTHER OPTION HERE...YOU KNOW YOUR GOING TO BE MED BOARDED DONT YOU??"

I almost lost my mind. I was so pissed that I dang near blacked out with anger. I replyed, "WELL GO AHEAD!! IF YOU GUYS DIDNT SCREW UP WE WOULDNT HAVE THIS PROBLEM!!"

She saw that I really didnt care and changed her tune pretty quick. Then the appointment went from her trying to scare me, to the concerned compassionate dr who wants to help.

(a little back story on the above) I had surgery on the disc in Oct. I was given 30 days con leave to heal, and was suppossed to be on a no running profile for another 30 coupled with Phy Thera and then a new profile limiting what I could do, and to slowly get back into running. 60 days after the surgery, I was suppossed to see the surgeon again, get MRI and see how well I have progressed.

None of that happened. I had my con leave, then came back to work and was thrown into the mix. After running for about 90 days, the pain started to return and I went to the Dr for advice. This is when I found out all about the above from another Dr. handleing someone else in the same condition. I'm stationed in Guam, and the surgeon is in Okinawa.

[fiasco007]

make sure your supervisors document any use of solvents, CARC paint, trichloroethylene, benzene, chromium VI, zinc chromate primer, welding, etc. If it's in your records it eliminates one step of proof of service connection of any disabilities that arise later in life like diabetes or cancer.

Its in my job description and duties. Thats an easy one to prove. But i'm glad you brought that up, cause I havnt even considered that due to all the other issues I have.