How would YOU feel if they found the dead guy's stuff before yours?

This week, there was progress on Lloyd's med board process.

As had been mentioned earlier, the chain of command had lost his packet of information from his time in the normal basic training. All of his records with training courses, etc. had been filed, refiled, and shuffled into various piles so many times that no one had any clue where they actually were. They must have just about emptied the office to do it, but they found his paperwork. It was underneath the packet of info from a dead guy. No kidding. One of the soldiers had passed away over holiday block leave last December, and they hadn't been able to find his paperwork either. It is hard to know exactly how to react to the news that they found your stuff with the dead guys stuff...there is an awful lot of dark humor in a situation like that. The major bright side is that the information has been found which means that all of the packets of paperwork that Lloyd needs to proceed are accounted for. Yay!

On Tuesday, Lloyd was transferred to Charlie Battery...the next step in the process. There was apparently some question as to whether this transfer would be permanent or if they would send him back to Bravo; however, it looks like things are settled for him in Charlie. It has been a major change for him and pretty taxing. He has to adjust to a new schedule as well as be trained for the new tasks, routines, and responsibilities that he will have for his time there. He also has to work on determining what the new situation will be for privileges and freedoms. In some areas he will be gaining some freedoms, but he might lose some in other areas. It may be a bit of time before it is all clear how things will work on a daily and weekly basis.

The checklist for the process is getting much shorter. Almost all of the "big" stuff is done now....just a few things remain. (There will likely be a ton of smaller and hidden steps that we don't know about yet. It happens....right Papaw?) The big/known stuff to go is as follows:

1. ALL of Lloyd's paperwork needs to be assembled into the final packet of information for review.
2. The big final packet is sent to San Antonio.
3. A medical review board will look at all of Lloyd's medical records (civilian doctor, army doctors, surgery reports, physicals, etc.) and assign him a percentage of disability based on ALL of the stuff that he has as part of his diagnosis. Disability percentage is assigned in 10% increments. The magic number that we are praying for is 30%. At this point, he will be considered medically retired which would really make a difference for us in the long run. It normally takes a MINIMUM of 3 weeks for the review board to do their thing.
4. The packet is then returned to Fort Silly Sill along with the findings of the review board for Lloyd to review. At this time, he will have basically two options. The first will be to accept the findings of the review board, sign off on what the Army offers him, and wait for them to set his discharge date. The second would be to reject the findings of the review board and begin the appeal process. Each time that he submits an appeal, it would have to go back to the review board and take a minimum of 3 weeks again....or longer if they decide drag their heels because he's appealing.

While we have had some discussion about what may happen when we get to step 4, we have decided that we are going to wait until we get there to really spend much effort on it. Right now, we are praying for steps 1-3 to go quickly and return a 30% or higher disability rating which would make things a whole lot easier. As always, we appreciate all of your prayers.

God Bless!