Getting med boarded in the military means a physician has referred you into the Disability Evaluation System because a medical condition may keep you from continuing to serve. Two boards run the process. A Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) documents your condition and decides whether you still meet retention standards. If you don’t, a Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) decides whether you return to duty, separate with a lump-sum severance payment, or medically retire with ongoing pay and benefits. The rating the PEB assigns, along with your years of service, drives almost everything that follows.1Military Compensation. Disability Retirement
The Two Boards You’ll Go Through
The MEB comes first. It’s an informal, paperwork-focused board that reviews your medical records, orders any additional exams it needs, and produces a Narrative Summary (NARSUM) written by your treating physician. The NARSUM describes your diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and any limits on your ability to do your military job.2Luke Air Force Base. Disability Evaluation System That document matters more than almost anything else in the process because the PEB leans on it heavily when making its fitness call. If the NARSUM understates the severity of your condition, the PEB will likely underrate you.
The MEB itself cannot separate or retire anyone. It only decides whether you meet retention standards. If you do, you go back to duty. If you don’t, your case moves to the PEB.3Military Health System. Medical Evaluation Board
Once your case is referred, you get a Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer (PEBLO) assigned as your case manager. The PEBLO explains deadlines, tracks paperwork, and is your point of contact through the entire process. Staying in close contact with your PEBLO is the single most practical thing you can do to avoid unnecessary delays.
The PEB is where the career decision actually happens. It runs in two stages. The informal PEB is a records-only review: board members look at the MEB findings, the NARSUM, and your proposed VA rating without you present. They decide fit or unfit, assign a DoD disability rating if unfit, and recommend separation or retirement. Your PEBLO delivers the results, and you can accept them or ask for a formal hearing.
If you disagree with the informal decision, you can demand a formal PEB. Federal law guarantees this: no service member can be retired or separated for physical disability without a full and fair hearing.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1214 – Right to Full and Fair Hearing At a formal PEB, you can appear in person or by video, present witnesses and new evidence, and be represented by a free military attorney (or private counsel at your own expense). The formal board can uphold the informal findings, adjust the rating, or reach a different conclusion entirely.
How Long Med Boarding Takes
Since 2011, most service members go through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES), which merges the DoD fitness determination and the VA rating into a single process. Under the old Legacy DES, members went through separate DoD and VA medical exams months apart. IDES lets the VA propose a disability rating before you separate, so benefits can begin almost immediately after you leave service.5Military Health System. Integrated Disability Evaluation System
The DoD and VA aim to complete 80% of IDES cases within 180 days from referral to the date of return to duty, retirement, or separation.6Lyster Army Health Clinic. IDES Timeline Many cases run longer because of scheduling backlogs or complex medical conditions. After a final unfitness determination, you have 90 days to complete transition, out-processing, and orders before separation.
The formal trigger for referral is the Medical Retention Determination Point (MRDP), which must occur within one year of being diagnosed with a condition that doesn’t meet retention standards, though it can happen sooner if your provider decides you won’t recover within that year.
The Three Possible Outcomes
The PEB reaches one of three conclusions, and the differences between them are large.
Fit for Duty
If the PEB finds you fit, you go back to your regular duties. The condition is documented but not disqualifying. You can appeal a fit finding through the formal PEB.
Medical Separation
If you’re found unfit with a DoD disability rating of less than 30% and you have fewer than 20 years of service, you’re separated with disability severance pay rather than retired.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1203 – Separation Severance is a one-time lump sum: years of service multiplied by twice your monthly basic pay.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1212 – Disability Severance Pay A partial year of six months or more counts as a full year. For a member with 8 years of service and $4,000 per month in basic pay, that works out to roughly $64,000 (8 × $8,000).
Severance is normally taxable, but it’s tax-exempt if the disability came from a combat-related injury or if the VA has approved disability compensation for the same condition.9DFAS. Ask Military Pay – Disability Severance Pay If you already received a taxable severance and later learn you qualified for an exemption, you may be able to file for a refund.
Medical Retirement
A rating of 30% or higher, or 20 or more years of service regardless of rating, qualifies you for disability retirement under Chapter 61 of Title 10.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1201 – Members on Active Duty The disability must have been incurred in the line of duty and cannot be the result of misconduct. Retirement comes in two forms:
- Permanent Disability Retired List (PDRL) for members whose condition has stabilized at 30% or higher. This is permanent retirement pay and full retiree benefits.
- Temporary Disability Retired List (TDRL) for members whose condition hasn’t stabilized. TDRL placement lasts up to five years with periodic re-evaluations. At the end, you move to the PDRL, separate, or return to duty.1Military Compensation. Disability Retirement
Retirement pay is the higher of two formulas: 2.5% × years of service × base pay, or disability percentage × base pay. A member with 12 years of service and a 40% rating compares 30% of base pay (2.5% × 12) against 40% of base pay and gets the higher figure.
Two Disability Ratings, Two Different Numbers
One of the more confusing parts of being med boarded is that you’ll receive two separate disability ratings from two different agencies, and they usually aren’t the same.
The DoD rating comes from the PEB and covers only the conditions that make you unfit for duty. If you have a bad knee that ends your military career plus migraines and tinnitus, but only the knee causes the unfitness finding, the DoD may rate only the knee.11My Army Benefits. Veterans Affairs Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) That rating determines whether you separate or retire and sets your military disability pay.
The VA rating looks at every service-connected condition, regardless of whether it contributed to unfitness. Using the same example, the VA rates the knee, the migraines, and the tinnitus together. The VA rating determines your VA disability compensation, VA healthcare eligibility, and other veteran benefits. Both agencies use the same rating schedule (VASRD), but because the VA covers more conditions, its rating is almost always higher than the DoD’s.
The VA Offset and How to Get That Money Back
Here’s where a lot of med-boarded veterans lose money without realizing it. Federal law generally prohibits collecting full military retirement pay and full VA disability compensation at the same time. For most Chapter 61 medical retirees, VA disability payments reduce military retired pay dollar for dollar. That can be thousands of dollars a month. Two programs restore some or all of the offset.
Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP)
CRDP eliminates the VA offset entirely, letting you draw full military retirement alongside full VA compensation. For Chapter 61 medical retirees, CRDP requires both a VA rating of at least 50% and at least 20 years of creditable service at the time of retirement.12DFAS. Concurrent Military Retired Pay and VA Disability Compensation If you medically retired before hitting 20 years and your VA rating is below 50%, the dollar-for-dollar offset still applies. That gap catches a lot of veterans injured early in their careers.
Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC)
CRSC restores offset retired pay, but only for disabilities that came from combat or combat-related activities. You must be retired and receiving military retirement pay, have a VA rating of at least 10%, and currently be subject to the VA offset.13Veterans Affairs. Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) Qualifying events include direct armed conflict, hazardous duty like parachuting or demolition, live-fire training, exposure to instruments of war such as military vehicles or chemical agents, and any activity that resulted in a Purple Heart.
CRSC applications go to your branch of service, not the VA, using DD Form 2860. There’s a six-year statute of limitations running from the VA rating decision or the date you became entitled to retired pay, whichever comes first. Missing the deadline doesn’t disqualify you, but it caps back payments at six years. You cannot receive both CRDP and CRSC; compare the monthly amounts and take the higher one.
Healthcare After You Leave
Healthcare after med boarding depends heavily on whether you retire or separate. Medical retirees on the TDRL or PDRL are eligible for TRICARE as retired service members, and family members qualify for retiree-level TRICARE too.14TRICARE. Medical Retirement This is lifetime coverage as long as you remain on a retired list.
If you’re medically separated with a rating below 30%, you don’t get retiree TRICARE. You may qualify for the Transitional Assistance Management Program (TAMP), which gives you 180 days of temporary coverage after separation.15TRICARE. Transitional Assistance Management Program After TAMP ends, you can buy coverage through the Continued Health Care Benefit Program (CHCBP) for up to 36 months. All medically separated and retired veterans are also eligible for VA healthcare, with access levels tied to your VA rating and other enrollment priority factors.
Your Rights and Where People Go Wrong
The DES gives you specific protections at each stage. The most useful ones in practice:
- You can review the NARSUM and file a written rebuttal if you disagree. The rebuttal window under IDES is 7 days. You can also request an impartial medical review from an independent physician not involved in the original evaluation.16Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 1332.18 – Disability Evaluation System
- At the formal PEB, your branch provides a free attorney. You can hire private counsel instead at your own expense.
- You can testify in person or by video at a formal PEB, present witnesses, and submit additional evidence including medical records, affidavits, and expert opinions.
- If you disagree with the formal PEB, further appeal is available to the service Secretary or the Board for Correction of Military Records.
The most common mistake is passively accepting the NARSUM without a careful read. The NARSUM is the foundation of every later decision in the process, and errors or omissions at that stage cascade into a lower rating, the wrong outcome, or lost benefits. Use the full rebuttal period, talk to your PEBLO, and get legal counsel involved before signing off.