Physical Evaluation Board

We just celebrated our 7 month anniversary... and are amazed at how much the Lord has brought us through in such a short period of time. Right now we seem to be facing yet another big challenge/potential blessing... the Navy calls it a Physical Evaluation Board (PEB). Many of you know of the physical struggles I've had since shortly after I entered the Navy when I had an accident on a training field exercise (FEX). The result was a herniated cervical disc which wasn't diagnosed for many months causing nerve damage... most significant of which is my stomach being paralyzed. The past 6 months the conflict between my health and my job as a Seabee Officer have become great to the point the Navy is sending me to a PEB to determine if I should be allowed to continue serving.

Six months ago I would have been devasted by this news but as I said, the conflict was becoming great between my job and my family... and that's truly what it boiled down to. Trying to perform the job expected of me as a Seabee Officer is forcing me to push my limits beyond the safe level and steadily affecting my health... and our family/future.

That brings me to where we are now. The MEBR (Medical Evaluation Board Report) has to be compiled within the next 2 weeks. The report will be written by a doctor who I've only seen once before for 20 minutes (please pray) and will have 3 addendums to the report from the specialty clinics for the three medical conditions I'm being sent to the PEB for. Once the report is written I will get a chance to review it and write a rebuttal (if desired) before it is sent for adjudication to the Informal PEB in Washington DC. They can come back and say "Fit for continued Naval Service" or "Unfit".

If the PEB says "Unfit" they will have to assign a disability rating. Supposedly they use the VA disability rating system... I say supposedly b/c somehow 10% disabled to the Navy is 40 or 50% to the VA. If they rank me at 20% or less I will be admin separated with a severance pay... their way of saying "yes we horribly messed up your body and we wish you a good rest of your life"... or if 30% or higher the Navy has to medically retire me.

If they say "Fit for continued Naval Service"... there are two courses: 1.) request a Formal Board where I would have to appear or 2.) accept the results. If I accept the results, within 15 days I have to report to medical for a sea duty/overseas duty screening (we call this a suitability screening for worldwide deployment). If found UNFIT for worldwide deployment (which we know I will since I've already failed the screening 2 other times) I will be admin separated within 15 days with no compensation. If I decide to appeal the decision via a Formal Board... well, that could be a protracted process.

Have you picked up on what an "interesting" process this can be? They find so many people "Fit" only to separate them for failing the suitability screening and boot them out without compensation. As I've learned more about this process it's been very hard and discouraging. Ultimately there's no doubt that I will be out of the Navy soon. This has been extremely hard to come to terms with... I struggle with feeling like this is a less than honorable way to end my time in the Navy. Ultimately this is the best thing for me and for us... and that's the most important thing.

God has brought us to this pivotal point... and it is a blessing even though at times I struggle with recognizing it as such. We're praying that this process will go smoothly and that I will be able to join Justin in Monterey later this summer (he'll be leaving in early June)... ultimately knowing that every person who will have a role in the PEB is a puppet in the hands of an all knowing God.