Useless In Florida

[Fargo1]

Deborah,

Outstanding! It is going to be a rough road, but stay the course! Again, my voice is but one, but 100 voices together are a choir! On another post, I mentioned an interview yesterday on the military, the VA and PTSD here in the US. You should listen to it and see if anything pops out at you.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/02/136895807/the-profound-daily-struggle-of-soldiers-with-ptsd

Not that I have much experience with having to write my congress people, but my advice is to get all of your ducks in a row. All medical records, a copy of your military record (showing everything that you can good and bad). Build your history. Make sure you write it in a compelling way, backed up with facts. Because it is going to get screened by several layers of people before it gets to the desk of your Senator or Representative.

I have also never had to use JAG, but I have had to use lawyers. Remember that there are many tricks in the books for delaying. As Sun Tsu says:

"Success in warfare is gained by carefully accomodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose."

"By persistently hanging on the enemy's flank, we shall succeed..."

Also remember that a good attorney's morals are flexible, when they get a case, they have to fervently believe that they are in the right (whether they are 'right' or 'wrong') to do their job well. So your JAG should be fervently on your side. Conversely, the opposing JAG will be fervently against you. There will be a lot of "Harden the F#$k up" required on your end. Which is tough even without PTSD slathered all over you!

My thoughts are with you, and a couple of calls to buddies will be made to see if I can get any more insight, tactics, and low down dirty tricks for you.

Fargo

 

[Wagon]

Hey Deborah,

Good Job and Good Luck. And don't let them discharge you without what you want.

The problem is once on civilian side of things, its all the more expensive and all the more unlikely to get solved.

Just my 2 cents as about 400 people off the ship I was on have tried to litigate the Navy in some way in the last 20 years. Most recently in 2008 where the Supreme Court said...... You can't sue the Navy for PTSD. Even if they were grossly negligent.

I really wish you the best in this. Any help. Just ask.

Wagon

 

[diggin]

Deborah - good on you for fighting this! I have just gone through a year-long physical evaluation board (PEB) for a chronic disease, and am looking at retirement in....wait, let me count..... 9 days!! Granted mine is not PTSD or related to combat, but I can tell you about my experiences with the PEB process if you have questions (it does not matter what each service calls it, the thing is the same, although the process can be quite different).

The best resource I can give to you is the PEB Forum (Link Removed) - there are people from all branches going through, or fighting (one way or the other), PEBs. Also, the site administrator (Jason) is an attorney who specializes in fighting this stuff - but don't think the site is one big advertisement for his services- he gives lots of advice too. maparker is although another very knowledgeable admin on there.

Again, my PEB condition was not PTSD, but from reading that site for almost a year, I can tell you that it seems like almost 50% of the cases on there involve PTSD. And from what I recollect, PTSD will get you an (almost) automatic 50% temporary retirement. Temporary retirement is called TDRL and it means they reevaluate you every 18 months for either improvement or degradation- and they have to make a final determination at 5 years, either return you to duty, permanent retirement, or separation with severance pay. Severance pay = 2 (x) your monthly base pay (x) your years of service.

I hope I haven't violated the letter or the spirit of this forum by posting another website's url, but it is extremely relevant to the topic at hand.

 

[diggin]

Also, once the PEB process is initiated, they cannot take administrative action to separate you (weight, PT failures, etc.).

 

[deborah l. boylan]

Thanks diggin! I'll check out the site. I really appreciate all the support!

Crazy fat nurse in Florida!

 

[diggin]

By my liking your post- it was for your first three sentences. NOT your sign off! You stop that! :O_o: