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pain and fatigue. However, reports from many veterans who have participated in this program do not give it a high rating.
Discharge Options
If you become ill while on active duty and are unable to return to active duty, there are several options:
You can be discharged as not fit for duty with disability severance pay if the degree of disability is rated at 30% or less and you have less than 20 years' service. Severance pay is a lump-sum payment based on your basic military pay. The VA must offset your severance pay before it can pay you compensation benefits for the disability that caused your discharge.;
You can be placed on the Temporary Disability Retirement List (TDRL) with a temporary disability rating that will be evaluated later for permanancy;
You can be medically retired (disability retirement), which gives you many of the benefits that are available to other military retirees. If you are medically retired, you will be paid between 30% and 75% of your basic pay for the rest of your life. You are also eligible for VA benefits, and are entitled to the same health care benefits as other retired military personnel.
If you become ill while on active duty you may be compelled to make very important long-term decisions at a time of great anxiety. It is very important that you understand that waiving some of your rights for any reason may not serve your long term interests. Never waive a right without the advice of informed counsel.
You need to understand your rights and how your service will arrive at its decision. If your illness disables you, your records will be reviewed by a medical board. If the medical board finds you not fit for duty, it will make a recommendation that will then be reviewed by a physical evaluation board (PEB). Among other things, they will determine whether you are fit for duty, whether your disability is permanant, and the percentage evaluation at which your disability will be rated.
If you are a Gulf War vet with an undiagnosed condition, a May 22, 1995 memorandum from Under Secretary of Defense Dorn directed the DoD PEBs to evaluate your illness by analogy to a condition listed in the VA's schedule for rating disabilities, just as the VA is adjudicating claims. This means that a member of the active military can now be discharged, even if his or her illness cannot be diagnosed, and the percentage of disability will be determined by the new, and uncertain, VA rules.
The May 1995 Memorandum also directed the services to note in a service member's records that he or she became "ill as a result of Persian Gulf Conflict service," if this is the case, based on the presumptions detailed in the 1995 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 103-337) for future use by the VA. This annotation is very important; however, it is unclear
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