How your disability is rated

[CommunityEditor]

Q: I have been injured and am waiting for my military service to give me a rating. What is the significance of the military rating? Is it the same as I will receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs?

A: Before I answer your specific questions, I want to address briefly the procedures involved in reaching the military rating.

Once a medical evaluation board (MEB) determines that a service member does not meet retention standards, the case is forwarded to a Physical Evaluation Board (PEB).

The PEB initially adjudicates the case informally. If the service member does not concur with the PEB’s informal findings, he may request a formal administration hearing before the same PEB.

If the member does not concur with the formal board results, he may file a written appeal. If the PEB reaffirms or modifies its decision, it is required to forward the entire file to the Physical Disability Agency (PDA) in Washington, which will make the final determination of the military rating.

The military rating that you receive as a result of this process will not necessarily be the same as the rating you will receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Both the military and VA ratings are based on the Veterans Administration Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD), which provides a disability rating for each of a large number of physical impairments and diseases, by diagnostic code. In some cases, the diagnostic code contains a mandatory minimum rating and/or a rating ceiling.

But not all the general policy provisions in the VASRD apply to the military. That’s one reason the military rating can differ from the VA rating.

There are also differences in how the two ratings are computed and what they mean. The military rates only service-connected physical impairments that render a service member unfit for duty — that is, conditions that terminate the member’s military career.

A finding of unfitness means that the member cannot perform the duties of his primary military occupational specialty at a minimum level of competence, given his rank and current duty position. By contrast, the VA rates any and all service-connected conditions.

In addition, the military rates an unfitting condition for its present level or severity — it does not take into account any possible future progression of the condition. The VA, on the other hand, does rate for future progression — in other words, the prognosis for the illness or injury.

The VA also takes into account the adverse impact of the disability on the veteran’s employability in the private sector. Obviously, the military is not concerned with civilian employability.

The military rating that you are assigned determines the benefits you will receive as a result of your separation from service. If the rating is less than 30 percent, the result is separation with a lump-sum severance payment.

However, if your military disability rating is 30 percent or more, you are eligible for permanent disability retirement.

In that case, you would draw lifetime compensation from the government, computed using a combination of disability rating, retired base pay and/or years of service. By contrast, VA compensation is a flat amount based on the percentage disability rating.

Ratings for each disabling condition come in increments of 10. The PEB may recommend a zero percent rating for a particular condition, even if that isn’t within the range specified in the VASRD for that diagnostic code.

However, a zero percent rating doesn’t mean no disability was found. Rather, it is a minimum rating and carries the same military benefits, including severance pay, as a 10 percent or 20 percent rating. It also means that additional VA benefits may become available in the future if the condition deteriorates.

At the other end of the spectrum, the military may not exceed the rating ceiling for a specific diagnostic code under the VASRD. However, the VA can award a 100 percent disability rating for the same condition if it finds that the severity of the condition rises to the level that the veteran is incapable of being trained for any type of gainful civilian-sector employment.

The military rating is a one-time process. Once this process is concluded, the military rating becomes permanent and will not change in the future. In contrast, the VA rating may fluctuate over time, depending on the progress of the disabling condition.

Several bills are pending in Congress that would change this entire process for the benefit of all of our wounded warriors. Let’s hope some of those favorable bills pass and become laws.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/communi...awyer_071203w/

i was seperated with only 20 percent for injuries recieve in combat in iraq, at the time of my seperation i had many other injuries of which i was been treated for by military doctors, such as, injury to my lower back, lumbal ,i did not recieve a rating for this injury,even though the treating doctor, wrote that i should have been boarded b the army meb, so i was discharge with only 20 percent disability, 10 percent for ptsd, and 10 percent for right knee injury, the v.a. awarded me 90 percent unemployability,recently the v.a. doctors found out that i am suffering from traumatic brain injury,and is in the process of awarding me 100 percent permanent disability. my question is how can i have my meb frating from the army meb board review and my percent awarded to me by the army increase to reflect a medically retirement for all the injuries, i have been fighting this case since been discharge in 2004, and each time i submit documents to the army review borad i was turn down, or deny.the army review board wrote me telling me that i will have to seek justice in a civilian court of law, i dont have the funds available to hire a civillian lawyer to fight my case in a courft of law,all my injuries is service connected combat injuries, to include the recent discovered )tbi) traumatic brain injury, i was awarded a purple heart for enemy mortar round blast which cause the i brain injury,and was medi-vac out of the iraqi combat zone, many service member who was awarded 10, or 20 percent disability is now realizing years later that they, to include my self was shortchange by the army, on the rating schedule, and injuries such as ptsd, or brain injury is popping up months, or years later, affecting our families and life forever,,what can be done to right this gross injustice that many of us(veteran) have been left to feel after serving our beloved country in combat.

i have a question i believe thousands of veterans would like to hear an answer for, what about the thiousands of afganisthan and iraq war veterans who was seperated from active duty, or the reserve, with 20% or less disability, only to find out later by the v.a. that there are suffering from traumatic brain injury?how can these combat veterans get justice from the department of defense?most of us has been given unemployability by the v.a. and nothing by the department of defense.a great injusticew has been done to these veterans, especially by the army, in 2003 and 2004, they just rush these veterans through the system by giving them severance pay, and zero to twenty percent, and send them out to face the world with all these mental problems, such as ptsd, and tbi, pluss other injuries,what can these veterans who has been suffering do to get the army to acknowledge that they (the army) did these veterans wrong, and to correct the injustice.will someone please answer the questions, and address the issue.