Readers of Tom Philpott's Military Update column sound off.

That was a great article on the Physical Disability Board of Review.

I initially received a rating of 0 percent from the Army and now am rated at 90 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

I went back to the PDBR for their review, but they declined to consider it, reciting some obscure reference.  They told me I should go back to the Army Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) and seek a review there.

I have been out of service since 2002 and fought for my VA rating to where it has been raised six times since then.  Under another obscure rule, the PEB normally does not review records over three years old and I expect them to cite this and not act on my request for review.

My pain and suffering over the last seven years has been tremendous from with a broken neck and multiple other disabilities suffered in service.  I
endured a period when I was out of work for seven months, alienated my family, suffered through times at work when I knew I shouldn't be there.

All this because the PEB would review no other condition except my broken neck, which, they said, was congenital.

VA considers it 40 percent congenital.  The doctor who did my surgery said that it was aggravated by service, information I provided to the PEB in person in 2001.

Well, I'm glad someone finally is recognizing you have to be a genius, know the laws better than those who wrote them, and get unusually lucky for the PDBR to review your case.  Bravo!

JASON CLARK
Indianapolis, Ind.

During my Physical Evaluation Board I was told that only my back will be evaluated. I had complained about several other conditions. The PEB/MEB would not include them. I was in the Army.

Is there a way now to get these conditions added to my review by the PDBR?

T. THOMAS
Via e-mail

As explained to us by retired Air Force Col. Michael F. LoGrande, president of the PDBR, "If a condition is listed in the narrative summary of the MEB [Medical Evaluation Board] or is considered by the PEB [Physical Evaluation Board], the PDBR can and will review the condition.  The PDBR can add unfitting conditions in their review and rate them according the VASRD [VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities].  Any condition not listed by the MEB or PEB will still have an avenue of redress, but that avenue is not the PDBR, it will be through the respective service Board for the Correction of Military Records or Naval Records." – Tom Philpott

So what is a person like me to do?

I got out of the Navy after serving eight year and, before that, four years in the Army. I was given a choice at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in August 1988: sign papers for a 10 percent disability rating and discharge with severance pay, or stay for the remaining two years of my enlistment and be unable to reenlist, getting no benefits.  I wasn't even given a few hours to discuss the matter with my wife.  Accepting the disability rating and severance seemed, at the time, my only choice.

After discharge, I went to the VA and was awarded 40 percent rating overall for my disabilities. I thought the severance pay was mine to keep; however, by law, the VA had to recoup every penny of my severance pay.  Id did so by delaying my first disability check until eight years after I was discharged.  Meanwhile, my house was repossessed and I had to seek employment in the fast food industry or any job that would take me.

I finally got my associates degree in 1994 and got started in the Semiconductor industry. I tried to disguise my disabilities until I finally could not perform my job as a Field Service Engineer.  Unable both physically and mentally to do my job, due to my disabilities, I was fired in November of 2002, filed for bankruptcy.  My outlook on life turned very poor. Finally in July, 2003, I was awarded a 90 percent rating and was deemed unemployable. After many tests, I was finally rated 100 percent disabled due to my mental problems and I think a rating of 60% physically disabled,

When is this country going to recognize veterans who served before 9/11 and begin to reconsider the service disability ratings they received?

T. C.

I was discharged in March of 2006 from the medical center at Fort Gordon. My discharge rating should have been over 50 percent but due to a computer problem, I was only given 20 percent.  This kept me from getting my commissary and exchange privileges that would sure help out now.

I am not too worried about getting military retirement, just my retiree privileges.  Is there anyone I can talk to resolve this problem?  I have written
both to the Department of the Army and to the National Guard Bureau with no resolution.

PAUL D.

You can have your service disability rating reviewed by the Physical Disability Board of Review.  Here's a link to apply: www.health.mil/Pages/Page.aspx?ID=19   T. P.

Letters may be edited for clarity or length.  Write to Military Forum, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA  20120-1111, send e-mail to militaryforum@aol.com or visit www.militaryupdate.com